might be measured on a single scale. In human applica-New York, New York 10003 tions this measure is provided by 'utility'—a somewhat artificial and uncomfortable concept: In biology, Darwin-ian fitness provides a natural and genuinely one-dimen-Behavioral ecologists argue that evolution drives ani-sional scale. " mal behavior to efficiently solve the problems animals By anchoring economic theo...

Behavioral ecologists argue that evolution drives animal behavior to efficiently solve the problems animals face in their environmental niches. The ultimate evolutionary causes of decision making, they contend, can be found in economic analyses of organisms and their environments. Neurobiologists interested in how animals make decisions have, in contrast, focused their efforts on understanding ...

Critics object that the Everett view cannot make sense of quantum probabilities, in one or both of two ways: either it cannot make sense of probability at all, or it cannot explain why probability should be governed by the Born rule. David Deutsch has attempted to meet these objections by appealing to an Everettian version of Savage’s rational decision theory. Deutsch argues not only that an an...

The recent US Supreme Court decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. clarified what is considered patentable subject matter. Patent claims limited to the composition of isolated nucleic acid sequences are now considered a product of nature and not patent eligible, while man-made variants of nucleic acid sequences may still be patentable. The decision is consisten...

Two lines of Supreme Court decisions define the extent to which the Constitution protects public employees1 from dismissal for the exercise of their First Amendment rights.2 The first set of cases governs the employees' right to speak on matters of public concern; the second governs their right to political affiliation. However, the Court has not explained the relationship between these two app...

In light of Supreme Court decisions limiting diversity-related admissions processes, a growing body of research has been conducted to ascertain academic benefits that come from cross-racial interactions (CRIs) that can occur only when there is diversity in the student body. The majority of this research has focused on student CRIs that occur outside of the classroom. Few studies have focused on...

The legal issues involved with the application of the United States Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton (1973) are reveiwed, particularly the question of whether an indigent pregnant woman now has the right to abortion on demand at public expense. The 2 decisions, based on the Fourteenth Amendment, established that a woman, in consultation with her physician, must be free...