Geometry of Consciousness: Multi-dimensional Math Trip
A group of scientists think they can build such a “consciousness meter” using complex mathematics: the geometry of consciousness.
Search Results for: theory
Microfossils Are Earliest Evidence Yet of Life on Earth
By Katherine Lindemann Researchers examining deposits from ancient hydrothermal vents in northeastern Canada have found evidence of microbial activity, possibly some of the earliest life on Earth. Hydrothermal vents deep beneath the oceans have long been thought to be where life originated, leading Matthew Dodd and colleagues to search where they did. The microbes were likely iron-metabolizing bacteria, and the structures they left are between 3.77 and 4.28 billion years old, making them even older than the microbes found last year to have lived near the surface of the ocean…
Which Dinosaur Gave Rise to Tyrannosaurus Rex?
What dinosaur was the ancestor of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex? Which dinosaur gave rise to this famous lineage?
Why Do We Mistrust Science?
To most of us, uncertainty means not knowing. To scientists, uncertainty expresses how well something is known—and research reduces uncertainty.
Book Review: God’s Word or Human Reason?
The authors of God’s Word or Human Reason tackle a very difficult subject with the specific goal of taking creationist arguments seriously.
Spaceman: An Astronaut’s Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe
Mike Massimino, former space shuttle astronaut and current professor at Columbia University, shares his path with us in his book, Spaceman.
Ancient Crops Reveal Asian Colonization of Madagascar
By Neha Jain @lifesciexplore For decades, the colonization of Madagascar has been one of the most puzzling mysteries of human history. Although Madagascar is only a few hundred kilometers from the east coast of Africa, the language spoken there, known as Malagasy, belongs to the same group of languages spoken in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands located thousands of kilometers away. This linguistic affinity suggests that Madagascar was colonized by settlers from Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Genetic and cultural evidence also support this theory. However, no concrete evidence has…
Saving Forests with Artificial Intelligence
By Norman Rusin The global trade in products made from illegally extracted timber is a multi-billion dollar industry. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates it to be worth between $30 billion and $100 billion annually. The practice not only threatens ancient forests and critical habitats for wildlife, but also results in significant economic and environmental problems for many developing countries. Clear-cutting is known to disrupt carbon in the soil. However, forest protection agencies face limited budgets and must cover large areas, making sound investments in security resources critical. AI to…
Outwitting Poachers with Anti-Poaching AI
Every day, poachers kill tigers, elephants, rhinos, and other animals. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is ready to curb poaching and protect the animals.
Big, Beautiful Bird Brains
By Emily Willoughby @eawilloughby It is probably not a coincidence that the verbs ape and parrot have such a similar meaning: to imitate an observed behavior. There is something suggestive of intelligence in the words, perhaps informed by knowing that babies mimic the behaviors of adults as their brains begin to mature. But the similarity may reflect something more fundamental. Primates and certain birds—most notably parrots and corvids, the group that includes crows and jays—are well known as being among the smartest of animals. For apes this is no surprise,…