Friday, April 19, 2024

Experts: Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine
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CONSCIOUSNESS | ALL TOPICS

 

Declaration Extends Animal Consciousness to Insects and Beyond

By DAN FALK

A group of prominent biologists and philosophers announced a new consensus: There's "a realistic possibility" that insects, octopuses, crustaceans, fish and other overlooked animals experience consciousness.

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FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS

 

Hopes of Big Bang Discoveries Ride on a Future Spacecraft

By ELISE CUTTS

New clues about fundamental physics could come from the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a spacecraft designed to detect gravitational waves that was recently approved by the European Space Agency.

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Related: 
An Enormous Gravity 'Hum'
Moves Through the Universe

By Jonathan O'Callaghan (2023)

Q&A

 

Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide.

By INGRID WICKELGREN

The work of the neuroscientist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor has opened up a world of insights into precisely how much pleasure and pain animals experience during different forms of touch.

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Related: 
Scientists Reveal
Structure of Pain Sensor

By Emily Singer (2014)

COMPUTATIONAL COMPLEXITY

 

Cryptography Tricks Make a Hard Problem a Little Easier

By BEN BRUBAKER

For an important problem, it seemed as though trial and error was the best possible approach. Now researchers have proved that there's a better way.

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Related: 
Researchers Identify 'Master Problem' Underlying All Cryptography

By Erica Klarreich (2022)

GEOMETRY

 

Geometers Engineer New Tools to Wrangle Spacecraft Orbits

By LEILA SLOMAN

Mathematicians think abstract tools from a field called symplectic geometry might help with planning missions to far-off moons and planets.

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Related: 
In the 'Wild West' of Geometry, Mathematicians Redefine the Sphere

By Leila Sloman (2023)

QUANTA SCIENCE PODCAST

 

Why the Human Brain Perceives Small Numbers Better

By YASEMIN SAPLAKOGLU
Podcast hosted by SUSAN VALOT

A recent neurological study provides an unprecedented look at how number sense works in the human brain.


Listen to the podcast


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