Deconstruction provides a novel way of dealing with the notoriously difficult ultraviolet problems of four-dimensional gravity. This approach also naturally leads to a new perspective on the holographic principle, tying it to the fundamental requirements of unitarity and diffeomorphism invariance, as well as to a new viewpoint on the cosmological constant problem. The numerical smallness of the...

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 100, NO. 4, 25 FEBRUARY 2011 476 Bhushan Patwardhan is in the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrated Medicine, Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore 560 106, India; Vishnu Joglekar is in the Tilak Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, Pune 411 011, India; Namyata Pathak is in the Kasturba Health Society, Medical Research Centre, Mumbai 400 056, India; Ashok V...

Adolescents, as a consequence of identification with popular culture, have been described as having homogenous consumption patterns. More recently, however, it has been recognised that ‘glocalisation’ (global practices reworked to fit local contexts) affords an opportunity for differentiation. This paper considers a recent UK phenomenon, namely that of the US high school prom, and seeks to expl...

131 Recently, in a breakthrough research, scientists from University of Barcelona, Axilum Robotics France and Harvard Medical School have successfully demonstrated a conscious transmission of information between the minds of emitter and receiver subjects far away from each other. Scientists believe that such ‘hyperinteraction’ technologies will have a profound impact on the social structure of ...

The functionalist “law” that religion sustains the moral order must be amended. As is demonstrated in this study, religion has this effect only as it is based on belief in powerful, active, conscious, morally-concerned gods. Contrary to Durkheim’s claims, participation in religious rituals per se has little independent impact on morality and none when done on behalf of gods conceived as unconsc...

The structure of death rituals differs consistently among regions of Albania. The death ritual contains very strong patriarchal features in the Northern part of the country; in southern regions (next to the seashore) and in Albanian communities living elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin, the features are more animistic; the females playing an important role in grief proclamation, suggesting a ...