Technology & Innovation — May 18, 2010

On the Bubble

Gary Becker and Richard Posner look at what created the housing market bubble of the previous decade and why financial institutions couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see it.

bigthinkeditor

Gary Becker and Richard Posner look at what created the housing market bubble of the previous decade and why financial institutions couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see it. Becker writes, “There were plenty of warnings that there was a housing bubble; why did the industry ignore them? I think it was another though somewhat more complex example of rational herd behavior.”

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

Lost World

Dozens of new species including the Pinocchio Frog, Gargoyle-Faced Gecko and Strange Pigeon have been discovered in Indonesia’s remote Foja Mountains on the island of New Guinea.