Is the intelligence test an “objective”, scientific device or just a way to “execute” social discrimination? This article (based on ) presents the latest steps to trace the history of one of the most problematic chapters in psychology’s history: the application of intelligence testing. By informing about the history of the IQ debate I want […]
Under the threat of those annoying genetic parasites called viruses, eukaryotic cells developed, on the top of a wide innate defence, a curious and efficient RNA-based adaptive immune system referred as RNA interference or iRNA. You will find more info about this surveillance system, which detects and destroys foreign RNA molecules entering the cell with […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
A switch for internal, external brain processes Researchers have observed how the brain switches between internal and external information processes in mice. Scientists manipulated thalamic reticular nucleus cells to get the mice to switch information systems. Researchers hope the study could lead to treatments for people with autism or schizophrenia, whose brains have difficulty with […]
I am concerned here with the ways science and the future were interpreted during the interwar years. I argue that we need to come to deal not just with “the view of science”, but rather with sharply contrasting and competing narratives vigourously expressed in a new media-rich world after the First World War. Our vision […]
Bacteria are the workhorses for a large number of biotechnological processes. From different fermentation processes to insulin production, they are widely used in industry due to their efficiency, fast duplication times and ease of maintenance. But often their behaviour it´s much more complex than one would expect from a unicellular organism. This is where the […]
LPS core mutants open the way for more effective brucellosis vaccines Brucellosis is a worldwide extended infectious disease of livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, cows, pigs, …) and remains one of the most common zoonotic infections, with more tan 500,000 new human cases worldwide every year. “ Brucellosis is a threat to human health and a […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
Glowing sharks living in dark depths evolve special vision Some species of bioluminescent sharks that live in the darkest depths of the ocean have eyes that have evolved to detect complex patterns of light to communicate with each other, locate prey or hide themselves. Researchers found that the eyes of bioluminescent sharks provide better resolution […]
A couple of weeks ago I had the chance of having a fulfilling chat with Riccardo Cerulli, one of DAMA main researchers. They are at the very center of a skepticism tornado about their results on Dark Matter direct detection, and I asked as many questions as he let me to try to solve this […]
The study of the spontaneous activity in the brain –and its origin– is one of the major puzzles in modern neural science. In many situations, the same neurons which behave smoothly and in an easily predictable way in in vitro experimental conditions, turn into unpredictable units, firing spikes irregularly and even chaotically, when they are […]
Jon Agar is a Professor of Science and Technology Studies at University College London. He writes on contemporary technologies (such as mobile phones, ID cards) and the history of modern science and technology. He is the author of Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond published by Polity Press. He is also editor of the […]