Politics & Current Affairs

Another great week in Big Think comments. 

The Washington Post created a Twitter account that automatically retweets all the tweets from the people whom President Donald Trump follows.

The newest viral video is from… 1947?

Scientists have used CRISPR-Cas9 to clone virus-free piglets as organ donors for humans.

This season of Game of Thrones has been especially political, and episode 7 relates to the social and political climate of the U.S. like never before.

A pastor has come out in support of President Donald Trump’s authority to use force with North Korea.

The cost-effectiveness of green technology makes it tough to ignore. 

The bad news, the possibility of epidemics. The good news, it may help slow global warming.  

There’s surprisingly little evidence that proves recommended courses are the best treatment.   

Rationality isn’t the rule, it’s rare. That’s true of the sort of optimizing rationality that economists presume we all have (even though many economists themselves fall short of that standard).  

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has introduced the Marijuana Justice Act, a federal bill that would nationally legalize marijuana.

Did you win our Comment Of The Week? Only if you’re funny, eye-opening, and informative. 

There’s another safe way to observe the “Great American Eclipse,” too.   

Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. Author and former Wall Street hedge fund analyst Sheelah Kolhatkar on the reality and the dangers of the financial industry today. 

Edward Luce’s new book is The Retreat of Western Liberalism, but let’s clarify its logic. 

A new report shows a marked uptick in individualism worldwide. The collective voice of societies will be the loser. 

National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts stands to lose billions of dollars of student-loan debt if it can’t prove ownership.

All those donated clothes are interrupting production of local textiles. 

Key logic in America’s founding documents is now too often neglected. Do you know what “the Declaration” lists as the first justification for America’s Independence?

Should we create a new interpretation of masculinity or build a gender neutral world?   

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto just took one giant leap forward in his nation’s drug policies.

Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. Actor Timothy Spall on the layers of contradictions and complexities that define a person, and what’s underneath. 

It turns out most of the ocean’s plastic is coming from a single corner of the world.

Do volcanoes contribute a significant amount of CO2 to the atmosphere compared to humans?

Education executive Jeff Livingston  makes the case that our old higher-educational model is obsolete for our current reality.

How can we make the internet a better place for kids? Google has just released a free program called Be Internet Awesome to educate kids on phishing, passwords, media literacy, and being kind online. Will it help?

Scientists are starting to run for office to bring evidence-based reasoning back to government.

The Space Aggressor squadrons develop strategies to defend against space-oriented attacks.   

“The most important, obvious realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see.”  

Stephen M. Walt, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, tackles some seemingly non-controversial statements about human rights, democracy, and international law.