Stephen Johnson
Managing Editor, Big Think
Stephen Johnson is the Managing Editor of Big Think. Formerly a long-time contributor to Big Think, he is a St. Louis-based writer and editor whose work has been featured in U.S. News & World Report, PBS Digital Studios, Eleven Magazine, and The Missourian.
Swirling in the Pacific Ocean is a loose patch of garbage that measures 1 million square miles—about three times the size of France. Now, one organization is beginning to clean it up.
Facebook allowed advertisements promoting gay conversion therapy to be targeted to users who had ‘liked’ pages related to LGBTQ issues, according to a recent investigation by The Telegraph.
A recently solved murder case from the Netherlands illuminates some of the promises and ethical questions raised by the police practice of using genealogy databases to identify criminal suspects.
The era of cheap energy is coming to an end and societies will need to reshape energy consumption and infrastructure or face consequences, warns a new scientific background paper issued to the United Nations.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump claimed that Google is deliberately manipulating its algorithms to shut out conservative media outlets from news search results.
A former Vatican ambassador has accused Pope Francis and other church leaders of wittingly covering up sexual abuse, an unprecedented accusation that highlights escalating tensions within the Catholic Church.
After conducting a year-long investigation into a campaign against Rohingya Muslims, a United Nations panel found evidence that Myanmar security forces committed “the gravest crimes under international law.”
A new study shows how bots and Russian trolls have been spreading misinformation and confusion on Twitter about vaccination in an apparent attempt to sow discord among Americans.
A new study on global alcohol consumption, said to be the largest and most detailed of its kind, says the “safest level of drinking is none.”
The Justice Department has long held the view that a sitting president cannot be indicted. However there is a fail-safe mechanism in the law reserved for special circumstances.
Some Democrats and political analysts are calling Trump an ‘unindicted co-conspirator’ after his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight felonies.
Two men formerly close to President Donald Trump are now facing prison in a development that could prove consequential for Trump’s longevity in office and the U.S. political system in general.
Maryland officials want lawmakers to support language that would require vendors of elections services to disclose when a foreign actor takes control of one of their companies.
Scientists may have found a reliable way to use a bacterial enzyme to convert any type of blood into type O, which is compatible with nearly everyone.
A team of archaeologists has discovered 3,200-year-old cheese after analyzing artifacts found in an ancient Egyptian tomb. It could be the oldest known cheese sample in the world.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has accused Facebook of violating the Fair Housing Act, an accusation that was also made by the National Fair Housing Alliance in March.
The Satanic Temple unveiled a statue of the occult idol Baphomet outside the Arkansas State Capitol building on Thursday to protest the Ten Commandments monument already on capitol grounds.
After speaking with the world’s “top business leaders”, President Donald Trump has asked the SEC to study the potential impacts of removing rules that require companies to file reports with the agency every three months.
Out of 45 samples, glyphosate was present in all but two, and almost three-quarters of the samples were found to have glyphosate levels that exceeded the EWG’s ‘health benchmark’.
Over the past 70 years, the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania has been covering up child sexual abuse by hundreds of priests, according to a new report issued by a grand jury on Tuesday.
A new study used massive amounts of data from an online dating service to explore what makes someone desirable, and how people go about attracting partners online.
The Union of Concerned Scientists recently surveyed more than 63,000 scientists from 16 federal agencies, revealing a range of attitudes toward the current administration.
The FBI has warned banks that a group of criminals might be planning a large-scale ‘ATM cash-out’ after receiving a tip from an unknown source.
Starting this fall, public schools in Florida will be required to display the words “In God We Trust” in a noticeable place within each building used by a district.
Chinese hackers at DEFCON have demonstrated how they were able to hack an Amazon Echo unit, enabling them to listen and record unsuspecting targets.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former senior aide to President Donald Trump, says she’s recorded multiple secret audio tapes at the White House, including one of her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly.
A new approach to fighting the opioid crisis involves sending letters to doctors after their patients overdose on prescription drugs.
The time has come for Space Force, Vice President Pence told an audience at the Pentagon on Thursday.
The Academy is trying to win back viewers with a reboot, one that brings a new ‘popular film’ category, a shorter broadcast time and an earlier date to the annual ceremony.
New York City passed legislation that caps new licenses for drivers with companies like Uber and Lyft in an effort to stop the erosion of the taxi industry and to study the effects the ride-sharing industry has on the city’s economy and traffic congestion.