T-Minus: SpaceX’s Starship vs. Boeing’s Starliner

This is T-Minus, where Freethink’s Kristin Houser breaks down the biggest developments in space, from new rocket launches to discoveries that advance our understanding of the universe and our place in it. Humanity is reaching new heights in space exploration. Make sure you’re par … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

A prehistory of Zoom

Video calling services like Zoom and FaceTime have created a brand-new set of experiences, from virtual visits with grandkids to getting caught half-dressed on a roommate’s work call. As communications scholar Hannah Spaulding writes, all this was foretold back in the 1960s, when … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Starts With A Bang podcast #107 – Binary stars and modified gravity

On the largest of cosmic scales, the best description we have of our Universe is known as the ΛCDM model with an inflationary hot Big Bang: our consensus cosmology. It tells us that we have a Universe consistent with being made of about 5% normal matter, a little bit of radiation … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How AI is rewriting Silicon Valley’s relationship with the Pentagon

This article is an installment of Future Explored, Freethink’s weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by subscribing here. It’s 2035. After decades of investment, the US military now has AI system … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

This travel vlogger crossed the Darién Gap, the world’s deadliest migrant route

As a tall Greek man in his mid-twenties, Timmy Karter stands out from most of the migrants risking their lives to cross the Darién Gap, a 100-mile-long, 30-mile-wide undeveloped jungle separating Colombia and Panama. Unlike the migrants, Karter isn’t there in the hope of one day … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How neutrinos offer clues to the Universe’s matter-antimatter puzzle

If you go to the zoo, you will find a dizzying variety of animals — some familiar and some completely strange. The same is true of researchers trying to study matter’s smallest components. While the proton, neutron, and electron are familiar, the subatomic zoo is inhabited by man … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How to use the “spotlight effect” to get promoted and be less stressed

In his book, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, neuroscientist David Eagleman imagines various science-fiction-grade ways the great beyond could play out. In one version, Eagleman tells us that our afterlives are spent as background characters in someone else’s dream. Like act … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

We’re lonelier than ever — and there’s one big reason

Thanks to modern-day social media, it’s easier than ever to connect with the people you care about. But is this really the case? Professor Arthur Brooks discusses how social media is actually harming our ability to socialize, and proposes a way to fix it. Oxytocin, the bonding ne … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Ask Ethan: Is it all-or-nothing for the expanding Universe?

One of the most remarkable revelations in our understanding of the cosmos is the fact that the Universe is expanding. Distant galaxies, on average, all appear to recede from us, with faster and faster recession speeds for galaxies that exist at greater distances. While individual … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

A new model for defining life across the Universe

It’s pretty easy to see that a rock and a chipmunk are different. The rock doesn’t do much of anything except erode slowly. The chipmunk, on the other hand, is a flurry of activity. It endlessly scans its environment in search of food or danger. And when either one shows up, the … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

The quantum physics behind fireworks displays

This Thursday, July 4, 2024, is remarkable for a number of reasons. It happens to be just one day before aphelion: the day where the Earth is at its most distant from the Sun as it revolves through the Solar System in its elliptical orbit. It’s the 248th anniversary of when the U … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Why some Spartan women had two husbands

In popular culture, ancient Sparta is known mostly for its fearsome warriors. It’s also widely recognized as perhaps the best ancient Greek society to be a woman, since female citizens were more educated and had greater autonomy than their counterparts in other city-states. Class … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How “fast” and “slow” thinking can help us handle technostress

When was the last time you felt truly removed from the trials and tribulations of your day-to-day life? If I asked a few decades ago, you might have given a couple of different answers. Perhaps you’d have mentioned your last holiday. Or a time you escaped to the beach or countrys … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How the Solar System led planet-hunters astray

When you look to the glittering points of light in the night sky — the stars visible to the naked eye — do you wonder, as so many have before you, about the planets that orbit around them, and what types of conditions they have on them? How many worlds do they have, and are they … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Chernoff faces: The data-rich maps that stare back at you

We humans are terrible at quickly analyzing complex datasets. There is one notable exception: We have the innate ability to immediately “read” a face. We can recognize them (“Is this my friend’s face?”) and evaluate them (“Is this a friendly face?”). We’re so good at this that we … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

31 genius sci-fi quotes that offer real-world wisdom

Science fiction transcends mere entertainment. This genre reveals, predicts, warns, educates, and inspires unlike anything else. Many of its best stories are infused with just enough credibility and possibility to spark serious thinking on real issues. A thoughtful survey of grea … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How responsible “agentic AI” can supercharge your startup 

Artificial Intelligence has made remarkable strides in recent years, shaking up many sectors, particularly creative industries. These AI systems, powered by deep learning on vast datasets, have demonstrated increasingly general and flexible capabilities. However, they still prima … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

The scientist’s 10 commandments

From the 10 biblical commandments to the first 10 amendments of the US constitution, which comprise the Bill of Rights, there are many lists of governing rules that apply to our individual lives as members of civilized society. Yet for scientists, there are many other “best pract … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

A scientific mission to save the sharks

A hammerhead shark less than one meter long swims frantically in a plastic container aboard a boat in the Sanquianga National Natural Park, off Colombia’s Pacific coast. It is a delicate female Sphyrna corona, the world’s smallest hammerhead species, and goes by the local name co … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Extreme dormancy helps life survive on Earth — and possibly alien planets

Lots of living things are asleep most of the time. That’s one lesson to be drawn from a recent publication by Karla Helena-Buena of Newcastle University, who discovered a new natural protein called Balon, ubiquitous in bacteria, that helps them overcome environmental stresses by … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Why architects need philosophy to guide the AI design revolution

Two decades ago Lord Norman Foster, one of Britain’s great architects, said that an architect designs for the present, with an awareness of the past, for an essentially unknown future. These days, architects are venturing deeper into the unknown as AI tools such as Dall-E and Mid … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

There is a formula for happiness — but it’s highly misunderstood

How does one become truly happy? Arthur Brooks, author and Harvard professor, explains. Throughout his career, Brooks has pinpointed the essence of real happiness. His key insight? Happiness is not just a feeling, it’s a state of mind. In this interview, Brooks shares three prima … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Death threats and imposter syndrome: social media star Carrie Berk on dealing with fame and success

Being thrust into the spotlight is tough to deal with as an adult – but it’s even tougher for a child who is still trying to understand their place in the world. That was reality for Carrie Berk, who co-authored a series of children’s books alongside her mother in 2012 when she w … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

The epic race inside the Pillars of Creation is almost over

Some 6500 light-years away, an epic race nears its end. This ground-based, wide-field image of the Eagle Nebula shows the star-forming region in all its glory, with new stars, the blue glow of reflected starlight, and the red glow of ionized all present. Dusty, light-blocking fea … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

What will it take for smart glasses to replace smartphones?

This article is an installment of Future Explored, Freethink’s weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by subscribing here. It’s 2030. You wake up, and instead of reaching for your phone, you pop o … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Ray Kurzweil explains how AI makes radical life extension possible

Most of our progress in disease treatment and prevention to date has been the product of the linear process of hit-or-miss efforts to find useful interventions. Because we have lacked tools for systematically exploring all possible treatments, discoveries under this paradigm have … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Can learning a foreign language prevent dementia?

You may have heard that learning another language is one method for preventing or at least postponing the onset of dementia. Dementia refers to the loss of cognitive abilities, and one of its most common forms is Alzheimer’s disease. At this time, the causes of the disease are no … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Everyday Philosophy: Is it better to forget your past or keep bringing it up?

I have conflicting thoughts about letting go of the past and repressing negative feelings. Does documenting our bad experiences in personal writing, a diary, or poetry actually help us in the long run? – Dee, US Immanuel Kant had a manservant named Martin Lampe, whom he cared dee … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How “zazen” can bring the power of meditation to your workday life

Take a moment to appreciate sitting down. Find a good place and take a seat. Make sure your head and spine are straight but not stiff. Gently tuck your chin in. Shift your pelvis so you’re not slouching forward, but keep your chest from sticking out. Have you done it? It might fe … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

How Earth’s minerals set us apart — and could lead us to alien life

According to leading mineralogist Bob Hazen, minerals may hold the key for discovering if we actually are alone in the universe. He highlights how Earth’s dramatic increase in mineral diversity—from 2000 to over 6000 types—aligned with the emergence of life, which drastically alt … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

The mind-blowing chaos that underpins the world

How does your entire life change when you decide, one morning, to hit the snooze button? How did one vacation to a Japanese city prevent it from a national attack? “We control nothing but influence everything.” Political scientist Brian Klaas describes how every decision we make … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Ask Ethan: Why is it darker during Winter than Summer?

If you take a look outside these days, if you live where most of Earth’s humans do — in the northern hemisphere — you’re likely to see something completely expected: how bright it is compared to six months ago, in the dead of Winter. It’s not just that the days are longer and the … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

Khan Academy’s founder on how AI can supercharge “mastery learning”

On New Year’s Day of 2023, Sal Kahn and his 11-year-old daughter Diya sat down to write a short story with ChatGPT. Diya came up with the premise and the protagonist: an influencer, named Samantha, stranded on a remote island. ChatGPT, assuming the role of Samantha, started telli … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

5 applied psychology books for everyday life

Despite some sketchy early theories, an ongoing replication crisis, and even questions over its relevance, psychology has made major progress in understanding the inner workings of the mind and human behavior. Thanks to psychologists, we’ve learned that memory is not an accurate … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 5 months ago

The only two “arrows of time” we have don’t match

Most of us, in our day to day lives, experience time as something that’s fixed: always ticking by, in the forward direction, at an easily measurable rate that all observers can agree on. But when two observers compare what they each experience, for themselves, as one second, they … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

Is laughter really the best medicine? A journalist puts the proverb to the test.

Grief is a bodily experience. When I gave my mother’s eulogy at her memorial a few months after she died, I found it as hard to control my shaking hand as to deliver the words I’d written. Jema Gail Delistraty … age 55 … born in Brookfield, Illinois …. As I read, I tried to breat … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

Stanford report: How AI is actually transforming the business world

It’s easy to say that the rise of generative AI is having a huge impact on the business world. But how accurate is that assertion in reality, if we search beyond high-profile case studies and tech industry hype? One useful place to look for a deeper level of insight is the Stanfo … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

12 traits emotionally intelligent people share (And why you can learn them)

The concept of emotional intelligence (EQ) can be traced back to ancient philosophies, but it was Goleman’s bestseller ‘Emotional Intelligence’ that popularized the term in 1995. According to Goleman, while IQ and smarts can get you good grades and jumpstart your career, it’s EQ … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

The mystery of the Moon’s two faces could soon be solved

Long ago, something odd must have happened way back when the Moon first formed. We aren’t sure exactly what it was or how it happened, but the aftermath of those events led to a tremendous set of differences between the Moon’s near side — the side that always faces us — and the f … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

Saturn’s ocean moon Enceladus is able to support life

Saturn has 146 confirmed moons—more than any other planet in the solar system—but one called Enceladus stands out. It appears to have the ingredients for life. From 2004 to 2017, Cassini—a joint mission between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency—investig … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

Why the U.N. declared 2025 the “International Year of Quantum Science and Technology”

When you hear the term quantum mechanics, you no doubt think about some weird and counterintuitive stuff — things like electrons being both particles and waves or cats being simultaneously dead and alive. However, despite the almost-unbelievable subatomic spookiness, our modern s … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

How the “mind-body problem” impacts the future of AI

Consider the image that appears in your bathroom mirror every morning. The body in the mirror is not a second body taking up space in the world with you. It is not a copy of your body. It is not even a pale imitation of your body. The mirror-body is not a body at all. A mirror pr … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

Why JWST doesn’t have the same limits as Hubble

So, you want to find the most distant objects that are out there in the Universe? So do astronomers and astrophysicists of all varieties. Only by looking to greater and greater distances — corresponding to epochs in the Universe that are closer back in time to the hot Big Bang — … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

Is there a second arrow of time? New research says yes

You may be familiar with the “arrow of time,” but did you know there could be a second one? Dr. Robert Hazen, staff scientist at the Earth and Planets Laboratory of Carnegie Science in Washington, DC, thinks that a single arrow of time may be too limiting. A second arrow, which h … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

Hurricanes never cross the equator. Here’s why.

Here are four things about hurricanes that you may not know. One: They’re the local name of a global phenomenon. Large tropical storms in the western part of the Pacific Ocean are called typhoons. In the Indian Ocean, they’re called cyclones. In the North Atlantic or the eastern … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

The young CEO: 5 essential lessons for emerging leaders

From the early days of my career, I’ve been driven by a passion for innovation and a desire to make a meaningful impact. My journey began with a deep dive into the world of entrepreneurship during university, where I honed my skills and cultivated a mindset geared towards problem … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

The Universe’s “dark ages” were briefer than we imagined

Our star and galaxy-rich Universe wasn’t always this way. This comparison image, showing the same region as imaged by Hubble’s eXtreme Deep Field (top) and JWST’s JADES survey (bottom) showcases a selection of many ultra-distant galaxies found in the young Universe. When we obser … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago

How the TikTok case pits national security against freedom of speech

The same day that President Joe Biden signed a new federal law designed to ban the popular social media platform TikTok from use in the United States, TikToK CEO Shou Zi Chew took to the platform with words of defiance. “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” he declared. “The … | Continue reading


@bigthink.com | 6 months ago