bigthinkeditor

Philosophy and physics are not often thought of together in academia. While physicists develop calculations and models to describe the world around them, philosophers are more interested in the fuzzier […]

“Why does spicy food taste ‘hot’? After all, a chili pepper at room temperature will still ‘burn’ our tongue and cause us to sweat.” The Frontal Cortex on the physiology of taste.

“Extreme inequality in the U.S. is the result of tax-cutting ideology, which showers largesse on the GOP’s deepest-pocketed supporters.” Yale and Berkeley political science professors weigh in.

“With her latest show of edgy work on view in Berlin, Yoko Ono proves she can still pack a punch.” Intelligent Life reviews the artist’s show, Das Gift.

“Nations laid out their claims to territory in the polar North yesterday and the vast untapped mineral wealth that lies under the Arctic Ocean.” The Independent reports.

“Computer simulations show that a stiff wind blowing from the east for 12 hours could have given the Israelites a land bridge that allowed them to escape Egypt over 3000 years ago.”

“A newly-leaked study—which advises the German military—paints a bleak picture of the post-peak oil world, including a complete market collapse and various forms of social unrest.”

“Today, the ‘frankenfish’—a genetically modified salmon. Tomorrow, a ‘frankenpig’? Probably.” The Christian Science Monitor on the future of food in America.

How you sit and which hand you wright with may in part determine you political preferences. Recent research reveals that irrational processes account for much of our behavior.

Business and economics, not technology, are the real keys to progress in the energy frontier, says Department of Energy Under Secretary Steven Koonin.

“Brain imaging is not a very good way to test subtle distinctions [in the brain]…it’s like trying to find out something about New York City by studying New York State,” […]

“There’s no true power struggle within the Republican Party over ‘tea party’ candidates.” Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg debunks the media narrative du jour.

Subtitled Bollywood films are proving a boon to literacy in India. The Boston Globe reports that communities gather around old TV sets for entertainment and education.

“People’s willingness to believe or discount scientists depends mostly on ideology, or what a new study’s authors call ‘cultural cognition’.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“He’s been sly, sad, unwatchably private, two writers and a drag queen, and now he’s directing. Tom Shone traces the career of Philip Seymour Hoffman.”

“Are Georgia, Alabama and Florida fighting over water or over growth?” The Economist explains that population growth has put pressure on regional water resources.

“New case studies focus on rare illusory body perceptions that could answer questions about how we maintain a ‘self’.” Scientific American on how the mind invents the ‘I’.

“Food is at the center of health and illness and so doctors must make all aspects of it—growing, buying, cooking, eating—a mainstay of their personal lives and practices.”

“Knowledge is fleeting. Knowing how to think and behave is what endures.” The Frontal Cortex defends standardized tests as a way to measure intelligence metrics that matter.

“M.I.T. biological engineers have found a way to convert carbon-dioxide emissions to useful building materials, using genetically altered yeast.”

“Narcissists, new experiments show, are great at convincing others that their ideas are creative even though they’re just average.” Science on business and self-love.

In a special Big Think conversation arranged by Discover magazine and published online today, Dr. Antonio Damasio, a behavioral neurobiologist at the University of Southern California speaks with novelist Siri […]

“The notion that without the $700bn bailout we would be reduced to bartering was a ruse by the banks to get taxpayers’ money.” Dean Baker says we were taken in by fat cats.

“Yemen faces a potential national security crisis if its water resources continue to dry up, however solutions do exist.” A Harvard professor of Arab studies explains.

“The only policy technique that has a shot [at increasing demand] is tax cuts—specifically cuts on the consumer side, since that would target the weak demand affecting businesses.”

A proposed international Internet treaty “would enshrine in law the founding principles of open standards and net neutrality, and protect the web from political interference.”

“The ex-president gives a sense of day-to-day life in the Oval Office—and plays the blame game.” The L.A. Times reviews the diaries Carter wrote during his presidency.

“Talking about nature and nurture as separate, clear-cut forces is far adrift from the complexities of developmental science.” The New Scientist on an aging view of development.

“These days many companies are obsessed with fun.” The Economist laments employers who spread the idea of having fun at work like a disgusting disease.

A team of consciousness scientists in Wisconsin are exploring new frontiers, “translating the poetry of our conscious experiences into the precise language of mathematics.”