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The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.
It's not all about talent, says Jonah Lehrer at the Frontal Cortex. Log 10,000 hours of practice, get started at an early age, diversify your interests and live in a small population center.
"A study released Tuesday suggests that a new species of microbe is consuming the undersea plumes in the Gulf oil spill—perhaps more quickly than scientists anticipated."
"Scientists have reacted with anger at a court ruling that strikes down Barack Obama's decision to greatly expand medical research using stem cells taken from human embryos."
Praise for Edward Hopper at the Whitney: "Hopper, if provincial, is powerfully so. He sets today’s conventions, in art and elsewhere, into relief. He enriches the American darkness."
"Let us by all means make the 'Ground Zero' debate a test of tolerance. But this will be a one-way street unless it is to be a test of Muslim tolerance as well," Hitchens says.
WEIRD stands for western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic. Though WEIRD people are a minority in global terms, they constitute the field of study for most psychological research.
How can government protect you from your own harmful desires like gambling and drinking? New 'self-exclusion' policies allow people to plan ahead for those moment of impulse.
Bill Gates says the government should do more R&D in the energy sector, that a Manhattan Project for sustainable energy won't work and that a carbon tax is necessary.
Twenty inventions will compete for a prize of $30,000 at the design competition sponsored by British inventor James Dyson. A life raft that makes saltwater potable is in the running.
The specter of $10 is lurking in the corners of the startup industry. The figure is common to two aspects of the website business. As I wrote about earlier, blog […]
When I wrote last week about the fact that all California state employees have to sign a loyalty oath, a reader took issue with the picture I posted of school […]
Power in politics turns on being able to simultaneously control attention to an issue while also defining the terms of debate. A golden rule is to define yourself and your […]
Let them build it. Is this what the rationalists want us to say? Let them build it. These four words counter the one, more emotional one—never—echoing across anger from the […]
The perils of plastic are nothing new to most of us. A lesser-known fact, however, is that plastic has a higher energy value than just about any other type of […]
The other shoe has dropped in Harvard’s investigation into allegations of scientific misconduct by Marc Hauser, the cognitive psychologist. Harvard announced last week that it had found Hauser responsible for […]
The rate of change in our culture is increasing—and in order to compete, businesses need to increase their rate of change as well, says management guru John Kotter. In his […]
I am proud to announce that the second season of “Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible,” debuts next Wednesday, Sept. 1, at 9 pm, on the Science Channel (check […]
4mins
Things have improved tremendously for LGBT youth since Testone was young, but there are still plenty of kids without supportive families who come to New York and end up homeless.
4mins
At first,Testone feared coming out to her friends would shatter the narrative she had created in high school. Looking back, she calls that fear internalized homophobia.
5mins
Despite working for a gay organization, Testone thought she was completely straight—until one special night at a lesbian bar in Dallas.