Category archives: Humanities & Social Sciences

Neanderthals interbred with ancient Asians at 2 points in history Neanderthals interbred with the ancestors of Asians twice in ancient history, according to a pair of studies published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. The studies approached the same question from different directions, but came to the same conclusion, looking at why Asians have […]

In his book Climate Matters , John Broome (2012) examines climate change from the point of view of moral philosophy. Unlike many other essays that consider the ethics of social choice in this matter, Broome’s book contains some chapters that focus on the implications for individual ethics: “ Should you stop flying to distant places […]

In my past entry I described the tribe of the ‘Halflings’ as those authors who try to find a middle road between the ‘Platonist’ that identify beauty as one essential goal of scientific research (even conflating it, in the end, with truth itself), and the ‘Sceptics’ that assume that aesthetic criteria are essentially subjective and […]

Mesozoic mammals more diverse than previously thought The discovery of two fossils dating back about 160 million years suggests an extensive ecological diversity among early mammals that coexisted with dinosaurs during the Mesozoic era. The two fossils are of a mole-like animal that lived below ground and a creature that lived in the trees, each […]

Sea slug can use photosynthesis for nutrition by taking gene from algae The emerald sea slug steals a gene from the algae it eats, allowing it to get nourishment from photosynthesis. Discovery Chimps adopt new calls when moved to new groups Chimps who move into a new group change their calls to match those of […]

One traditional question in the philosophy of science, or perhaps it would be better to say in the philosophical views about science, is the role that aesthetic judgments and emotions play in the evaluation of theories, models, hypotheses, or experiments. We can classify the main positions about this question in roughly three groups. In the […]

Scorpion fly first to feed on human corpses Researchers working with human cadavers were surprised to see scorpion flies arrive first to feed on the remains instead of blowflies, which are commonly thought to be first responders, according to a study. The finding could have an impact on forensic investigations. The Washington Post Surprise!: fish […]

In the first part of this series, I presented the rationale for government intervention in the health sector and, then, summarized the findings of Stabile and Thomson (2014) on the problems of financing and risk pooling in different health systems. In this second part I continue with the problems on demand, coverage decisions, evaluation and […]

Renowned researchers pen letter to outline benefits, pitfalls of AI Renowned scientists and technology leaders including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have issued a warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence. The group signed a letter that touts the many benefits of AI, and outlines the many risks. “Because of the great potential of AI […]

Rhesus monkeys can be taught to recognize their images in mirrors Mirror recognition can be taught to rhesus monkeys, according to researchers who say the findings could help them better understand how self-awareness develops in the brain. “Our findings suggest that the monkey brain has the basic ‘hardware’ [for mirror self-recognition], but they need appropriate […]