Culture & Religion — May 22, 2010

The Metaphorical Mississippi

100 years after Mark Twain’s death, the Mississippi River that inspired his mature writing has changed, and yet, Twain’s ideas remain discernible through it.

bigthinkeditor

100 years after Mark Twain’s death, the Mississippi River that inspired his mature writing has changed, and yet, Twain’s ideas remain discernible through it. “To know Twain fully, you first have to know the river. He was raised on its banks, but their acquaintance goes much further.”

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

Surprising Science

Green Skies

MIT is designing commercial aircrafts that use 70 percent less fuel than current airplanes after winning a contract from NASA in 2008; air traffic is expected to double by 2035.