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…
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 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.
Baboons can learn to tell the difference between real four-letter words and nonsense combinations of letters. And once they figure out the patterns, these monkeys can guess with impressive accuracy whether a new word is real or fake. Because baboons can’t actually read, a new study supports the theory that the brains of our primate…
Science can advance quickly, rendering existing textbooks obsolete. Now new digital textbooks are emerging intended to better engage students and keep them up-to-date on the latest research. These e-books will cost (and weigh) less than the average printed tome. In January, Apple announced its iBooks 2 textbook platform for the iPad, and publishers, including McGraw-Hill,…
The second-largest mass extinction in Earth’s history coincided with a short but intense ice age during which enormous glaciers grew and sea levels dropped. Although it has long been agreed that the so-called Late Ordovician mass extinction — which occurred about 450 million years ago — was related to climate change, exactly how the climate…
Scientists at the Quantum Dynamics division of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany announced that they have built the very first, elementary quantum network comprised of a pair of entangled atoms that transmit information to each other via single photons. That and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of…