The Latest from Big Think

Text reading "The Latest" in a large, serif font on a light background.
A sketch of a human figure bending over and looking at three overlapping pink magic-circles on a plain white background.
From early arcades to AI-generated worlds, video games have continually expanded the “magic circle” of play.
Wargames are helping answer one of the biggest questions of the AI era: how machines might reshape human decision-making in war.
colliding black holes
Many people, now with LLM assistance, regularly claim to discover game-changing revolutions. Scientists don't buy it. You shouldn't either.
Book cover for "How Change Really Works" features multicolored lines radiating from a center, with one red line forming an arrow. The design reflects the dynamic process of transformation. Authors' names are displayed at the bottom.
Directives rarely inspire change. The most effective leaders use stories to make transformation memorable, resonant, and actionable.
extraterrestrial
Despite all that we've discovered, Earth remains the only planet definitively known to possess life. Here's how to find a second example.
Aerial map showing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) tunnels near the France-Switzerland border, with highlighted borders and labels illustrating CERN particle physics research sites.
CERN's Large Hadron Collider superseded Fermilab's TeVatron in 2008, but now nears the end of its run. The ambitious FCC project comes next.
A vintage illustration of prehistoric humans in a cave, with the central figure highlighted in bright green and a black scribble over the head.
Anxiety feels like a malfunction. Evolutionarily speaking, it's one of your most sophisticated features.
Six square images show different spiral galaxies: NGC 5247, Messier 100, NGC 1300, NGC 4030, NGC 2987, and NGC 1232, each with bright centers and spiral arms.
At and beyond the current frontiers of knowledge, many physicists have strongly held opinions. Can surveys point the way to breakthroughs?
A man in business attire walks upstairs while talking, with an orange silhouette of another person beside him against a white and blue background.
Feedback only feels high-stakes when you've been saving it up.
Book cover with a red background titled "Private Power and Democracy’s Decline: How to Make Capitalism Support Democracy" by Mordecai Kurz, exploring the complex relationship between private power and democracy's decline.
America’s first Gilded Age reveals how concentrated economic power erodes democracy and offers a warning as similar forces reemerge today.
A digital illustration exploring the origin of the universe—depicting a blue energy burst on the left and a geometric white grid forming a funnel shape on a purple background, evoking one of the biggest mysteries in science.
The original idea of the Big Bang was synonymous with a singularity: a point of zero volume. In this Universe, things never got that small.
A cartoon tooth fairy holds a tooth and magic wand, standing before colorful cosmic microwave background maps, blending whimsy with the wonders of theoretical physics.
Theoretical physics is notorious for wild ideas that seem, at first, to be nonsensical fantasies. That's where the tooth fairy comes in.
An illustration showing a detailed drawing of a kidney on the left and the silhouette of a pig on the right, both in red tones on a beige and orange background.
Animal-to-human organ transplants promise a future where survival no longer depends on another person’s death.
Book cover for "What Science Says About Astrology" by Carlos Orsi, featuring astrological symbols and geometric lines on a blue and black background, reflecting what science says about astrology.
Vague predictions and post hoc revisions help astrology feel meaningful, even while it fails empirical testing.
A stylized drawing of a classical statue’s eyes is overlaid with a pale abstract shape resembling a bird's head and wing, evoking themes of dead closure, all set against a beige background.
Why we shouldn't necessarily outsource our thinking to dead people.
A vivid image of a bright, colorful galaxy with swirling red, blue, and white clouds of gas and dust, where galaxies collide amid distant stars in the dark, expanding universe.
Astronomers study our cosmic history through stellar and galactic archaeology. But we can't conduct archaeology in space. At least, not yet.
Book cover titled "Never Settle: Persuasion and Negotiation Skills to Get What You Want" by Attia Qureshi and John Richardson, featuring bold "never settle" typography on a striking blue background.
Agreeable people may be a pleasure to be around, but they also have a harder time walking away from a bad deal.