bigthink.com
Every bigthink.com story we have translated and published, newest first. · 54 stories
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The Philosopher’s Guide to Uncertainty
There is a paradox at the heart of being human. On the one hand, we have to make plans for the future. We go to jobs, book vacations, and sa
Journal
The Philosopher’s Guide to Uncertainty
There is a paradox at the heart of being human. On the one hand, we have to make plans for the future. We go to jobs, book vacations, and sa
Journal
Ask Ethan: Can someone possibly see the edge of spacetime?
In our Universe, in all directions and in all locations, there’s simply more “stuff” that space is full of everywhere we look. On the larges
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The invisible forces that create talent and elite performance
Talent isn’t a gift we’re born with – it’s a signal we’ve been reading completely wrong. Author Daniel Coyle breaks down the common traits s
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A study claimed UFOs visited Earth in the 1950s. Then scientists checked the math.
The announcement made headlines. In October 2025, a group of researchers published a paper in a well-regarded, peer-reviewed astronomical jo
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The incentive problem at the heart of modern science
In 1883, the British physicist Joseph John Thomson wrote his master’s thesis, A Treatise on the Motion of Vortex Rings, exploring the fluid
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The act of measuring reality alters what you’ll observe
When we divide up matter into the smallest possible chunks that it’s made of — into the stuff that can be divided or split no further — thos
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The sky is blue. The ocean is, too. But the reasons why are very different.
If you’ve ever been curious about the world you live in, you’ve probably wondered why the sky is blue. It’s a question that most children as
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The living world is forcing scientists to rethink purpose
Alan Love studies how scientists think about life, purpose, and agency. In this full interview, he offers a wide-ranging guide to purpose in
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New video: Largest-scale cosmic test ever favors dark matter over MOND
Anytime there’s a chance to subject our Universe to a new cosmic test, it’s imperative that we do it. First off, it gives the Universe a cha
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NASA’s Hubble opens the earliest window into the young Milky Way
The Milky Way, spanning over 100,000 light-years, is our galactic home. Among its many discoveries, the ESA’s Gaia mission has found that th
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The outsized power of a great short story
In ninth grade, Ms. Hayes, my enthusiastic, whip-smart English teacher with expectations to match, handed out an unassuming packet a few pag
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A field guide to seeing through false expertise
Information overload is causing a credibility crisis. Paradoxically, reliable information has never been easier to access, but harder to fin
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The 2 behaviors that make you socially magnetic
A few months ago, I was queuing for free tacos at my coworking space in London. And because nothing unites people like free food, half the b
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Ask Ethan: Does uneven cosmic expansion change our fate?
One of the greatest achievements of the past 100 years is learning our place in the Universe: where it came from, how it got to be the way i
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Terance Tao: Understanding 6 essential mathematical concepts
Terence Tao has spent decades solving problems most people can’t even state, and he says he’s never had a single eureka moment. In this conv
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Earth’s oldest trees reveal history’s strongest solar storms
Although humanity continuously reckons with many problems here on Earth — war, political turmoil, epidemics and pandemics, all while the ene
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How to build trust by saying “I don’t know”
I’m 17, ankle-deep in a muddy pitch, and screaming at the referee. I should note that he is a fully grown adult and technically outranks me.
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Flying clocks in opposite directions around the world proved Einstein right
In 1905, our conception of the Universe changed forever when Einstein put forth his special theory of relativity. Prior to Einstein, scienti
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The case for breaking out of your academic box
Alan Love, philosopher and Director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota, makes the historical c
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Cosmic birefringence: the signal that could upend cosmology
One of the most enduring principles in the entire Universe is the cosmological principle: an outgrowth of the Copernican revolution. Coperni
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For women and children in West Africa, medical treatment often came too late. Then one model changed where care begins.
In 2009, a community health worker in the bustling capital of Bamako, Mali, found a young boy at home who had become dangerously ill within
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Pressure doesn’t create leaders. It reveals what we failed to rehearse.
Leadership isn’t defined only by the biggest moments we face. It’s shaped in the moments between them: the first five minutes after a reorga
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“Dirty snowballs” have joined together since the planets formed
Across cosmic time and space, stellar systems form. This image shows the Orion Molecular Clouds, the target of the VANDAM survey. Yellow dot
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