Latest Articles

Latest Articles

The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.

a futuristic living room with a large round window.
Does humanity have a moral imperative to seed life on lifeless worlds? And should we avoid colonizing a planet if life already exists there?
a large group of pigs in a pen.
Within a month of that initial conversation, Peter Singer became a vegetarian.
a burnt matchstick with a burnt matchstick sticking out of it.
The replication crisis has debunked many of psychology’s fair-haired hypotheses, but for the marshmallow test, things have only become more interesting.
a painting of different colors with arrows painted on it.
The Shirky Principle states that "institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."
A vintage-style illustration of a child holding up a plate and looking at a ball or orb floating above it, set against a solid blue background.
5mins
Geniuses and prodigies are captivating. But generalists rule the world.
John Templeton Foundation
Fomalhaut debris system ALMA Keck JWST
A surprising JWST discovery around Fomalhaut has a different, superior explanation: not a great dust cloud, but a mere background object.
a fountain pen sitting on top of a piece of paper.
George Orwell got it right: "Never use a long word where a short one will do."
a black and white photo of a tree in a field.
If something exists, it is by definition natural.
a person cooking hot dogs on a grill.
The first-of-its-kind approval could change how we think about gene-edited foods.
two hands reaching for each other with the words your true age.
9mins
Your chronological age and your biological age aren’t the same thing. This ex-Yale professor explains how to tell the difference.
two views of the earth from different angles.
The cycles of life all rely on the dynamism of the Earth's crust.
a drawing of a man playing a violin.
But make sure you bring the fossegrim the proper offering—or else.
a hand is holding a ball with a model of the solar system.
42mins
Sabine Hossenfelder talks about Albert Einstein, dead grandmothers, the physics of aging, and more in this full interview with Big Think.
a close up of a fish under water.
7mins
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Nurse defines the 5 core principles of life.
Close-up of a classical painting depicting a sleeping child with curly blonde hair, rosy cheeks, and closed eyes—lying on their side against a dark background, capturing the peaceful transition between wakefulness and consciousness.
Neuroscience is beginning to provide clues about the emergence of human consciousness.
John Templeton Foundation
a group of penguins standing on top of a rock.
If you think everyone around you is terrible, the joke may be on you.