Will Wright’s demo of Spore illustrates some key concepts of complex systems, including the notion of simple rules generating complex behaviors, and also the power of recursively applied (i…

[note: I struggled with what category to put this in, perhaps there should be a new one called Complexity?] One of the paradigms in complex adaptive systems thinking that has great explanatory power…

Voting blocs are an emergent property of representative democracies wherein each new voting issue carries with it an automatic right for each representative to vote. In other words, when votes are…

Not having had any serious biological training I have to go to Wikipedia and Google to learn the basics. And I’m often surprised to find that concepts everyone uses don’t have good consensus amongst…

The ethical issues surrounding unchecked human embryonic stem cell research are not going away any time soon, regardless of which political party occupies Congress or the White House.   …

One scientist has recommended that decreasing tax on alcohol sold in pubs and increasing tax for the supermarket stuff will help UK spend less on alcohol abuse. Argument also goes to support…

TIME magazine got its opening right but then wanders off into a fairytale...  From the debacle of the hacked Climategate e-mails to the bitter disappointment of Copenhagen to the slow death of…

Isaac Newton, the man who invented calculus, described the law of universal gravitation and built the first reflecting telescope and is rightfully considered one of the most influential scientists in…

A 20-year attempt to deal with global warming by capping emissions and putting a price on carbon (the so-called "cap and trade") has died again.    But while activists insist that means…

The NCAA has for established a rule for mandatory testing of all student athletes in D-1 schools effective for the 2010-2011 academic year. But there is something devilish in the details, writes…