In 1903, a Vermont doctor bet $50 that he could cross America by car. It took him 63 days, $8,000, and 600 gallons of gas.
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“Imagination is more important than knowledge” is often taken to mean that your conceptions outweigh what’s real. That’s not what he said.
April 10, 2023
Many of the clues are based on content that you can read on Big Think. Good luck!
The moths in your garden might hear your tomato plant’s pain.
The puzzle of play
The purpose of play — for children, monkeys, rats or meerkats — has proved surprisingly hard to pin down. Scientists continue to toss around ideas.
When the going gets tough, nothing beats a wide network of tried-and-true connections.
Mongol forces never fully conquered the continent, but they played a key role in its historical development.
Stars orbiting black holes were observed to move significantly slower than expected. One explanation centers on dark matter.
Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986, finding a bland, featureless world. Now, in 2023, JWST’s sights are similar. There’s a reason for that.
Robots must identify themselves.
It wasn’t merely an act of brutality; it was a condemnation for the afterlife.
Most people care what others think of them. In many situations, that can be leveraged for the common good.
When white dwarfs explode, they create a type Ia supernovae. After decades of following the leading theory, here’s the complete overhaul!
Zombies aren’t a modern-day obsession. Throughout history, fear of the undead led to bizarre burial rituals all over the world.
Fortune cookies emerged from one of America’s darkest moments.
The multi-leveled constructions of metaphysics are the collective workings of a fantastical virtuality. Did you get that?
In the beginning, genes weren’t needed.
Self-help gurus for the digital age.
April 7, 2023
Welcome to the inaugural Big Think crossword puzzle! Each week, we will feature a new crossword, and many of the clues will be based on content that you can read on Big Think. Good luck!
His plan to replace it with homegrown rice did not go well.
From up close, the cracking sound of a thunderclap dominates. From far away, it’s more like a drawn-out rumble. Can science explain why?
We do not need to pause AI research. But we do need a pause on the public release of these tools until we can determine how to deal with them.
FIRE is a lifestyle that promotes extensive saving in order to retire early, despite the fact that early retirement is far from practical.
More than 90 percent of people make a mistake on this test.
Just like with AI, people worried about job security and the spread of disinformation. Machines were destroyed and book merchants were chased out of town.
The biggest lingering question about GPT-4 isn’t if it’s going to destroy jobs or take over the world. Instead, it is this: Do we trust AI programmers to tell society what is true?
When someone attempts to make you afraid of something that hasn’t happened instead of a true, present danger, suspect this nefarious ploy.
By studying the oldest animals, researchers hope to pinpoint factors affecting human longevity.
Einstein called his idea “abominable,” but the world of physics came around to embracing the views of Georges Lemaître.