From medieval myths to Shakespeare’s plays and modern cinema, British culture kept the Roman Empire alive long after its fall.
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Features & Reviews
Hugo-winning author Ken Liu explores what early cinema and Chinese poetry can teach us about AI’s potential as a new artistic medium.
Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, he wrote the Dandelion Dynasty, a silkpunk epic fantasy series[…]
How the cult hit sci-fi show imagines a “techno-realist” future.
Tim Brinkhof is a Dutch-born, New York-based journalist reporting on art, history, and literature. He studied early Netherlandish painting and Slavic literature at New York University, worked as an editorial[…]
These books helped build the empirical case that life’s origins differ from those described in myths and legends.
Scotty Hendricks is a graduate student and long-time contributor to Big Think. He resides in Chicago.
Interviews
Most people think that writing fantasy or science-fiction requires a strong imagination. Podcast host Mike Duncan shows a knowledge of real-world history is just as important.
Tim Brinkhof is a Dutch-born, New York-based journalist reporting on art, history, and literature. He studied early Netherlandish painting and Slavic literature at New York University, worked as an editorial[…]
Science writer Matt Ridley joins us to discuss how “Darwin’s strangest idea” makes us all a bit feather-brained (in a good way).
Steven Ross Pomeroy is the editor of RealClearScience. As a writer, Ross believes that his greatest assets are his insatiable curiosity and his ceaseless love for learning. Follow him on[…]
In his new book, the popular science writer tells the story of how scientists discovered the “gaseous ocean” we all swim in — and the trillions of invisible life forms we share it with.
Steven Ross Pomeroy is the editor of RealClearScience. As a writer, Ross believes that his greatest assets are his insatiable curiosity and his ceaseless love for learning. Follow him on[…]
Wordcraft
In “Enough Is Enuf,” Gabe Henry traces the history of simplified spelling movements and the lessons they teach us about language.
Kevin Dickinson is a staff writer and columnist at Big Think. His writing focuses on the intersection between education, psychology, business, and science. He holds a master’s in English and[…]
While death-bed utterances are more famous, baby’s first words have influenced us too.
Michael Erard is a linguist and author who writes about language, languages, and the people who use and study them. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Science, The New York[…]
Have you ever noticed how many things you interact with but can’t name? So did we.
Scotty Hendricks is a graduate student and long-time contributor to Big Think. He resides in Chicago.
Next Reads
If an asteroid hadn’t killed off the dinosaurs, humans would almost certainly have never walked the Earth.
Govert Schilling is the author of dozens of popular astronomy books, including Target Earth: Meteorites, Asteroids, Comets, and Other Cosmic Intruders That Threaten Our Planet (The MIT Press). His writing[…]
“Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms, like books written in a truly foreign language.”
Elizabeth is a journalist and applied behavioral scientist who works at the intersection of science and storytelling. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has worked on[…]
The first in a series of short stories by the Hugo- and Nebula-winning author that inspired the cult hit “Pantheon.”
Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, he wrote the Dandelion Dynasty, a silkpunk epic fantasy series[…]