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Recent Additions: New and Updated Entries in the Past 60 Days
Displaying entries 61 through 75 of 77 found.
Earth Life > Brain Anatomy > Bicameral Brain
Rogers, Lesley and Giorgio Vallortigara, eds.
Lateralized Brain Functions: Methods in Human and Non-Human Species..
Switzerland: Springer,,
2025.
The University of New England, Australia and University of Trento, Italy editors are senior definers (search) of this 21st century project to realize and thoroughly quantify the evolutionary occurrence and emergent ramification of complementary hemispheres and their common archetypes. This volume adds the latest methods and evidence such as Lateralization in Invertebrates by Davide Liga and Elisa Frasnelli and Reversals of Bodies, Brains, and Behavior: Quantitative Analysis of Laterality by Douglas Blackiston and Michael Levin.
The chapters in this book cover topics such as measuring lateralization in a range of species by scoring behavior elicited by inputs to one of both brain hemispheres; behavioral studies of motor preferences; neurological methods to reveal lateralization; imaging and new genetic approaches to studying humans and zebrafish.
Earth Life > Individuality > Evolution Language
, .
Girard-Buttoz, Cedric, et al. Versatile use of chimpanzee call combinations promotes meaning expansion. Science Advances. 11/19, 2025..
Science Advances.
11/19,
2025.
Leibniz Primate Research and MPI Human Cognitive Sciences paleopsychologists including Angela Friederici can now parse these proto-language occurrences of content filled utterances which are then seen to portend our recursive,loquacious linguistics.
Language is a combinatorial communication system able to generate an infinite number of meanings. Nonhuman animals use similar modes to expand content, which suggests an evolutionary precursor to our human capabilities. We tested whether wild chimpanzees used these procedures and found four combinatorial cases whereby bigram meanings were or were not derived from their parts. Such a system in nonhuman animals has never been documented and may be transitional between rudimentary systems and open-ended systems like our own. (Abstract)
Earth Life > Individuality > Evolution Language
Gontier, Nathalie, et al.
Introduction to Evolving (Proto)Language/s.
Lingua.
305/103740,
2024.
In this premier journal, University of Lisbon, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland, Dalarne University, Sweden and Rutgers University, USA system linguists describe wider and deeper sources now being found of informative creaturely conveyance, broadly conceived, based on interdisciplinary studies. A typical entry is Emergence and evolution of language in multi-agent systems by Dorota Lipowska and Adam Lipowski.
Long considered uniquely human, today scholars argue for evolutionary continuity between human language and animal communication systems. While it is recognized that language is an evolving communication system, it is not well known from which species language evolved, and what behavioral and cognitive features are precursors. This special issue on Evolving (Proto)Language/s bundles several current protolanguage theories to provide overviews from (paleo)anthropology, genetics, physiology, developmental, evolutionary, ecological, and pragmatic research lines. (Excerpt)
wumanomics > Integral Persons > Somatic
Bonthrone, Alexandra, et al.
Cortical scaling of the neonatal brain in typical and altered development.
PNAS.
122/15,
2025.
Fifteen neuroscientists at King’s College London extend their neuroimaging sophistications to neonate infants to find evidence that the the same common topologies are even in place at that early time, unhampered by maladies.
The mammalian, adult human, and child cortices fold according to a universal scaling law that relates exposed surface area (SA) to total SA. Here we show that this law also applies to developing neonates. Although the cortex is smaller, scaling is preserved in infants even with congenital heart disease, suggesting that this fundamental brain property is robust to the effects of reduced oxygen and nutrients in utero. (Excerpt)
wumanomics > Integral Persons > Cerebral Form
Muller, Paul, et al.
Critical dynamics predicts cognitive performance and provides a common framework for heterogeneous mechanisms impacting cognition..
PNAS.
122/14,
2025.
Our work suggests critical dynamics to be the setpoint to measure optimal network function, thereby providing a unifying framework for heterogeneous mechanisms impacting cognition.In this paper, Charité—Universitätsmedizin, Berlin computational neurologists led by Christian Meisel provide a strong verification to date of a cerebral self-organized criticality which achieves an optimum performance and go on to show how its interruptions can result in neural maladies such as epilepsy.
Cognitive function emerges from cortical network dynamics and is often impaired in disorders like epilepsy. Physics and information theory suggest that brain networks operate optimally at a critical state between order and disorder. Using cognitive testing and intracranial EEG from persons with epilepsy (PwE), we find that proximity to critical dynamics predicts cognitive performance across multiple domains. We show that factors such as interictal epileptiform activity, antiseizure medications (ASMs), and sleep-like episodes perturb the critical state. Together, these findings support the concept of criticality as a prime way to understand cognition in neurological conditions. (Excerpt)
wumanomics > Integral Persons > Cerebral Form
Wright, .
Distinct synaptic plasticity rules operate across dendritic compartments in vivo during learning.
Science.
April 17,
2025.
Four UC San Diego neuroscientists delve deeper into the intricate cerebral domains to view and explain just how synapses proceed to synchronize themselves. See also a Perspective note, Dendritic arbors structure memories, in this issue about this work and A general framework for interpretable neural learning based on local information-theoretic goal functions by Abdullah Makkeh, et al in PNAS (122/10, 2025).
Synaptic plasticity underlies learning by modifying inputs to reshape neural activity and behavior. However, the rules governing which synapses will undergo learning remain unclear. Using longitudinal imaging in the mouse motor cortex, we found that apical and basal dendrites of pyramidal neurons showed distinct activity-dependent synaptic plasticity rules. Thus, individual neurons use multiple activity-dependent plasticity rules in a compartment-specific manner in vivo during learning processes. (Excerpt)
wumanomics > Integral Persons > Complementary Brain
Liang, Xinyu, et al.
Functional divergence between the two cerebral hemispheres contributes to human fluid intelligence.
Communications Biology.
May 17,
2025.
Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Institute for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University and University of York (Elizabeth Jefferies) neuroscientists describe their latest sophisticated imaging studies which further affirm the significance of our double duty cerebral faculty and archetypical hemispheric complements.
Hemispheric lateralization is considered a driving force behind the generation of human intelligence. In this study, we utilize the functional aligned multidimensional representation space derived from functional gradients to compute between-hemisphere distances within this space. We found that both global divergence between the cerebral hemispheres and regional divergence within the multiple demand network. Together, these findings deepen our understanding of bicamerality as a fundamental organizational principle of the human brain. (Excerpt)
Our results reveal an increasing functional lateralization which transitions from unimodal functions (visual, auditory, sensorimotor) to higher-level cognition (social cognition, decision-making). This aligns with established theories linking the left side to language processes and long-term memory and the right to the facial images and visual attention. (7)
wumanomics > Integral Persons > Conscious Knowledge
Ferrante, Oscar, et al.
Adversarial testing of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theories of consciousness..
Nature.
April 30,
2025.
integrated information theories of consciousness. Nature. April 30, 2025. This section has sought since circa 2010 to report a philosophical, theoretic and empirical endeavors to ground our actual human aware, informed sentience in a conducive reality. By 2025 two main but competitive models have come forth as the excerpt notes to an extent that their proponents describe a thought-off” so to move toward a conscious consilience. Some 41 coauthors including David Chalmers, Melanie Boly, Stanislas Dehaene, Christof Koch and Giulio Tononi herein contribute to this overdue, nonbiased resolve.
Different theories now seek to explain how subjective experience arises from brain activity. Here we present an open science adversarial collaboration which juxtaposes integrated information theory (IIT) and global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT) via a neutral Cogitate Consortium. Human participants viewed suprathreshold stimuli for variable durations while neural activity was measured with MRI imaging, magneto- encephalography and electro- encephalography. We found conscious content in the visual, ventro- temporal and frontal cortex. These results align with some predictions of IIT and GNWT, but also belie key tenets of both theories. In regard we present an alternative approach through principled, collaborative research and the need for a systematic theory evaluation. (Excerpts)
wumanomics > Phenomenon > Cultural Code
Gontier, Nathalie, et al.
Gontier, Nathalie, et al. Combinatoriality and Compositionality in Communication, Skills, Tool Use, and Language.
International Journal of Primatology..
45/473,
2024.
University of Lisbon, Heinrich Heine University, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland and University Institute of Psychological, Social and Life Sciences, Lisbon scholars continue to reconstruct life’s long experience to better survive and benefit by way of salient gestures, lyric prosody, fluent articulations and natural narrative. We propose our Earthuman version as Her/History which serves to welcome fiterate ourselves. Altogether, one could suppose that a natural ecosmic genesis is trying to express its own voice, vision and self-recognition.
Combinatorial behavior involves joining elements into larger aggregates with meaning. It is contrasted with compositionality, which involves larger constituents whose content is derived from its component parts. Combinatoriality is found in primates and animals, whereas compositionality is considered uniquely human. In regard,, this special Combinatoriality and Compositionality in Apes, Hominins, Humans, and Birds issue unites papers that study these aspects in primate and bird communication systems, tool use, skills, and human language. (Abstract)
wumanomics > Phenomenon > Cultural Code
Matalon, Nadav, et al.
Structure in conversation: Evidence for the vocabulary, semantics, and syntax of prosody.
PNAS.
122/17,
2025.
Weizmann Institute of Science and University of Chicago system linguists contribute a novel empirical study of this other emphatic verbal and gestural component that serves and completes the entire language-based conversation.
In conversation, prosody complements words, forming a structured communication system distinct from, yet connected to, content. We study spontaneous speech to identify the fundamental essence of this system and find a prosodic vocabulary of a few hundred patterns which fulfill interactional and attitudinal functions. Just as syntax governs word combinations, we observe recurring prosodic patterns more frequently than chance. These results support the analogy of prosody to a linguistic system with its own vocabulary, semantics, and syntax.
Prosody is the musical aspect of speech, conveying information on multiple levels, in parallel to the text. It includes vocal features like pitch, loudness and timing, as well as voice quality. Here, we take a data-driven approach and examine prosody as a linguistic system in its own right, as though it were an unknown language. We explore a large volume of conversational English, to move away from controlled stimuli toward natural data. (1)
wumanomics > Phenomenon > Physiology
Bouchard, Jean-Philippe.
The Self-Organized Criticality Paradigm in Economics & Finance.
arXiv:2407.10284.
We came to this entry from Markus Aschwanden’s Power Laws Associated with Self-Organized Criticality paper (2505.00748) wherein his astronomic SOC findings can be seen to extend in kind from coronae to metabolisms to informatics. Herein a senior European theorist describes how this optimum natural phenomenon appears equally evident in hyperactive monetary commerce. See also Critical fragility socio-technical systems by Jose Moran, et al at arXiv:2307.03546 for another J-P B paper.
Self-Organized Criticality (SOC) is the mechanism by which complex systems spontaneously settle close to a critical edge between stability and chaos. In this short review, we discuss how SOC could offer a plausible solution to the excess volatility puzzle in financial markets. We argue that in general the quest for efficiency and the necessity of *resilience* may be mutually incompatible and thus require specific policy considerations.
Jean-Philippe Bouchaud is a French physicist, co-founder chairman of Capital Fund Management, adjunct professor at École Normale Supérieure and held the Bettencourt Innovation Chair at Collège de France in 2020.
wumanomics > Phenomenon > Civilizations
Folk, Dunigan, et al.
Cultural Variation in Attitudes Toward Social Chatbots.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
56/3,
2025.
We cite this paper by University of British Columbia scholars for its ability to discern how the East/West civilizational phases, as the quotes note, even govern these latest online experiences. Within a worldwise philoSophia view, it becomes obvious that the present Chinese/America viral polarity is actually a worldwide embodiment of nature’s archetypal me and We complements, suggestive of a planetarity (search) or famlimentarity whole.
Across two studies we found evidence for cultural differences in attitudes toward socially bonding with conversational AI. In Study 1 university students with an East Asian cultural background expected to enjoy a hypothetical conversation with a chatbot more than students with European backgrounds. In Study 2 we found similar evidence for cultural differences comparing Chinese and Japanese adults in East Asia to adults in the United States. These cultural differences were explained by East Asian participants propensity to anthropomorphize technology. (Abstract)
Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Shinto have animistic roots and do not have a clear delineation between humans and nature. In contrast, Western philosophical and religious traditions suggest a human exceptionalism that separates humans and the rest of the world The animistic content of Eastern religions may predispose people to view social chatbots as a part of the natural world as any other form of life. In contrast, people in Western countries may be more inclined to see chatbots as lifeless inanimate objects. (2)
Ecosmo Sapiens > Old World > Climate
Kurths, Jurgen, et al.
Physics for the environment and sustainable development.
arXiv:2504.04948.
Six Helmholtz Centre Potsdam–German Research Centre for Geosciences post their chapter in the EPS Grand Challenges - Physics for Society in the Horizon 2050 volume (C. Hidalgo, ed., IOP Publishing) which describes how complexity science principles can provide deeper insights into hyperactive global phenomena.
A reliable understanding of the Earth system is essential for the life quality of modern society. In this chapter, we discuss key concepts from nonlinear physics and show how they can enable us to treat problems which cannot be solved by classic methods. In particular, the concepts of multi-scaling, recurrence, synchronization, and complex networks contribute to integral understandings of the dynamics of earthquakes, landslides, (palaeo-)climate and extreme events.
Ecosmo Sapiens > Old World > Climate
Wunderling, Nico. et al.
Wunderling, Nico, et al. Climate tipping point interactions and cascades.
Earth System Dynamics.
15/1,
2024.
Thirty-two Potsdam Institute for Climate Research and European environmentalists including Jonathan Donges provide an extensive study of what might happen if major local weather zones tipped over to a new phase and in some cascade fashion proceeded to impact each other. See also Tipping in an adaptive climate network model by Tom Bdolach, et al at arXiv:2505.04533 for a latest update.
Climate tipping elements are large-scale subsystems of the Earth that may transgress critical thresholds (tipping points) under global warming pressures, with substantial impacts on the biosphere and human societies. Frequently studied examples include the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), permafrost, monsoon systems, and the Amazon rainforest. Here, we survey the literature on climate tipping forces and find that many of them are destabilizing. We conclude that tipping points should be studied both in isolation, but also with regard cross-interactions. (Excerpt)
Ecosmo Sapiens > New Earth > Mind Over Matter
Yue, Kaihang, et al.
Polyoxometalated metal-organic framework superstructure for stable water oxidation..
Science.
388/6745,
2025.
We cite this advance by Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Auckland and Inner Mongolia University researchers on the other side of the globe as one more example of how often catalysts are used to enhance all manner of chemical reactivities. In regard, as a new worldwise cocreation may just now commence, might we rightly consider our Earthuman selves in some way as ecosmic catalysts?
Stable, nonprecious catalysts are vital for large-scale alkaline water electrolysis. Here, we report a superstructure formed by self-assembling a metal-organic framework (MOF) with polyoxometalate (POM). An anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer incorporating this catalyst achieves 3 amperes per square centimeter at room temperature. Electrochemical spectroscopy and theoretical studies reveal that the synergistic interactions between metal atoms create a fast electron-transfer channel from catalytic iron and cobalt sites, nickel, and tungsten in the polyoxometalate to the electrode. (Excerpt)
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