Knowing what you don’t believe

In this intriguing post philosophers Eric Schwitzgebel and Blake Myers examine the theory that knowledge is justified true belief.

Jupiter's spot seen glowing

"This is our first detailed look inside the biggest storm of the Solar System," says Glenn Orton, who led the team of astronomers that made the study. "We once thought the Great Red Spot was a plain old oval without much structure, but these new results show that it is, in fact, extremely complicated."

Big Bang for beginners-4: The speed of cosmic evolution

What may surprise people is how rapidly the universe went from a very hot initial state to one in which it was cool enough for atoms and molecules to form.

Bees see super color at super speed

Bees see the world almost five times faster than humans, according to new research from scientists at Queen Mary, University of London.

Human 'germ print' found

People leave more than fingerprints when they touch objects: They also deposit a tell-tale trail of germs that could help investigators solve crimes, according to US researchers.

Jaws -- 4 million BC

It might sound like a mashup of monster movies, but palaeontologists have discovered evidence of how an extinct shark attacked its prey, reconstructing a killing that took place 4 million years ago.

Big Bang for beginners-3: The basic story

The starting point of the Big Bang story is a cosmic event that started out small and expanded rapidly (like an explosion). This event brought into being the universe we now inhabit and produced all the matter that our universe is presently composed of, though not in its present form. The time at the beginning is arbitrarily set to zero.

Self-assembling computer chips

Molecules that arrange themselves into predictable patterns on silicon chips could lead to microprocessors with much smaller circuit elements.

Childhood adversity may promote cellular aging

Children who suffer physical or emotional abuse could be faced with accelerated cellular aging as adults, according to new research published by Elsevier in Biological Psychiatry.

How cells protect themselves from cancer

Cells have two different protection programs to safeguard them from getting out of control under stress and from dividing without stopping and developing cancer. Until now, researchers assumed that these protective systems were prompted separately from each other.

Freezing out breast cancer

Interventional radiologists have opened the door to an encouraging potential future treatment for the nearly 200,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States each year: image-guided, multiprobe cryotherapy.

Environment may impact apes' ability to understand declarative communication

When we notice somebody pointing at something, we automatically look in the direction of the gesture. In humans, the ability to understand this type of gesturing (known as declarative communication) may seem to be an automatic response, but it is actually a sign of sophisticated communication behavior. Numerous studies have tried to determine if great apes (for example, chimpanzees and bonobos) are able to understand declarative communication, but results have been mixed.

The Great Catholic Cover-Up

According to Christopher Hitchens, the pope's entire career has the stench of evil about it.

New research shows babies are born to dance

Researchers have discovered that infants respond to the rhythm and tempo of music and find it more engaging than speech.

Exploring status quo bias in the human brain

The more difficult the decision we face, the more likely we are not to act, according to new research by UCL scientists that examines the neural pathways involved in 'status quo bias' in the human brain.