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The “magic third” rule: How just one voice can transform a group
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/the-magic-third-rule-how-just-one-voice-can-transform-a-group/
Published: October 29, 2024 14:31
For a long time, only men sat on corporate boards — those “top of the ladder” advisory bodies that are often highly paid and never seem happier than when in the middle of a three-hour meeting. Strangely, there are often around nine or ten people on these…
Why “digital wellbeing” is crucial to our work-life transformation
https://bigthink.com/business/why-digital-wellbeing-is-crucial-to-our-work-life-transformation/
Published: October 29, 2024 13:00
There’s a beautiful scene in the 1993 film Blue by Krzysztof Kieślowski, one of the most iconic and influential film directors of all time. Juliet Binoche holds a sugar cube carefully over a cup of coffee, delicately dipping one small corner in, attending…
The biggest holes in NASA’s suite of observatories
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/biggest-holes-nasa-observatories/
Published: October 29, 2024 06:00
From here on Earth, our views of the Universe are impressive and expansive, but are also fundamentally limited. We can build observatories as large as we like — even on the highest, driest mountaintops our planet has to offer — with instruments that are as…
Einstein didn’t say that: How viral misquotes evolve and replicate
https://bigthink.com/high-culture/how-viral-misquotes-evolve-and-replicate/
Published: October 28, 2024 14:30
As Albert Einstein famously said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Except there’s no evidence that he said or wrote those words. The earliest evidence for this quote comes from a 1981 newspaper article…
“Founder syndrome”: How to move forward when leaders stagnate
https://bigthink.com/business/founder-syndrome-how-to-move-forward-when-leaders-stagnate/
Published: October 28, 2024 13:00
Alongside my work as a member of the faculty of Michigan State University (MSU), I am currently serving a three-year term (2022–2024) as the president of the board of directors of the Educopia Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on supporting…
Creativity is essential. Here’s how it can catalyze social justice.
https://bigthink.com/sponsored/creativity-pioneer/
Published: October 28, 2024 13:00
Can creativity really change the world? Creativity Pioneers argue that it can. By using art, culture, and imagination, these innovators are tackling some of the most pressing social issues of our time.
From building recording studios in African prisons to…
The mystery of the Milky Way’s most bizarre supernova
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/mystery-bizarre-supernova/
Published: October 28, 2024 06:00
Across the cosmos, only two main pathways exist for making a supernova.
Many of the cataclysms that occur in space are typical supernovae: either core-collapse from a massive progenitor star or type Ia from an exploding white dwarf. The most massive…
The exciting research that may cure Parkinson’s
https://bigthink.com/health/the-exciting-research-that-may-cure-parkinsons/
Published: October 27, 2024 15:00
Parkinson’s disease is on the rise. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of the neurodegenerative disease has doubled worldwide since the turn of the century. This has been linked to a constellation of factors, though the most…
The robotaxis have arrived
https://bigthink.com/the-future/the-robotaxis-have-arrived/
Published: October 26, 2024 15:00
This article is an installment of Future Explored, Freethink’s weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by subscribing above.
It’s 2025, and you just rode in a robotaxi for…
Everyday Philosophy: Can you self-identify as a different generation?
https://bigthink.com/thinking/everyday-philosophy-can-you-self-identify-as-a-different-generation/
Published: October 25, 2024 14:30
Is it only your age that makes a person truly Gen-Z?
– Rohan, India
It’s usually poor philosophy to make any argument on the basis of “when I was growing up,” but I’m sure that when I was growing up, we weren’t so obsessed with generational differences.…
Ask Ethan: What’s the deal with cosmic inflation and the Big Bang?
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/ask-ethan-cosmic-inflation-big-bang/
Published: October 25, 2024 06:00
At the start of the 20th century, difficult as it is to believe, we knew almost nothing about the Universe. Sure, we knew about nearby, bright stars, as well as fainter, more distant ones and an ever-growing number of nebulae in the night sky. But all of…
Your cells are dying. All the time.
https://bigthink.com/health/cells-dying/
Published: October 24, 2024 17:00
Billions of cells die in your body every day. Some go out with a bang, others with a whimper.
They can die by accident if they’re injured or infected. Alternatively, should they outlive their natural lifespan or start to fail, they can carefully arrange…
The “peer instinct”: The ancient tribal instinct behind human culture
https://bigthink.com/the-past/the-peer-instinct/
Published: October 24, 2024 14:30
Three major tribal instincts evolved at different stages of the Stone Age. They helped our forebears learn the ways of their group and act upon them. In more academic terms, they encode group patterns and then enact these patterns. You can think of these…
The new ethos permeating the investment world
https://bigthink.com/business/the-new-ethos-permeating-the-investment-world/
Published: October 24, 2024 13:00
Here’s a new theory of mine: the VC-funded mantra of “move fast and break things” is over. In its place, investors and operators are employing a new strategy — one built around prioritizing durability over speed of growth.
This week, I wrote about this…
Einstein: the lone genius is pure mythology
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/einstein-lone-genius-mythology/
Published: October 24, 2024 06:00
Many of us, when we think about scientists, think of them as followers, rather than as trailblazers. Nearly all of them simply gobble up the prevailing wisdom of the day, falling into line by following accepted lines of thinking with barely any imagination…
A new spin on the “Stoned Ape Hypothesis”
https://bigthink.com/the-past/a-new-spin-on-the-stoned-ape-hypothesis/
Published: October 23, 2024 15:53
In the realm of human evolution, few theories have captured the public imagination quite like the “Stoned Ape Hypothesis.” Originally proposed by ethnobotanist Terence McKenna in his 1992 book Food of the Gods, this provocative idea has recently resurged…
3 brilliant critical thinking tools used by Daniel Dennett
https://bigthink.com/the-learning-curve/3-brilliant-critical-thinking-tools-used-by-daniel-dennett/
Published: October 23, 2024 14:00
Daniel Dennett spent his career as a philosopher studying the mind, but by his own admission, he was always more of an engineer at heart. His intellectual drive was an ever-present enthusiasm for explaining how things worked and why they happen as they do.…
8 lessons on lifelong learning from an astrophysicist
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/8-lessons-lifelong-learning-astrophysicist/
Published: October 23, 2024 06:00
Although most of us are fascinated with astrophysics — the science of what naturally forms all throughout the entirety of the cosmos — very few of us actually embark down the path of becoming an astrophysicist. To get there, one must not only master a…
Holocaust survivor on freeing yourself from the prison of your mind
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/holocaust-survivor-on-freeing-yourself-from-the-prison-of-your-mind/
Published: October 22, 2024 18:10
“Is she your mother or your sister?” A seemingly innocent question, perhaps even a flattering one under the right circumstances. Such circumstances, though, would not be found in Auschwitz.Â
Josef Mengele asked Edith Eva Eger this question when she first…
“It’s just like plugging in your phone”: The mindset shift needed to scale EVs
https://bigthink.com/the-present/ev-mindset-shift/
Published: October 22, 2024 17:00
Global sales of electric vehicles (EVs) are racing ahead. Around 14 million passenger EVs were bought worldwide in 2023 – up from 10 million the previous year.
To accommodate this surge, cities everywhere are expanding their charging networks. But the…
“Move fast and break things”? Slow down and go long
https://bigthink.com/the-long-game/move-fast-and-break-things-slow-down-and-go-long/
Published: October 22, 2024 14:00
Over the last couple of decades, a particular ideology — based around speed of execution — began to insinuate itself into modern business culture. Silicon Valley “disruptors” like Mark Zuckerberg and Travis Kalanick enticed a new generation of…
Indispensable? Why some leaders should embrace succession
https://bigthink.com/business/indispensable-why-some-leaders-should-embrace-succession/
Published: October 22, 2024 13:00
After so many years in the role, a CEO’s sense of self can become deeply entwined with the job so that it is hard for the individual to envision flourishing in life after stepping down. Some CEOs, therefore, resist handing off longer than they should, and…
How has the James Webb Space Telescope changed cosmology?
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/james-webb-space-telescope-changed-cosmology/
Published: October 22, 2024 06:00
It’s hard to fathom, but it’s barely been two years since the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began its science operations in July of 2022. Back then, we had an incredible amount of information about our Universe that we had already uncovered, as well as…