Latest Articles

Latest Articles

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

nuclear fusion
Why power generated through nuclear fusion will be the future, but not the present, solution to humanity's energy needs.
Geometric abstract design featuring overlapping white wireframe curves forming a symmetrical star shape on a black background, evoking the cosmic elegance of the big bang.
Thanks to time-traveling telescopes, we can see more about the Big Bang.
John Templeton Foundation
drunk words are sober thoughts
Should we take people's drunken behavior as evidence of their true character?
The Capture of Blackbeard
Many first-hand accounts from the golden age of piracy were grossly embellished, meaning it's extremely difficult to separate Blackbeard the legend from Edward Thatch the person.
Milky Way center
As viewed by the MeerKAT telescope, this radio view of the Milky Way blows away every other way we've ever seen our home galaxy.
Jeff Bezos
Altos Labs is an ambitious new anti-aging company with billions of dollars to back it up.
space plane
Space planes could radically lower the cost of spaceflight.
There really might be extraterrestrials out there, attempting to make contact. Here's how science, not fiction, is attempting to find them.
using viruses as medicine
This Yale researcher is creating an experimental therapy for cystic fibrosis made from viruses – and it’s working.
einstein critics
Einstein's theories of relativity faced fierce opposition. One critic claimed he was attempting to subvert the scientific method.
ukraine
One hundred years ago, a Ukrainian flag flew over Vladivostok and other parts of the “Russian” Far East.
History Photography
For a long time, important events could only be visualized retroactively through paintings. Photography allowed us to capture history as — or sometimes even before — it happened. 
out of africa
A new analysis of an ancient hominin fossil sheds light on the "Out of Africa" dispersal events that occurred more than one million years ago.
Alexa on a pile of books.
The more social behaviors a voice-user interface exhibits, the more likely people are to trust it, engage with it, and consider it to be competent.
learning how to learn
We forget how unnatural a lot of formal education is. "Learning how to learn" requires bridging the gap between the abstract and the natural.
new satellites
With launch costs dropping and enormous numbers of new satellites filling the sky, can't we just do it all from space?
parallel universe
In scientific theories, the Multiverse appears as a bug rather than as a feature. We should squash it.
body fat
Scientists at UCLA and Penn argue that malfunctioning fat, not necessarily too much of it, is what makes people metabolically unhealthy.