bigthinkeditor

“When you need to have a meeting, have a meeting…The rest of the time, do the work wherever you like.” Seth Godin lists the reasons that the office is (nearly) dead.

Last year’s H1N1 pandemic may have been milder than global health experts had feared, but this is no cause for complacency. Researchers in Hong Kong reported today in the online […]

Jarrett Barrios, the president of GLAAD, was in Big Think’s offices this afternoon to talk about some of the issues involved with gay identity and the challenge of being “out.” […]

While many people think the U.S.’s military superiority is vital to world security, all of the money and energy that we spend on it may be seriously damaging our economy […]

“A combination gene therapy that endows human stem cells with three ways to resist HIV has passed its first safety test in humans,” reports a study published today in Science Translational Medicine.

“A new study from — where else? — France suggests listening to love songs may increase women’s receptivity to amorous advances,” reports Tom Jacobs for Miller-McCune.

Advances in technology have created the right conditions for free Wi-Fi. Coffee shops and hotels that still charge their customers are being unnecessarily extortionate, says Farhad Manjoo for Slate.com.

Besides the questionable legality of unpaid internships, their popularity entrenches a class system where only the affluent have access to good career opportunities, says the L.A. Times.

“Copenhagen’s failure to deliver a single universal deal opens up space for smaller regionally based deals,” says the former U.K. science advisor who is optimistic about climate change solutions.

Glenn Greenwald says today’s news media do not understand what holding authority accountable means; power wins out, he says: government over the press and business over the government.

There is more evidence of how similar humans are to our primate cousins: a new study from Japan has revealed that monkeys love watching television, especially circus acrobatics.

“‘Wicked Lasers’ new handheld super laser could threaten human existence and the world as we know it, according to the manufacturer,” says the Christian Science Monitor.

A former CIA Islamabad station chief says the U.S. should strengthen its ties with the Afghan president’s little brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who leads Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province.

New York is finally on the verge of joining the other 49 states that have adopted divorce laws that do not require couples to establish who is at fault for the split.

Actress and playwright Najla Said says that while growing up in New York—despite being the daughter of Palestinian-American literary theorist Edward Said—she never really identified as Arab-American. “I didn’t seem […]

Bob Lord, Global CEO of Razorfish, one of the world’s largest interactive marketing agencies, stopped by Big Think’s offices today to talk about the changing role of the Chief Marketing […]

Researchers have found that sperm whale waste stimulates carbon removal. More reason to protect whales and thereby marine ecosystems, explains Jennifer Viegas.

“If the people who brought us television had played by the same rules that today’s wireless carriers impose – we’d probably all be listening to the radio,” Ryan Singel claims.

The struggle between BP and the U.S. government takes place amid a much larger conflict — over whether democratic capitalism is the best political-social-economic system, writes David Brooks.

The Economist’s Charlemagne columnist declares Belgium to be a dying country and, for the first time, there’ve been no accusations of exaggeration. What’s going on?

China could be on the cusp of a new movement that markedly improves the lives of its workers, but the country is at an incredibly fragile moment, explains Leo Hindery, Jr.

Bernhard Zand explains why a “frustrated Ankara is turning away from the West and looking east toward Hamas and Iran.”

Research shows good luck superstitions can beneficially affect performance. How? They increase our confidence, explains Lin Edwards.

Most Keynesian economics makes good sense to Tyler Cowen but he has to admit that the principles adhered to in Germany might actually be better than the Keynesian alternatives.

Education, not just sport, has become big business, says Mitch Adams amid the decision to levy heavy sanctions on the University of Southern California’s Athletic Department.

Don’t confuse the international confrontation between Islam and the West with the local problem of absorbing Muslims into European societies, says “Infidel” author Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

“I prefer fiction because in fiction I do whatever I want,” says Chilean-American author Isabel Allende, who has published 18 books of fiction, non-fiction and memoirs over the past three […]

“Why do males of some species attend to their offspring prolongedly, while others tend to spring off post-coitally?” asks Natalie Angier. The answer may relate to the varying social role of infants.

“The poor need not always be with us. That goal can be achieved if we ensure that workers are paid enough to feed their families,” says The L.A. Times, whose city has pioneered legislation on the living wage.

Charles Krauthammer disputes the Obama administration’s claims that Iran is more isolated in the world. Russia, China, Brazil and Turkey have all sought to assist Iran with its energy ambitions.