Jones is a small city located in the state of Oklahoma, in the Central United States. In Science Magazine we can read that the town has one bar, three restaurants and nine churches. It looks like the perfect place for a truly peaceful holiday, doesn’t it? Too bad that our perception of Jones’s tranquility can […]
Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient for plant growth and most plants require 20-50 g of N taken up by their roots to produce 1 kg of dry biomass. Although N is one of the most abundant elements on earth, agricultural soils are deficient in N and thus, to sustain crops productivity soils require their […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
Breaking waves provide some warmth to surf zones Breaking waves warm the water in the surf, and in some cases may provide more heat than sunshine. Scientists said that in areas like the Pacific Northwest, which have more powerful waves and cloudy skies, heating could be almost three times stronger that what the sun provides […]
This is the English version of a section in Ferreira (2014) , a paper dedicated to overview the experiments in Industrial Organization, to appear in Revista de Economía Industrial, and is reproduced here with the permission of the journal. The great majority of water collection and distribution in the world rely on a central authority […]
An old problem, restated by Martin Gardner in 1959, asked if six cigarettes that can be placed so that each touches the other. Gardner was surprised by fifteen readers discovering that actually seven cigarettes can be arranged with that condition . Some years later, in 1968, Littlewood raised the question if it possible in 3-space […]
It is possible that we know more about the cause of skin cancer than about any other type of cancer. The link between sun exposure (UV radiation) and the development of skin cancer is solidly established. And yet, the incidence of this disease is increasing year after year with a steepest slope than any other […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
Ancient Antikythera wreckage holds treasure trove of artifacts Researchers excavating the 2,000-year-old wreckage of the Antikythera in Greece have found a treasure trove ancient goods. “The evidence shows this is the largest ancient shipwreck ever discovered,” said marine archaeologist Brendan Foley. The wreckage was discovered more than a century ago but the current excavation has […]
‘Yo soy yo y mi circumstancia, y si no la salvo a ella no me salvo yo’ José Ortega y Gasset (Meditaciones del Quijote, 1914) In my first article for Mapping Ignorance I stated that “destiny” was an unrealistic concept disproved by the scientific evidence. However, it could be possible that this is not completely […]
The Big Bang Theory is one of the most robust theories ever made, if not the most. It also has become one of the greatest shows of our time, and I am not talking about the TV show with the same name -which is also one of the greatest TV shows of our time, just […]
Building machines which mimic the capacities of biological brains –and of the human brain in particular– is one of the main challenges of modern science. With the fast development of computer speed and power in the second half of the past century, this goal seemed, in the early days of artificial intelligence, simply a matter […]