bigthinkeditor

The Supreme Court should reject AT&T’s claim that it should be shielded in a case involving the FCC and the Freedom of Information Act, says an L.A. Times editorial.

A long-term retreat in snow and ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere is weakening the ability of these seasonal cloaks of white to reflect sunlight back into space and cool global climate.

Patti Smith became a rock star by accident—it made her an icon. She wrote a book—it won a major award. Now, with an album on the way and a U.K. tour, she’s as driven as ever.

From Viagra and saccharine to penicillin and x-rays, science and serendipity often go hand in hand. Here are seven accidental discoveries that changed the world.

Some researchers have explored whether warfare might be explained in part by swings in climate. But what about the opposite effect? Can humanity’s skirmishes change the climate?

The act of writing helps you clarify your thoughts, remember things better, and reach your goals more surely than typing on a computer. Is the pen truly mightier than the keyboard?

The evidence is all around us that Americans are struggling—and often failing—to uphold their preferred desires. New precommitment devices oblige you to protect your long-term interests.

Environmental protection often comes at the expense of the world’s poorest people, who struggle to meet their subsistence needs. Can we expect to find a balance?

A new two-part study published in the journal Energy Policy claims it’s possible and affordable for the world to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

Many kids are vaccinated at age two; some kids start displaying autistic behavior at the same age. “Evidence” that there’s a connection has turned out to be bogus.

The miraculous recovery of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has focused attention on the advances in treatment for brain injuries previously thought to be non-survivable. Tack one up for military medicine.

Is the search industry locked in a race to the bottom or are conditions ripe for a breakthrough? This question will take center stage at a gathering in San Francisco on February 1, to be webcast on BigThink.com.  

We all know people who have remarkable self-control. How do they do it? What’s the secret? It’s partly genetic, but to control yourself you must also control your environment.

Now, more than at any time, Americans need to be reminded what a great country America has been and still is.

A year ago this week, the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to limit in any way the amount of money corporations can spend on attack ads. What’s happened since?

How do we feed the world while saving the planet? Underinvestment and market failures have trapped many countries in a vicious cycle of low productivity and exposure to price hikes.

The Dragon, a new privately funded spacecraft, should revolutionize American space exploration. And make clear the ability to commercialize innovation.

The mistake is thinking that “intellectual property laws” are the same as creative output. It’s a nefarious fallacy. It leads to the false claim: “more IP = more creative economy.

Taking a test is not just a passive way to assess how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and works better than various other techniques.

Leading neuroscientist Vilayanur S Ramachandran shares intriguing case studies revealing the powerful, adaptive potential of the human brain.

A study has found that blindfolded dolphins can pick up on the actions of other dolphins, even imitating their actions.

There is nothing better than being in a classroom with really, really brilliant students, and opening up new worlds to them in the way that a profession opened up new worlds to me.

There is more than a literal truth to the saying that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression,” suggests emerging international research.

In some cases, such as the Giffords shooting and Tunisian revolution, Twitter has proven a real-time news network. But what happens when the medium spreads disinformation?

Researchers have found that people whose last names come later in the alphabet are more impulsive shoppers than those earlier in the alphabet.

Whether there is a God or not, the universe per se cannot have a purpose in any anthropomorphic sense for which that term is usually employed, says Michael Shermer.

You can be sure that the next set you buy will almost certainly have an option to connect to the internet. The challenge manufacturers face is persuading you that it’s worth the effort.

As environmentally friendly labels have proliferated, the meaning of those claims has become increasingly vague. Now some large companies are trying to better define such terms.

In the new medium of digital communication, there is an opportunity to preserve identity—something that has heretofore been available only to kings, pharaohs, and emperors.

The U.S. may be in decline, but the fact that the U.S. asks that question so often is one of the reasons it has not declined. Americans have a strong impulse for course corrections.