December 10, 2012

Big Ideas for December 10th

bigthinkeditor

Quote of the day:

“We have art in order not to die of the truth.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Today’s Big Ideas:

The National Intelligence Council’s New Report, by Ali Wyne

The World WON’T End. And Neither Will Superstitions, by David Ropeik

Lessons from TED on the dangers of pseudoscience, by Neurobonkers

Would You Save This Man’s Life? The Bystander Effect Revisited, by Daniel Honan

The Moral Importance of Fiction and Literature, by Tauriq Moosa

What not to read today:

Kim Kardashian’s Cat Dies

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.

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

Massive French Open-Air Protest Site Holds Fast

On Tuesday a judge will decide whether to authorize yet another round of evictions from a forest north of Nantes that is home to a growing number of international squatters protesting plans for a proposed airport.