Latest Articles

Latest Articles

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

"Eat your heart out, Wolverine. The X-Men superhero won't be the only one with with metal fused into his skeleton if a new titanium foam proves suitable for strengthening bones."
"Advances in laser technology and the field of quantum information science have allowed researchers to demonstrate Einstein’s theories at much more ordinary scales."
"For millions of addicts around the world, Alcoholics Anonymous's basic text—informally known as the Big Book—is the Bible. And as they're about to find out, the Bible was edited."
"The world will soon get to know a lot more about the low-profile billionaire, or at least Hollywood's version of him." A film based on Mark Zuckerberg opens Friday in New York.
"If you adjust for inflation and income, Americans have never spent less on food than they have in recent years. And yet many feel we've also never paid such a high price."
"It has been the defining style of our era, but now it’s in retreat. Intelligent Life's Stephen Bayley works out whether less will soon be no more."
"The frontal cortex isn’t fully formed until late adolescence which means that the ability to concentrate is just beginning to solidify in babies. The result is that little kids struggle to focus."
"Now management science looks set for a thorough, biology-inspired overhaul. Expect plenty more lab coats in business-school corridors." The Economist on behavioral science.
"Economists may think of growth as endless, but the fact is that the Earth is finite, and sooner or later, as the human population soars towards nine billion, limits will be reached."
The modern view of the American soldier at war is invariably shaped by television. Beginning with the Vietnam War, the first war brought literally into the living rooms of private […]
Tomorrow, the Republicans plan to roll out their “Pledge to America” outlining what they plan to do if they regain control of Congress. The platform is an updated version of […]
Some news! Get it while it is hot! Neanderthals and volcanoes: A recent study by Naomi Cleghorn and others that appeared in Current Anthropology lays the blame for the extinction […]
The results of Labour’s leadership election will be known officially at 4.30pm on Saturday 25th September, as delegates to the party conference assemble in Manchester, Northern England.  The contest has been […]
Philosophy and physics are not often thought of together in academia. While physicists develop calculations and models to describe the world around them, philosophers are more interested in the fuzzier […]
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Studies into the neural circuitry of autistic mice could lead us to a better understanding of autism in humans—and the role that attention plays in it.
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Neuroscientist Tony Zador presents his cutting-edge research in auditory attention and explains why rats’ brains can be studied more precisely than those of humans.
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Neuroscientist Tony Zador explains how a sound wave is converted into neural signals that the brain can understand and speculates about the role of auditory attention in this process.
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During a conversation at a cocktail party, you have to make one of two choices: actually listen to the person speaking to you, or nod your head in assent while […]
In 1889, three-hundred Parisian workers completed assembling 18,000 pieces of iron that comprise the Eiffel Tower.  The structure, intended to only stand 20 years, was initially received with great criticism, […]