Author archives: Invited Researcher

How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity’s technological revolution

How a handful of prehistoric geniuses launched humanity’s technological revolution

AnthropologyEvolution

By Invited Researcher

For the first few million years of human evolution, technologies changed slowly. Some three million years ago, our ancestors were making chipped stone flakes and crude choppers. Two million years ago, hand-axes. A million years ago, primitive humans sometimes used fire, but with difficulty. Then, 500,000 years ago, technological change accelerated, as spearpoints, firemaking, axes […]

Seagulls, songbirds and parrots: what new research tells us about their cognitive ability

Seagulls, songbirds and parrots: what new research tells us about their cognitive ability

BiologyEthology

By Invited Researcher

As you can imagine, a human intelligence test doesn’t really cut it for birds. It isn’t that easy to assess how an animal perceives information from the environment, processes it and decides to act. But researchers have developed a range of clever experiments to find out more about their cognitive abilities. Do they recognise each […]

Some black holes are anything but black – and we’ve found more than 75,000 of the brightest ones

Some black holes are anything but black – and we’ve found more than 75,000 of the brightest ones

AstronomyAstrophysics

By Invited Researcher

When the most massive stars die, they collapse to form some of the densest objects known in the Universe: black holes. They are the “darkest” objects in the cosmos, as not even light can escape their incredibly strong gravity. Because of this, it’s impossible to directly image black holes, making them mysterious and quite perplexing […]

Carbon nanotubes as shields to enhance photocatalysis

Carbon nanotubes as shields to enhance photocatalysis

ChemistryMaterials

By Invited Researcher

We live in a time when scientific applications are growing by leaps and bounds. This exponential growth has been possible, among other tools, thanks to the application of nanotechnology. There is something that nanotechnology has taught us: In science, size matters. When studying matter at nanometric levels, we find that the properties are completely different […]

Robots can be companions, caregivers, collaborators — and social influencers

Robots can be companions, caregivers, collaborators — and social influencers

RoboticsSociology

By Invited Researcher

In the mid-1990s, there was research going on at Stanford University that would change the way we think about computers. The Media Equation experiments were simple: participants were asked to interact with a computer that acted socially for a few minutes after which, they were asked to give feedback about the interaction. Participants would provide […]

Mapping how the 100 billion cells in the brain all fit together is the brave new world of neuroscience

Mapping how the 100 billion cells in the brain all fit together is the brave new world of neuroscience

Neuroscience

By Invited Researcher

The brain plays an essential role in how people navigate the world by generating both thought and behavior. Despite being one of the most vital organs of life, it takes up only 2% of human body volume. How can something so small perform such complex tasks? Luckily, modern tools like brain mapping have allowed neuroscientists […]

Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems

Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems

BiologyEcology

By Invited Researcher

We tend to think Antarctica is isolated and far away – biologically speaking, this is true. But the continent is busier than you probably imagine, with many national programs and tourist operators crisscrossing the globe to get there. And each vessel, each cargo item, and each person could be harbouring non-native species, hitchhiking their way […]

The Evolution of Murder

The Evolution of Murder

Prepared to kill

By Invited Researcher

The American evolutionary psychologist David Buss contends in his 2005 book The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind Is Designed to Kill that the evolutionary process humans acquired psychological adaptations to facilitate homicide. Natural selection, it is hypothesized, winnowed and perfected psychological mechanisms that solved certain problems by facilitating homicidal behavior. Of course, to solve […]