Is the human psyche designed to exploit the zero-sumness of mutual acts of kindness?
Posted 02 Apr 2012 / 0The Takeaway “Is Happiness More Important than GDP?“
Best April Fool’s Day Hoax for 2012
Posted 01 Apr 2012 / 0All Things Considered “N.Y. Preschool Starts DNA Testing For Admission” Okay, I will admit it: my anti-eugenics alarm went off just prior to my hoax-on-April-Fool’s-Day alarm on this one.
New book asks “can game theory explain cooperative behavior in our primate relatives?”
Posted 23 Mar 2012 / 0The University of Chicago “A New Take on the Games People Play in Their Relationships” Games Primates Play: An Undercover Investigation of the Evolution and Economics of Human Relationships
New study seeks to understand whether cooperative fishing agreement can prevent fisheries crashes
Posted 23 Mar 2012 / 0EurekaAlert “UCSB researchers to examine the effects of year-old NOAA West Coast ‘Catch Shares’ program“
Business seminar recognizes the importance of fostering cooperation
Posted 23 Mar 2012 / 0The University of Southampton “The Evolution of Cooperation in Business“
Mobile phone apps enlisted in the battle against climate change misinformation
Posted 22 Mar 2012 / 0Skeptical Science Software Page Novim Just Science What’s cool about the “Just Science” app is that it is based on the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) study, so that it provides users with access to the same data as used by scientists to understand climate trends. I do not have an iPad or iPhone so I Read More
Do other primates adopt pets?
Posted 22 Mar 2012 / 0This is a fascinating video, perhaps portraying a situation that might help us understand our own domestication of dogs. But part of me thinks this is just kind of the product of abnormal conditions: feral dogs are abnormally preadapted to life in any social group, and garbage dumps provide abnormal resource conditions allowing this odd Read More
Can we teach sustainability without teaching “hands-on” skills?
Posted 09 Mar 2012 / 0The Chronicle of Higher Education “The Future of American Colleges May Lie, Literally, in Students’ Hands” Two compelling rationales emerge for teaching our sustainability-oriented students how make things: One of the biggest challenges to sustainability is understanding the connection between production and consumption. Modern industry, and the economic system that underlies it, serve to distance Read More
Can Wikipedia deal with evolving understanding (or purge prevalent misunderstanding)?
Posted 09 Mar 2012 / 0The Chronicle of Higher Education “The ‘Undue Weight’ of Truth on Wikipedia“
If public transportation is good for the individual and good for the society, why do so few people enjoy its benefits?
Posted 29 Feb 2012 / 0Transportation Nation “Study: Only 28 Percent of Neighborhoods Affordable” Strictly based on financial concerns, self-interest of the individual and self-interest of the society are aligned: so people must be pursuing non-financial self-interest when they create a transportational tragedy of the commons by choosing cars over public transit.