consciousness – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/#respond Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:00:10 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=137344 The post Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In 2022, researchers at the Bee Sensory and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Queen Mary University of London observed bumblebees doing something remarkable: The diminutive, fuzzy creatures were engaging in activity that could only be described as play. Given small wooden balls, the bees pushed them around and rotated them. The behavior had no obvious connection to mating or survival, nor was it rewarded...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/feed/ 0 The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-accidental-activist-who-changed-the-face-of-mathematics-20240103/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-accidental-activist-who-changed-the-face-of-mathematics-20240103/#respond Wed, 03 Jan 2024 15:16:19 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=133651 The post The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Lenore Blum’s long career has spanned the breadth of mathematics and computer science. She’s done influential work in logic and cryptography, and she formulated an entirely new model of computation. And though she didn’t set out to do so, she’s also devoted a significant chunk of her time to building institutions to help women follow in her footsteps. “I had never wanted to think of myself as a...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-accidental-activist-who-changed-the-face-of-mathematics-20240103/feed/ 0 The Year in Biology https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-biggest-discoveries-in-biology-in-2023-20231219/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-biggest-discoveries-in-biology-in-2023-20231219/#respond Tue, 19 Dec 2023 19:13:40 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=133073 The post The Year in Biology first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Revolutions in the biological sciences can take many forms. Sometimes they erupt from the use of a novel tool or the invention of a radical theory that suddenly opens so many new avenues for research, it can feel dizzying. Sometimes they take shape slowly, through the slow accumulation of studies, each one representing years of painstaking work, that collectively chip away at the prevailing wisdom...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-biggest-discoveries-in-biology-in-2023-20231219/feed/ 0 What a Contest of Consciousness Theories Really Proved https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-a-contest-of-consciousness-theories-really-proved-20230824/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-a-contest-of-consciousness-theories-really-proved-20230824/#respond Thu, 24 Aug 2023 15:09:08 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=129436 The post What a Contest of Consciousness Theories Really Proved first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Science routinely puts forward theories, then batters them with data till only one is left standing. In the fledgling science of consciousness, a dominant theory has yet to emerge. More than 20 are still taken seriously. It’s not for want of data. Ever since Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of DNA’s double helix, legitimized consciousness as a topic for study more than three decades ago...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-a-contest-of-consciousness-theories-really-proved-20230824/feed/ 0 What Is the Nature of Consciousness? https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-nature-of-consciousness-20230531/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-nature-of-consciousness-20230531/#respond Wed, 31 May 2023 19:32:26 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=126454 The post What Is the Nature of Consciousness? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Neuroscience has made progress in deciphering how our brains think and perceive our surroundings, but a central feature of cognition is still deeply mysterious: namely, that many of our perceptions and thoughts are accompanied by the subjective experience of having them. Consciousness, the name we give to that experience, can’t yet be explained — but science is at least beginning to understand it.

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