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428 materials
On the humanitarian and natural science approach to an explosive topic: discussing the causes of homosexual behavior. Column for Kompyuterra #108
The problem is that humanities scholars are not interested in what the subject they discuss actually is, how it developed, what the mechanisms of its functioning are. The main thing, in their opinion (as far as I can understand them) …
Gates of Senses: What Do the Relationships Between Our Archaic Olfaction and Evolutionarily Advanced Vision Testify To? Column for Компьютерры #107
You now understand why the primate group to which we belong is called dry-nosed primates, Haplorrhini (as opposed to the more primitive, in our view, wet-nosed primates – Strepsirrhini). Wet-nosed primates have a wet nose - well, roughly the same …
Why do we allow ourselves to be deceived, or Sad reflections on the irrationality of political life. Column for Computerra #106
…perhaps the main cleavage dividing society in Russia and Ukraine — is not the line of confrontation between the authorities and the opposition. The boundary between irrationality and rationality may prove far more consequential…
April 2013. Student Biology Olympiad in Zhytomyr
This year's All-Ukrainian Biology Olympiad was held in Zhytomyr, at Zhytomyr State University.
Wallace's Paradox, or Why We Have Such a Large Brain. Column for Kompyuterra #105
Sexual selection and selection for Machiavellian intelligence become intertwined and begin to reinforce each other. High intelligence becomes a fitness marker, attracting mates; carriers of this marker leave more offspring and further complicate social interactions in the population.
April 18, 2013. Trip to Krasnokutsk District
First of all, we of course wanted to catch the spawning of pool frogs, Pelophylax lessonae. We missed it. But the trip turned out to be truly interesting...
Unreliable Instincts, or Why Bad Mothers Are Found Among People. Column for Kompyuterra #104
And what remains of Lorenz's behavior control scheme after excluding fixed action patterns from it? Need→(releaser)→motivation. This is precisely what is called instinct, for example, by Anatoliy Protopopov and Oleksiy Vyazovskyi. Is the concept of "instinct" applicable here...
April 12, 2013. Opposition Rally in Kharkiv
I have become deeply disillusioned with politics. However, recent events are such that it is impossible not to express one's attitude toward the actions of the current authorities. And how to express it? The civilized form — by supporting the …
Multilateral conflict: individuals, genes and memes; individuals and groups; near-term goals and distant prospects… Column for Компьютерра #103
It seems to me that, for each of the groups, the observed lifespan of an individual reflects some compromise reached between two conflicting (mutually contradictory) tendencies: a decrease in lifespan due to group selection and its increase due to individual …
April 7, 2013. Group Field Trip to the Spawning Grounds of Common Toads... Cold!
Two days ago it was warm. We may never have seen such an intense spawning aggregation of common toads as the day before yesterday. We organized a large trip with students and young naturalists, but ran into a cold snap. …
April 5, 2013. A Trip to the Ponds and... the Spawning of Gray Toads!
Just a week ago there was a thick layer of snow. After a few warm days we went to check — how much time was left before the gray toads' spawning...
Evolution of Evolution: From Genetic Inheritance to Intratechnical Replication of T-Memes. Column for Computerra #102
An attempt to classify the stages of the evolution of evolution and the inheritance mechanisms underlying them: – biological inheritance (based on genetic, epigenetic, and possibly other mechanisms); – cultural inheritance (inheritance through learning); – extrasomatc...
Frog poison, an unsuccessful experience of going into business, and doubt about the innovative prospects of university science. Column for Kompyutera #101
Under those circumstances, we had to do not what we were good at, but what real customers were willing to pay for.
The hundredth column: an attempt to catch one's breath, look around, and understand what and why I am doing. Column for Computerra #100
I write columns for ComputerraOnline, which has now turned again simply into Computerra, already two years without a little piece. Starting this activity, I found for myself (and indicated for readers) the topics on which I have something to say. …
Eight Video Quotes from TED.com
Several video quotes from talks at TED scientific conferences (not necessarily the best, but precisely those that drew my attention).
First, second and third replicators according to Susan Blackmore, the origin of life and the general scheme of phase transitions in evolution. Column for Kompyuterra #99
How does the transition to the next level of replicators occur — let us call it a phase transition in evolution? The aggregate of interacting (=competing and cooperating) replicators creates an environment in which interacting replicators of a different type …
Gessner's Mistake, or A Defence Against the Sea-Devil: How the Mechanism of Science Functions. Column for Kompyuterra #98
Science is not monolithic. The medical community is not monolithic. The people who work with vaccines do not constitute a unitary, tightly managed organisation. Beyond the interests of their community, each of them also has personal interests (often in some …
How We Are Fooled: An Analysis of a Portion of Anti-Vaccination Arguments from a "Primary Source". Column for Computerra #97
A human is arranged so that loads on their physiological systems, if not of an extreme nature, are beneficial and promote development. How do you develop muscle tissue? By training. How do you develop the capacity for critical thinking? By …
February 21. Opening of the 2013 Field Season. Eskhar
For the second year in a row, our group opens the field season with a trip to Eskhar to collect frogs.
On (In)effective Management, Conflicts of Interest at Different Levels of the Hierarchy, and the Invisible Foot. Column in КомпьютерреOnline #96
We live in a complex and poorly governed world. How can we improve the quality of decisions made? It seems to me that the most effective path is restructuring the management system in such a way that at each level …