bigthinkeditor

bigthinkeditor

The notion that science and religion are at war is one of the great dogmas of the present age. However, the views of many scientists turn out to be less rigidly doctrinaire than suspected.
A new book looking back on The Feminine Mystique explains why Betty Friedan might have paved the way for equal marriages by blowing the roof off male-dominated couplings.
We all know that women like funny guys but empirical evidence for this phenomenon has been sorely lacking. Fortunately, a recent study tests whether humor helps men pick up women.
Defense Secretary Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise for the United States to ever fight another war like Iraq or Afghanistan.
Starting your own business often means going it alone on health insurance—a risky prospect for any individual, let alone a family. Reform will encourage entrepreneurs, says Ezra Klein.
A new study from the University of California has found that younger Internet users become more socially engaged in the real world, not just online, thanks to their use of social media.
Lawrence Principe of Johns Hopkins University wants to rehabilitate alchemy. He believes that most alchemists were respectable knowledge seekers working with well constructed theories.
The security afforded by having a government job is worth approximately a pay increase of 15%, says Art Carden. This should inform the debate over collective bargaining in Madison.
Are people naturally good or evil? How much of our mental life is unconscious? Are our desires hard-wired by evolution? On the evening of Monday, March 21st, renowned psychologist and […]
Two high-ranking ministers made headlines this week by falling out of line with the governments they represent. They are U.S. Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, and Libya's Ambassador to the U.S., Ali Ojli. 
When combat veterans tell their battle tales, the stories often are laced with themes of heroism, sacrifice and loyalty. But guilt also takes a heavy mental toll.
‘Will Egypt’s revolution spark a Domino Effect?’. Almost anywhere one looks for analysis of events, a metaphor stares back. But metaphors are no substitute for the generation of ideas.
Under pressure to improve its search results, Google has announced a "big algorithmic improvement" that, unlike other changes, could be noticeable to its users.
The ultradense core of an exploded star contains superfluids, a strange form of superconducting matter which exhibits remarkable properties such as climbing upwards.
Except for the fear of cancer, U.S. adults most fear getting Alzheimer's disease, but few make preparations for the onset of the disease, a survey indicates.
Scientists in the United States have found newborn mice can re-grow their own hearts. There's no reason to believe that the same window would not exist in the human heart.
Sailors used to struggle with it but migratory sea turtles have now proved capable of sensing longitude, using almost imperceptible gradients in Earth's magnetic field.
The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war.
The question raised by the wave of protests spreading across the Middle East is not whether to deal with autocrats, but how to deal with them.