Category archives: Humanities & Social Sciences

Multiple views of a supernova seen by astronomers Astronomers have been able to witness the same supernova multiple times at different spots because of the gravitational lense effect of a galaxy cluster. The New York Times Snowflakes aren’t symmetrical, according to cutting-edge camera Snowflakes are even more complex than previously thought, according to high-speed 3D […]

Why racism is not backed by science As we gather more information about the genomes of more people a conclusion seems more and more evident: there is not such thing as race. The Guardian Bright spots seen on Ceres Bright spots seen on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres in photos taken by the approaching […]

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 […]