A team of researchers from the Laboratoire Univers et Théorie has performed the first-ever computer model simulation of the structuring of the entire observable universe, from the Big Bang to the present day. The simulation has made it possible to follow the evolution of 550 billion particles. This simulation, along with the two additional runs…
Researchers studying different African communities of wild chimpanzees have pooled their data and found that the apes sometimes kill each other nearly everywhere they’ve been studied. Chimp homicides occurred most frequently in groups with the most adult males, anthropologist Michael Wilson reported at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists’ annual meeting. Chimps spend most of…
An essay in Science magazine by Andrew Hodges, the dean of Wadham College at Oxford University, suggests that Alan Turing’s greatest contribution was defining the limits of what computers can “know”—that is, what is computable. By formalizing the computability question in 1936, Turing illuminated the deeper issue of what humans could know: Is our knowledge…
If a pulsing star exists near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, where a giant black hole is thought to lurk, it could shed light on the workings of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, scientists say. The flashes of light from such a star, called a pulsar, could be used to determine how…
Physically fit frogs have faster-changing genomes, according to a study of poison frogs from Central and South America. Stretches of DNA generally accumulate changes over time, but the rate at which this occurs varies between species. Biologists have, in the past, tried to explain why some species have faster-changing genomes than others by focusing on…
Worrying is a beneficial trait that evolved in association with intelligence, according to a new study published in a recent edition of Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience. “While excessive worry is generally seen as a negative trait and high intelligence as a positive one, worry may cause our species to avoid dangerous situations, regardless of how…
A new scientific instrument, a “time machine” of sorts, built by UCLA astronomers and colleagues, will allow scientists to study the earliest galaxies in the universe, which could never be studied before. MOSFIRE (Multi-Object Spectrometer For Infra-Red Exploration) will gather spectra, which contain chemical signatures in the light of everything from stars to galaxies, at…
A group of 49 former NASA scientists and astronauts believes NASA is playing fast and loose with climate change science. In March, the group sent a letter to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Jr., blasting the agency for making unwarranted claims about the role of carbon dioxide in global warming, Business Insider reported. “We believe the…
Chimps and toddlers rely on the “wisdom of the crowd” to sway their decision-making processes, new research published in the journal Current Biology indicates. Orangutans don’t, which could be because they live solitary lives. The researchers were interested in finding out more about social learning — how one animal picks up behaviors from others rather…
In a study of how people assess danger, participants who looked at photos of hands holding different objects thought the gun bearers were the tallest.