Words of Wisdom — October 6, 2014

Jacques Cousteau on Scientists

“What is a scientist after all? It is a curious person looking through a keyhole, the keyhole of nature, trying to know what’s going on.”

bigthinkeditor

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997) was a French filmmaker, oceanographer, and conservationist best known for his documentary television series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Before climbing aboard his ship Calypso and donning his famous red beanie for the TV cameras, Cousteau served 19 years in the French Navy and helped invent the Aqua-Lung, the world’s first scuba device. Cousteau was highly decorated through his life and was a member of the Académie française until his death in 1997.

“What is a scientist after all? It is a curious person looking through a keyhole, the keyhole of nature, trying to know what’s going on.” -Jacque Cousteau

Cousteau’s grandson, Fabien Cousteau, is also an ocean explorer, as well as a Big Think expert.

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.

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Earlier this year, doctors at the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine successfully implanted lab-grown vaginas in four patients with underdeveloped sex organs. Now the team is looking to replicate that success with men via lab-grown penises.