Science articles
Sep. 15th, 2017 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyChildren as young as four believe in karma – good things happen to those who do good
Bacteria Use Brainlike Bursts of Electricity to Communicate
Explosive birth of stars swells galactic cores
Biodiversity just as powerful as climate change for healthy ecosystems
Why your ancestors would have aced the long jump
With Smart Planning, Coffee and Bees Can Survive Climate Change
Chimpanzees and orangutans look for information to fill gaps in their knowledge
High fat diets may make mice live longer—but you (probably) shouldn’t live on butter
Infants Can See Things That Adults Cannot
What makes alcoholics drink? Research shows it's more complex than supposed
Swings in dad's testosterone affects the family -- for better or worse -- after baby arrives
Bacteria Use Brainlike Bursts of Electricity to Communicate
Explosive birth of stars swells galactic cores
Biodiversity just as powerful as climate change for healthy ecosystems
Why your ancestors would have aced the long jump
With Smart Planning, Coffee and Bees Can Survive Climate Change
Chimpanzees and orangutans look for information to fill gaps in their knowledge
High fat diets may make mice live longer—but you (probably) shouldn’t live on butter
Infants Can See Things That Adults Cannot
What makes alcoholics drink? Research shows it's more complex than supposed
Swings in dad's testosterone affects the family -- for better or worse -- after baby arrives
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Mmm butter
Date: 2017-09-13 08:42 am (UTC)Re: Mmm butter
Date: 2017-09-13 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-13 02:47 am (UTC)Argh. The Buddhist and Hindu notion of karma is the idea, essentially, that you get what you deserve in the next life. Without the presumption of reincarnation, the whole model breaks down, because it's patently obvious that a great many people DON'T get what they deserve in this life. Modern Buddhism glosses over that with a lot of talk about the law of cause and effect, but that isn't actually a law - it's more like guidelines, because chaos happens.
"Again, the children’s belief in karma was unrelated to whether they came from a religious background or not."
Again, argh. Duh, naturally children believe in the 'Just World' fallacy, because practically every story we tell them from the time they're born has some version of that as its moral. Try to think of a children's book, movie or TV show that doesn't pitch the message that goodness is rewarded and/or naughtiness is punished - there are some, but not many.
LOL, consider The Storyteller (https://www.acschools.org/cms/lib/PA01916405/Centricity/Domain/399/The%20Storyteller.pdf) by Saki: "A most improper story to tell to young children! You have undermined the effect of years of careful teaching!"... by validating (for once) their perception that the world may not be as just as grown-ups say it is.