Category: science

Motivated Reasoning : The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science

The theory of motivated reasoning builds on a key insight of modern neuroscience [7] (PDF): Reasoning is actually suffused with emotion (or what researchers often call “affect”). Not only are the two inseparable, but our positive or negative feelings about people, things, and ideas arise much more rapidly than our conscious thoughts, in a matter… Continue reading Motivated Reasoning : The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science

A working robot controlled by a slime mould, Dalek anyone?

A working robot controlled by a slime mould, and designed and built in ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, will play a starring role in a major BBC4/Discovery Channel feature to be aired in the autumn. A production team from BBC Scotland spent a whole day in ECS this week, filming with… Continue reading A working robot controlled by a slime mould, Dalek anyone?

The Moore’s Law of solar energy

That is changing. Over the last 30 years, researchers have watched as the price of capturing solar energy has dropped exponentially. There’s now frequent talk of a “Moore’s law” in solar energy. In computing, Moore’s law dictates that the number of components that can be placed on a chip doubles every 18 months. More practically… Continue reading The Moore’s Law of solar energy

The Psychology of Cheating

“Cheating is especially easy to justify when you frame situations to cast yourself as a victim of some kind of unfairness,” said Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the use of prescription drugs to improve intellectual performance. “Then it becomes a matter of evening the score; you’re not… Continue reading The Psychology of Cheating

Global Warming Critics Replicate Disputed Climate Change Findings

Gee. Imagine that. That’s supposed to be the test of scientific theory: when the same experiments produce the same results. A team of UC Berkeley physicists and statisticians that set out to challenge the scientific consensus on global … From Global Warming Critics Replicate Disputed Climate Change Findings So they are going to change their… Continue reading Global Warming Critics Replicate Disputed Climate Change Findings

HFCS Leads To Much More Weight Gain In Rats Than Sugar

“Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel. “When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels… Continue reading HFCS Leads To Much More Weight Gain In Rats Than Sugar

Triumph of the flat-earth Republicans

It is possible to understand how people might disagree that climate change is a threat to public health (we’ll all just start farming wheat in Siberia or northern Canada) or that humans are the main cause of rising temperatures (sunspots! natural variation!). But I still find it confounding that 31 Republicans are willing to deny,… Continue reading Triumph of the flat-earth Republicans

Monkeys Fattened Up to Study Human Obesity

They also drink a fruit-flavored punch with the fructose equivalent of about a can of soda a day. In all, they might consume about twice as many calories as a normal-weight monkey. Dr. Grove and researchers at some other centers say the high-fructose corn syrup appears to accelerate the development of obesity and diabetes. “It… Continue reading Monkeys Fattened Up to Study Human Obesity

Scientists Invent World’s First Anti-Laser

“Two scientists at Yale University have built the laser’s first doppelganger: the anti-laser. While a conventional laser emits a constant beam of light in one direction, the anti-laser simply does the opposite. It takes that same steady light stream and interacts with it in such a way that it absorbs and cancels out the light.… Continue reading Scientists Invent World’s First Anti-Laser