IdeaFestival

"Dance your Ph.D."

Can you dance your Ph.D.? A dissertation may not seem like a likely candidate for choreography, but as a way of visualizing the point it does seem to work.

Wayne

Dance

Are Eusocial?

Strictly speaking you are since you live in a society that practices, more or less, altruistic behavior. But how that behavior has evolved has been the subject of lively debate over the past century, and in his new book, famed entomologist E.O. Wilson has changed his mind about the prevailing view, which relies on relatedness, or kinship, for an explanation.

Kin exhibit self-sacrificing behavior so that genetic material from other surviving group members will make it to the next generation.

Wilson, on the other hand, now argues that natural selection is operative at the group level, which leads him to different conclusion. Boston Globe:

Kin selection is a scientific crutch, a 'very seductive' idea that 'doesn't tell us anything decisive about how altruism originated,' Wilson says. He adds: 'We need a whole new way of explaining things.'

He has one. Wilson posits that altruism evolved due more to ecological circumstances than the influence of genes.

In his new book 'The Superorganism,' out today, Wilson and his co-author, Bert Holldobler, argue that natural selection operates on the group, not just the gene.

On that view, because highly developed communications methods also contribute to a sort of collective intelligence, kinship becomes a consequence, not a cause, of the group's evolutionary development. This contrasts with the view of many like "The Selfish Gene" author Richard Dawkins, who argue that natural selection is only operative at the "unit," or genetic, level.

Wired reviews the book here. If you're interested, University of Louisville professor Lee Dugatkin also discussed the rise of altruism last September in Louisville.

Wayne

Film choice: Why do we like what we like?

New York Times Magazine: To improve film recommendations a relatively new $1 million film prize offered by Netflix will reward a better algorithm. At issue: Why do we like what we like? And can "hyperpersonalized" film recommendations ever replace the effect of culture on film choice?

Wayne

Evidence: Ancient Mars may have had oceans

Saying the issue is how long, not whether, Mars had water, the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait, goes on to suggest that the issue has relevance for our own planet:

It may have once been much more Earth-like, but then something went wrong. Maybe it was the formation of the giant volcanoes (indicated by the red arrows in the above image), or the loss of its magnetic field that exposed its atmosphere to erosion by the solar wind. As we study Mars more, we get closer to figuring this out. And make no mistake: knowing where Mars went wrong gives us great insight into our own planet. If you think we’re wasting money on researching Mars, then I suggest you take a cold, hard look at that cold, hard planet, then look out your window at our own home world.

The news is here. Seas, perhaps, in the areas of this picture where red and yellow predominate.

Image credit: University of Arizona

Wayne

Galileoscope

I received information recently about "Galileoscope," a very cool effort to make inexpensive telescopes available to people around the world. Check it out.

Wayne

Hairy idea: Woolly mammoth genome sequenced

Joining mice, dogs, chimps and humans, the Woolly Mammoth's genome has been sequenced according to a Nature article published yesterday, making it the first extinct species to have its genome unlocked. And just because I know you're wondering:

Nature writer Henry Nicholls lays out what would be required. 'If you want to bring a species back to life,' he notes, 'the mammoth would be almost as dramatic as a dinosaur. And unlike Tyrannosaurus rex, the mammoth has close living relatives to lend a hand. It is a fair bet that a complete genome and closely related species would make it easier to pull a Crichton on a mammoth than on a dinosaur.'

The "Crichton" in question being Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park.

Wayne

Truth stranger than fiction, science edition

In a bid to eliminate really awful movie physics, Jennifer Ouelette has announced that she is the new program director of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, which will connect top scientists with entertainment industry executives. Science, as she says, is already stranger than fiction. Hear, hear. I really dug the prominently placed photo of the Mars Phoenix Mars Lander in the last episode of The Big Bang Theory. Who needs NOVA, right?

Wayne

"Are you going to be in Louisville in the fall?"

"Are you going to be in Louisville in the fall?" Saying he wanted people to automatically associate that question with the IdeaFestival, Kris Kimel describes the origins of the festival in this short clip.

Thanks to Keith Robbins for the video! Check out all of his work.

Wayne

"I'm now inside your head"

What might the first messages from future communications methods be? Starting with one proposed message from a telepathic device, Short Sharp Science has some fun.

Wayne

Futurism, IdeaFestival, physics, technology, Time Travel

Vova Galchenko on his secret: "nurture really underrated"

Vova Galchenko, widely considered the world's best juggler and who, along with Mark Bakalor, I enjoyed meeting at the IdeaFestival, talks in this clip about what he's learned from juggling.

This "IdeaFestival Conversation" and all others are available at IFTV. And if Monday's got you down, check out this video of Vova juggling. It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Wayne

IdeaFestival