A recent simulation conducted at the Carnegie Institution suggests that it’s possible to use crystals to pump heat efficiently, making them useful as a method of refrigeration. We may soon see crystals, instead of metal heat sinks, on our computer chips. The study, led by Maimon Rose and Ronald Cohen, simulated the behavior of a special [...]

A look back on this week in science: A study demonstrates that you can’t think with empathy and analysis at exactly the same time, and that these behaviors are controlled by two different parts of the brain, more commonly called the task-positive network (analytical) and default mode network (empathetic). A mathematical models [...]

A new study reveals that cognitive empathy and analytical reasoning are not only powered by two separate networks in the brain, but that these two networks actually inhibit one another. Using fMRI, researchers in recent years have uncovered two networks in the brain, often called the task positive network and the default mode network ( [...]

Is it possible to send messages faster than the speed of light? A new theory could have us testing for an answer within just a few years. The possibility of faster than light communication is loved by science fiction authors, and mostly loathed by the physics community, mainly because according to Einstein’s (very well tested) theory of [...]

Here’s what we learned in science this week: We finally get a study on how self-affirmation works in the brain, and why the corresponding sense of openness helps us solve problems. We learn that in the context of group violence, most people’s morals shift toward authority and loyalty, rather than harm and fairness, when the violence [...]

Self affirmation theory, first proposed by Claude Steele in 1988, suggests that when a new belief threatens our point of view, we protect our integrity by reminding ourselves who we are. Under this model, self-affirmation helps us tame confirmation bias, which often causes us to be blind to ideas that threaten our existing world view. By [...]

Three studies conducted by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, suggest that the violence of a group is justified by a subtle shift in the way things are framed. In other words, if a group commits violence, it frames morality in terms of authority and loyalty. The violence of other groups is instead framed by appeals to concepts like [...]

Here’s what we learned this week, plus some important news from other sites around the web: Will it be possible to cool circuits with beams of light in the near future? It’s already been done with atoms, but new experiments suggest it could be done on larger objects. The closest star system in the universe has at least one planet [...]

Yujie Ding Engineers at the Johns Hopkins and Lehigh Universities are pushing the limits of a phenomenon called Raman scattering, and are beginning to ask if it is possible to actually cool a circuit using beams of light. When light is scattered by an object or a material, most of the light keeps the same amount of energy after it [...]

Artist’s Depiction (L Calcada/AP) Scientists at the La Silla Observatory, Chile, have discovered that the Alpha Centauri star system has a planet. That’s right, planets are common enough in the universe that there’s one orbiting our nearest neighbor, just 4.3 light years away. This is the smallest planet we have ever discovered [...]