How to Dispel Your Illusions
Freeman Dyson reviews Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux).
Freeman Dyson reviews Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux).
In his recent book The Social Conquest of Earth, the great myrmecologist and evolutionary theorist Edward O. Wilson comments at several points on animals with especially complex social behavior. Leading that parade: human beings. A close second: leafcutter ants. It might seem odd that tiny ants, with their necessarily tiny brains, could rival humans in…
ESA’s Planck satellite has delivered its first all-sky image of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), bringing with it new challenges about our understanding of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. The image has provided the most precise picture of the early Universe so far. For the most part, the data agree extremely well with…
A new university-backed project aims to investigate cryptic species such as the yeti whose existence is unproven, through genetic testing. Researchers from Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology are asking anyone with a collection of cryptozoological material to submit descriptions of it. The researchers will then ask for hair and other samples for…
Japanese scientists have devised a mathematical formula that can predict the box office performance of a movie based on the level of related activity on social networks and other websites before and during its release. The study, led by Professor Akira Ishii from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Physics at Tottori University, also found…
Honey bees drones actually have a large spectrum of personalities. Scientists found that some are homebodies, some are explorers, and no matter what they are, we can change them. The defining trait of personality is a consistent response to similar stimuli in different contexts. Honey bees hives are filled with self-sacrificing drones, but certain bees,…
Since the 1930s, doctors have been jolting the brains of depressed patients with electricity to relieve their symptoms. The treatment, known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), works, but it can cause memory loss and confusion and lead to difficulty forming new memories. Today, physicians generally limit it to patients who are severely ill, including those at…