From Literary Review, a review of Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra by John Derbyshire. An excerpt from How Mathematicians Think: Using Ambiguity, Contradiction, and Paradox to Create Mathematics by William Byers. Want to be good at science? Take lots of math. Alexis Lemaire has broken the record for finding the 13th root of a 200-digit number. It's an incredibly hard calculation so how does the "human calculator" do it? Researchers pinpoint the neurons responsible for figuring out how things add up.
From The New Yorker, where have all the bees gone? Elizabeth Kolbert investigates. A review of The Other Insect Societies by James T. Costa. A Brief History of House Cats: It may be that "nobody owns a cat," but scientists now say the popular pet has lived with people for 12,000 years. Walk This Way: Humans' two-legged gait evolved to save energy, new research says. A new study suggests human beings can run long distances because we carry multiple copies of a gene that helps supply our cells with energy. From NYRB, a religion for Darwinians? H. Allen Orr reviews Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith by Philip Kitcher. In games, an insight into the rules of evolution: Martin Nowak’s projects may seem randomly scattered across the sciences but they share an underlying theme: cooperation.
Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, on Person X Situation X System Dynamics. From Discover, an article on 10 Unsolved Mysteries of the Brain: What we know—and don’t know—about how we think. Who’s Minding the Mind? The subconscious brain is more active, independent and purposeful than once thought. Sometimes it takes charge. A sampling from the oeuvre of Albert Ellis, the pioneering psychotherapist and inventor of rational emotive behavior therapy, who died last week at 93.
From The Chronicle, universities should support a broader concept of publishing in the digital age, a long-awaited report says. From Inside Higher Ed, Sailing from Ithaka: There’s a new report on the future of digital publishing in academe. Scott McLemee thinks you should drop everything and read it posthaste. An interview with Loriene Roy, the new president of the American Library Association, on the future of library science. A behind-the-scenes tour of Oxford academia: A review of Remnants of a Quiet Life by Henry Harris. Trading $80 Wine for Cheap Cookies: An administrator reflects on the transition from a wealthy private university to a public institution. How do you stop young people deserting a deprived area? Opening a university could be the first step; and competitive spirit: Don't knock today's degrees, your country needs them. The Cult of Speed: College rankings are a crutch that too many students and families use to avoid a thoughtful search for the right fit.
