Science and Tech

Science and Tech

A circular illustration depicting the observable universe with various galaxies, stars, and cosmic structures emanating from a central point, symbolizing the solar system and hinting at how far away the Big Bang occurred.
If you think of the Big Bang as an explosion, we can trace it back to a single point-of-origin. But what if it happened everywhere at once?
Two individuals in hard hats and safety glasses working on complex machinery with numerous cables and metal components in an industrial setting.
DUNE is designed to detect the Universe's most antisocial particle: the neutrino.
every square degree
The Universe is 13.8 billion years old, going back to the hot Big Bang. But was that truly the beginning, and is that truly its age?
A wide shot of a man walking down an aisle between tall stacks of server racks in a data center filled with computer hardware.
We need more data centers for AI. Developers are getting creative about where to build them.
Illustration of a hand cutting red tape with scissors over a government building labeled "National of Health.
There is one obstacle that reliably blocks innovative ideas: how we fund science.
Illustration depicting human evolution from a primate to an early human holding a spear, advancing from left to right.
8mins
Biological evolution in humans has slowed. Can AI, culture wars, and modern tech explain why?
cosmic inflation
Many contrarians dispute that cosmic inflation occurred. The evidence says otherwise.
pulse light quantum tunnel barrier
In all the Universe, only a few particles are eternally stable. The photon, the quantum of light, has an infinite lifetime. Or does it?
A white ladder leans against a white wall, leading up to a circular opening revealing a blue sky with scattered clouds.
A simple semantic device — invented by a forgotten senator — can help us break “the curse of knowledge.”
Raisin bread expanding Universe
The big question isn't whether the Universe is expanding at 67 or 73 km/s/Mpc. It's why different methods yield such different answers.
Six images of lunar craters including Centra Mare Fecunditatis, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Ingenii, Southweast, Schlieter Crater, Highland 1, Highland 2, and Mare Smth.
The recent discovery of a large cave on the Moon highlights the importance of caves not just for future space explorers but astrobiology as well.
A book cover titled "Billionaire Nerd Saviour King" by Anupreeta Das, featuring a black-and-white photo of Bill Gates with green text overlay about the nerd founder's influence on the world.
He peppers his sentences with words like “neat” and “cool,” he’s not great at working the room after dinner — oh, and he's a peerless visionary.
A black-and-white photo of a seated person with their head in their hand, partially overlaid with an image of flames, evocatively captures the intense struggle to treat anxiety.
Manipulating a signaling pathway in mice reversed their anxiety — and offers hope for a new class of anti-anxiety medications for humans.
A vast expanse of outer space densely populated with numerous stars, including the typical star, and celestial objects of varying brightness against a dark background.
Most stars in the Universe are located in big, massive, Milky Way-like galaxies. But most galaxies aren't like ours at all.
Two astronauts in orange spacesuits and helmets prepare for a mission. A digital countdown displays "T-MINUS," with an Artemis mission patch visible on one spacesuit.
These missions will put us one step closer to the ultimate goal: crewed trips to Mars.
A hand is tossing two white dice with black dots against a dark background.
3mins
Don’t fall into the determinism trap. Everything is, in fact, random, says chemist Lee Cronin:
The Earth partially submerged in water, symbolizing climate change and rising sea levels, against a black background.
12mins
“You can find examples of really big environmental problems that we've already solved.” Climate change is solvable, argues Hannah Ritchie.
A worker in a hard hat and safety vest adjusts equipment in a facility alongside large red machinery labeled "Jefferson Lab." The scene fades into concentric circles, as if drawn by the powerful collider, leading to a bright light.
The largest particle accelerator and collider ever built is the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Why not go much, much bigger?
Cover of "The Nightcrawler" featuring a chart showing China's economic growth surpassing the rest of the world, with a pixelated face overlaid. Emphasizing second-level thinking, the "Et . business" logo is in the bottom right corner.
Welcome to the Big Think debut of The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Einstein
More than any other equation in physics, E = mc² is recognizable and profound. But what do we actually learn about reality from it?
Illustration depicting "Humanity vs. Nature" with diagrams of evolution, ecocentrism, biocentrism, and anthropocentrism, featuring images of a tree, human evolution, and a whale.
Slowing growth and limiting development isn’t living in harmony with nature—it is surrendering in a battle.
Four images of tennis matches on grass courts, showing different stages of play, each with two players. The courts show varying degrees of wear from fresh to significantly worn.
How has tennis changed in recent decades? The wear and tear on Wimbledon’s Centre Court may tell the tale.
For centuries, Newton's inverse square law of gravity worked beautifully, but no one knew why. Here's how Einstein finally explained it.
A close-up digital rendering shows a glowing blue orb with intricate internal patterns, resembling a microscopic or sci-fi object, set against a dark background with scattered lights.
Quarks and leptons are the smallest known subatomic particles. Does the Standard Model allow for an even smaller layer of matter to exist?
how many planets
From size to mass to density and more, each world in our Solar System is unique. When we compare them, the results are truly shocking.
A person is lying down in the dark and looking at a smartphone held above their face.
What are we supposed to do when experts look at the same data yet reach starkly different conclusions?
A pink, geometrically shaped object on a light pink background, with colorful sparkles emerging from the top, reminiscent of visual styles often generated by AI models.
More accurate uncertainty estimates could help users decide about how and when to use machine-learning models in the real world.
A computer-generated visualization shows particle collision data with yellow lines and red dots against a black background. The simulated particles appear to interact within a transparent geometric shape.
Today, the Large Hadron Collider is the most powerful particle physics experiment in history. What would a new, successor collider teach us?
A hand holding tweezers grips a small black square against a blue background with concentric white circles.
The lithium-ion alternatives could help create a safer, greener future.
Dark matter's hallmark is that it gravitates, but shows no sign of interacting under any other force. Does that mean we'll never detect it?