Top Five

Bioengineers at Maastricht University have announced the world's first lab-grown meat will be produced this October, a significant step in what could become a DIY food revolution. According to the Financial Times , 70 percent of agricultural land is currently used for raising animals for their ... Read More

Read 'em and weep. Or just add your own ideas at the bottom of this post. 1. Julian Schnabel. Bombastic, prolific, self-promotional, and grandiose, Schnabel was the ethos of 1980's NYC writ large in vibrant strokes on bold canvases. In his early career as a painter, he reportedly churned out ... Read More

1. Leave your wallet behind. Swipe your mobile phone instead. Perhaps we'll remember 2011 fondly as the year the credit card died. In January, Big Thinker (and tech entrepreneur) James Currier reported that Biometrics had gone mainstream -- and that your leather wallet would soon be replaced by a ... Read More

If you were marooned on a desert island and could only bring a handful of books with you--let's say five--which ones would you pick? Who better to ask than Stephen Greenblatt, the father of the New Historicist movement in literary theory and the bestselling author of Will in the World, a biography ... Read More

Boo! Scared you, didn't I? I'm guessing not really. If you're a grown-up, Halloween has probably lost its edge. Or at least its scary edge. The old tricks simply no longer work on adults. Instead of scaring us, this tradition mostly involves handing out candy to children, visiting cheesy haunted ... Read More

We are currently living in the "learning decade," according to entrepreneur Sam Herring. "Learning has gained new prominence as a critical lever for performance," he emphasizes: "More and more organizations recognize that learning can help solve the most vexing economic and financial problems of ... Read More

It used to be that rock music, which is anti-Establishment down to its DNA, could not be re-purposed for commercial licensing. That is, if artists wished to maintain credibility with their fans. Boy, how things have changed. Big Think looks at five of the most prominent sell-outs (or savvy sales ... Read More

As Summer 2011 draws to a close, we at Big Think are taking a look back at the most significant ideas presented on our site by Big Think experts. You, our viewers, voted with your clicks. Here are the results: 5. Nathan Myrhvold: These Chemicals Are Good For You (And Yummy) Along with fellow ... Read More

In 1950, Alan Turing invented a test for determining a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior. At the time, some predicted that so-called "Strong A.I.," that is, artificial intelligence that matches or exceeds human intelligence, could be achieved in a few decades. Over sixty years later ... Read More

Which scientific idea--offered up by experts such as Ray Kurzweil, Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking and others--will impact our world the most? See our top contenders and vote for your favorite by sharing it on Facebook with your friends. 1. Biotechnology Will Stop Aging  Futurist Ray ... Read More

To fill one’s belly is as fundamental a part of what it is to be alive as is self-preservation and the desire to procreate. It’s no wonder that finding new, easier ways to do so marks out many of humanities greatest achievements and pivotal moments.  1. Fire Date: Although it is possible that ... Read More

People throughout history have tried, very unsuccessfully, to set specific dates for the Apocalypse. These predictions come in many different forms. Today, in fact, there is a great deal of hysteria taking hold in Rome, based on a 1915 prediction that "the big one," an earthquake, would strike the ... Read More

The leading causes of death in the world are coronary heart disease, strokes, lower respiratory infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diarrhea—in that order. Notice that cell phones, asbestos, killer bees, and the things that tend to get the most media attention are not on that ... Read More

How does as an event like the triple meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear complex in Japan rank among other energy disasters? It depends somewhat on who you ask.  Chernobyl is routinely sited as the benchmark for the worst nuclear accident in history. And yet, nearly all of the major energy industries ... Read More