bigthinkeditor

In Big Think’s series “How to Write Great Fiction,” 12 celebrated authors give writing tips. Now see how well you know each writer’s work and style.

If diplomacy and pressure fail, and if an Iranian bomb is built or advances to the very threshold, the supposed remedy of a “military solution” would be more unacceptable still.

Today, online, everyone is a writer. Words have become a cheap bumper crop of little distinction. That’s a problem for the rarefied world of print and for artistic criticism.

By 2050, 10 percent of the world population will be speaking Spanish, spurred mostly by its growth in the United States, says Cuban linguist Humberto Lopez Morales.

Nihilism is one state a culture may reach when it no longer has a unique and agreed upon social ground. Harvard philosophy professor Sean Kelly looks for meaning in our secular age.

As more wives out-earn their husbands and outshine them at the office, many couples secretly struggle with reversed gender roles—sometimes leading to adultery or even health issues.

We tend to think of Einstein as a highfalutin theoretical physics guru, but the physicist also worked on much more everyday tasks—like developing an energy-efficient refrigerator.

The parenting price tag has soared to about $220,000 per child. Forget Christmas lists, there’s no end in sight to the add-ons Americans can think of in the cultivation of kids.

Space pioneer Elon Musk hopes to put his name in the history books once again next week, with the planned launch and recovery of the first commercially-operated spacecraft from orbit.

Are suicide bombers religious fanatics? Deluded ideologues? New research suggests something more mundane: They just want to commit suicide.

Organisations from Google to Twitter are achieving some stunning results by carving out time for staff to work on whatever it is that inspires them.

In the history of postwar American liberalism, there has been a slow but steady decline of which liberals have been oblivious, says the editor of The American Spectator Emmett Tyrell.

Developing nations accuse the West of intransigence, as corruption is cited as obstacle to progress. The Independent reports on climate change talks in Cancun, Mexico.

There is worry among some that Europe’s military budget cuts will not only scale back personnel and material, but the continent’s reach and ambition throughout the world.

The phrase “missing link” is almost always a sure indicator that the person employing it has only a very superficial understanding of the way evolution works, says Brian Switek.

What nobody wants to say: the real looming deficit problems are medical. Health costs must be controlled. The rest is peanuts, says former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich.

China insists that its growing military and diplomatic clout pose no threat. The rest of the world, and particularly America, is not so sure, says Edward Carr at The Economist.

Less than a decade after the dot-com bust, a number of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are wondering if investments in tech start-ups are headed toward another big bust.

Social networks have been identified as the key reason why young people from affluent backgrounds secure more jobs in popular professions than poorer peers.

A bigger problem than our undisciplined classification system may be our undisciplined diplomats, says Judge Richard Posner in the wake of the WikiLeaks scandal.

After consumer data is mined by companies, a hypothetical computer program would return the data to consumers so individuals can modify their buying habits in earth-friendly ways.

Only three percent of people who develop Alzheimer’s inherit a rare, genetic early-onset form of the disease. But sussing out its genetic triggers could help to yield treatments for everyone.

Riding the rails with U.S. Amtrack may feel even slower after a Chinese train’s latest record-breaking run. The unmodified passenger train reached a blistering 302 m.p.h.

The debate over net neutrality is reaching a new phase, says Matt Warman. One that depends on defining the nature of the Internet: is it a simple utility or is privileged access allowed?

Is being polite honest? Young adults aren’t quite sure. Being too polite or conscious of the feelings of others is a sign that you are out of touch with your core self, they say.

In contradiction to most cosmologists’ opinions, two scientists have found evidence that the universe may have existed for ever. One is Oxford’s famous Dr. Roger Penrose.

Forget slashing tires. You can trick a cheating ex into thinking he has an STD…or worse. Lucy Knight on the strange, and often murky, market for cybervengeance.

Crucial to an entrepreneur’s success is the idea that he or she can play their hand better than anyone else at the table, but what accounts for such a strong optimistic outlook?

Can the hypothetical X particle solve unanswered questions about the nature of matter: why is there more matter than antimatter, and where and what is dark matter?

The early 20th century was a boom time for the American drinks industry. Prohibition wrecked all of that, severely damaging American’s collective knowledge and experience of drinking.