Culture

A graphic titled "Humanity vs. Nature" showing a human evolutionary timeline, biocentrism, ecocentrism, and ethos depictions of nature, including a tree, a bird, and marine life.

Why harmony with nature is a myth

Slowing growth and limiting development isn’t living in harmony with nature—it is surrendering in a battle.

Jason Crawford

Entertainment

How the internet changed news, according to The Onion

Freethink spoke to Onion staffers about parodying news from the print era into the digital age.

Tim Brinkhof and Stephen Johnson

Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse animation HD wallpaper.

Art

Animation may be entering a new renaissance. Here’s why.

Popular animated films have been rendered in an increasingly realistic style recently. Here’s where animation is heading in the future.

Tim Brinkhof

A person is typing on a computer keyboard, reminiscing about their best gaming moments.

Video Games

From besting Tetris AI to epic speedruns – inside gaming’s most thrilling feats

Gaming embraces design elements that promote social connection, creativity, a sense of autonomy – and, ultimately, the sheer joy of mastery.

James Dawes

A collage of a brain scan and a photo of a woman whispering to a baby with a smile on his face.

Neuroscience

How language and social status change the developing brain

Research shows that a child's early environment and socioeconomic status (SES) impact their language development and processing skills.

Mo Costandi

A large white dome in the middle of a city.

Astronomy

There’s an entire solar system hiding inside Sweden

The Avicii Arena in Stockholm is the world’s largest spherical building and the center of the world’s largest scale model of our solar system.

Frank Jacobs

Two women having conversations on a couch.

Psychology

After studying 850 hours of footage, this paper offers 3 rules for a great conversation

Good conversations leave a lasting impression. They are rewarding and enriching. Here's how to have more of them.

Jonny Thomson

A man in a suit is hugging a woman at a funeral.

Death

“5 stages of grief” is a myth — and knowing that helps us better cope with loss

The “monomyth” model of grieving offers closure and recovery, but in most traditional cultures the dead never leave the living.

Magda Romanska

Biology

Why death matters

Reframing life in terms of death reveals some of the biggest philosophical problems with how we think about living systems.

Adam Frank

Neuroscience

Neuroscience shows that speed reading is bullshit

Speed reading programs claim to teach students how to read more quickly without reducing comprehension. Research shows that they don't work.

Ross Pomeroy

Neuroscience

New AI-based theory explains your weird dreams

A new paper suggests that dreaming helps us generalize our experiences so that we can adapt to new circumstances.

Scotty Hendricks

a white coffin in the middle of a lush forest

Aging

Alternative funeral options are changing how we honor our dead

A small, yet growing number of people are starting to choose funeral options outside traditional burial or cremation.

Kristin Houser

Books

Science fiction books that predicted the future with terrifying accuracy

Science fiction writers have anticipated a variety of modern inventions, from cars to organ transplants. Some books barely seem like fiction.

Tim Brinkhof

Sections

Video

Freethink

We focus on solutions: the smartest people, the biggest ideas, and the most ground breaking technology shaping our future.