bigthinkeditor
Demonstrating that one is able to conform to curricula currently trumps boldness; seat hours in the auditorium count more than audacity. I wonder if that’s really good for America, though.
Get ready for a rocky year. From now on, rising prices, powerful storms, severe droughts and floods, and other unexpected events are likely to play havoc with the fabric of global society.
As much as I like crowdfunding, that doesn’t mean creative decisions should all be crowd decided. In this case, the creative decisions are based on popular vote, with little artist input.
In ‘Wandering Lonely in a Crowd’, S M Atif Imtiaz’s desire for genuine discussion about Islam in Britain is striking and compelling, writes Charles Moore.
Massive budget slashing can lead to economic disaster, violence and repression. The DC-Wall Street power circuit is blindly pushing an agenda that could lead to massive social upheaval.
At his core, Frank Sinatra was consumed by pain and anxiety. A new book chronicles his irresistible ascent then the loss of altitude which delighted those repelled by his arrogance.
Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia all contain political and demographic ingredients at least as perilous as those that combusted in Tunisia.
Smiles are not simply the expression of an internal feeling. Smiles in fact are only the most visible part of an intimate melding between two minds.
A British nurse who had a long battle with depression has become the first person in the world to benefit from life-changing neurosurgery.
An amibitious project to pipe salt water from the Red Sea into the arid coastal city of Aqaba, Jordan, could turn the region into an oasis through the process of desalination.
If Western atheists left their world of books, conferences, classrooms, and computers to travel more in the developing world, they would find some unfamiliar religious arenas.
Has any concept more completely defined and disfigured public life over the last generation than so-called elitism? The term has created a broad and lasting culture war, says n+1.
Can you really change your partner or spouse? You can’t make them be who you want them to be. But you can make it easier for them to find their own financial solutions.
What is the significance of Wal-Mart’s initiative to sell healthier and cheaper produce? What do we know about what works and what doesn’t in changing people’s eating habits?
Just a few weeks’ worth of light meditation can change the structure of your brain, seemingly for the better. Thirty minutes a day can actually increase people’s capacity for learning.
Nonprofit models of microfinance cannot attract substantial capital, but commercialized microfinance seems increasingly unlikely to have substantial social benefits.
In the sports that best measure athleticism—track and field, mostly—athletic performance has peaked. Athletes’ best sprints, best jumps, best throws—many of them happened years ago.
Videogames consistently fulfill genuine human needs that the real world fails to satisfy and may prove to be a key resource for solving some of our most pressing real-world problems.
The violence of football has always been a concern and the sport has seen periodic attempts at reform. But recent neurological findings have uncovered risks that are more insidious.
Once the mark of sailors and bikers, body art is now sought after by the fashion-hungry. For many, the difference between fine art and modern tattooing has disappeared.
As the search giant’s Chief Executive makes way for one of its co-founders, it’s time to take a look at the company’s future, in which it must seek to tackle the tablet market.
With much of the econ-finance talk these days still centered around the possibility of a looming “double-dip”, two leading indicators point to continued growth, not recession.
Assassination researcher Manfred Schneider says that Congresswoman Gifford’s would-be killer acted not out of irrationality but rather from a hyper-rationality.
Next time you need a boost, think about the story of your ancestors. In a new study, researchers found that thinking about one’s ancestors motivates people.
Stefanos Polyzoides is among the founders of the New Urbanism movement, a reaction against urban sprawl as well as the so-called urban renewal movement of the 1960s.
The question of how forms of writing produce forms of thought is one that the literary critic and legal scholar Stanley Fish explores again in his new book, How to Write a Sentence.
For clients willing to pay large sums, Videogame Adventure Services will construct “adventure games” which blurs real life with fictitious romances and car chases.
As wealth increases, the choices of adults play a much smaller role in determining the mental ability of their children. Parents may think they’re sculptors, but the clay is mostly set.
In the information age, brainy people are rewarded with wealth and influence, says The Economist. But what does this mean for everyone else?
New research finds that lifting weights can augment brain functions. Imagine what someone like Einstein might have accomplished if he had occasionally gone to the gym.