When nature tries to trick us

US tries to stem antimicrobial resistance.

The nature of the Mādhyamika trick

This paper evaluates several recent efforts to interpret the work of Nāgārjuna through the lens of modern symbolic logic. An attempt is made to uncover the premises that justify the use of symbolic logic for this purpose. This is accomplished through a discussion of (1) the historical origins of those premises in the Indian and Tibetan traditions, and (2) how such assumptions prejudice our unde...

Did Nature Intend Us to Drink ?

Sir, Ethanol, the intoxicant that has plagued civilization down the ages, is metabolized into acetaldehyde by the enzyme alcohol dehydro-genase. In this connection, a medical student recently posed a humorous but interesting question : "Ethanol does not occur naturally in the body; so, why did Nature provide us with alcohol dehydrogenase unless she meant us to drink?" A diligent search through ...

cosmological constant can trick us into thinking that w < − 1

Observations exploring the contemporary cosmic acceleration have sparked interest in dark energy models possessing equations of state with w < −1. We review how the cosmic expansion history of a Dvali–Gabadadze–Porrati (DGP) braneworld model with a standard brane cosmological constant can mimic that of ordinary 4–dimensional gravity with w < −1 “phantom” dark energy for observationally relevant...

Perceptual Learning: Cortical Changes When Cats Learn a New Trick

A new study has found that the tuning properties of neurons in the primary visual cortex of cats change as they learn an orientation-discrimination task, casting new light on the neuronal basis of perceptual learning.