Technology & Innovation — April 16, 2010

Risking It

Economists Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff say that people in their 20s and 30s should take out all of their retirement savings and buy stocks on margin.

bigthinkeditor

Economists Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff say that people in their 20s and 30s should take out their retirement savings and buy stocks on margin. They think that people “seriously under-invest in the market for the first 25 years of their working life,” and that if young people did invest they would reduce their overall risk by 20%. “The increased market exposure when young allows you to have less exposure later on,” says Nalebuff.

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

Space Robot

A human-shaped robot is being sent to the International Space Station to serve as an assistant to the astronauts living there. The bot will eventually be used to help with extravehicular activities.