Big Think

Affirmative Action is Up to Justice Kennedy

Steven Mazie — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:48:16 -0400

This is an edited version of a Praxis post that originally appeared on October 9, 2012. We are hours or days away from a ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas , a case in which a white woman claims she was rejected from the university because of her race. Ten years after the Court ruled in ...

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The Jobs of the Knowledge Economy Are Not What You Think

Big Think Editors — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The knowledge economy is about producing ideas, not goods, the story goes. And manufacturing, the kind of work that involves producing physical goods, does not involve knowledge. This is a false dichotomy, says Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih. We have a misconception that making ...

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More Proof That Trees Make Cities Healthier

Kecia Lynn — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:30:00 -0400

What's the Latest Development? Recently published online in Environmental Pollution is a study by the US Forest Service and the Davey Institute that describes the health impacts of trees in 10 major cities. By measuring concentrations of fine particulate pollution -- known as PM2.5, in which ...

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Global Language - The Chinese Dream, no wait, Meng!

Thorsten Pattberg — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:58:29 -0400

WESTERN commentators translate the Zhongguo Meng as "Chinese Dream," thereby patronizing China’s socio-cultural originality and marketing it as a franchise of the "American Dream". But are the two civilizations really sleeping on the same pillow? Xi Jinping never said “dream” What is that ...

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Strike A Pose: Cassini's Taking Pictures Of Earth In July

Kecia Lynn — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:19:11 -0400

What's the Latest Development? On July 19, Earth's residents will get to see what their home looks like from Saturn: specifically, from the perspective of NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which will take pictures of the neighborhood where it's been living for the last nine years. Cassini's camera will ...

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A Harvest for Monsanto: Company Exec Wins Award for GM Foods

Big Think Editors — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:12:14 -0400

The $250,000 World Food Prize is given to people who improve the "quality, quantity or availability" of food in the world, and one of this year's co-recipients is Robert T. Fraley, the executive vice president and chief technology officer at Monsanto. Fraley, along with two other scientists ...

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Just My Luck?: How our beliefs about success shape us

Dave Nussbaum — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:31:14 -0400

Steven Mazie has a post on the front page today about Ben Bernanke's Princeton commencement speech this year, and his call to the graduating class to "share their luck with others." As it happens, last year's Princeton commencement speaker, Michael Lewis delivered a similar message. I wrote about ...

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The Most Under-Rated Relationship Skill: Suppression (Or, “Don’t Just Do Something. Stand There.”)

Pamela Haag — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:58:17 -0400

George Will used an apt phrase to describe the policy options toward Syria. When faced with universally bad choices, he opined, “Don’t just do something. Stand there.” Better to do nothing than to do the wrong thing just to do something. This twist on the original phrase captures an invaluable ...

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"A Drunk Mind Speaks A Sober Heart." Really?

Nick Clairmont — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:55:16 -0400

"A drunk mind speaks a sober heart" is a saying often attributed to French Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jaques Rousseau, himself quite a drunk. The idea is that when we are drunk we lose our inhibitions and allow ourselves to verbalize our true thoughts and feelings. A great many people ...

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Congressman Vines His Vote

Big Think Editors — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:32:28 -0400

Mobile electronic devices that impair decorum are banned from the U.S. Congress, but Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) does not appear to have broken House rules by vining a recent vote. The social media savvy Swalwell is believed to be the first Congressman to vine a vote, and he did so in order ...

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The Beginning Of The End Of The Atlantic Ocean

Kecia Lynn — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:30:00 -0400

What's the Latest Development? A new paper recently published in Geology notes the discovery of a subduction zone -- an area "where one of the tectonic plates that cover the Earth's surface dives beneath another plate" into the layer just below the planet's crust -- forming off the southwest ...

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NASA To Asteroids: We're Gonna Find You

Kecia Lynn — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:30:00 -0400

What's the Latest Development? On Tuesday (June 18), NASA announced the start of the Asteroid Grand Challenge, an initiative that will culminate in the tracking and monitoring of any and every asteroid large enough to do damage to the Earth. That includes not only the really big ones -- 95 ...

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These Goggles Sure Aren't Sexy, But They Block Facial Recognition Algorithms

Big Think Editors — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:18:53 -0400

If you are an infrared camera with a facial recognition system, this is your worst nightmare. Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Informatics have developed goggles that jam facial recognition systems with a burst of light that is invisible to the human eye. Watch here: (h/t Fast ...

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Ivory-Loving Philippines Plans To Destroy Its Ivory

Kecia Lynn — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:18:39 -0400

What's the Latest Development? This week, the Philippines will become the first ivory-consuming country to purposely destroy its stocks of ivory in response to an October 2012 National Geographic exposé revealing its role in the illegal ivory trade. With the exception of 106 pieces that will be ...

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Worth the Wait: How waiting can make you more patient

Dave Nussbaum — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:21:08 -0400

If you’re anything like me, you can’t wait for summer to finally start. The Chicago winter dragged on forever and now the weather just can’t seem to make up its mind. As each day passes I get more and more impatient for beaches and ice cream and eating outdoors. However, some surprising research by ...

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Court's Gene Patent Decision Not Based on Biology

Alex Berezow — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:55:07 -0400

Editor's Note: This article appeared on RealClearScience, and is paired with another that disagrees. Read that article here. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous 9-0 decision, determined that biotechnology companies are not allowed to patent genes. This is a step in the right direction, but ...

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Is It Really All About Supply?

Jackson Allison — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:08:43 -0400

As a staunch follower of Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say aligned himself with the tradition of classical political economy. However, he quickly diverged from Smith, creating his own brand of economics. This new definition centered around, what today is called, supply side economics. We’ve all heard ...

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Is the Internet Destroying the Middle Class?

Big Think Editors — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:02:23 -0400

Technology companies can create enormous value, but what about jobs? Consider this analysis from Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, who spoke at a conference at Wharton in March 2013. According to a summary on Knowledge@Wharton, Brynjolfsson pointed out that ...

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What the Fortunate Owe the Rest of Us

Steven Mazie — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

In a recent commencement address, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered ten suggestions to Princeton graduates ranging from “life is amazingly unpredictable...don’t be afraid to let the drama play out” to “call your mom and dad once in a while.” In between he offered some insights on the ...

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Can a 19th Century British Art Movement Solve the Modern Global Jobs Problem?

Bob Duggan — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:50:29 -0400

“Workers of the world, unite!” Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels bellowed in The Communist Manifesto in 1848, largely in response to the Industrial Revolution (and Second Industrial Revolution) threatening not just the livelihoods but the very lives of many workers as profit reigned mercilessly over ...

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