How easy is it to create life? It happened here at least once. Does that give scientists studying the creation of life from non-life (abiogenesis) much to work with?
For the research subjects’ sacred values, the ones they wouldn’t give up on for any amount of money (they could ‘auction off their value’ for up to $100), what lit up in the brain were areas known to be involved in right-wrong decisions, not in cost-benefit/utilitarian parts of the brain. That is, we naturally go…
Government scientists in Canada are facing growing restrictions on their ability to speak directly to the public and the press—and could benefit from new policies being instituted south of the border in the United States, according to panelists discussing the issue at the 2012 AAAS meeting in Vancouver, Canada. In one example, Margaret Munro, a…
Every election year, political candidates of all stripes are called “knuckle-dragging Neanderthals.” In a recent column, Washington Post pundit Kathleen Parker asks if it’s fair that many U.S. women see the Republican party in precisely those terms. Barbara King’s question: Is that fair to the Neanderthals? King explains why Neanderthals weren’t at all the cartoonish,…
Researchers at Penn State University have developed a chemical model that mimics a possible step in the formation of cellular life on Earth four-billion years ago. Using large “macromolecules” called polymers, the scientists created primitive cell-like structures that they infused with RNA – the genetic coding material that is thought to precede the appearance of…
The dynamics of global innovation are changing as a result of the activities of emerging economies, according to The Global Innovation Index 2012. Countries like China, India – and even Paraguay and Sri Lanka – show that while innovative activity generally increases with income levels, good results can be achieved using their own innovation models….
The “prisoner’s dilemma” is a classic psychology game used to study how collaboration evolves in animal societies. Now, a pair of mathematicians have identified a new way of playing the game that allows a player to do significantly better than their opponent. Whereas most winning strategies involve playing nice, the new method relies on playing…