What makes humans stand out among primates?
We’re naked and unusually sweaty.
Yes, we’re also distinguished by upright walking, big brains and advanced culture. But here I want to focus on our sweaty bare bods.
Millions of years back our ancestors were likely as hairy as chimpanzees and gorillas. Over the course of human evolution, our lineage traded its fur coat for a covering of minuscule body hairs and a few ample patches over the head, armpits and nether region.
Why we became ...read more
When most of us learn about the solar system, it seems like a pretty well-ordered place. Our sun formed first, about five billion years ago, and the planets appeared a little later. As a very general trend, these planets grew larger and less dense the farther from the sun they formed.
But this story leaves out the chaotic dynamics and frenetic reshuffling that occurred when our solar system was young. Nature may like order eventually, but that order evolves out of pure cha ...read more
Since the announcement that I won the Nobel Prize in physics for chirped pulse amplification, or CPA, there has been a lot of attention on its practical applications.
It is understandable that people want to know how it affects them. But as a scientist, I would hope society would be equally interested in fundamental science. After all, you can’t have the applications without the curiosity-driven research behind it. Learning more about science — science for science’s sake &mdas ...read more
In what may be a world first, a peer-reviewed journal, Frontiers in Psychology, has published a song.
The musical contribution to science is called 'It's Hard Work Being No One', and it comes from psychologist J. Scott Jordan of the Illinois State University. Here's some of the lyrics, which deal with nothing less than the existential question of identity:
I got a ticket on the next train to OZ
Gotta see that crazy wizard because
Even tin man was an I, just had no heart
Scarecrow was ...read more
The Future of Martian Bots
Mars has been home to robots since the 1990s. Rolling over the rocky terrain, martian robots have endured dust storms, radiation and the hardships of life on the Red Planet. New software from the UK could allow these robots to drive themselves around the rocky martian terrain and enable them to explore farther than ever before.
It currently takes about eight minutes (each way) for commands and communication to travel to or from Mars, so robots guided by huma ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine