Wonderful… What a meteor looks like from space. via@boingboing
(via Boingboing)
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August 15, 2011
Building up Societies and Global Dominance: The Difference Between Us and the Neanderthal.
Svante Pääbo on the Neanderthal Genome Project.
“I want to know what changed in fully modern humans, compared with Neanderthals, that made a difference. What made it possible for us to build up these enormous societies, and spread around the globe.”
This article in the New Yorker by (usually) environmental writer, Elizabeth Kolbert, does a wonderful job of discussing the implications of the Neanderthal Genome project (although it’s unfortunately behind a paywall).
In other words, the basic idea is that two key differences that put Homo sapiens apart from the other primates (and really the rest of biodiversity) is the fact that we excel at acts of teamwork (simple example: how often do other creatures team-up to lift something heavy); and we’re also much more inclined to explore the unknown (evident in geographical migration, but I guess also from a philosophical epistemology view as well).
Bring into this narrative is the fact that Neanderthals are our closest biological relative where: (1) DNA samples are obtainable, and (2) the two aforemention traits don’t seem to apply. Therefore, sequencing the Neanderthal genome and comparing it to ours, may provide some insight into the genetic basis of such things.
August 15, 2011
Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum
For fun tonight, see if you can casually use the phrase I’ve highlighted in bold at your dinner tonight.
(via physorg.com) “One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits require a larger central mass than the nearby stars, dust, and other baryonic objects can provide, leading scientists to propose that every galaxy resides in a halo of (as yet undetectable) dark matter made of non-baryonic particles. As one of many scientists who have become somewhat skeptical of dark matter, CERN physicist Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic has proposed that the illusion of dark matter may be caused by the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum.”
Interestingly, some have argued that the public take on this news article (re: not necessary that of the physicist) is taking on a fervor similar to other denialist actvities in the history. See this great commentary by Rob Knop.
popperfont.net 