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History
The Ring Nebula, a bright, circular planetary nebula, is created by a dying Sun-like star. After centuries, we finally know its true shape.
Dubbed "Valeriana" by researchers, the city of 50,000 peaked around 800 AD before being swallowed by the jungle.
Today's philosophy students would be justified in asking, "What does any of this have to do with living?"
From King Midas to Gordon Gekko, humanity has struggled to grasp greed's true nature.
An extraordinary haberdasher obsessed with buttons, lace collars, and death pioneered modern statistical analysis during the Age of Reason.
One alchemist's search for a whiz-bang method to produce gold unlocked the central science instead.
Carl Sagan was far from the first to declare we are the children of ancient stars.
Grab a sword, a small plate, and a young child. We've got a demon to summon.
Sixty years ago, the Soviet Union was way ahead of the USA in the space race. Then one critical event changed everything.
Even with just a momentary view of our galaxy right now, the data we collect enables us to reconstruct so much of our past history.
In November 1974, astronomers used the radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory to send a hello to the universe.
"I was stunned. Here in front of me was the original apparatus through which a new vision of the world was slowly and painfully brought to light."
Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang's leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?
Burns’ latest documentary dives into the long-romanticized life and work of the Italian polymath.
Modern autocracies operate "not like a bloc but rather like an agglomeration of companies," says journalist and historian Anne Applebaum.
The Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order would be just one quarter the size of Vatican City.
Are breakthroughs really a matter of chance, or are they simply waiting to be uncovered by the right person at the right time?
Do we actually live in a deterministic Universe, despite quantum physics? An alternative, non-spooky interpretation has now been ruled out.
Oliver Burkeman — author of "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals" — tells Big Think about modern life lessons from a 6th-century monk.
"The Big Map of Who Lived When" plots the lifespans of historical figures — from Eminem all the way back to Genghis Khan.
The annual rite of passage has always been more about the ambivalence of adults than the amusement of children.
Why human attempts to mechanize logic keep breaking down.
How “Catastrophe and Social Change” (1920) became the first systematic analysis of human behavior in a disaster.
Have you ever noticed how many things you interact with but can’t name? So did we.
An analysis of Indonesian cave paintings is reframing the history of human art, though whether the paintings really were created by human hands remains an open question.
Adams was infamously scooped when Neptune was discovered in 1846. His failure wasn't the end, but a prelude to a world-changing discovery.
The true story of the shot that "reverberated through England" when science collided head-on with religion.
A new method of mapping migration factors in erratic movements and changing climate.
In December 1968, human beings made their first-ever journey to the Moon aboard Apollo 8. Their most important discovery? Planet Earth.
On June 20, 2024, the summer solstice occurs at its earliest moment since 1796: when George Washington was President of the USA. Here's why.