August 14, 2013

“I am sorry for unintended consequence of my actions.”

Facing up to 90 years of jail time for leaking classified documents, Bradley Manning apologized during the sentencing phase of his trial.

bigthinkeditor

Facing up to 90 years of jail time for leaking classified documents, Bradley Manning apologized during the sentencing phase of his trial.

“I am sorry that my actions hurt people” he told the court. “I am sorry that they hurt the United States…When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people.”

What do you think?

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

Ideas are the New Widgets

Do you know what a “tiger mom” is? Does the phrase “the tipping point” immediately bring Malcolm Gladwell to mind? “Idea entrepreneurs,” argues John Butman, are a new and influential breed, driven primarily by passion for an idea and the desire to spread it.