George Dyson talks with Martin Eiermann about the definition of life, human progress, and the importance of cognitive autarchy.
The next time you think about having sex without birth control, The Center for Biological Diversity wants to make sure that you consider how it might affect the greater world around you. Since 2009, the non-profit has handed out 450,000 condoms with endangered species awareness messages on their wrappers. How would your next passionate evening…
When John Cardy proposed a far-reaching principle to constrain all possible theories of quantum particles and fields, he expected it to be quickly rebutted. But for almost 25 years that hasn’t happened—and it now seems that his theorem may have been quietly proved earlier this year. If the solution holds, it is likely to guide…
Could there be a universe in which gravity is a bit stronger, or the electron a bit heavier?
In his latest book The Moral Molecule, neuroeconomist Paul Zak describes oxytocin’s role in trust, bonding and even virtuous behavior. New Scientist caught up with him about avoiding the term “the cuddle chemical” and trying not to make a bride faint on her wedding day. Author Metanexus Editors
Alzheimer’s disease seems to spread like an infection from brain cell to brain cell, two new studies in mice have found. But instead of viruses or bacteria, what is being spread is a distorted protein known as tau. The surprising finding answers a longstanding question and has immediate implications for developing treatments, researchers said. And…
The fundamental claim is that selfish people out reproduce unselfish ones, but superimposed on that is the claim that (really) selfish people who are self-deceived into thinking they are unselfish out reproduce selfish people who know their own selfishness.