Category archives: Humanities & Social Sciences

Iron dust helped plankton thrive during last ice age Plankton gorged on iron dust during the last ice age, causing them to thrive and absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide in the air, according to a study published in the journal Science. Some scientists argue that by seeding areas such as the Southern Ocean in […]

The literature of experimental economics has documented that individuals consistently make voluntary payments. Two methodological questions arise from this fact. First, which are the precise drivers of this pro-social behavior and, second, whether these findings can be extended to real life situations. Tobias Regner (2014) addresses these questions comparing theoretical and laboratory results with the […]

The most distinctive feature of modern economics is probably its reliance on the methodology of mathematical model building. The final aim of scientific model building is illuminating real phenomena; furthermore, models are basically logical arguments, whose main virtue is that they allow us to see very clearly what follows, and also what does not follow […]

Favorable weather gave rise to Genghis Khan Tree-ring scientists have linked favorable weather patterns with the rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire, according a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, putting a new spin on the history of the Mongols. The steppes had an unusual 15-year period of rain […]

Lone gene determines wing mimicry in butterflies One gene can determine the wing patterns of female swallowtail butterflies, making them resemble a different, and toxic, butterfly species, according to a study published in Nature. The finding adds to the debate over mimicry and how it helps put off would-be predators. A team of evolutionary biologists […]

The beringia standstill hypothesis A review of genetic evidence suggests that the Native American founding population lived in Beringia for thousands of years before migrating south into North America. And sediments taken from the Bering Sea show that at the time, the region also had woody plants for building fires, and grassland steppes where woolly […]

I will end this survey of the main contributions to the economics of scientific knowledge (ESK) by discussing the works which attempt to offer a more or less systematic conception of the process of scientific discovery; in this entry, I will talk about ‘institutionalist’ theories, i.e., those that abstain from using mathematical models. The first […]

Beluga whales infected with cat parasites Parasites known to infect cats have been discovered in Arctic beluga whales. Toxoplasma gondii can cause people to go blind. Scientists have issued a health advisory for those in the Western Arctic region who eat beluga meat. BBC News Higgs boson bubbles sent shock waves throughout nascent universe Bubbles […]

The relative wage of high-skilled to low-skilled workers began to increase in US manufacturing industries in the late 1980s, and this phenomenon was also observed in Mexico. At the same time, the US–Mexican trade as a percentage of US GDP increased dramatically during the same period. Does this mean that trade is behind the observed […]

Mesozoic-era ichthyosaur had live births on land The fossil remains of a 248 million-year-old ichthyosaur have revealed that the Mesozoic-era reptile died while giving birth with two offspring still inside it. Scientists were surprised to note that the birth was occurring on land, which goes against a long-held belief that the sea creatures delivered their […]