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Sixty years ago, the Soviet Union was way ahead of the USA in the space race. Then one critical event changed everything.
Even with just a momentary view of our galaxy right now, the data we collect enables us to reconstruct so much of our past history.
In November 1974, astronomers used the radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory to send a hello to the universe.
"I was stunned. Here in front of me was the original apparatus through which a new vision of the world was slowly and painfully brought to light."
Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang's leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?
Burns’ latest documentary dives into the long-romanticized life and work of the Italian polymath.
Modern autocracies operate "not like a bloc but rather like an agglomeration of companies," says journalist and historian Anne Applebaum.
The Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order would be just one quarter the size of Vatican City.
Are breakthroughs really a matter of chance, or are they simply waiting to be uncovered by the right person at the right time?
Do we actually live in a deterministic Universe, despite quantum physics? An alternative, non-spooky interpretation has now been ruled out.
Oliver Burkeman — author of "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals" — tells Big Think about modern life lessons from a 6th-century monk.
"The Big Map of Who Lived When" plots the lifespans of historical figures — from Eminem all the way back to Genghis Khan.
The annual rite of passage has always been more about the ambivalence of adults than the amusement of children.
Why human attempts to mechanize logic keep breaking down.
How “Catastrophe and Social Change” (1920) became the first systematic analysis of human behavior in a disaster.
Have you ever noticed how many things you interact with but can’t name? So did we.
An analysis of Indonesian cave paintings is reframing the history of human art, though whether the paintings really were created by human hands remains an open question.
Adams was infamously scooped when Neptune was discovered in 1846. His failure wasn't the end, but a prelude to a world-changing discovery.
The true story of the shot that "reverberated through England" when science collided head-on with religion.
A new method of mapping migration factors in erratic movements and changing climate.
In December 1968, human beings made their first-ever journey to the Moon aboard Apollo 8. Their most important discovery? Planet Earth.
On June 20, 2024, the summer solstice occurs at its earliest moment since 1796: when George Washington was President of the USA. Here's why.
Because of their large and unfriendly neighbor to the east, the Baltics would rather be Scandinavian.
Author A.J. Jacobs explores how voting has changed since the days of the Founding Fathers — for better and for worse.
Digital analyses of Enlightenment-era letters are teaching us a thing or two about Locke, Voltaire, and others.
A poignant, 2,000-year-old burial in northern Italy could be the latest evidence of an ancient friendship.
Japanese thought can’t be easily characterized by just a few books — but this essential guide is a great place to start.
For billions of years on Earth, life was limited to simple unicellular, non-differentiated organisms. In a mere flash, that changed forever.
Plagues, war, and genocide were literally frozen in time.
During the industrial era the cost of artificial light fell off a cliff — and the road to illumination was paved with ingenuity and slaughter.