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The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.
Unmasking a "convenient untruth" in U.S. politics.
Try writing a novel without using the letter "e."
In 1903, a Vermont doctor bet $50 that he could cross America by car. It took him 63 days, $8,000, and 600 gallons of gas.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" is often taken to mean that your conceptions outweigh what's real. That's not what he said.
The moths in your garden might hear your tomato plant's pain.
The puzzle of play
The purpose of play — for children, monkeys, rats or meerkats — has proved surprisingly hard to pin down. Scientists continue to toss around ideas.
When the going gets tough, nothing beats a wide network of tried-and-true connections.
Mongol forces never fully conquered the continent, but they played a key role in its historical development.
Stars orbiting black holes were observed to move significantly slower than expected. One explanation centers on dark matter.
4mins
“If intelligence is the ability to respond to any argument, wisdom lies in knowing which parts of an argument to respond to.” Harvard debate coach Bo Seo explains how to argue better.
Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986, finding a bland, featureless world. Now, in 2023, JWST's sights are similar. There's a reason for that.
Robots must identify themselves.
It wasn't merely an act of brutality; it was a condemnation for the afterlife.
5mins
“All the plausible paths to a really great future, involve the development of machine superintelligence at some point.”
Most people care what others think of them. In many situations, that can be leveraged for the common good.
Eternal twilight.
When white dwarfs explode, they create a type Ia supernovae. After decades of following the leading theory, here's the complete overhaul!
Zombies aren't a modern-day obsession. Throughout history, fear of the undead led to bizarre burial rituals all over the world.
Fortune cookies emerged from one of America’s darkest moments.
The multi-leveled constructions of metaphysics are the collective workings of a fantastical virtuality. Did you get that?