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This isn’t a trip, it’s the most challenging therapy session of your life
Rachel Yehuda, a leading PTSD researcher, has spent her career uncovering the way that trauma can leave impressions on our genes, sometimes passing biological echoes of those events to the next generation.
with Rachel Yehuda
The reason that it's so hard for people in the aftermath of a trauma is not only because something terrible has just happened, but because they construct a narrative about why it happened and what they did wrong as a result of it happening.
3 ways to prove you’re human online
As AI overwhelms the web, we will need a way to distinguish people from machines.
by Andrey Mir
If life exists on Mars, it’s likely hiding — or maybe sleeping
Mars was warmer and wetter long ago. If anything was alive there, what came next was either a tragedy or a masterclass in survival.
The “rawdogging” trend: A new term for an ancient practice
TikTok gave an old practice a terrible name. Neuroscience explains why it actually works.
3 ways to prove you’re human online
As AI overwhelms the web, we will need a way to distinguish people from machines.
by Andrey Mir
The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood
When can a kid play outside alone? Two parents, one stranger, and the state collide.
FIND US ON SUBSTACK
Earth’s orbit is getting crowded. Here’s how we avoid a disaster.
We’ve populated low-Earth orbit with satellites in record time — now we have to figure out how to keep it safe.
Why fixing your gadgets often costs more than replacing them
A broken laptop hinge revealed a broader shift in how modern products are designed, sold, and owned
The first homes on Mars may be alive
Instead of hauling heavy building materials across space, future astronauts may grow fungal shelters from spores, waste, and local regolith.
What would you like to learn more about? We have thousands of videos from the world’s biggest thinkers to help you dive deeper into any subject.
Pause the busyness of life to reflect on ourselves, our relationships, and the Universe.
with Jonny Thomson
The daffodil’s guide to outliving the winter What a fragile flower can teach us about resilience, death, and becoming someone new.
Aztec philosophy: How lucky you are to not be in prison right now Nick was always an angry boy, but he was unlucky as well.
Intimate interviews with the world’s biggest thinkers.
25mins
Reboot your mind for flow, unanxiousness, and resilience “We can use neuroscience and tools from psychology to learn how to take advantage of anxiety.” From Zen Buddhism to flow state, these 3 experts explain how to hack your brain.
7mins
The hidden reason smart people stop growing Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec breaks down why the traditional idea of mentorship is not only outdated, but actively getting in the way of your growth.
32mins
The neuroscience behind synesthesia Neurologist Richard Cytowic has spent decades studying synesthesia, the phenomenon where one sense involuntarily triggers another.
21mins
The real lesson from the first time globalization died Archaeologist Eric Cline has spent his career forensically reconstructing why the Bronze Age collapsed, and the answer is far stranger and more unsettling than a single catastrophic event.
Starts With A Bang #128 – Planet formation and proto-protoplanets By looking at a giant, remarkable, edge-on protoplanetary system, astronomers have found a proto-protoplanet for the first time.
Ask Ethan: How did Artemis II break Apollo’s distance record? Human beings have now traveled farther from Earth than ever before with Artemis II's flyby of the lunar far side. Here's how it happened.
Cosmic inflation explains the Universe’s low entropy at birth Known as the "past hypothesis" problem, the Universe's initially low entropy has long puzzled scientists. Now, cosmic inflation solves it.
To alien eyes, Earth looks deceptively peaceful As the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war, distant, advanced civilizations would never know it. Earth appears peaceful from far away.
Big ideas. Thoughtful conversations. One book at a time.
Militant democracy or creeping illiberalism? Germany’s free speech dilemma. Germany built aggressive systems to combat hate speech, but the line between defending democracy and undermining it may be beginning to blur.
The important role of ignorance in building a better society George Szpiro explores the philosophical ideas that explain why justice — not freedom or efficiency — may better anchor a fair society.
What chess’s “intermezzo” moves can teach us about making better life decisions In this excerpt from her new book, Jennifer Shahade argues that the smartest move in life, as in chess, is sometimes a sideways one.
40 years ago, “Frames of Mind” cracked open the idea of intelligence. It’s not done. Howard Gardner joins us to reflect on the theory of multiple intelligences and why the question of who owns intelligence is more important than ever.
Learn business from the world’s biggest thinkers.
The best leaders don’t share traits. They do this instead. Leadership isn’t about mastering a fixed set of skills, but creating the meaningful, human-centered experiences that inspire others.
What 1,000-year-old companies know about resilience Long-lived companies show that resilience comes not from individual toughness, but from the strength of the systems around us.
The 5-step algorithm that’s transforming legacy companies Inside GM’s race to build the electric Hummer lies a powerful lesson in speed, simplicity, and the operating system required for exponential growth.
How smart management built a forgettable world Cities and organizations alike risk becoming highly efficient — but indistinguishable — unless leaders actively preserve space for imagination and deviation.
How the modern world turned gray (and why color may be coming back) The ideology, economics, and psychology behind the modern world's draining of color from homes, cars, and everyday objects.
Ghost map: Europe’s first glimpse of Tenochtitlan shows a city already destroyed This 1524 map of the Aztec capital was a window into an exotic otherworld — and largely a fiction.
We saved the world once — we can do it again The ozone hole was going to destroy life as we know it, but an unprecedented global effort fixed the problem.
Militarized snowflakes: The accidental beauty of Renaissance star forts First rising in the 15th century, these forts sought to counter a deadly innovation in military technology.
Where science meets the human story.
Why organisms are more than machines Sixty years ago, a little-known philosopher challenged how science understands life. His perspective is finding new relevance in the age of artificial intelligence.
Aerial aliens: Why cloudy worlds might make detecting life easier Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger spoke with Big Think about how "the colors of life" could leave detectable traces on distant planets.
The next great leap in evolution may lie beyond Earth NASA’s Caleb Scharf talks with Big Think about life’s long experiment in expansion.
David Kipping on how the search for alien life is gaining credibility Big Think spoke with astronomer David Kipping about technosignatures, "extragalactic SETI," and being a popular science communicator in the YouTube age.