Imagine a lot of people, each with their own thoughts. They're all linked, like a big social network. The Deffuant model helps us understand how their opinions change over time. Here's an interesting fact: their thoughts aren't just numbers; they're specific and can vary by topic. When they chat wit
Religions and languages are a lot like other social traits, such as age or political views. They evolve just like anything else does. New religions and new languages pop up, while others fade away. It's all about adaptation to society's changes. You might be wondering, "How many religions or languag
Scientists are exploring how the spread of religious ideas, or "memes, " can shape the diversity we see in religions today. They compare this to how diseases or helpful microbes spread and evolve within hosts. Just like pathogens, religious memes can jump from person to person, influencing how peopl
Bacteriophages, tiny viruses that attack bacteria, live in two ways: as virulent or temperate. Knowing which lifestyle a phage has helps understand how it interacts with its bacterial host, which is important for using phages in treatments like phage therapy. Since keeping up with the increasing num
Think about how news spreads on the internet. People often share stories and tidbits without even checking if they're true. This happens when groups of online users, or netizens, have similar thoughts and attitudes. When they agree on something, they tend to spread it quickly among themselves. But i
Imagine a new, even more powerful particle collider than the one that found the famous Higgs boson! That's what Mark Thomson, the next director-general of CERN, has in mind. He believes the Future Circular Collider (FCC) is the way to go for science. This isn't just any collider; it's a 91-kilometer
Researchers decided to take a look at studies published in some of the most important psychiatry journals. They wanted to know two things: how many of these studies mentioned involving people with personal experiences of mental health issues, and how many actually did it. If involvement happened, th
Ticks, tiny bugs that spread diseases, depend a lot on their environment. Scientists have been wondering how habitats being split up or connected could affect these critters. They focused on the West Coast, where a certain tick, Ixodes pacificus , is quite common. This tick carries several bacter
February 12, 2018, marked a special day at Harvard University as it celebrated the 100th birthday of the renowned physicist Julian Schwinger. This was not just a birthday commemoration but a grand event titled "The Memories of Julian. " The university wanted to honor Schwinger's incredible contribut
Ever wondered how prime numbers—those numbers that only have two divisors, 1 and themselves—are scattered across the number line? This isn't just about counting them, but understanding how they appear. Picture a long road filled with numbers, and prime numbers are like the unique trees along this ro
