Surprising Science — May 7, 2010

Contest to WIN an Autographed Book & Photo

If you are a registered user of Big Think, you have the opportunity to win an autographed copy of one of my books and an 8×10 autographed color photo. The book choices include “Physics of the Impossible,” “Parallel Worlds,” “Visions,” “Hyperspace,” and “Beyond Einstein.”

To be entered into the contest, simply answer the question below by posting a comment in the comment box. You have to be a registered user of Big Think in order to post a comment. (REGISTER HERE if you haven’t already.)

The Question:

If you could travel through time, where would you go and what would you do?

If you choose to travel to the PAST, you can bring nothing more than one piece of literature to leave behind. Your time is limited and you can only stay for one full day.

Two winners will be chosen on Thursday, May 20th and be announced here on the blog.

Good luck!

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.

▸

7 min

—

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.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

The Return of the Nativist

The election of Barack Obama was a watershed moment in American history. Just twenty years before it was hard to imagine that a majority of Americans would vote for a […]