Article archives

MI weekly selection #101

MI weekly selection #101

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Massive storms on Uranus baffle scientists Astronomers have detected a wave of powerful storms touching down on the planet Uranus, surprising scientists who previously observed much more placid weather. Some of the storms are so bright that even amateurs can observe them using less advanced equipment. National Geographic The puzzle over organic matter on Mars […]

The animal that wouldn’t die

The animal that wouldn’t die

BiologyHealth

By Jaime de Juan Sanz

Understanding aging and how it affects the lifespan of an organism is a fundamental problem in biology that is of great interest to our society. During the last decade, an incredible amount of research has been published trying to understand aging processes, unraveling what factors accelerate or decelerate this process in several animal models (worms […]

At the edge of the cliff: no new antibiotics for multidrug-resistant bacteria

At the edge of the cliff: no new antibiotics for multidrug-resistant bacteria

BiomedicineHealthPharmacy

By Pablo Ortiz

The Ebola outbreak has brought the fear of a viral pandemic to the headlines once more, as it happened before with the avian or swine flu. Although viruses-caused infections catch most of attention on the media, the greatest risk to human health comes from other microorganisms, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Contrary to viral outbreaks, the threat […]

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 […]