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Category: biological – Page 55

The Lasting Impact Of Daniel Dennett In Philosophy And Leadership

An academic whose work reaches beyond the Ivory Tower is rare. Scholarly writing tends to be highly technical, filled with footnotes and references, and often lacks a compelling narrative to captivate the reader. Not to mention that the work itself is usually deemed irrelevant and impractical for public knowledge.

The American philosopher Daniel Dennett (1942−2024) was, without a doubt, one of these generational thinkers who transcended the academic box. Why? His writing is filled with clear and interesting thought experiments, allowing anyone to grasp his theories, which span from philosophy, cognitive science and evolutionary biology to farming, sailing, and religion. Any curious person can find a relevant topic relating to their life in Dennett’s vast body of work, and it will likely have them questioning whether they actually understood the topic in the first place.

To celebrate the life and work of Dennett, the aptly named Dennett Prize was introduced in 2024. Like Dennett, the winner should “challenge received ideas and introduce new perspectives.” The prize is presented as part of the International Center for Consciousness Studies (ICCS) annual conference, held this year in Heraklion, Crete, earlier this month. The inaugural winner of the Dennett Prize was given to Andy Clark, professor of cognitive philosophy at the University of Sussex.

Chinese nanotechnology fueling advanced bio, cyber weapons, electronic warfare tools, study warns

The Chinese military is building sophisticated biological weapons and small-scale electronic tools made with nanotechnology that could be used in covert warfare, a major study warns.

“China’s invisible arsenals encompass a range of advanced weaponry that are distinctly focused on providing the Chinese Communist Party with a range of asymmetric warfare options, including the delivery of biological, biochemical and neurobiological weapons on target populations,” according to a report by three open-source intelligence analysts.

The People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, is developing nanoweapons using highly sophisticated microscopic materials that enhance the effects of biological weapons, according to the report, titled “In the Shadows of Science: Unravelling China’s Invisible Arsenals of Nanoweapons.” It was made public earlier this month.

Design strategies for reshaping stability and sustainability of perovskite solar cells

A research team from the School of Engineering (SENG) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has introduced comprehensive bio-inspired multiscale design strategies to address key challenges in the commercialization of perovskite solar cells: long-term operational stability. Drawing inspiration from natural systems, these strategies aim to enhance the efficiency, resilience, and adaptability of solar technologies.

Their paper, titled “Bio-Inspired Multiscale Design for Perovskite Solar Cells,” has been published in Nature Reviews Clean Technology.

The approaches focus on leveraging insights from to create that can better withstand environmental stressors and prolonged use.

Want to boost your brain as you age? Music might be the answer

Long-term musical training may mitigate the age-related decline in speech perception by enhancing cognitive reserve, according to a study published in PLOS Biology by Claude Alain from the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Canada, and Yi Du from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Normal aging is typically associated with declines in sensory and cognitive functions. These age-related changes in perception and cognition are often accompanied by increased neural activity and functional connectivity—the statistical dependence of activity between different brain regions—in widely distributed neural networks.

The recruitment of neural activity and strengthening of functional connectivity are thought to reflect a compensatory strategy employed by older adults to maintain optimal cognitive performance.

Study finds genetics shape health impact of leisure versus work physical activity

The benefits of exercise and its positive influence on physical and mental health are well documented, but a new Yale and VA Connecticut study sheds light on the role genetics plays for physical activity, accounting for some of the differences between individuals and showing differences in biology for physical activity at leisure versus physical activity at work and at home.

Using data from the Million Veteran Program (MVP), a genetic biobank run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the researchers analyzed genetic influences on leisure, work, and home-time physical activity. They wanted to understand how genetics impacts these three types of physical activity and compare their health benefits.

The study included nearly 190,000 individuals of European ancestry, 27,044 of African ancestry, and 10,263 of Latin-American ancestry. To study the genetics of physical activity during leisure time, the researchers also added data from the UK Biobank, which included about 350,000 individuals.

How do water rings ‘bounce?’ New discovery answers decades-old question

Air rings blown by dolphins swimming underwater and rings of smoke emitted by jet engines are just two examples of vortex rings. These doughnut-shaped structures and their mesmerizing movement have been studied for decades given their role in propulsion and—in the case of jellyfish and other invertebrates—biological locomotion.

A team of researchers at New York University and NYU Shanghai has uncovered a remarkable property of vortex rings that has been overlooked for more than a century—one that illuminates how these rings respond when they move through water and reach air (i.e., at the water-air interface).

When a vortex traveling sideways and up through water reaches the surface and meets air, it can rebound while largely maintaining its shape—much like a bouncing off a wall. After the reflection, the ring loses only a small fraction of its energy. However, if the vortex ring moves more directly upward, it breaks apart instead of bouncing.

Why the Psychopathic Brain Struggles With Emotion and Control

At its core, psychopathy is not simply a matter of bad choices or poor upbringing — growing evidence suggests it has a biological foundation, shaped by the intricate wiring of the human brain.

Now, a new study offers fresh insights into how structural brain connectivity patterns are linked to psychopathic traits and the externalizing behaviors that often accompany them.

What is consciousness, and could AI have it?

In the Voltaire Lecture 2025, Professor Anil Seth will set out an approach to understanding consciousness which, rather than trying to solve the mystery head-on, tries to dissolve it by building explanatory bridges from physics and biology to experience and function. In this view, conscious experiences of the world around us, and of being a ‘self’ within that world, can be understood in terms of perceptual predictions that are deeply rooted in a fundamental biological imperative – the desire to stay alive.

At this event, Professor Seth will explore how widely distributed beyond human beings consciousness may be, with a particular focus on AI. He will consider whether consciousness might depend not just on ‘information processing’, but on properties unique to living, biological organisms, before ending with an exploration of the ethical implications of an artificial intelligence that is either actually conscious – or can convincingly pretend to be.

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