Once There Was And Twice There Was Not: Belief And Effective Storytelling

Once upon a Time, There Was Papyrus

'Once upon a time there was a congress...'

Corresponding author: Prof. Michael John Vita-Salute San Raffaele University Via Olgettina 48 20132 Milano, Italy e.mail: [email protected] conclude immediately‘, spoken by the irritated moderator. Of course, he could have rehearsed the presentation beforehand to get his timing right. He hadn’t thought of that. He could also have numbered his slides in order to know where he was in the presen...

Once upon a time there was complex numerical estimation

During the last decade, evidence collected in cognitive, developmental, and comparative research showed that adults prevented from verbal counting, along with infants and non-human animals possess numerical systems that are independent of language (the so-called “non-verbal numerical abilities”). Interestingly very similar results were reported among mammals, birds, and fish, leading some autho...

First there was hydrogen.

The history of hydrogen — the element that fills the world as we know it — consists of a most dramatic set of events. Hydrogen and helium atoms emerged a measly 379,000 years after the Big Bang. As the hot, dense plasma of protons, electrons and photons that was the universe began to cool and expand, electrons and protons gathered to form atoms. Four hundred million years later stars — such as ...

Daddy was there!

He had an additional reason to be inconsolable. What 5 year old would be happy without anything to eat and nothing on the horizon to correct this deficit? Not even the nurse could solve this problem. Armed with two drinks, the oral premedication and apple juice to wash it down, she tried to help gain some control by offering what had been withheld to this point. This smart little boy, however, ...