Addressing the unemployment–mortality conundrum: Non-linearity is the answer

The Community-Conservation Conundrum: Is Citizen Science the Answer?

Public participation theory assumes that empowering communities leads to enduring support for new initiatives. The New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy, approved in 2000, embraces this assumption and includes goals for community involvement in resolving threats to native flora and fauna. Over the last 20 years, community-based ecological restoration groups have proliferated, with between 600 and 4...

A simple answer for a splicing conundrum.

T he medieval philosopher William of Occam admonished that it is best to minimize the postulated entities needed to explain a system. This concept of choosing the simplest explanation of unknown phenomena is now known as the principle of parsimony or Occam’s razor. However, in biology, where systems tend to evolve toward states of greater complexity, Occam’s razor can be a dangerous tool. Most ...

Oscillations and Episodic Memory: Addressing the Synchronization/Desynchronization Conundrum

Brain oscillations are one of the core mechanisms underlying episodic memory. However, while some studies highlight the role of synchronized oscillatory activity, others highlight the role of desynchronized activity. We here describe a framework to resolve this conundrum and integrate these two opposing oscillatory behaviors. Specifically, we argue that the synchronization and desynchronization...

THE CONUNDRUM OF EUTHANASIA

Addressing the conundrum of unavailable name-bearing types

Access to name-bearing type material can be a particular frustration for those mycologists in the tropics, or working outside established institutions, where the specimens are known to exist but cannot be examined. They can be inaccessible because of loans policies and the inability of mycologists to make personal visits. Each case has to be considered separately, but a pragmatic nine-point app...