Culture & Religion — November 25, 2009

Burns & Nobel

It’s been an exciting Wednesday morning here at Big Think. Not only were we pleased to present our Nobel Wisdom series, having interviewed two recent laureates in the past several weeks, but we also had the privilege of sitting down for a conversation with filmmaker Ken Burns.

Burns stopped by the studio to discuss his most recent film, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” as well as his storied career as one of America’s most acclaimed documentary filmmakers. Topics covered included his widely-imitated technique (including the famous “Ken Burns Effect”) and his view of historical study as anchored by the study of human nature. Burns’s interview will be posted in December; in the meantime, we wish our American readers a happy Thanksgiving, and invite all of our readers to enjoy our bounteous Nobel feast.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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