Recently, a Dutch-Flemish boy of eleven years graduated cum laude in Physics at Antwerp University. He started studying at Eindhoven University of Technology at the age of nine (Brussels Times). What does this event imply for topics like our biological clock, consciousness, epigenetics, learning vs teaching, nature vs nurture, talents, and/or the age when our brain...
Quanta Magazine title: By Losing Genes, Life Often Evolved More Complexity Quanta subtitle: Recent major surveys show that reductions in genomic complexity — including the loss of key genes — have successfully shaped the evolution of life throughout history. By: Viviane Callier Date: 1 September 2020 "When Cristian Cañestro set out in the early 2000s to study...
Often, time feels like a weight on our shoulders when we must get to our appointments "in time". The recent stay-at-home orders have learned us new experiences, like how to fill that vacuum of time. A subsequent new experience that we have learned is that each day is similar to the previous and the next day. Somehow, time has gotten lost upon us. Since mid 2013, I...
Many people are talking about the 2011 movie Contagion (eg, IMDb), which is about a virus pandemic and finding a cure. In my opinion, the 1997 movie Gattaca (eg, IMDb) is more interesting as it shows how a future society has adapted itself. The international efforts for developing a smartphone app for warning against nearby contaminated people reminded me of...
There are several conspiracy theories regarding the coronavirus pandemic (Wiki). Some are plausible (eg, virus from Chinese lab) while others are implausible (eg, 5G). The unique nature of the virus might be to blame for these theories: it infects many people who experience mild or no symptoms, while only some get very sick and can have an almost 50% chance of...
Last Thursday evening, a strange question suddenly entered my mind: why must each generation learn everything again? The obvious answer would relate to biology, nature vs nurture, etc. A recent Quanta article argues that it's not that simple: Inherited Learning? It Happens, but How Is Uncertain (eg, my blog). This booming scientific field is called epigenetics (eg,...
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