“Neuroscientists have gained new insight into how our brain evolved into a language-ready brain. Compared to chimpanzee brains, the pattern of connections of language areas in our brain has expanded more than previously thought. “
Author: Eric Hedin
At Evolution News: Conservation of Information — The Theorems
William Dembski: “And no, Darwinian evolution cannot, according to the conservation of information theorems, create information from scratch.”
At Evolution News: Conservation of Information — The Idea
The importance of “conservation of information” can’t be overstated. The inability of nature to ratchet up information by any natural process in the universe is a hardwired property of the way the universe works.
Four things physicists still wonder about the Higgs boson
Scientists have learned a lot about the Higgs boson in the decade since they discovered it. But intriguing questions remain.
At Evolution News: More on Self-Replicating Machines
Professor Granville Sewell provides an example that “makes sufficiently clear what a difficult task it would be to create truly self-replicating cars.”
At SciTech Daily: Rocket Lab Launches NASA’s CAPSTONE Mission to the Moon
CAPSTONE’s main mission is to attempt to establish that this location in space provides a stable and ideal location for a space station, as well as a staging area for missions to the Moon and beyond.
Found: The ‘holy grail of catalysis’—turning methane into methanol under ambient conditions using light
An international team of researchers has developed a fast and economical method of converting methane, or natural gas, into liquid methanol at ambient temperature and pressure.
What is Life?
At Quanta: Without a good definition of life, how do we look for it on alien planets? Steven Strogatz speaks with Robert Hazen, a mineralogist and astrobiologist, and Sheref Mansy, a chemist, to learn more.
Mars Curiosity Rover Collects Rock Samples Containing Key Ingredient Of Life
Rock samples collected from Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover have revealed signs of key ingredients of life, according to a statement by the agency.
Did Life Originate on Earth or in the Cosmos? Part 2
Dr. Ross describes “the strengths and shortcomings of what [a team of 33 scientists] proposes to be the only naturalistic alternative to an Earth-based origin and history of life.”
Five Reasons Why AI Programs Are Not “Human”
Wesley J. Smith gives us “five reasons to reject granting personhood, or membership in the moral community, to any AI program.”
At Live Science: Why can’t we drink saltwater?
Why did humans — and nearly all other land animals, for that matter —evolve to drink freshwater when saltwater is so much more plentiful?
Archaeologists believe they found the oldest Hebrew text in Israel – including the name of God
The potentially history-changing lead tablet that was found at Mount Ebal may provide proof that the Israelites were literate when they entered the Holy Land.
How Could Life Evolve From Cyanide?
How did life arise on Earth? Steven Strogatz speaks with the Nobel Prize-winning biologist Jack Szostak and Betül Kaçar, a paleogeneticist and astrobiologist, to explore our best understanding of how we all got here.
At Sci-News: Early Humans were Present in Southeast Britain 620,000 Years Ago
Researchers: The archaeological site of Fordwich in northeast Kent, England, reveals the presence of Acheulean hominins — possibly Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis — in what is now southeast Britain between 620,000 and 560,000 years ago.