The Latest from Big Think

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A man in a suit holds up a Hurricane Dorian forecast map in an office, tracing the storm’s projected path and intensity over several southeastern U.S. states and the Bahamas—echoing the urgent clarity of a 1938 science manifesto defending democracy.
As democracy recedes and fascism rises in the USA and around the world in 2025, history provides a lesson in how science can fight fascism.
A stylized collage featuring an X-ray of human lungs above and a dandelion dispersing seeds below, set against green and beige backgrounds, evokes the easy, slack flow of breath and gentle change.
In nature, business, and life, survival doesn’t belong to the optimized — it belongs to those with a built-in buffer.
A man wearing a beanie and dark clothing sits with one arm resting on his knee, inside a blue rectangular frame on a light background with abstract lines, embodying the cool, thoughtful vibe of King Willonius.
The comedian and musician behind the viral hit “BBL Drizzy” shares the books that shaped his thinking and approach to art.
Illustration of a thumbs up and thumbs down, resembling a like button and dislike button, on a black background, both partially covered with red scribble marks.
Will platforms continue to offer the like button as an all-purpose tool — or will each of the button’s various functions exist in new forms?
A lighthouse shines its beam at dusk with the words "HAPPINESS GUIDES" in large white text over the image.
5mins
"I think happiness is not a smiling face, it's more a smiling soul."
Illustration of a large particle accelerator facility underground, with scientists working and a city landscape above ground.
The laws of nature are almost perfectly symmetric between matter and antimatter, and yet our Universe is made ~100% of matter only. But why?
Two silhouetted figures on a slope; one pushes a large green sphere uphill, while the other lightly kicks a small green ball downhill against a gray grid background.
Unconsidered productivity might leave you moving efficiently in the entirely wrong direction.
A grid of connected translucent spheres on a light blue background represents network leadership, with one central sphere colored orange instead of grey.
The rapid crash of Nokia was triggered when key information gatekeepers became bottlenecks. Here’s the key lesson.
A repeating pattern of wireframe 3D geometric shapes intersected by diagonal yellow lines on a black background, evoking a physics break down of forms at the Planck scale.
There are limits to where physics makes meaningful predictions: beyond the Planck length, time, or energy. Here's why we can't go further.
A man in a black suit sits on a chair against a white backdrop, surrounded by several monarch butterflies on a bright blue background.
1hr 36mins
"It's a true fact, but a bizarre one, that the reason why hundreds of thousands of people died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than Kyoto and Kokura, is because of a 19-year-old vacation and a passing cloud."
Bright star at the center of a blue nebula radiates mass energy, surrounded by numerous smaller stars, with diffraction spikes visible from the brightest stars.
All stars shine due to an internal source of energy. Usually, it's nuclear fusion: converting mass into energy. What makes them most bright?
A vintage-style illustration of a celestial scene, echoing science fiction by scientists, features a textured black planet and a whimsical moon with an eye, all enclosed in a pale green border against a starry background.
What happens when scientists "write what they know"? Some amazing science fiction stories.
Black and white photo of a young woman resting her chin on her hand, set against a green background with circular and brain patterns.
Arendt thought 20th-century philosophy had become too passive and abstract. She called for "active thinking" that prepares us to live in the real world.
A collage with “The Nightcrawler” text, a grayscale photo of a tractor in a field, and a blue-tinted portrait of a man in a suit, layered on blue backgrounds with chart graphics that hint at long-term investing trends.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
A man in a blazer holds up a yellow card with black line drawings and gestures with his other hand against a plain background.
8mins
"There is interesting ethical questions about how we should actually conduct ourselves in [a space colonization] exploration phase."
Photons come in every wavelength you can imagine. But one particular quantum transition makes light at precisely 21 cm, and it's magical.
Two men pose for a formal portrait; one wears a dark shirt and the other a suit and tie, set against a patterned background evocative of Alex Garland’s visual style, divided into green, gray, and blue sections.
Want to know how to handle work-life pressure? Big Think asked Warfare co-directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza.
You don't need to be a scientist or a philosopher for facts, reality, and the truth to matter. The alternative is simply known as bullshit.