Embracing an evolutionary perspective thus helps to explain why men and women react differently to certain infectious diseases and to understand (and combat) the strategies of viruses in their relentless evolutionary race to infect and spread among us.
The concept of educating city is based on the evidence that space is not neutral, but rather generates, disseminates, and reinforces images and values in an explicit and implicit way. This communicative character is more intense the more complex, diverse, and richer the reference space is.
In the West, our idea of animated cinema is very much influenced by the work of Walt Disney. In Japan, the animated film tradition (anime) is very different. Complicated plots that are often not clearly targeted at a child or adult audience and ambiguous characters. Eastern animated cinema can even dare to make a film speculating on the philosophy of science.
We seem to be living a sweet moment for manned exploration missions to Mars. There are several projects underway, both by private companies and space agencies, which aim to be the first to put a human being on Mars. Does this mean that we are now going to make the ancient dream of stepping on Mars come true?
Maurice Hilleman is probably the scientist who has prevented the highest number of deaths and illnesses from infection in the history of medicine. He and his team obtained or improved more than 25 vaccines against viruses and bacteria.
What do you feel when you thnk about science? There are people who feel nothing at all and so they prefer other readings. I imagine that you will have many different ones, but which is the most prevalent, the one that weighs most heavily?
Every historical period has had its epidemic executioner, and it has almost always been the ecological changes between human communities and the environment that have caused changes in pathogenicity and epidemic diseases.
Cultural accumulation changes what we are and what we do from one generation to the next and, as far as scientific knowledge is concerned, changes occur so quickly that we tend to imagine them as distant theories or very recent developments.
The threat of infectious diseases has been constant in the history of humankind. 75 % of new emerging human infectious diseases in the last thirty years have an animal origin, and 17 % are transmitted by a vector.
Using an external flash placed above the snake, accompanied by a high shutter speed, allowed me to freeze one of those chemosensory licks that the snake used to try to decipher its surroundings.
The historian of science Alexander Koyrè summarised the scientific work of the sixteenth century as a gradual understanding of the works of Archimedes.
Alice goes on a journey during which peculiar characters tell her what to eat or drink. Then, strange things happen. Doesn't all this seem like a drug-induced psychedelic journey?
Let us look at the coronavirus outbreak in China. Dissemination of accurate and well-interpreted information is key in the early stages of an emerging outbreak.
We are indeed in an emergency. Let there be no doubt about that. But if there is one thing that is even more paralysing than not accepting the situation we are in, it is saying that our house is on fire and then calmly keep watching television.
If we want science to play a truly relevant social role, we must take the opposite path and respond with science to the questions and problems of individuals and society. We must treat is as a tool, not as the protagonist.
By giving away our DNA and genetic data, we are giving away the DNA and genetic data of our entire biological family. We have to think if the objective we are pursuing is worthwhile.
Understanding what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom is an old obsession of ours. The most frequent attribute we rely on to justify our supposed superiority is intelligence. Yet, how are we to compare the intelligence of species as different as humans, octopi or dolphins?
But it is one thing to be aware of the annual astronomical cycle and another to discover the mechanisms of life. We don't know for sure what, but something happened about 40,000 years ago in what is now Europe.
Baobabs have to face the loss of habitats due to agriculture, water scarcity, disease, and the disappearance of seed disseminators.
The first object in the Kuiper belt visited by New Horizons after leaving Pluto was provisionally named Ultima Thule and has recently been renamed Arrokoth.
The author shows his concern regarding space agencies' and private companies' recent interest on exploiting the Moon's resources.
Astrochemistry studies their abundance and composition and posits potential chemical pathways that might have led to the presence of such molecules in a particular environment