bigthinkeditor

Using photo mosaics and elevation data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), this video commemorates the 45th anniversary of Apollo 8’s historic 1968 flight by recreating the moment when the crew first saw and photographed the Earth rising from behind the Moon. 

Paul Allen talks about the process of tackling humanity’s greatest challenges through the collaboration of great minds.

Nicholas Negroponte talks about the failings of the current education system and the need for a more nuanced and personalized approach that teaches students how to learn.

Vint Cerf, one of “the fathers of the Internet,” discusses one of the unintended consequences of his creation – the erosion of privacy.

There is only one place in our solar system with stable liquid lakes and seas on its surface, besides planet Earth. Saturn’s moon Titan is this place. 

“He never is alone that is accompanied with noble thoughts.”- John Fletcher (born on this date in 1579)

A million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab.

“Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth, would be to have been young and never dreamed at all.” – Jean Genet

Chinese state television released this video of the Chang’e-3 space probe landing on the Moon, the first soft-landing in three decades.

The idea of uploading your brain to the Internet has been proposed by the likes of Stephen Hawking and Ray Kurzweil. According to Michael Graziano, the question is not if, but when, and what then?  

“A right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you.”- Ramsey Clark (born on this date in 1927)

Do you know the science of global warming? Fortunately, Michael Ranney at the University of California, Berkeley, put together a video that explains the science in less than one minute.

The astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado has estimated there are 50 meteors visible in this composite image of the Geminids meteor shower.

Distrust is not a personality trait, nor a cultural trait. It is learned through experience, and can therefore be unlearned through experience. 

The human face is the most precise signal system we have for our emotions. We can read seven different emotions and determine whether they’re being falsified or whether they are genuine expressions.

Learn about a method for making targeted commitments that succeeded virtually every time.

Google’s recent purchase of the defense contractor Boston Dynamics has raised eyebrows, and also brought the inevitable – if overblown – comparisons between Google and Skynet. 

“Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.”- William Safire (born on this date in 1929)

Over its history the Earth has seen an incredible diversity of life – maybe as many as fifty million species. 

This drone, which weighs just 20 grams, can avoid obstacles without human guidance.

The lunar landing represents a significant milestone for China’s space program. China sent its first astronaut to space in 2003.

Nobody knows when the next galactic supernova might occur, but thanks to the development of massive neutrino detectors, we would have an “unprecedented peek at the action.”

Unfortunately, family vacations can often be an intense time of stress when the ostensible purpose is to relax and recharge.

Jesus and Buddha both embraced the philosophy of love your enemy. Columbia University professor Robert Thurman takes us through the history of vengeance and explains how to minimize contention between you and your enemies.  

If you disregard the original intentions of Bach and the intentions of the church authorities who commissioned his music, you are missing the most subversive element of Bach—his independence of spirit, his humanism.  

Scientific advances are coming fast and furious, and so it is becoming increasingly important to become familiar with aspects of genomics that will impact routine medical care in profound ways.    

Move over Willy Loman. Selling today is about servicing latent and hidden problems, an ability that research shows is common among artists. 

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” ― Jane Austen

Charles Vest, the legendary former president of MIT, has died. Back in 2007 he told Big Think that his fascination with all things physical grew out of taking discarded things apart and building something new with them. 

Ian Fleming’s character is at high risk for sexual dysfunction, along with a long assortment of alcohol-related diseases that will eventually kill him at the age of 56.