5,002 results
- Anthropology
Cultures of Reason
East Asian and Western cultures may encourage fundamentally different reasoning styles, rather than build on universal processes often deemed necessary for thinking.
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From the November 14, 1931, issue
PHYSICISTS STUDY EFFECTS OF STRONG WINDS ON SKYSCRAPERS Another official government investigation is getting under way in Washington. The men involved in the new probe are studying a problem of vital concern to every city in America. The investigators working now are scientists, and their problem is to find out whether skyscrapers–including the 10- and […]
- Anthropology
Ishi’s Long Road Home
The reappearance of a California Indian's preserved brain, held at the Smithsonian Institution since 1917, triggers debate over the ethics of anthropological research and the repatriation process.
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Evolutionary Shocker?
A specific protein may help plants and animals store genetic variation and release it at times of stress.
- Animals
Shhh! Is that scrape a caterpillar scrap?
A series of staged conflicts reveals the first known acoustic duels in caterpillars.
- Math
Tolstoy’s Calculus
“Absolute continuity of motion is not comprehensible to the human mind. Laws of motion of any kind become comprehensible to man only when he examines arbitrarily selected elements of that motion; but at the same time, a large proportion of human error comes from the arbitrary division of continuous motion into discontinuous elements.” This striking […]
- Physics
Catch a Wave
Detection of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein's 1916 general theory of relativity may finally occur, thanks to a new generation of laser-based observatories.
- Math
Firm Data
Business firms range in size from boutiques operated by individuals to huge multinational corporations employing thousands. You would expect that there are fewer large businesses than small ones. In economics, however, it’s useful to characterize the size distribution of firms more precisely than that. Within an industry, for example, the firm size distribution would indicate […]
- Humans
An Artist’s Timely Riddles
A team of researchers demonstrates that there may be much more to the art of Marcel Duchamp than meets the casual, or even critical, eye.
- Archaeology
Openings to the Underworld
Archaeological finds indicate that ancient groups in Mexico and Central America, including the Maya, held beliefs about a sacred landscape that focused on natural and human-made caves as sites of important ritual activities and burials.
- Tech
Taming High-Tech Particles
Researchers are beginning to study whether nanomaterials could have unintended negative consequences in the human body or the environment.
- Health & Medicine
Drugs slow diabetes patients’ kidney damage
Two drugs normally prescribed for high blood pressure help forestall kidney damage in people with type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes.
