2012 : WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?
	2010 : HOW IS THE INTERNET CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK? Buy the Book
	2011 : WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT? Buy the Book
	2009 : WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING? Buy the Book
	2008 : WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY? Buy the Book
	2007 : WHAT ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT? Buy the Book
	2006 : WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA? Buy the Book
	2005 : WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT? Buy the Book
2004 : WHAT'S YOUR LAW?
2003 : WHAT ARE THE PRESSING SCIENTIFIC ISSUES FOR THE NATION AND THE WORLD, AND WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE ON HOW I CAN BEGIN TO DEAL WITH THEM? - GW?
2002 : WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION? ... WHY?
2001 : WHAT NOW?
2001 : WHAT QUESTIONS HAVE DISAPPEARED?&NBSP?
2000 : WHAT IS TODAY'S MOST IMPORTANT UNREPORTED STORY?
1999 : WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION IN THE PAST TWO THOUSAND YE?
1998 : WHAT QUESTIONS ARE YOU ASKING YOURSELF?

2012 : WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?

Contributors [192] | View All Responses [192]

Andrei Linde Father of "Eternal Chaotic Inflation"; Professor of... Read Contribution	Richard H. Thaler Father of Behavioral Economics; Director, Center for... Read Contribution
Charles Simonyi Creator, WYSIWYG word processor; Cofounder, Intentional... Read Contribution	Nathan Myhrvold CEO and Managing Director, Intellectual Ventures;... Read Contribution
Vilayanur Ramachandran Neuroscientist; Professor & Director, Center for Brain... Read Contribution	Mahzarin Banaji Psychologist; Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social... Read Contribution
Dan Sperber Social and Cognitive Scientist; Directeur, de Recherche... Read Contribution	Carolyn Porco Planetary Scientist; Cassini Imaging Team Leader;... Read Contribution
Anton Zeilinger Physicist, University of Vienna; Scientific Director,... Read Contribution	Stewart Brand Founder, The Whole Earth Catalog; Co-founder, The Well;... Read Contribution
Carl Zimmer Journalist: Author, Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science... Read Contribution	David M. Buss Professor of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin;... Read Contribution
Andrian Kreye Editor, The Feuilleton (Arts and Essays), of the German... Read Contribution	David Pizarro Psychologist, Cornell University Read Contribution
Alana Conner Science writer; Head Curator, The Tech Museum in San... Hazel Rose Markus Davis-Brack Professor in the Behavioral Sciences,... Read Contribution	Dave Winer Founder of UserLand Software Read Contribution
Emily Pronin Associate Professor of Psychology, Princeton University Read Contribution	David Dalrymple Researcher, MIT, Mind Machine Project Read Contribution
Raphael Bousso Professor of Theoretical Physics, Berkeley Read Contribution	Marco Iacoboni Neuroscientist; Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral... Read Contribution
Tim O Reilly Founder and CEO of O Reilly Media, Inc. Read Contribution	David M. Eagleman Neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine; Author,... Read Contribution
Seirian Sumner Research Fellow in Evolutionary Biology, Institute of... Read Contribution	Kevin P. Hand Planetary Scientist and Astrobiologist, NASA Jet... Read Contribution
Tania Lombrozo Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of California Read Contribution	Helena Cronin Co-Director of LSE's Centre for Philosophy of Natural and... Read Contribution
Antony Garrett Lisi Theoretical physicist Read Contribution	Eduardo Salcedo-albaran Colombian philosopher Read Contribution
Brian Knutson Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience;... Read Contribution	Michael Vassar President, Singularity Institute Read Contribution
John Mcwhorter Linguist; Cultural Commentator; Senior Fellow, Manhattan... Read Contribution	Gregory Cochran Consultant; Adaptive Optics and Adjunct Professor of... Read Contribution
Christine Finn Archaeologist, Journalist; Author, Artifacts Read Contribution	Andrew Lih Associate Professor of Journalism, University of Southern... Read Contribution
P Z Myers Biologist; Associate Professor, University of Minnesota,... Read Contribution	Max Tegmark Physicist, MIT; Researcher, Precision Cosmology;... Read Contribution
Eric R. Weinstein Mathematician and Economist; Principal, Natron Group Read Contribution	Dimitar D. Sasselov Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University; Director,... Read Contribution
Virginia Heffernan Columnist, The New York Times Magazine Read Contribution	Helen Fisher Biological Anthropologist, Rutgers University; Author,... Read Contribution
John Naughton Academic; Newspaper Columnist; Vice-President, Wolfson... Read Contribution	Barry C. Smith Professor & Director, Institute of Philosophy School of... Read Contribution
Stuart A. Kauffman Professor of Biological Sciences, Physics, Astronomy,... Read Contribution	John Tooby Founder of field of Evolutionary Psychology; Co-Director,... Read Contribution
Bart Kosko Information Scientist and Professor of Electrical... Read Contribution	Stephon H. Alexander Associate Professor of Physics, Haverford College Read Contribution
Gregory Paul Independent Researcher; Author, Dinosaurs of the Air Read Contribution	Bruce Hood Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre in... Read Contribution
Amanda Gefter Consultant, New Scientist; Founding Editor, CultureLab" Read Contribution	Douglas Coupland Writer, Artist, Designer; Author, Generation A Read Contribution
Matt Ridley Science Writer; Founding chairman of the International... Read Contribution	A. C. Grayling Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University... Read Contribution
Timo Hannay Managing Director, Digital Science, Macmillan Publishers... Read Contribution	Paul Bloom Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology, Yale... Read Contribution
Giulio Boccaletti Physicist, Atmospheric and Oceanic Scientist; Partner,... Read Contribution	Brian Eno Artist; Composer; Recording Producer: U2, Coldplay,... Read Contribution
Lisa Randall Physicist, Harvard University; Author, Warped Passages;... Read Contribution	Paul Saffo Technology Forecaster; Consulting Associate Professor,... Read Contribution
Simone Schnall Director, Cambridge Embodied Cognition and Emotion... Read Contribution	Joel Gold Psychiatrist; Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry,... Read Contribution
Kai Krause Software Pioneer; Philosopher; Author, Frax: The Beauty... Read Contribution	Jon Kleinberg Professor of Computer Science, Cornell University Read Contribution
Marti Hearst Computer Scientist, UC Berkeley, School of Information;... Read Contribution	P. Murali Doriaswamy Professor of Psychiatry and Member of the Duke Institute... Read Contribution
Seth Lloyd Professor of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT; Author,... Read Contribution	John C. Mather Senior Astrophysicist, Observational Cosmology... Read Contribution
Laurence C. Smith Professor of Geography, UCLA; Author, The World in 2050 Read Contribution	Melanie Swan Systems-Level Thinker; Futurist; Applied Genomics Expert;... Read Contribution
David Haig Associate Professor of Biology in Harvard's Department of... Read Contribution	Thomas Metzinger Philosophisches Seminar, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität... Read Contribution
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Philosopher, Novelist; Author, Betraying Spinoza; 36... Read Contribution	S. Abbas Raza Founding Editor, 3QuarksDaily.com Read Contribution
Gregory Benford Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UC-Irvine; Novelist,... Read Contribution	Evgeny Morozov Contributing Editor, Foreign Policy; Syndicated... Read Contribution
Ernst Pöppel Neuroscientist; Chairman, Board of Directors Human... Read Contribution	Gary Klein Cognitive Psychologist; Author, Sources of Power;... Read Contribution
Marcelo Gleiser Theoretical Physicist, Dartmouth College; Author, A Tear... Read Contribution	Richard Saul Wurman Founder, TED Conference; eg Conference; TEDMED... Read Contribution
Bruce Parker Visiting Professor, Center for Maritime System; Author,... Read Contribution	Frank Tipler Professor of Mathematical Physics, Tulane University;... Read Contribution
Robert Sapolsky Neuroscientist, Stanford University; Author, Monkeyluv Read Contribution	Jordan Pollack Professor and Chairman of Computer Science, Brandeis... Read Contribution
Carlo Rovelli Theoretical Physicist; University of the Mediterraneum,... Read Contribution	Patrick Bateson Professor of Ethology, Cambridge University; Co-author,... Read Contribution
Charles Seife Professor of Journalism, New York University; formerly... Read Contribution	Simon Baron - Cohen Psychologist, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge... Read Contribution
Albert-lászló Barabási Complex Network Scientist; Distinguished Professor and... Read Contribution	James J O Donnell Classicist; Provost, Georgetown University; Author, The... Read Contribution
Stuart Pimm Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology; Author, The... Read Contribution	Luca De Biase Journalist; Editor, Nova 24, of Il Sole 24 Ore Read Contribution
David G. Myers Professor of Psychology, Hope College; author Psychology,... Read Contribution	Karl Sabbagh Writer and Television Producer; Author, Remembering Our... Read Contribution
Adam Alter Psychologist; Assistant Professor of Marketing, Stern... Read Contribution	Paul Steinhardt Albert Einstein Professor in Science, Departments of... Read Contribution
Gerald Smallberg Practicing Neurologist, New York City; Playwright,... Read Contribution	Gerd Gigerenzer Psychologist; Director of the Center for Adaptive... Read Contribution
Hans Ulrich Obrist Curator, Serpentine Gallery, London; Editor: A Brief... Read Contribution	Steve Giddings Theoretical physicist; Professor, Department of Physics,... Read Contribution
Katinka Matson Artist; Co-Founder, Edge.org; President, Brockman, Inc.;... Read Contribution	Alvy Ray Smith Co-founder, Pixar; Digital Imagery Pioneer & Visionary Read Contribution
Alun Anderson Senior Consultant (& former Ed-in-Chief & Publishing... Read Contribution	Benjamin K. Bergen Associate Professor, Cognitive Science, University of... Read Contribution
Beatrice Golomb Professor of Medicine at UCSD Read Contribution	Hugo Mercier Postdoc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics program at... Read Contribution
Gino Segre Professor of Physics & Astronomy, University of... Read Contribution	Eric R. Kandel Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics,... Read Contribution
Sherry Turkle Psychologist, MIT; Internet Culture Researcher; Author,... Read Contribution	Randolph Nesse Professor of Psychiatry, UM Medical School; Professor of... Read Contribution
Thomas A. Bass Professor of English at the University at Albany; Author,... Read Contribution	Marcel Kinsbourne Neurologist & Cognitive Neuroscientist, The New School;... Read Contribution
Nicholas A. Christakis Physician and Social Scientist, Harvard University;... Read Contribution	Christopher Sykes TV documentary producer Read Contribution
Philip Zimbardo Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University;... Read Contribution	Rodney A. Brooks Roboticist; Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus) ,... Read Contribution
Terrence J. Sejnowski Computational Neuroscientist; Francis Crick Professor,... Read Contribution	Alison Gopnik Psychologist, UC, Berkeley; Author, The Philosophical Baby Read Contribution
Neil Gershenfeld Physicist, Director, MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms;... Read Contribution	Richard Dawkins Evolutionary Biologist; Emeritus Professor of the Public... Read Contribution
Michael I. Norton Associate Professor of Marketing, Harvard Business School Read Contribution	Roger Highfield Director, External Affairs, National Museum of Science... Read Contribution
Lee Smolin Physicist, Perimeter Institute; Author, The Trouble With... Read Contribution	Eric J. Topol, M D Professor of Genomics, The Scripps Research Institute;... Read Contribution
Elizabeth Dunn Social Psychologist, University of British Columbia Read Contribution	Frank Wilczek Physicist, MIT; Recipient, 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics;... Read Contribution
Gerald Holton Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of the... Read Contribution	Todd C. Sacktor Distinguished Professor of Physiology, Pharmacology, and... Read Contribution
Robert Kurzban Psychologist, UPenn; Director, Penn Laboratory for... Read Contribution	Peter Atkins Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford;... Read Contribution
Samuel Barondes Professor of Neurobiology and Psychiatry, UCSF; Author,... Read Contribution	Judith Rich Harris Independent Investigator and Theoretician; Author, The... Read Contribution
Timothy D. Wilson Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the... Read Contribution	David Gelernter Computer Scientist, Yale University; Chief Scientist,... Read Contribution
Samuel Arbesman Applied Mathematician; Senior Scholar, Research and... Read Contribution	Stanislas Dehaene Neuroscientist; Collège de France, Paris; Author, The... Read Contribution
Martin Rees President, The Royal Society; Professor of Cosmology &... Read Contribution	Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Psychologist; Director, Quality of Life Research Center,... Read Contribution
Freeman Dyson Professor of Physics, Institute for Advanced Study;... Read Contribution	Philip Campbell Editor-in Chief, Nature Read Contribution
Shing-tung Yau Mathematician, Harvard; Co-author, The Shape of Inner Space Read Contribution	Daniel C. Dennett Philosopher; University Professor, Co-Director, Center... Read Contribution
Victoria Stodden Computational Legal Scholar; Assistant Professor of... Read Contribution	Douglas Rushkoff Media Analyst; Documentary Writer; Author, Program or Be... Read Contribution
Leonard Susskind Felix Bloch Professor in Theoretical Physics, Stanford;... Read Contribution	Armand Marie Leroi Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Imperial... Read Contribution
James Croak Artist Read Contribution	Lawrence M. Krauss Physicist/Cosmologist, ASU; Author, A Universe from Nothing Read Contribution
Stephen M. Kosslyn Psychologist; Director, Center for Advanced Study in the... Robin S. Rosenberg Clinical Psychologist; Author, What's the Matter with Batman Read Contribution	Kevin Kelly Senior maverick, Wired, Author-What Technology Wants Read Contribution
George Church Professor, Harvard University, Director, Personal Genome... Read Contribution	Nassim Nicholas Taleb Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering, NYU-Poly;... Read Contribution
Aubrey De Grey Gerontologist; Chief Science Officer. SENS Foundation;... Read Contribution	Nigel Goldenfeld Physicist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Read Contribution
George Dyson Science Historian, Author, Turing's Cathedral: The... Read Contribution	Jennifer Jacquet Postdoctoral Researcher, Fisheries Centre/Department of... Read Contribution
Alan Alda Actor, Writer, Director; Host of PBS program The Human... Read Contribution	Tor Nørretranders Science Writer; Consultant; Lecturer, Copenhagen; Author,... Read Contribution
Irene Pepperberg Research Associate & Lecturer, Harvard; Adjunct Associate... Read Contribution	Sean Carroll Theoretical Physicist, Caltech; Author, From Eternity to... Read Contribution
Gloria Origgi Philosopher and Researcher, C.N.R.S. Paris; Author,... Read Contribution	Steven Pinker Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology;... Read Contribution
Clay Shirky Social & Technology Network Topology Researcher; Adjunct... Read Contribution	Keith Devlin Executive Director, H-STAR Institute, Stanford... Read Contribution
Jonathan Gottschall English Department Washington & Jefferson College;... Read Contribution	Scott Sampson Dinosaur paleontologist and science communicator; Author,... Read Contribution
Richard Foreman Playwright & Director; Founder, The Ontological-Hysteric... Read Contribution	Jamshed Bharucha Psychologist; President, The Cooper Union for the... Read Contribution
Juan Enriquez Managing Director Excel Venture Management; Co-author,... Read Contribution	Satyajit Das Expert, Financial Derivatives and Risk; Author, Extreme... Read Contribution
Haim Harari Physicist, former President, Weizmann Institute of... Read Contribution	Peter Woit Mathematical Physicist, Columbia University; Author, Not... Read Contribution
Richard Nisbett Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan; Author,... Read Contribution	Robert Provine Psychologist and Neuroscientist, University of Maryland;... Read Contribution
Jared Diamond Professor of Geography, University of California Los... Read Contribution	Ed Regis Science writer; Author, What Is Life? Read Contribution
Clifford Pickover Author, The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum... Read Contribution	Timothy Taylor Archaeologist, University of Bradford; Author, The... Read Contribution
Arnold Trehub Psychologist, University of Massachusetts, Amherst;... Read Contribution	Roger Schank Psychologist & Computer Scientist; Engines for Education... Read Contribution
Derek Lowe Chemistry Blogger, Pipeline; Medicinal Chemist,... Read Contribution	Donald D. Hoffman Cognitive Scientist, UC, Irvine; Author, Visual Intelligence Read Contribution
Andy Clark Philosopher and Cognitive Scientist, University of... Read Contribution	David Christian Professor of History at Macquarie University, Sydney Read Contribution
Scott Atran Anthropologist, National Center for Scientific Research,... Read Contribution	Susan Blackmore Psychologist; Author, Consciousness: An Introduction Read Contribution
Nicholas G. Carr Author, The Shallows and The Big Switch Read Contribution	Michael Shermer Publisher, Skeptic magazine; monthly columnist,... Read Contribution
Rudy Rucker Mathematician, Computer Scientist; CyberPunk Pioneer;... Read Contribution	Jeremy Bernstein Professor emeritus, Stevens Institute of Technology;... Read Contribution
Howard Gardner Psychologist, Harvard University; Author,Truth, Beauty,... Read Contribution	Dylan Evans Founder and CEO of Projection Point Read Contribution
Nicholas Humphrey Emeritus School Professor, The London School of... Read Contribution	Emanuel Derman Professor, Financial Engineering, Columbia University;... Read Contribution