bigthinkeditor

More fast growth among global for-profit universities seems probable and the number of globally mobile students is likely to surge as higher education’s globalization continues.

Publishing houses are more relevant than ever in the digital era, says Ursula Mackenzie, chair of the U.K. Trade Publishers Council. And demand for print works remains very strong.

Ever since she wrote a New York Sun article about why she let her 9-year old son ride the subway alone, journalist Lenore Skenazy has been lambasted by the media […]

Now that August, Big Think’s month of thinking dangerously, is over, we’d like you to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to 10 of the radical ideas we presented.

“How can economic modernization be combined with cultural robustness and social well-being?” Columbia Economics professor Jeffrey Sachs looks at Bhutan for clues to the answer.

“As far as scientists can tell, we humans seem to be the only species that shed tears for emotional reasons.” Is there an evolutionary advantage to being inspired to weep?

“If u really r annoyed by the vocabulary of the text generation, it turns out they were doing it in the 19th century—only then they called it emblematic poetry, and it was considered terribly clever.”

The Economist questions both the economic and moral justifications for the rising popularity of privately operated state and federal prisons. Contracting-out is not the same as privatization.

While we witness the transition from paper to digital publishing, The Atlantic looks back on ten prior revolutions in literacy from hieroglyphs to Hellenic song to the printing press.

“Walking up the side of buildings like Spiderman could soon be a reality, scientists have claimed.” But the new technology was inspired by the gecko rather than the spider.

“A debate on Cartesian dualism has led to radically differing approaches to the treatment of depression.” A new book reveals how much is at stake in our understanding of the mind.

“Individuality, like civilization itself, is such a hard-won, fragile thing.” David Rieff says comradeship, while often healthy, can have terrible moral consequences in large groups.

Jonah Lehrer at Frontal Cortex explains the most recent housing slump in terms of behavioral psychology: because humans innately fear loss, both sides of the market have stalled.

Technology Review profiles the year’s top young innovators under 35—impressive inventions in the fields of computing, web, communications, biomedicine and business are on display.

What happens to a child when Atlas Shrugged becomes a bedtime story? New satire at McSweeney’s: ‘Our daughter isn’t a selfish brat; your son just hasn’t read Atlas Shrugged’.

It’s not all about talent, says Jonah Lehrer at the Frontal Cortex. Log 10,000 hours of practice, get started at an early age, diversify your interests and live in a small population center.

“A study released Tuesday suggests that a new species of microbe is consuming the undersea plumes in the Gulf oil spill—perhaps more quickly than scientists anticipated.”

“Scientists have reacted with anger at a court ruling that strikes down Barack Obama’s decision to greatly expand medical research using stem cells taken from human embryos.”

Praise for Edward Hopper at the Whitney: “Hopper, if provincial, is powerfully so. He sets today’s conventions, in art and elsewhere, into relief. He enriches the American darkness.”

“Let us by all means make the ‘Ground Zero’ debate a test of tolerance. But this will be a one-way street unless it is to be a test of Muslim tolerance as well,” Hitchens says.

WEIRD stands for western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic. Though WEIRD people are a minority in global terms, they constitute the field of study for most psychological research.

How can government protect you from your own harmful desires like gambling and drinking? New ‘self-exclusion’ policies allow people to plan ahead for those moment of impulse.

Bill Gates says the government should do more R&D in the energy sector, that a Manhattan Project for sustainable energy won’t work and that a carbon tax is necessary.

Twenty inventions will compete for a prize of $30,000 at the design competition sponsored by British inventor James Dyson. A life raft that makes saltwater potable is in the running.

The rate of change in our culture is increasing—and in order to compete, businesses need to increase their rate of change as well, says management guru John Kotter.  In his […]

Amid questions over U.K. taxpayer money spent on sex services for the disabled, Naomi Jacobs rejects the “myth” that the disabled need to exploit prostitutes to have sex.

New research once again shows that the poor are not only more generous than those wealthier and they are also more charitable, trusting and helpful.

“Disney has a long history of dress policies and is within its rights in restricting where a restaurant worker can wear a hijab,” says the L. A. Times in an editorial.

“There’s a reason we’re fighting to keep this unretouched image of Aniston on our website. And it’s not just because we like her freckles.” Jezebel on the impact of for retouching.

“The messages lost through faulty translation in Afghanistan are sabotaging the mission there as badly as any physical enemy ever could,” warns Neil Shea.