1. Ask these 3 “Naikan” questions for a happier, healthier attitude toward life

2. Is virtue worth pursuing? A psychologist explains

3. Essential skills for “weird times”: How internet pioneer Caterina Fake keeps it real

4. How a dead star carved the “Hand of God” in space

5. Sean Carroll explains why physics is both simple and impossible

6. Ask Ethan: Can “zero-point energy” power the world?

7. How a dime-sized bone rewrote the story of human evolution

8. Sam Harris: Experience emotions without being consumed by them

9. Exceptional storytelling and the myth of superhuman AI

10. Are hidden variables real, and can they save quantum physics?

11. Can picture books change the world?

12. The Mystery of Being You

13. Why the 21st century could bring a new “consciousness winter”

14. Inside the search for a universal signature of unconsciousness

15. “Pure awareness”: Inside the psychedelic that erases space, time, and self

16. Why AI gets stuck in infinite loops — but conscious minds don’t

17. What the stages of sleep reveal about consciousness

18. Mapped: The boundaries of human perception

19. 6 questions about consciousness with Annaka Harris

20. Why you should always question your perceptions

21. Think like a crow, choose like a crab: The animals inside our minds

22. 5 brilliant books on consciousness

23. What brain surgery taught me about the fragile gift of consciousness

24. The science of spirituality, and how it can change your brain

25. NASA chief to defy agency’s charter, terminating science

26. The John Candeto interview: Bigger dreams and the colossal effect of “power laws”

27. The David Senra interview: “Use history as a form of leverage”

28. The science behind LASIK

29. Debunking “living in the moment” and other bad emotional advice

30. The best question a leader can ask: “What would my replacement do?”

31. See the best night sky images from Capture the Dark 2025

32. The neuroscience of extremes: ruthless psychopathy to extraordinary generosity

33. Ask Ethan: Did life begin when the Universe was room temperature?

34. The Nexus Method: How to make the most of what you learn

35. “Going Nuclear”: New book makes the case for an atomic renaissance

36. Use the Triple Check Method to jumpstart your brain

37. Money as the dark matter of the universe

38. Does the Universe expand faster than the speed of light?

39. 3 experts reveal how psychedelics can expand the walls of perception

40. How to give compliments and criticism for a happier work life

41. Einstein’s famous “change the facts” quote is an insidious lie

42. What exactly is “life?” Astrobiologists still have more questions than answers

43. What our shelves of unread books teach us about ourselves

44. How “6 points of connection” can repair our shared trust

45. At 36 billion solar masses, is the heaviest black hole too massive?

46. Four Requirements for High Performance

47. How to instantly be better at things

48. The case for useless knowledge

49. Yuval Noah Harari: How to safeguard your mind in the age of junk information

50. How Dell’s membrane paved the way for “headless agents”

51. The fastest, cheapest particle physics path to a Higgs factory

52. Starts With A Bang podcast #120 – Exoplanet biosignatures

53. 7 literary classics you can read in a weekend

54. The Roman Empire, explained in 39 minute

55. Ask Ethan: Are parallel universes and the multiverse real?

56. How two freak accidents shaped human evolution

57. The importance of intuition and the limits of rationalism

58. The ultimate energy limit that lasers will never surpass

59. 3 ways to find and invite more wonder

60. The true cost of always needing to win an argument

61. How to expand your influence, according to 2 experts

62. What a nuclear reactor on the Moon really means for NASA’s future

63. The Bogumil Baranowski interview: “Treat everyone with care”

64. The thought experiments that test your life, not your logic

65. Why your next CEO could be a machine

66. NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory: the future (or end) of NASA science

67. Mapped: How warm your city will be in the 2080s

68. The Alex Partridge interview: “Humans thrive through storytelling”

69. Extreme black hole system OJ 287 just got more interesting

70. Michio Kaku wants to solve Einstein’s unfinished equation

71. Ask Ethan: Why do scientists avoid the possibility of God?

72. Not just the Western Front: “Ring of Fire” rediscovers WWI’s global story

73. Anxiety gives you an advantage. Unlock it with neuroplasticity

74. On consciousness, AI, and panpsychism

75. Laniakea, our home supercluster, is already being torn apart

76. What makes a meme take off? The 3 rules of virality

77. Most social trends aren’t what they seem

78. Social media supercharged our disagreements. Could AI help us resolve them?

79. Leadership philosophy: Why Machiavelli’s “virtù” fits hand-in-glove with AI

80. Why “vibe physics” is the ultimate example of AI slop

81. John Amaechi shares the 6 books that changed his thinking

82. How McClelland’s 3 universal motives can illuminate your blindspots

83. 5 big unanswered questions about the origin of life

84. How and why your memories shift over time, explained by neuroscience

85. Trauma, healing, and your nervous system explained

86. Making L&D business-critical: Talent development strategies that work

87. This one essential trait begins shaping us seconds after birth

88. The Katie Gatti Tassin interview: “Go the extra yard — not the extra mile”

89. 5 science facts that come from simply watching the Moon

90. What 85 years of research says is the real key to happiness

91. Ask Ethan: Did our Universe really arise from nothing?

92. 5 of the strangest books ever written

93. How the illusion of self shapes your reality

94. The art of mentorship and long-term thinking

95. The Universe requires quantum fields, not just quantum particles

96. The public-private myth: Why religion can’t be kept behind closed doors

97. The genius guide to future-proofing your career

98. The incredible physics of quantum levitation

99. How to escape the “dopamine crash loop” and rewire your curiosity

100. The migraine mystery: Why evolution never cured the pain in our heads

101. The Brad Feld interview: Meaning, mentorship, and giving first

102. The Universe is not the same forwards and backwards in time

103. Is this acre in England really American territory?

104. Manage your emotions, in 9 minutes

105. Founders: The hiring strategy that can turn scrappy to stellar

106. What we’ve learned after 35 years of NASA’s Hubble

107. The hidden process of becoming a CIA agent, from a former spy

108. Ask Ethan: Could our whole Universe be a black hole’s interior?

109. The rise and fall of John Wilkes Booth: America’s first celebrity assassin

110. The laboratory accident that saved 500 million lives

111. Creating wisdom infrastructure for the next 100 years

112. Why is “F ma” still the most important equation in physics?

113. The meaning of your life isn’t a puzzle to solve

114. The Tree of Kink: What science teaches us about fetish clusters

115. Will AI erode human autonomy, or help us preserve it?

116. 3 essential self-care habits for compassionate leadership

117. The single most amazing fact about the Universe

118. Evolution isn’t a straight line: Modern humans come from 2 ancient lineages

119. Science meets sweat: How experimental archaeology brings history to life

120. LIGO’s heaviest black hole demands next-generation science

121. Why philosophy needs the Bible (and vice versa)

122. The 6 superpowers of generalists: Leadership gold dust

123. How particle physics will continue after the last collider

124. Are black holes the key to unlocking a quantum theory of gravity?

125. Gaming cancer: How video games and citizen science could help cure disease

126. Ask Ethan: Can we fix the worst prediction in all of science?

127. More people, more pollution? Dispelling an environmental myth

128. The Fermi Paradox has a terrifying answer: The Dark Forest

129. The hidden rules of business — according to nature

130. Jupiter endangers Earth, and may have extincted the dinosaurs

131. The 4 psychological markers of ideological extremism

132. The top quark isn’t a loner after all: “toponium” is real!

133. Why did Van Gogh eat yellow paint? The troubled obsession behind the masterpieces.

134. Why memento mori is the ultimate life hack

135. Humanity’s third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, is arriving now

136. The “digital dividend”: Rethinking income for the age of AI

137. Did JWST catch the Ring Nebula forming new planets?

138. The ocean is evolving, and it’s not based on the ‘survival of the fittest’

139. Starts With a Bang podcast #119 – The CMB

140. The science-backed guide to having better sex

141. Ask Ethan: Could the CMB arise from galaxies, not the Big Bang?

142. Why your microbiome may matter more than DNA for your lifelong health

143. Brian Cox: The Planck scale is where physics breaks

144. Inside the subtle art of succession

145. A unique mission to both Uranus and Neptune could launch in 2034

146. The noble lie: Why countries that lie together, stay together

147. American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history

148. 5 stories that teach you philosophy (better than some philosophy books)

149. How the startup “pivot” can become a billion-dollar masterstroke

150. JWST’s early galaxies didn’t break the Universe. They revealed it.

151. A philosopher’s guide to caring deeply

152. “Blue ocean strategy”: The red thread connecting Apple with Yellow Tail

153. 5 ways our naked-eye views of the night sky deceive us

154. 5 science-backed ways to extend your healthspan

155. Murder, she measured: The impressive science behind Agatha Christie’s poisons

156. Legal fraud: How the books get cooked

157. Ask Ethan: What puzzles can the Vera Rubin Observatory help solve?

158. Sam Harris: Breaking the thought trap of anger

159. AI vs. humans: A question of humanity

160. Busting the top 5 myths about the Big Bang

161. Does the evolution of reason undermine the belief in evolution?

162. Paralyzed, Alana Nichols thought her athletic career was over. Then she changed her mind.

163. Deep listening: The 8 steps to revitalize any conversation

164. CIA psychology: Ask questions that make people reveal everything

165. JWST discovers how we’re able to see the Universe at all

166. The “quantum long game”

167. Operation TRIGON: How a rookie spy helped change the world of espionage

168. 4 way leaders can supercharge their CQ: “Cultural intelligence”

169. You can’t do your own research without doing your homework first

170. Ceres: The asteroid belt’s forgotten ocean world

171. What NASA is really looking for in space

172. The Snorre Kjesbu interview: “Collaboration will become truly immersive”

173. JWST captures its most extreme gravitational lens ever

174. Ask Ethan: Is the Hubble tension a real problem?

175. “Otroverts” and why nonconformists often see what others can’t

176. The science behind the 10-minute brain reset walk

177. The myth of leadership

178. ANITA did see weird particles, but not parallel Universes

179. 3 ways to have more meaningful conversations

180. Is the Hubble tension real? Exclusive interview with Wendy Freedman

181. AI is already in the classroom. It’s time colleges caught up.

182. John le Carré’s son joins the Circus with his new book

183. Why “Systems Leadership” is hard in the best possible way

184. Video: NASA’s PUNCH mission sees the Sun’s corona in action

185. Big Think introduces updated Learner and Discussion Guides, now in 15 languages

186. When to quit: A simple framework for life’s toughest decisions

187. Does hope for humanity rely on philosophy?

188. 6 ways for leaders to hone their “visual literacy”

189. Could supermassive black holes anchor the tiniest galaxies?

190. Why China is eating its tiny neighbor, Bhutan

191. Helen Fisher: How science can explain heartbreak

192. Ask Ethan: Does cosmic inflation violate energy conservation?

193. Why don’t Americans trust experts? Just ask a paranormal investigator.

194. The ethical crisis lurking in the background of the AI boom

195. The end of extraction and the rise of abundance

196. How to understand the Universe’s the most important equation

197. The “repugnant conclusion” that an Oxford philosopher couldn’t escape

198. The hidden cost of chasing clarity

199. Why Kevin Smith bet 27,575 on a movie no one showed up for

200. Uranus’s moons are darkened on one side, Hubble reveals

201. The Tony Seba and James Arbib interview: Why the future belongs to “stellar societies”

202. A Mesozoic myth: Dinosaurs didn’t rule the Earth like we think

203. Want the secret to stunning presentations? Ask Hollywood legend Francis Ford Coppola

204. Astronomers close in on the source of the highest energy particles

205. What happens the day after humanity creates AGI?

206. Meet the survivors of Earth’s worst days

207. The great friendship collapse: Inside The Anti-Social Century

208. The Steve Hanke interview: “Writing a tweet is the endgame of the Feynman Technique”

209. JWST reveals that galaxies grow up quickly in our Universe

210. Starts With A Bang podcast #118 – Snowball Earth

211. Life is older, weirder, and more interconnected than we ever thought

212. Ask Ethan: What are the “first stars” in the Universe?

213. ‘Everything is Tuberculosis’ author John Green on writing, anxiety, and illness

214. The impossibility of control in a butterfly-effected world

215. Rethinking civilization: A new architecture for humanity

216. 780,000 galaxies revealed in JWST’s largest science operation

217. The dancing monk: Why mature people don’t chase total control

218. Trauma makes your world feel small — here’s how to open it up again

219. Anomaly no more! “Muon g-2” puzzle resolved at last

220. The hunt for alien technosignatures is getting a high-tech upgrade

221. Why AI today is more toddler than Terminator

222. Our jobs and AI: Why the 4-day week should anchor our work-lives

223. How the Milky Way-Andromeda merger became so uncertain

224. 5 scientists on finding meaning in our Universe’s 13.8-billion-year story

225. The three laws of love, and how to follow them

226. The Andrew Mayne interview: How to succeed as a polymath

227. 10 quotes about science’s value to society

228. Three responses to grief in the philosophy of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Camus

229. What Spinoza can teach us about living a great life

230. The unlikely asteroid collision that made your life possible

231. Ask Ethan: What would the Universe be like without dark matter?

232. The price of Christianity’s “broken bargain” with democracy

233. Policy and process is paralyzing the US government

234. How to “outlast”: What Leonardo da Vinci can teach us

235. How fast does planet Earth move through space?

236. The “SSS” framework: How to change the world with what you have

237. The mystery of neutrino mass is now smaller than ever

238. Why ancient China was less equal than the Roman Empire

239. What Leonardo’s obsession with water teaches us about longevity

240. Who was Jesus of Nazareth? History’s search for the man behind the Gospels.

241. Are we protecting the vulnerable—or suppressing dissent?

242. Why “high tolerance of ambiguity” should anchor your creative toolkit

243. JWST won’t find the very first stars, but a new telescope can

244. Daniel Dennett’s 4 rules for a good debate

245. Move your body, grow your brain: the science of hippocampal neurogenesis

246. Ask Ethan: Was the Universe “timeless” before the Big Bang?

247. From Messiaen to Radiohead: How great music uses prime numbers

248. From Gnosticism to Gospel Manga: 6 books to help you unpack the Bible and its history

249. Brian Cox: Why Earth’s orbit is the new Wild West and what that means for us all

250. A deep dive into Amazon robotics and AI

251. A quantum miracle enabled the formation of neutral atoms

252. Fringe or frontier: Is our current scientific paradigm still the best fit?

253. Why Substack will be the intellectual engine of the 21st century

254. JWST breaks its own record with new most distant galaxy MoM-z14

255. The rise of the lanager: Why leadership and management can’t be split

256. The strange history of de-extinction began long before the science

257. Ask your boss: Can we have a “daydreaming workstation”?

258. Claims that “the Universe will end sooner than expected” are false

259. “Mystery humbles you”: Scott Derrickson on why skepticism and faith aren’t enemies

260. The David Aaker interview: “Trust is vital and fragile”

261. 10 space pictures whose appearances will deceive you

262. Saṃvega: The urgent realization that you need a more meaningful life

263. Brian Cox: The quantum roots of reality

264. Stephen King’s most misused piece of writing advice

265. Most people freeze in a crisis. Here’s why — and how to stop it

266. Curiosity as a survival skill to navigate change

267. The red color of Mars is mere inches deep

268. “Cosmic realism”: The secret ingredient to great books

269. The illusion of conscious AI

270. John Amaechi: The voice in your head is lying to you—here’s how to shut it down

271. Does physics truly have anything to say about consciousness?

272. The David Perell interview: How to resonate in the “age of engagement”

273. Is English a “killer” language — or is it dying?

274. Team esteem: How to create “spirals of increasing cooperation”

275. Astronomers just found the smallest galaxy ever

276. How curiosity rewires your brain for change

277. Brian Cox: The incomprehensible scales that rule the Universe

278. The Scott Woody Interview: The pros and cons of being “memoryless”

279. 11 NASA astrophysics missions face risk of cancellation

280. Starts With A Bang podcast #117 – Gravitational waves and the Universe

281. Why Tolkien thought “sub-creation” was the secret to great fantasy and science fiction

282. Peter Singer: Animal suffering is human responsibility

283. Ask Ethan: Could dark energy be more negative than a cosmological constant?

284. The Empire reflects back: Rome’s lasting influence on British culture

285. The CIA method for making quick decisions under stress

286. Why I’m writing OUTLAST: a book about resilience (and hope)

287. The Universe is not symmetric

288. You cannot put the wind in a bag: How we learned to see nature

289. What to know about vaccines in the do-your-own-research era

290. The passion trap: The misguided advice that limits creativity and drives burnout

291. Romance at White Castle: How to do business the “evergreen” way

292. The most “boring” part of cosmic history shaped our modern Universe

293. The world’s longest train journey is epic — but nobody’s ever taken it

294. CEO masterclass: 3 ways to burst the “positivity delusion”

295. JWST’s most ambitious view is now available to everyone

296. Lessons from the Roman Empire about the danger of luxury

297. The creativity hack no one told you about: Read the obits

298. A liberal critique of liberalism: What needs to change

299. Ask Ethan: Is dark energy just leftover momentum from the Big Bang?

300. What happens when you follow the Bible literally for a whole year?