June 26, 2013

Supreme Court Tosses DOMA and Prop 8 into the Dustbin of History

“DOMA’s principal effect is to identify and make unequal a subset of state-sanctioned marriages,” wrote Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.

bigthinkeditor

In a separate ruling, high court decided that defenders of California’s gay marriage ban did not have standing, meaning lower court rulings striking down the ban in California will stand.

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

RadioPhobia Strikes Again. And Again.

It’s been a bad few weeks for RadioPhobia, the powerful fear of radiation that far exceeds the actual risk. From three different places come new examples of this version […]