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Why did curiosity kill the cat? Brain reward systems engaged in learning curious information

Why did curiosity kill the cat? Brain reward systems engaged in learning curious information

Neuroscience

By José Viosca

People , like cats, are curiosity-driven creatures that manifest unique inclinations towards certain stimuli. Curiosity´s unavoidability has been immortalized in the proverb of the cat. Could we be so extremely pulled by this impulse to the level of endangering ourselves for the mere sake of its satisfaction? The flip side of the coin is an […]

Deconstructing intelligent design (2): Dembski’s “explanatory filter” is not a filter at all

Deconstructing intelligent design (2): Dembski’s “explanatory filter” is not a filter at all

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

Besides confusing what a scientific explanation is, as we saw in the previous entry , Dembski’s ‘explanatory filter’ (‘anything must be explained by law, by chance, or by design’) also commits the worst mistake that can be committed while using the logical rule known as ‘disjunctive syllogism’ (“either p or q; not p; ergo q”) […]

MI weekly selection #99

MI weekly selection #99

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Earth’s water may be more ancient than previously estimated Scientists have come across evidence suggesting that Earth’s water may have been around for much longer than previously thought. The latest findings show that water may have been present in the inner solar system at least 135 million years earlier than previous estimates and that it […]

Young blood and old brain rejuvenation

Young blood and old brain rejuvenation

Neurobiology

By Jaime de Juan Sanz

We all have heard stories about young blood-consuming vampires remaining eternally youthful. Although lots of literary fictions have become true with scientific progress, no one would ever believe that young blood could have rejuvenative effects on the elderly. Surprisingly, this is recently becoming true with the increasing evidence in biomedical research showing that old mice […]

Alzheimer’s disease: 3D culture system brings hope to drug discovery

Alzheimer’s disease: 3D culture system brings hope to drug discovery

NeurobiologyNeuroscience

By Raúl Delgado-Morales

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most devastating human pathologies. AD is the leading cause of age-related dementia and currently afflicts more than 44 million persons worldwide (World Alzheimer Report 2014). It is characterized by a cognitive decline and memory loss and by the appearance of two pathological hallmarks: beta amyloid plaques and cytoskeletal […]

Mi weekly selection #98

Mi weekly selection #98

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

3D map shows the adolescent universe Astronomers have pieced together an image of what the adolescent universe looked like using just four hours of telescope observation time, producing a three-dimensional map. The map, millions of light-years across, shows areas of high-density matter that appear to be galaxies as they were just 3 billion years after […]