There is only one Sean Carroll at Caltech in the world we know. But he could exist in of a multitude of worlds incrementally different from this one. (Credit: Bill Youngblood/Corey S. Powell)
Let’s begin at the beginning. What is the Many
Worlds Interpretation?
It begins with quantum mechanics, which is our
best theory of elementary particles and the microscopic world. There’s this
thing in quantum mechanics that says, before you look at an object it's not in
any definite loca ...read more
Formosan subterranean termites, which are in the same genus as Asian subterranean termites. (Credit: Scott Bauer/USDA)
(Inside Science) -- The appetites of social termites extend to cannibalizing their co-workers after death. It's done for the greater good of the community.
“Termites have a lot of strategies to keep the nest and the members of the colony clean,” said Luiza Helena Bueno da Silva, a zoology graduate student at São Paulo State University in Brazil and the l ...read more
Leon Theremin, also known as Lev Termen, demonstrates his musical instrument. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Imagine a UFO descending from the heavens, its round disk pale against the night sky. What sound does it make? You’re likely imagining a keening whine in your head, like the howling of a haunted wind or the moans of a high-pitched ghost.
That’s the sound of the theremin, a musical instrument invented nearly a century ago. It was one of the first electronic musical instrumen ...read more
A measles infection can wipe our immune system's memory and even leave us weaker against new infections. (Credit: infohay/Shutterstock)
As the number of measles cases rises in the U.S, research reveals a new way the disease can leave patients vulnerable to future infections.
Published in Science Immunology, an examination of measles patient immune systems showed that the disease didn't just leave some children less capable of fighting off infections they had already encountered. It also d ...read more
Last month, I blogged about the famous Libet experiment and how this 1983 study, which was once heralded as undermining the concept of free conscious will, has now been reinterpreted in a less radical way.
Libet et al. found an electrical potential, the Readiness Potential (RP), that emerged in the brain about 1 second before the onset of voluntary movement. The key finding was that the RP also preceded the conscious intention to move. This seemed to suggest that the brain was 'deciding to m ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine