News tagged with social theories

Game of go: A complex network

Could computers ever beat the best go players? Although unthinkable at this stage, this could soon become possible, thanks to CNRS theorists. For the first time, two scientists from the Theoretical Physics ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 31

Interrogational torture: Effective or purely sadistic?

While government officials have argued that "enhanced interrogation techniques" are necessary to protect American citizens, the effectiveness of such techniques has been debated. According to a recent study, when torture ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 23

A new take on the games people play in their relationships

Human nature has deep evolutionary roots and is manifested in relationships with family members, friends, romantic and business partners, competitors, and strangers more than in any other aspects of behavior or intellectual ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 21, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Is blood thicker than water?

In 1964 biologist William Hamilton introduced Inclusive Fitness Theory to predict and explain phenomena ranging from animal behavior to patterns of gene expression. With its many successes, the theory became ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 25, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Traders who 'sync up' make more money: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- Long-standing problems are quite often solved simultaneously by various people working alone. Take, for example, naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who separately proposed the theory of ...

Other Sciences / Economics & Business

created Mar 17, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

What romance novels say about society: A Valnetine's Day Q & A

University of Toronto anthropologist Ivan Kalmar doesn't research romance novels himself, but he is interested in the relationship between theory and everyday life, and encourages his students to turn a critical ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Feb 14, 2011 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Mathematical model shows how groups split into factions

(PhysOrg.com) -- The school dance committee is split; one group wants an "Alice in Wonderland" theme; the other insists on "Vampire Jamboree." Mathematics could have predicted it.

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Jan 04, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (18) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Scientists say natural selection alone can explain eusociality

Scientists at Harvard University have sketched a new map of the "evolutionary labyrinth" species must traverse to reach eusociality, the rare but spectacularly successful social structure where individuals cooperate to raise ...

Biology / Evolution

created Aug 25, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'The friend of my enemy is my enemy': Virtual universe study proves 80-year-old theory on how humans interact

A new study analysing interactions between players in a virtual universe game has for the first time provided large-scale evidence to prove an 80 year old psychological theory called Structural Balance Theory. ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jul 19, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (28) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Game theoretic machine learning methods can help explain long periods of conflict

Researchers at the Santa Fe Institute have developed new machine learning methods to study conflict. Their work appears in PLOS Computational Biology on May 13.

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created May 13, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Online poker study: The more hands you win, the more money you lose

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new Cornell study of online poker seems counterintuitive: The more hands players win, the less money they're likely to collect - especially when it comes to novice players.

Other Sciences / Other

created Jan 12, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

From terrorism to HIV, it's all about the network

(PhysOrg.com) -- Similarities between webs of terrorists and networks of rescue personnel may seem unlikely. To an eclectic collaboration of engineers and social scientists, the connections are not only possible, but a potential ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 18, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Experiential learning teaches change and adaptation

Economics, environmental impacts, social dynamics, and production levels are all major factors that influence the overall success of an agroecosystem. Positive or negative, these factors enact change on the system, forcing ...

Other Sciences / Other

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study: Lose weight while listening to your MP3 player (w/ Podcast)

(PhysOrg.com) -- With obesity and weight-related illnesses on the rise, researchers continue to look for better ways to help people shed extra pounds and keep them off. A new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 2.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Anthropologist researches evolution of Darwin’s theory

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research by University of Notre Dame anthropologist Agustin Fuentes, published recently in the European journal Anthropology Today, states that although Darwin’s basic ideas still form t ...

Biology / Evolution

created Sep 02, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0