Why are our brains so large?

How humans came to the point they are today is quite impressive, and is one of the greatest questions facing mankind. In this article, Michael Balter looks into the least understood and most complex human organ; the brain, and explores as to why it is so disproportionately large. When compared to other species, the human brain is significantly larger and has allowed humans to reign the earth. But, then, why do other animals not have the same size brain? The brain of our closest evolutionary relative is a chimpanzee whose brain is even 1/3 the size of ours. This article cites the "social brain hypothesis", which is the most widely accepted theory. Researchers believe that our complex social relationships are the cause for the size, as other species have much simpler relationships within their population. In fact, studies are being conducted to see if there is a direct correlation between brain size and a persons ability to be social(as shown by the number of facebook friends) But, a striking majority of scientists disagree with this theory as they believe it is incredibly simplistic and narrow. Alternative theories cite "social learning" as the main cause which would be the main force behind acquired foraging methods and tool discoveries. One thing is for certain; this is a massive question perplexing scientists which will always remain relevant, almost as complex as determining the origins of life on earth. This article was posted on slate.com which is a trusted news source created to bring up interesting and perplexing questions regarding primarily scientific issues. The author clearly defines the subject of the text by explaining the background regarding the human brain. The audience was also kept in mind as the author utilizes allusions to The Wizard of Oz and has a unique engaging style. Through the use of references to recently conducted studies, Balter is able to establish Ethos furthering his awareness of the audience. Overall, this builds an article that is effective in providing the current knowledge regarding the size of the brain in an incredibly concise manner, a stylistic approach which Slate typically employs successfully. Certainly, this question will be quite perplexing in the future, and may always be answered through theory rather than fact, but would we be asking such a question had our brain been smaller?
Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_evolution/2012/10/human_brain_size_social_groups_led_to_the_evolution_of_large_brains.single.html

Space Exploration: A visual history

Space; something so vast, a place where humans will never know the full extent of. There has always been a natural fascination associated with space, and recently I had heard the news of Voyager I entering the interstellar space. This is quite an accomplishment as Voyager I would be the first man-made object to exit the solar system. So where have we concentrated our efforts thus far? This infographic provides a beautiful method for arranging all of the missions left from earth. I was astounded by the amount of information that could be derived from such a seemingly simple image. Several lines represent where the various missions have been to, and the orbits of those trips. The greatest concentration of lines wrap around the moon as the other 7 planets plus the sun are represented. I think this image carries even further significance when taking into consideration the current financial situation of the US. At this point in time, the US has cut down on NASA funding, which I found incredibly disappointing. NASA has accomplished fantastic and incredible things, and this infographic supports this view. This infographic is supported with sources on the bottom and is found on the largest infographic website visual.ly. It is extremely effective at illustrating its point and certainly does it in a beautiful manner as well.  It truly is incredible and powerful to see human achievement plotted in one image.

Comparing Payroll to Winning Percentage in the MLB

A common conception would be, that the more money is invested in something, the better it will perform. In the realm of sports, this would seem to ring true. In this article, the correlation between a team's payroll and win percentage is explored. This article first peaked my interest, because I know that the Phillies had the second highest payroll and did not even make the playoffs. This article was posted in Freakonomics, a blog which was spawned from the original text Freakonomics. On this blog, hidden trends in data are explored in-depth, similar to what the book had achieved. The author, David Berri, found that this year showed that having a higher payroll did not necessarily mean a successful team. This bucked the trend from previous years. But, he did argue that it was only not statistically significant 5 out of the last 24 years. Which is an incredibly low number. Berri argues that salaries within baseball players can be inconsistent with the productivity of many rookie players. This, therefore, throws off the statistics regarding the salaries of players. Berri utilizes anecdotal evidence to refute some trends. He also appeals to logos on multiple occasions when looking into trends, and causes the reader to reevaluate the trends in data. This thought process of evaluating numbers is the reason why Freakonomics is so successful, because it attributes real life to a set of numbers. Therefore I found that the article provided a great deal of analysis on the trends between salary performance, which was the intended purpose. 

Steve Jobs: A book which carries so much weight.

Following the death of Steve Jobs, many were looking for the release of Walter Isaacson's biography on the man himself. It was met with a great deal of anticipation and extremely high expectations. After reading the first chapter, I can say without a doubt that Isaacson successfully captures the essence of Job's that is required to write such a hotly anticipated topic. Isaacson is known for writing a great deal of other biographies, and before Steve Jobs he was known for his highly acclaimed biography on Abraham Lincoln. Chapter 1 of Steve Jobs  is aptly titled Childhood. In this chapter, Jobs provides a background perspective on where Jobs came from. It provided a perspective of a very troubled child, one who never really fit in. Jobs was found to be extremely intelligent though; in fourth grade he was found to have the intelligence level of a high school sophomore and was recommended to skip two grades. I really enjoyed this chapter as it provided a perspective on Jobs that I had never knew. The chapter was particularly enhanced with a great deal of dialogue. Some stories could be played out as flashbacks through Isaacson's mix of vivid imagery and first person imagery. The reason why this biography is particularly effective, is the fact that Isaacson had many interviews with Jobs before his death. This allowed him to really develop a full character of Jobs which plays out through the first chapter, and should throughout the rest. Isaacson plays out Jobs' life as if it was a fictional story, everything seems so vivid as if you were in Jobs' life yourself. I found his writing quite impressive, and was never bored. I really look forward to seeing how Jobs evolved over time, and to see the many different stories that were never revealed before.