January 2012
11 posts
4 tags
The Rise of the New Groupthink. ‘Without great solitude, no serious work is possible’
“The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. No big laboratory is needed in which to think. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone,...
5 tags
What Happened Before the Big Bang? The New Philosophy of Cosmology
Tim Maudlin: “There are problems that are fairly specific to cosmology. Standard cosmology, or what was considered standard cosmology twenty years ago, led people to the conclude that the universe that we see around us began in a big bang, or put another way, in some very hot, very dense state. And if you...
9 tags
‘Human beings are learning machines,’ says philosopher (nature vs. nurture)
“The point is that in scientific writing (…) suggest a very inflexible view of human nature, that we are determined by our biology. From my perspective the most interesting thing about the human species is our plasticity, our flexibility. (…)
It is striking in...
3 tags
Cognitive scientists develop new take on old problem: why human language has so many words with multiple meanings “Why did language evolve? While the answer might seem obvious — as a way for individuals to exchange information — linguists and other students of communication have debated this question for years. Many prominent linguists, including MIT’s Noam...
6 tags
The Rise of Complexity. Scientists replicate key evolutionary step in life on earth Green cells are undergoing cell death, a cellular division-of-labor—fostering new life.
“More than 500 million years ago, single-celled organisms on Earth’s surface began forming multi-cellular clusters that ultimately became plants and animals. (…)
The...
4 tags
What are memories made of? “There appears to be no single memory store, but instead a diverse taxonomy of memory systems, each with its own special circuitry evolved to package and retrieve that type of memory. Memories are not static entities; over time they shift and migrate between different territories of the brain.
At the top of the taxonomical tree, a split occurs between...
6 tags
A risk-perception: What You Don’t Know Can Kill You
“Humans have a perplexing
tendency to fear rare threats such as shark attacks while blithely
ignoring far greater risks like
unsafe sex and an unhealthy diet. Those illusions are not just
silly—they make the world a more dangerous place. (…)
We like to think that humans are supremely logical, making decisions on the...
2 tags
Can A Scientist Define “Life”?
“Defining life poses a challenge that’s downright philosophical. (…) When Portland State University biologist Radu Popa was working on a book about defining life, he decided to count up all the definitions that scientists have published in books and scientific journals. Some scientists define life as something capable of metabolism. Others...
4 tags
Nicholas Carr on Books That Are Never Done Being Written
“I recently got a glimpse into the future of books. A few months ago, I dug out a handful of old essays I’d written about innovation, combined them into a single document, and uploaded the file to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service. Two days later, my little e-book was on sale at Amazon’s...
4 tags
Scientists recreate evolution of complexity using ‘molecular time travel’
“Much of what living cells do is carried out by “molecular machines” – physical complexes of specialized proteins working together to carry out some biological function. (…)
In a study published early online on January 8, in Nature, a team of scientists from the University...
6 tags
Why Do Languages Die? Urbanization, the state and the rise of nationalism
“The history of the world’s languages is largely a story of loss and decline. At around 8000 BC, linguists estimate that upwards of 20,000 languages may have been in existence. Today the number stands at 6,909 and is declining rapidly. By 2100, it is quite realistic to expect that half of these...