Search Results

If you know the rules of good taste, pervert them by embracing fashions that are considered passé—and then charge lots of money to buy them.

Like drugs dealers, websites should give users just a taste for free—and then charge them for the real product once they’re hooked.

What is the language switch? It’s like feeling that unexpectedly, you have a button in your brain. When you push it you can get thoughts straight to your target language.

Sex and violence are intertwined in mice. A tiny patch of cells in a male’s brain determines whether it fights or mates—humans are likely to possess a similar circuitry.

Scientists have confirmed an axiom of teenage life: Kids intent on climbing the social ladder at school are more likely to pick on their fellow students.

Lately, both American and British policy makers have been thinking about how to bring some of the competitive discipline of the market to government programs.

Confidential cables disclose that U.S. diplomats were convinced by a Saudi expert that the reserves of world’s biggest oil exporter have been overstated by nearly 40%.

Brilliant improvisers, entrepreneurs don’t start out with concrete goals. Instead, they constantly assess how to use their personal strengths and resources they have at hand.

Companies that will win at search are those that successfully deal with the problem of fixed costs, said Thiel in his keynote address at Big Think’s Farsight 2011 forum.

The actor and Internet entrepreneur shares insights from his grandfather James Rouse’s career as a pioneering urban planner—insights that are relevant to all leaders.

Twenty years into his acting career, Norton still feels like an “idiot” and a “fraud” whenever he begins a new project. This sensation is similar to what all innovators face, […]

Autism science is making great strides, but it may never yield a single cure because autism is likely not one disorder but many.

How the divide in wealth between the rich and the poor is being maintained through marriage.

Public libraries could be taken over by community and voluntary groups, who might actually run them more appropriately for local needs. And they might bring in some fresh ideas.

Has social psychology become a community that is bound together by liberal values and then blind to any ideas or findings that threaten our sacred values? Yes, says Jonathan Haidt.

Part way through a revolution, only one thing seemed certain in Egypt: there is no longer an Arab exception to the worldwide desire for dignity, human rights, and possibly democracy.

It is a dirty little secret that even great companies have to fire the people who do not work out. It does not seem gracious or nice. But that can leave a false impression.

The massive droughts in China underscore the fact that we’re simply running out of the freshwater needed to sustain the earth’s nearly 7 billion people. How can we fix this problem? 

Physics are nothing but the laws of harmonies on a string, and the universe is a symphony.

Though they may not admit it explicitly, most string theorists have given up on the idea of a Unified Theory of Everything.

The competitiveness pact put forward by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy to end the crisis is ambitious, but threatens the social traditions of most European countries, warns El País.

Official groups and allied militia, frequently attack dissidents. It has now happened in Egypt. The most important Facebook page for the protests is being flooded with abusive comments.

What happens to those chimps? Major ad agencies have pledged not to use great apes. Why won’t CareerBuilder?

Researchers discovered that levels of a molecule called neuropeptide Y (NPY) directly relate to whether we have a “glass half empty” or “glass half full” attitude towards life.

As we turn our lives into information property, technology poses fundamental threats to privacy, anonymity and freedom. Salim Ismail outlined these threats in his presentation at Big Think’s Farsight 2011 […]

AOL, a formerly apolitical Web portal, now has an editorial director with a distinctly progressive point of view. And yet, in this Big Think interview, Arianna Huffington says she never […]

New fish farms out at sea, and cleaner operations along the shore, could provide the world with a rich supply of much needed protein while using more sustainable methods.

The best predictor of a country’s future economic health is not the magnitude but the diversity of its production capacity, says M.I.T. economist César Hidalgo.