How plants learn

How plants learn.

The identification of signal-transduction components in plant cells is proceeding on an almost daily basis. In this issue, Kudla et al. (1) continue this important process by describing the isolation and characterization of regulatory subunits of calcineurin, a Ca21ycalmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase. Since the pioneering work of Cohen (2) and collaborators, biologists have classified pro...

How to Learn/What to Learn

Abst rac t : This paper discusses the kind of in fo rmat ion that must be present in a computer program that models the l i n g u i s t i c development of a c h i l d . A three stage model is presented that character izes the development of a na tu ra l l a n guage parser in a c h i l d of ages one, one and a h a l f , and two. Some data from ch i ld ren of these ages is presented. General prob...

How may Congress learn?

Learning how to learn

In proportion to our body mass, our brain is three times as large as that of our nearest relatives. This huge organ is dangerous and painful to give birth to, expensive to build and, in a resting human, uses about 20 percent of the body's energy even though it is just 2 percent of the body's weight. There must be some reason for this evolutionary expense [1]. Recently, I lost one of my aunts. S...

How Can Evolution Learn?

The theory of evolution links random variation and selection to incremental adaptation. In a different intellectual domain, learning theory links incremental adaptation (e.g., from positive and/or negative reinforcement) to intelligent behaviour. Specifically, learning theory explains how incremental adaptation can acquire knowledge from past experience and use it to direct future behaviours to...