Guest Thinkers — May 22, 2010

The Richness of Life

“The economic case for global action to stop the destruction of the natural world is even more powerful than the argument for tackling climate change,” the U.N. will report this summer.

bigthinkeditor

“The economic case for global action to stop the destruction of the natural world is even more powerful than the argument for tackling climate change,” the U.N. will report this summer. “Setting up and running a comprehensive network of protected areas would cost $45bn a year globally, according to one estimate, but the benefits of preserving the species richness within these zones would be worth $4-5tn a year.”

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

Guest Thinkers

Forever Guantanamo

Obama’s deadline for closing Guantanamo having passed, “it’s unclear, as we sit today, whether it’s gonna close at all,” says Matt D’Aloisio, the founder of Witness Against Torture.