Science & Tech

Science & Tech

Explore the discoveries that reveal how the world works, alongside the technologies that extend, reshape, and sometimes challenge what’s possible.

a painting of different colors with arrows painted on it.
The Shirky Principle states that "institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."
A vintage-style illustration of a child holding up a plate and looking at a ball or orb floating above it, set against a solid blue background.
5mins
Geniuses and prodigies are captivating. But generalists rule the world.
John Templeton Foundation
Fomalhaut debris system ALMA Keck JWST
A surprising JWST discovery around Fomalhaut has a different, superior explanation: not a great dust cloud, but a mere background object.
a black and white photo of a tree in a field.
If something exists, it is by definition natural.
two hands reaching for each other with the words your true age.
9mins
Your chronological age and your biological age aren’t the same thing. This ex-Yale professor explains how to tell the difference.
a person cooking hot dogs on a grill.
The first-of-its-kind approval could change how we think about gene-edited foods.
a hand is holding a ball with a model of the solar system.
42mins
Sabine Hossenfelder talks about Albert Einstein, dead grandmothers, the physics of aging, and more in this full interview with Big Think.
a close up of a fish under water.
7mins
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Nurse defines the 5 core principles of life.
jupiter
The classic picture of Jupiter's great rocky core might be entirely wrong.
Abstract illustration of segmented, wood-textured shapes arranged in an oval formation on a green background.
7mins
This network physicist is mapping the world's most significant data to create the most beautiful visualizations of information we have ever seen.
John Templeton Foundation
a painting of a cucumber with a face on it.
Raw food, paleo, gluten-free, detox, and ketogenic: All of these diet fads withered when subjected to scientific scrutiny.
epsilon eridani comet storm
Massive objects like black holes, stars, and rogue planets routinely pass near our Solar System. An ensuing comet storm could destroy us.
a close up of a rock with holes in it.
A next-generation instrument on a delayed rover may be the key to answering the question of life on Mars.
asteroid deliver organics to Earth
When the Universe was first born, the ingredients necessary for life were nowhere to be found. Only our "lucky stars" enabled our existence.
a painting of a blue and yellow ball on a black background.
We can reasonably say that we understand the history of the Universe within one-trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. That's not good enough.
a computer generated image of a man's head in a doorway.
Large language models are an impressive advance in AI, but we are far away from achieving human-level capabilities.
sun photographed from space
Some say that the Sun is a green-yellow color, but our human eyes see it as white, or yellow-to-red during sunset. What color is it really?
a bright star surrounded by stars in the sky.
Archaeologists can learn how societies lived by studying what they left behind when they died. Astronomers are doing much the same thing.