Latest Articles

Latest Articles

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

MRI scan of a brain side profile overlaid with green squares and circles, set against a purple background.
On November 25, U.N. members will meet in South Korea to cap off a series of meetings aiming to reduce global plastic pollution.
Collage of architectural designs: a detailed stone arch with sculptures reflecting ancient architecture, an ornate geometric pattern, and a faded image of the Taj Mahal.
Magnificent time-tested buildings are filled with lessons in resilience and stability — and the benefits for investment strategy can be huge.
Open book with a sketch of two toy characters on the left page and a story prompt with fill-in-the-blanks, inspired by a Pixar career hack, on the right.
Storytelling skills are not just for entertainment — practical exercises used by the cream of Hollywood can transform your work-life.
Three red, cloud-like structures are set against a starry background in space.
The most massive early galaxies grew up faster, and have more stars, than astronomers expected, according to JWST. What does it all mean?
An older man sits on a chair with his finger raised. Behind him are a tangled line and a spiral, both against a green backdrop.
Today’s technology presents unique challenges for social awareness and relationship management at work, making emotional intelligence all the more critical.
Silhouette of a person against a blue background, overlaid with white node and line networks.
While we’re busy wondering whether machines will ever become conscious, we rarely stop to ask: What happens to us?
A silhouette of a person with glowing orange eyes against a brightly lit office window exudes an aura of power, casting dramatic shadows that heighten the room's awareness.
If you have any sort of power for any reasonable length of time, you will be changed by it — awareness of the effects is crucial.
heavy neutral atom
There are a few small cosmic details that, if things were just a little different, wouldn't have allowed our existence to be possible.
Yellow and black bird perched on a thin branch surrounded by green leaves.
Off-the-shelf consumer technology is helping people pursue their interests — and advancing science at the same time.
Under the night sky, where the Milky Way galaxy glows above a silhouette of trees and a mountain, stars scatter across the deep blue and purple expanse. It's an ideal backdrop for alien hunting, sparking curiosity about potential biosignatures hidden among those distant celestial wonders.
Recent controversies bode ill for the effort to detect life on other planets by analyzing the gases in their atmospheres.
Gloved hands holding a computer processor chip, viewed from an angled perspective against a black background.
AI software is rapidly accelerating chip design, potentially leveling up the speed of innovation across the economy.
Grayscale image showing a flying object captured on radar screen with various data markings.
Astronomer Adam Frank asks: With so many extraordinary claims, why can't anybody produce the proof?
A gloved hand grips a vaccine-loaded syringe, framed by a red-tinted portrait of a historical figure in the center and a grainy black-and-white landscape on the right.
"I have a friend who thinks vaccines cause autism," writes Nina. "What can I do?"
In a split image, Taleb's surgeon stands confidently alongside two diverse medical professionals: a woman in a hijab and a woman with glasses, each wearing stethoscopes.
The truly talented are those who got to where they are despite preconceived expectations.
A man with short, grayish hair, wearing a dark blazer and black shirt, stares directly at the camera against a black background.
9mins
"I think we need a truly open-ended conversation with 8 billion strangers, and what makes that hard to do increasingly is a level of political fragmentation and extremism and partisanship born of our engagement with these new technologies."
When we see pictures from Hubble or JWST, they show the Universe in a series of brilliant colors. But what do those colors really tell us?
People walking on a city street with steam rising from vents create a scene reminiscent of an omics exposome research study. A woman in a white beanie looks back as buildings and traffic form the vibrant backdrop.
Of the millions of substances people encounter daily, health researchers have focused on only a few hundred. Those in the emerging field of exposomics want to change that.
A silhouette of a person stands in front of three closed doors in a dimly lit room. White swirling lines surround the figure, adding a sense of motion and mystery to the scene.
In the 18th century, David Hume argued that we are only motivated to do good when our passions direct us to do so. Was he right?
Collage featuring an excavator, the ChatGPT interface, financial figures, and text that reads "The Nightcrawler," all woven into abstract design elements that subtly hint at playing the long game.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
elements Cas A remnant Chandra X-ray
The last naked-eye Milky Way supernova happened way back in 1604. With today's detectors, the next one could solve the dark matter mystery.