Article archives

Why we almost certainly <i>do not</i> live in a simulation ? (1)

Why we almost certainly do not live in a simulation ? (1)

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

One important principle of any sensible social epistemology is that the fraction of crazy-sounding ideas that are really crazy is extremely high. Of course, a lot of crazy-sounding ideas have turned out being right (e.g., the evolution of different species from common ascent, the earth’s being a planet turning around a star, the atomic composition […]

MI weekly selection #222

MI weekly selection #222

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

DNA-based computer could solve problems faster A theoretical DNA-based computer called a nondeterministic universal Turing machine could work out difficult problems faster than both conventional and quantum computers. The machine works by endlessly rearranging DNA via gene editing. New Scientist Temperature of Earth’s mantle recalculated Earth’s mantle is much hotter than researchers thought, coming in […]

Sleeping spines

Sleeping spines

NeurobiologyNeuroscience

By José Ramón Alonso

Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind and body characterized by altered consciousness, relatively repressed sensory inputs, inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles, and reduced interactions with surroundings. We spend around one third of our lives sleeping although why we sleep is still theme of debate. Sleep seems to assist animals with improvements in […]

MI weekly selection #221

MI weekly selection #221

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Human gene expression still influenced by Neanderthal DNA Neanderthal DNA is still influencing the expression of human genes, affecting such things as the development of illnesses, height and immune systems. “Strikingly, we find that Neanderthal sequences present in living individuals are not silent remnants of hybridization that occurred over 50,000 years ago, but have ongoing […]

Is China a Socialist country?

Is China a Socialist country?

Economics

By José Luis Ferreira

The last issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives published the article Is China Socialist? by Barry Naughton , which I summarize here. In order to address the question, the first thing Naughton does is to provide a working definition of socialism. Under a broad conception, a plausible socialist system would be judged on four […]

MI weekly selection #220

MI weekly selection #220

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Signs of organic material spotted on Ceres Evidence of the building blocks of life has been found on the dwarf planet Ceres. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has detected signs of organic molecules around the Ernutet crater. Los Angeles Times Radio receivers around the world linking up to see black hole Astronomers think they’re very close to […]