jueves, 3 de enero de 2013


Adapting to a warmer world: No going back

Just a decade ago, 'adaptation' was something of a dirty word in the climate arena — an insinuation that nations could continue with business as usual and deal with the mess later. But greenhouse-gas emissions are increasing at an unprecedented rate and countries have failed to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty. That stark reality has forced climate researchers and policy-makers to explore ways to weather some of the inevitable changes.
Descripción: http://www.scoop.it/rv?p=3596482547&tp=Topic



On the Foundations of the Theory of Evolution
Darwinism conceives evolution as a consequence of random variation and natural selection, hence it is based on a materialistic, i.e. matter-based, view of science inspired by classical physics. But matter in itself is considered a very complex notion in modern physics. More specifically, at a microscopic level, matter and energy are no longer retained within their simple form, and quantum mechanical models are proposed wherein potential form is considered in addition to actual form. In this paper we propose an alternative to standard Neodarwinian evolution theory. We suggest that the starting point of evolution theory cannot be limited to actual variation whereupon is selected, but to variation in the potential of entities according to the context. We therefore develop a formalism, referred to as Context driven Actualization of Potential (CAP), which handles potentiality and describes the evolution of entities as an actualization of potential through a reiterated interaction with the context.

On the Foundations of the Theory of Evolution
Diederik Aerts, Stan Bundervoet, Marek Czachor, Bart D'Hooghe, Liane Gabora, Philip Polk, Sandro Sozzo


Is Science Mostly Driven by Ideas or by Tools?
We are standing now as we stood in the 1950s, between a Kuhnian dream of sudden illumination and a Galisonian reality of laborious exploring. On one side are string theory and speculations about multiverses; on the other are all-sky surveys and observations of real black holes. The balance today is more even than it was in the 1950s. String theory is a far more promising venture than Einstein's unified field theory. Kuhn and Galison are running neck and neck in the race for glory. We are lucky to live in a time when both are going strong.

Is Science Mostly Driven by Ideas or by Tools?
Freeman J. Dyson
Science 14 December 2012: 
Vol. 338 no. 6113 pp. 1426-1427 
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1232773Descripción: http://www.scoop.it/rv?p=3718006105&tp=Topic


Individual memory and the emergence of cooperation

The social brain hypothesis states that selection pressures associated with complex social relationships have driven the evolution of sophisticated cognitive processes in primates. We investigated how the size of cooperative primate communities depends on the memory of each of its members and on the pressure exerted by natural selection. To this end we devised an evolutionary game theoretical model in which social interactions are modelled in terms of a repeated Prisoner's Dilemma played by individuals who may exhibit a different memory capacity. Here, memory is greatly simplified and mapped onto a single parameter m describing the number of conspecifics whose previous action each individual can remember. We show that increasing m enables cooperation to emerge and be maintained in groups of increasing sizes. Furthermore, harsher social dilemmas lead to the need for a higher m in order to ensure high levels of cooperation. Finally, we show how the interplay between the dilemma individuals face and their memory capacity m allows us to define a critical group size below which cooperation may thrive, and how this value depends sensitively on the strength of natural selection.

Individual memory and the emergence of cooperation
João Moreira, Jeromos Vukov, Cláudia Sousa, Francisco C. Santos, André F. d'Almeida, Marta D. Santos, Jorge M. Pacheco
Animal Behaviour
Available online 4 December 2012
In Press, Corrected Proof
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.10.030Descripción: http://www.scoop.it/rv?p=3716586824&tp=Topic