-
Never Trust a Physicist
“The Cataclysm Sentence,” by Richard Feynman: “if, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence was passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?” Feynman forces readers to evaluate: what can we define as “essential” knowledge?
-
Living Machines of Tomorrow
Artificial intelligence and advanced biomedical research now have the capability to produce remarkable innovations in science. Looking into the realm of nanotechnology, scientists have pioneered a novel generation of artificial living cells. Created not by nature, but by machine. Introducing; Xenobots.
-
Inconceivably Real, Infinitely Dear
Emotion is often regarded as an inborn ability among human beings, universal in both their expression and perception. However, a significant amount of human emotion is shaped by our social and cultural upbringing. How can it be that people from different cultures express emotion in such similar ways when humans differ widely in emotional experience?
-
Ear-ly Bird Gets the Worm!
Think of a time when you had a tune or song stuck in your head. Was it catchy to the point it would continuously repeat? Did you feel the urge to hum or sing it? If so, you are not alone in experiencing what is called an “earworm.”
-
Microplastics with Macro Effects on the Human Body
Pollution has caused adverse changes in the environment since the Industrial Revolution. Today, these human-made changes create a huge disturbance to life that directly impact our health.
-
Classifications of the Modern Homo sapien
Once you reach the harbor gates in the game Disco Elysium, you will encounter a man called Measurehead. At this point in the story, your character has traipsed through the war-torn city of Revachol, come to terms with his alcohol-fueled amnesia, and observed the dead body he was apparently sent to investigate. Measurehead is simply…
-
The Search for Life: Machine Learning Leads the Hunt for Alien Worlds
Eight planets in our solar system, billions of solar systems in the Milky Way, and hundreds of billions of galaxies in the observable universe. Life: one match found.
-
Living in Death Denial
The unavoidable fact of life is that it will end—no single person has ever managed to circumnavigate this fate. The moment we first become aware of ourselves as being alive coincides with our first encounter with our own mortality. What happens after death is a mystery, and anxiety is a natural response to the unknown.…
-
Reject Bird, Embrace Dinosaur: How Ratites Lost the Ability to Fly, Four Times
The ratites are distinguished by their lack of a keel, a protrusion of the breastbone that acts as an anchor for the muscles used in flight. Despite being earthbound, these flightless birds are found in disparate islands and continents around the world, giving rise to a compelling mystery as to their method of distribution.
-
Sleep Deprivation: Its Neural Circuits and Influence on Memory
A recent compelling theory called the “brain elasticity theory” suggests that sleep is correlated with changes in the structure and organization of the brain.
