These rhythmic signal pulses, which sweep through the brain during deep sleep at the rate of about one cycle per second, are assumed to play a role in processes such as consolidation of memory. For the first time, researchers have shown conclusively that slow waves start in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain…
Because nature does not present the world in the form we would like, we must reorder it. To create this new order, we need information about what that order is supposed to look like, knowledge about how to build it and energy to get it into shape. Many technological revolutions of the past have focused…
Here’s an interesting idea. Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every two years or so. That has produced an exponential increase in the number of transistors on microchips and continues to do so. But if an observer today was to measure this rate of increase, it would be…
Famed British cosmologist Stephen Hawking sees only one way for humanity to survive the next millennium: colonize space. And he’s probably right. In a lecture Tuesday in Los Angles, the 71-year-old Stephen Hawking said humanity would likely not survive another 1,000 years “without escaping beyond our fragile planet,” according to the Associated Press.
One need not look far these days to find people skeptical (at best) about the value of higher education. Most of these people particularly question the value of a liberal-arts education, which they view as outdated and elitist. Claiming economic pragmatism, they seek the curtailment or even outright elimination of arts and humanities programs. Liberal…
In 2008, researchers found remains of a few early human-like beings in a cave in South Africa. Now, they’ve pieced them together into one of the most complete skeletons of a human ancestor ever made. The skeletons belong to a new species of australopithecine, named Australopithecus sediba, discovered for the first time at that cave…
More than half of our nation’s waterways are in “poor condition.” So said the “National Rivers and Streams Assessment”, a recent report from the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA). As the weather warms and minds turn to spring and summer recreation, waterways in poor condition affect you directly if you are planning to swim, fish, or boat…
On a four-point scale, from one (strongly disagree) to four (strongly agree), please rate the following statements: “The Apollo moon landings never happened and were staged in a Hollywood film studio”; ”Princess Diana’s death was not an accident but rather an organized assassination by members of the British Royal Family who disliked her”; “The Coca-Cola…
Worried that public schools are failing to prepare students for a complex and changing world, educators unveiled new guidelines Tuesday that call for sweeping changes in the way science is taught in the United States, emphasizing hands-on learning and critical scrutiny of scientific evidence. Among many other changes, the guidelines call for introducing climate science…
In the book Theoretical Morphology, George McGhee examines why living things look the way they do. He explores the space of the potential shapes of organisms, or their morphology, and compares that to what we find in Nature, finding that the actual morphologies are often a subset of those potential shapes, due to chance and…