The Latest from Big Think

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Laetoli
Bears, chimps, or humans? A track of five poorly preserved footsteps at Laetoli has puzzled paleontologists for decades. Now, a research paper from Nature claims to have solved the mystery.
Geminids
Every December, the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak. Its 2021 show will be spectacular, but only if you do it right.
Bird drone
Drones have a lot to learn from the landing abilities of birds.
Metastatic Melanoma Cells
Evolutionary game theory could tip the advantage to medicine.
Spontaneous order
6mins
1700s economic principles predicted Uber. A Nobel Prize-winning economist explains why.
Institute for Humane Studies
instagram snake
A new snake becomes Instagram famous after its accidental discovery by a graduate student going on a nature walk in northern India.
Einstein bohr
Even without the greatest individual scientist of all, every one of his great scientific advances would still have occurred. Eventually.
Forget little green men: These scientists say we should be more worried about little green germs.
Role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons offer a valuable insight: Life is about shifting labels.
uncanny robot
The most technically impressive feats of animation often strike us as eerie instead of impressive, and it’s all thanks to the uncanny valley.
all i want for christmas
The singer-songwriter distilled the essence of the holidays into a hit song, and for her efforts she was crowned the Queen of Christmas.
SpinLaunch
SpinLaunch's launcher, which is larger than the Statue of Liberty and works like the Olympic hammer-throw event, just came online in the New Mexico desert.
A man trading on two different laptops
Between fake vaccine passports and targeted supply chain attacks, things are only getting more risky.
Why does Seattle continue to be a place that nurtures the development of breakthrough technologies but not Minneapolis, Memphis, or Minsk?
mushrooms
Roughly half the world population, including in America, has insufficient levels of vitamin D. UV irradiated mushrooms can help.
near-death experience
Our brains might be flooded with the hallucinogen DMT as we die, leading to vivid dreams.
georg simmel
Cities overstimulate our senses and are full of people we don't know. Maybe humans were meant for this.