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If all the rational arguments argue against American gun culture, then the irrational (sometimes creepy) ones must be to blame for our fatal firearms attraction.

Prepare to watch Democrats and Republicans fight over ownership of the pope and his air of moral legitimacy: Let the Great American Papal Tug-of-War begin!

Locate any of the 57 trillion three-by-three-metre squares on Earth with just three words.

An Applicant’s Guide To NASA Astronaut Selection This guest post was written by Brian Shiro: NOAA geophysicist, NASA researcher, and co-founder of Astronauts for Hire. “I wasn’t destined to be […]

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling this week protecting free speech on the Internet by clarifying the standards by which people can be convicted for making potential threats online.   

Even the cosmic home where our Solar System resides will someday meet it’s demise. But how? “Unless one says goodbye to what one loves, and unless one travels to completely new […]

It happened 500 years ago — and again in the 19th century.

The standard line against painter John Singer Sargent goes like this: a very good painter of incredible technique, but little substance who flattered the rich and famous with decadently beautiful portraiture — a Victorian Andrea del Sarto of sorts whose reach rarely exceeded his considerable artistic grasp. A new exhibition of Sargent’s work and the accompanying catalogues argue that he was much more than a painter of pretty faces. Instead, the exhibition Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends and catalogues challenge us to see Sargent’s omnivorous mind, which swallowed up nascent modernist movements not just in painting, but also in literature, music, and theater. Sargent the omnivore’s dilemma thus lies in being too many things at once and tasking us to multitask with him.

Professor Tamar Gendler uses the work of three titans of the discipline — Thomas Hobbes, John Rawls, and Robert Nozick — as a lens to guide us through the taut debate over the role of government in society.

Objective truth is fine if we want to know the weather conditions, but to live as a human in a human society, a more nuanced approach is needed to knowledge and understanding.

The 70th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will undoubtedly be accompanied by images of the “mushroom clouds” that rose over both cities. Terrible and sublime, these images burned themselves into the consciousness of “the greatest generation” and every generation since that’s lived with both the legacy of nuclear war and the reality of nuclear energy. A new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario titled Camera Atomica looks deeply at the interrelated nature of photography and nuclear war and peace to come away with a fascinating glimpse of the calculatedly manufactured “atomic sublime” — the fascination with such terrible power at our command that simply won’t let us look away.

Many past campaigns have tackled unique problems that come with running a repeat candidate. Hillary Clinton, who was defeated in the 2008 Democratic primary by Barack Obama, is the most notable example heading into the 2016 presidential election.

PURPOSE: Set Goals, with John Amaechi In this lesson from Big Think+, NBA basketball player John Amaechi shares with you the plan he created as a child to help him […]

What would it take to create a system of principles that guide our behavior without a religious grounding?

Presidents should act more like Kings and Queens if our democracies are to avoid becoming mediocre, argues British Lord Robert Skidelsky.

Businesses that stand out on Facebook are in a better position to grow and succeed. John Rampton, in a piece over at Forbes, explains how to optimize your business page for Facebook search.

It won’t solve everything, but there’s something we can all do to help sequester carbon. It’s as easy as planting a tree. “I believe that we are here for each […]

What is Punk? Punk isn’t about mohawks or studded leather, says Henry Rollins – it’s about resistance to tyranny in any form. How Art Can Change Society, with Sarah Lewis Sarah […]

Last month at The New Republic, before that venerable American periodical sadly imploded, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick wrote an article lamenting that the Supreme Court is increasingly a bastion of elite […]

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upended nearly four decades of campaign-finance law, removing “aggregate caps” on how much political donors may contribute to federal campaigns. From now on, millionaires seeking […]

Social media swashbucklers have been hurling loads of “aarghs” and “mateys” today in celebration of the silliest made-up holiday of them all, International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The only problem: that sort of pirate talk is nothing more than the stuff of 20th century pop culture.

A federal ruling might be a big win for broadband companies who could cut deals with large content providers — Disney or Netflix — to ensure that their web content is delivered faster and more reliably than other sites. 

Edinburgh is the “grey metropolis in the North.” It has been for centuries, and thanks to Unesco, the capital of Scotland will keep its dour exterior for the foreseeable future. […]

All you need are clear skies, a telescope, and a plan. Make it a great one. “For my confirmation, I didn’t get a watch and my first pair of long […]

It has been amusing listening to the religious right’s argument that marriage must be between a man and woman for one simple reason: the institution itself has been crumbling for […]

Are you a PATRIOT or an IGNORAMUS? Test your July 4th knowledge.

The flood of images of violence and unrest continues to flow from Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. (See one […]

What the first signs of life beyond our Solar System will look like. Image credit: Tanga et al., 2012. “Language… has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of […]

According to a Pew Research study, if you count people who change from one type of Protestantism to another, “44% of American adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from […]

Tonight, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson will host a debate about the benefits and pitfalls of the private sector monetizing the many needs of exploring space and beyond.  The Isaac Asimov […]