Technology & Innovation

To make solar panels, silicon wafers must be heated to high temperatures and that means using a lot of power. But a new optical furnace uses light to heat the cells which requires half the energy.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is putting up his own money to build the next Spruce Goose: A plane that will launch satellites—and eventually people—into Earth’s orbit from 30,000 feet.

A study has found that 48% of consumers feel overwhelmed by the relentless onslaught of new high-tech products. They also fear living in an ever- thickening cloud of radio waves.

There’s a deep split in the European Union post the euro crisis summit. With Britain sidelined and other member states feeling steamrolled by Germany and France, what lies ahead?

Just like laboratory animals that receive positive reinforcement, humans want to repeat successful behavior. But the world is a complex place and causation is not as simple as we would wish.

The most powerful tools for stopping cancer may be those of the computer scientist rather than the physician. Genome sequencing algorithms may provide for personalized cancer treatment. 

Canadian researchers are better understanding how a sedentary lifestyle affects your long term health. Sitting for too long may actually overwhelm the benefits of exercise, they say.

Founder of the software developer 37signals, Jason Fried began to reconsider the value of year-end cash bonuses as the business grew and the reward of paper money became rote.

Using super cloud computing, IBM has created a public database of chemical compounds extracted from 4.7 million patents and donated it to the National Institutes of Health.

We’ve enjoyed exponential increases in computing power that have driven down the price of consumer electronics. All that may be about to end unless an alternative to silicon can be found.

If managed intelligently, efforts like Mark Tercek’s with the Nature Conservancy may succeed in funding ambitious environmental projects that would otherwise remain on the drafting table, and transforming the way industry understands its relationship with the Earth.

Many companies extol the value of work-life balance for their employees, but the reality for senior executives? There isn’t any. 

The yearly U.N. climate conference currently hosted by Durban, South Africa, is seeing yet another disappointing result. As nations leave the Kyoto protocol, there is no new agreement.

Mishandling personal data could cost multinationals billions of euros in fines and social media users would have a ‘right to be forgotten’ under proposed new E.U. data protection laws.

Using lots of brains each doing small tasks to together complete major jobs is not new but is enjoying a renaissance. Examples include Mechanical Turk, CrowdForge, and CastingWords.

Merkel and Sarkozy appear to have agreed on a fast-track eurozone consolidation on a take it or leave it basis as far as the rest of the E. U . is concerned.

A provision of the new health care law, which requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers’ premium dollars they collect on actual medical care, has entered into force.

California’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is not a federal crime to sell your bone marrow. A lawyer in the case says your marrow could go for as much as three grand.

A well-managed loop that links customer experience feedback with recommendations on social networks like Facebook and Twitter can increase traffic and create happier customers.

Big Think seems to be involved in a lot of meme-creation these days. And two prominent examples, featuring past Big Think experts Neil deGrasse Tyson and Salman Rushdie, happen to involve the word “badass.”

Once the purview of lean start ups, big business is finally learning the disruptive innovation game. By entering new markets and listening to the little guys, big may be here to stay.

In most workplaces, “you get promoted and promoted and promoted until you don’t perform that well,” says Ariely. But to what end? Ultimately, “if you follow this process, everybody will get to the level of incompetence.”

Hundreds of thousands of curious minds have signed up for the online technology courses. Now the college will offer courses on information technology and business, also for free.

Economic growth is a tough thing to control if the tools you’re using only deal with one part of the economy.  The problem is that when you push on one […]

If a public stock offering went ahead, some say Facebook would use the cash for more acquisitions and refine or work on new projects, such as a Facebook phone or netbook.

Amid growing concerns about the psychological impact of widespread digital ‘enhancement’ of photos comes a new tool to reveal how much fashion and beauty pics have been altered.

Responding to privacy concerns, the European Commission plans to crackdown on Facebook allowing users’ most personal information to be used to create bespoke advertising.

If your product doesn’t need to be touched or demonstrated and is relatively small, your retail footprint is going to shrink. Bad news for retail clerks but exciting for entrepreneurs. because it could become easier to sell products in places that you couldn’t previously.Retail is going to shrink and proliferate. 

Could the European Central Bank help avert a Euro meltdown if it bought up the bonds of ailing euro-zone countries on a bigger scale, thereby easing fears of their default?

There are fears on both sides of the political spectrum in France that if China helps fund a European bailout it will come at the cost of some of their sovereignty.