Everyday use of a mathematical concept

The concept of probability is not alien to even the least mathematically versed among us: even those who do not remember the basic math they had in primary schools use it currently in their daily reasoning. I find the liberal use of the word "probability" (and derivates) in common language interesting, for two reasons. One, because the word has in fact a very definite mathematical connotation. And two, because the word is often used to discuss the knowledge of a system's evolution in time without a clear notion of which, among either of two strikingly different sources, is the cause of our partial or total ignorance.

The diagnosis of mental health disorders in the US has nearly doubled in the past 20 years and clinical psychologists and therapists are on the front lines of handling it but many are falling short because they use methods that are out of date or lack any scientific rigor or both.

How is that possible?   Because many of the training programs, and especially some Doctorate of Psychology (PsyD) programs and for-profit training centers, are not grounded in science, according to a new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

Mind over matter. Think happy thoughts. Don't worry be happy. Accentuate the positive.

Is happiness really that simple?

Sure, it's easy to say, "Think positively." But to actually do it? Not so much.¹ We spend bazillions of dollars trying to buy happiness and yet somehow we're not satisfied.² I don't have any money left to spend, so my options are (a) a life of misery and despair, or (b) find a cheaper alternative.

The Coldplay Proof, and searching the InterGoogle

In the first article, we explored the determinism of the brain and considered that within the constraints of brain physiology it is clear that random or indeterminate processes cannot be responsible for behavior.  Every action can be traced back to a cause, so it would seem that complete determinism is a fundamental aspect of our normal brain's operation.

Tomorrow's Science will be a special issue reporting tons of new information on the fossil hominid Ardipithecus ramidus ("Ardi"), which is really exciting (though not as much as Darwinius, which was "like a meteor hitting the Earth" or whatever).

Is 'dark energy', the mysterious unidentified thing that would be a nice explanation for a lot of universal questions, physics or religion?  Maybe baryon oscillations can tell us.  

Baryon oscillations began when pressure waves travelled through the early universe.   An ambitious attempt to trace the history of the universe, called the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS),  has seen first light.  BOSS, a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), took its first astronomical data on the night of September 14th.

Researchers writing in Science have described Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid species that lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia.  

The last common ancestor shared by humans and chimpanzees is thought to have lived six or more million years ago and Ardipithecus likely shared many of this ancestor's characteristics. In context, Ardipithecus is more than a million years older than the famous "Lucy" female partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis. Until the discovery of the new Ardipithecus remains, the fossil record contained scant evidence of other hominids older than Australopithecus.

What a difference a bulb makes? On the 6^th of November the 2100 inhabitants of the Isles of Scilly - a small British archipelago just off the mainland – will be asking this and a little more, by switching off for 24 hours all unused electrical apparatus, while measuring online, and in real time, the energy saved. This unique event aims to raise awareness of climate change and energy wastage, whilst showing how easy it is to make a real difference. All this is part of the “Isle of Scilly Earth Summit” that launches this weekend (3/4 October) with talks by islanders from all over the world followed by the energy saving day (E-Day) on the 6^th of October.

Reduviasporonites were tiny organisms that covered the planet more than 250 million years ago.  According to new research in Geology, they appear to be a species of ancient fungus that thrived in dead wood and the researchers believe that the organisms were able to thrive during this period because the world's forests had been wiped out.

Researchers had previously been unsure as to whether Reduviasporonites were a type of fungus or algae but by analyzing the carbon and nitrogen content of the fossilised remains of the microscopic organisms, the scientists identified them as a type of wood-rotting fungus that would have lived inside dead trees. 

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley say they have identified critical biochemical pathways linked to the aging of human muscle and, by manipulating these pathways, they were able to 'turn back the clock' on old human muscle, restoring its ability to repair and rebuild itself.