“Survival of the fittest” is helping us understand not only the origin of species but also love, politics, and even the cosmos.

You could call Helen Fisher a Darwinian matchmaker. The acclaimed anthropologist from Rutgers University is also a best-selling author of books on love and the chief scientific adviser to an online dating service called Chemistry.com. This service utilizes a questionnaire that Fisher developed after years of research on the science of romantic attraction. It reveals which of four broad, biologically based personality types an applicant displays and helps identify partners with compatible brain chemistry. In designing the questionnaire, Fisher relied on the principles of evolutionary psychology, a field inspired by Charles Darwin’s insights. She has even used those principles to size up Darwin himself. (He is a “negotiator,” “imaginative and theoretical,” “unassuming, agreeable, and intuitive”—but also married, alas, and dead.) [ read more ]

It’s the ultimate revenge of the nerds as product developers use their big brains to create sex machines that kick pleasure into overdrive. In fact, the very nature of the sex “toy” is changing as a new generation of sex-positive engineers infiltrates the industry.

From the smooth, silent glide of the Monkey Rocker Tango to Le Chair’s ability to put two people into a dozen compromising positions, the new products and prototypes unveiled at this week’s Adult Novelty Expo straddle the line between toy (a passive, frivolous object) and machine (a substantial apparatus that inspires commitment and even emotional attachment).

Here are some of the most interesting. [ read more ]

Science’s weirdest realm may be responsible for photosynthesis, our sense of smell, and even consciousness itself.

Graham Fleming sits down at an L-shaped lab bench, occupying a footprint about the size of two parking spaces. Alongside him, a couple of off-the-shelf lasers spit out pulses of light just millionths of a billionth of a second long. After snaking through a jagged path of mirrors and lenses, these minus­cule flashes disappear into a smoky black box containing proteins from green sulfur bacteria, which ordinarily obtain their energy and nourishment from the sun. Inside the black box, optics manufactured to billionths-of-a-meter precision detect something extraordinary: Within the bacterial proteins, dancing electrons make seemingly impossible leaps and appear to inhabit multiple places at once. [ read more ]

Physics may be the furthest thing from the minds of the presidential candidates right now, but a solid grasp of the science behind some of the latest headlines will be critical for the winner.

Physics has a history of intersecting with politics in ways both large and small, from the creation of the atomic bomb to nuclear meltdowns to terrorist methods. And now, with more specialized, high-tech issues to tackle than ever before, it is increasingly important that world leaders have an understanding of the underlying scientific concepts. [ read more ]

When geologists wanted a better look at a Yosemite rock face in years past, they only had one option: climb the cliff.
But now, thanks to super-high resolution gigapixel images created by a team of 70 photographers using GigaPan robotic imagers and a laser-mapping airplane, park geologist Greg Stock now has unprecedented access to the geological features of one of the world’s most famous parks. And all from the comfort of his laptop.

[ read more ]

The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search for and detect a non-cooperative human”.

One thing that really bugs defence chiefs is having their troops diverted from other duties to control robots. So having a pack of them controlled by one person makes logistical sense. But I’m concerned about where this technology will end up. [ read more ]

Space travel, security threats and increasing passenger numbers are forcing major changes in the way airports are designed.
Elegant space: the interior of the proposed Virgin Galactic spaceport in New Mexico

In fact, when discussing the future of the airport it is now appropriate to consider both conventional air travel hubs we are familiar with, as well as the imminent ’spaceports’. [ read more ]

Neuroaesthetics promises to reinvigorate science’s search for a theory of beauty.

Why is something beautiful? David Hume argued that beauty exists not in things but “in the mind that contemplates them.” And everyone has at some point heard the old saw that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But Plato had a fanciful answer made to argue for a universal truth: In his world of forms, he claimed there existed a perfect Form of Beauty, which was imperfectly manifested in what we call beautiful. Despite the allure of Plato’s metaphorical claim, students of aesthetics have struggled to substantiate it. Evolutionary psychologists have argued that there exist quantifiable, describable, universal aspects to the human capacity for appreciating beautiful forms, perhaps originating in our ancestors’ experience on African savannas or in the need to find suitable mates. They have not solved the problem. However, recent work by several researchers at University College London?—?including the establishment of the first major grant-driven research program for the neurobiological investigation of aesthetics, or neuroaesthetics?—?has made the first steps toward a unified biocultural theory of art. [ read more ]

An image said to reveal an “unknown” tribe instead exposes a history of our ignorance and greed.

For three days in May, officials from Brazil’s National Foundation of the Indian, a protection agency for the country’s indigenous people, aerially surveyed the remote Amazon rainforest near Peru, scouring breaks in the dense canopy, searching the clearings for signs of isolated tribes. Led by veteran Indian expert José Carlos dos Reis Meirelles and guided by his GPS waypoints, the team spied huts and other signs of life, but no people. Then, in the final hours of the final day, their small Cessna flew over a clearing where people stood looking skyward. The team’s photographer, Gleison Miranda, quickly snapped several images before the plane returned. [ read more ]

If the notion of dark energy sounds improbable, get ready for an even more outlandish suggestion.

Earth may be trapped in an abnormal bubble of space-time that is particularly void of matter. Scientists say this condition could account for the apparent acceleration of the universe’s expansion, for which dark energy currently is the leading explanation. [ read more ]