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The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.
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A conversation with the sleep psychologist.
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Stern’s research uncovered a neural network in the brain that accounts for some people’s ability to function well despite a lack of sleep.
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The iconic abnormal psych case of Phineas Gage provided scientists with the first hints that different functions like decision-making and language acquisition were grouped into localized areas within the brain.
I became addicted to The Wire. I know, I ‘m late to the party. Very late, since the final episode aired over two years ago. But over the last few […]
Today is the last day of the Month of Thinking Dangerously here at Big Think, and in that spirit, we are presenting some more dangerous ideas from bioethicist Jacob Appel. […]
"More doctors are turning to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of their patient's brains, but fears of possible seizures may be limiting its growth as a therapeutic tool."
"The Iraqi population is suddenly mourning the departure of American troops, the once-hated occupiers, as fears of a civil war grow." Spiegel reports on what is next for Iraq and its future.
"As the globe logs an unusually hot summer, Canada is boosting its presence in the warming and increasingly accessible Arctic." The Wall Street Journal on emerging geopolitics.
"Despite the death of spam, e-mail hasn't gotten much easier to deal with. That's because our inboxes are inundated with legitimate mail." Slate reports on Google's new 'Priority Inbox'.
As our knowledge of politics expands, we increasingly set out on our quest for social justice over the Internet, which often results in crazed and ineffectual debates in online forums.
"Being a child of a rock legend brings kudos, travel and famous friends—but fatherly wisdom and bedtime stories are rarely part of the deal." The Independent reports on famous families.
In an interview with New Scientist, philosopher Slavoj Žižek says that ecology is the new opiate of the masses, the universe's design is incomplete and Mother Nature is a 'crazy b*tch'.
"If our’ sense of time is largely a cognitive illusion, then where does the illusion come from?" The Frontal Cortex blog follows neuroscientists looking for the nature of time from within the mind.
Scientists at MIT are working to synthesize bacteria found living in sea sponges on the ocean floor, which when in danger emit a chemical that has been shown to eliminate tumor cells.
"Mobile phones have been sold as business tools, fashion accessories and social organisers. But they can also be lifesavers." The Telegraph reports on ten apps with tangible health benefits.
Mysterious in origin, but at least they look pretty on a map
In the age of reuse-is-better-than-recycle, Italian designer Antonello Fusè has come up with an ingenious, elegant twist on used furniture: Abitudini, a line of unique, asymmetrical coat hangers made from […]
Our stereotype of strip club workers is that they don't have a lot on the ball. But a new study of UK lap dancers shows they are more educated than the typical Brit.
Do some Americans have an irrational and prejudicial fear of Islam? Where do views of Muslims stand more generally? That was the focus of the cover story last week at […]
American workers are angry. So are their suffering customers. One of the problems with declining service may be that companies care most about the clients they don’t yet have.