An aMap (argument map) is a visual representation of the structure of an argument in informal logic. It includes the components of an argument such as a main contention, premises, co-premises, objections, rebuttals and lemmas. Argument maps are often used in the teaching of reasoning and critical thinking and can support the analysis of pros and cons when deliberating over …

A digital device that detects the signs of charisma and measures them in action, the sociometer is about the size of an iPhone. The wearable gadget is equipped with an infrared sensor and a tiny microphone. It tracks patterns of speech and body movement. The sociometer does not, however, record speech. It was created by computer scientist Alex Pentland and …

The world race is often wrongly used. For example, the Jews are not a race, but a religious and cultural group, who, in racial terms, are exactly the same as the Nazis who persecuted them. Many scholars say that there is only one race-the human race. However, the human family can be divided into several groups according to such features …

Memristor is claimed to be the fourth basic element to electrical circuit theory along with the capacitor, resistor and inductor. It was recently discovered in HP Labs. It’s most interesting characteristic is that it remembers the amount of charge that flows through it. So, it is named as memory resistor or memristor. Researchers believe the discovery will pave the way …

A digital pet (also known as a virtual pet or artificial pet) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment. People may keep a digital pet in lieu of a real pet. Digital pets are distinct in that they have no concrete physical form other than the hardware they run on. Interaction with …

A catalyst is any substance which causes a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any chemical change. Many industrial processes depend on this property. A simple example is when oxygen and hydrogen combine together quickly in the presence of platinum. Platinum is therefore, the catalyst. It is believed that this is due to the gases being absorbed on the surface of …

From the moment we put a piece of meat into our mouth, until it has been used up by the body, this mouthful of food has a very strange journey. The meat is gripped by the lips, ground by the teeth, pounded by the tongue, mixed with saliva and then swallowed. Three pathways meet at the back of the throat: …

Naturally available water, after having come in contact with various salts found in soil stratas and atmosphere, contains a large number of chemicals. Some of them are calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, sulphates, nitrates, nitrites, phosphates and oxygen. Small quantities of these substances are responsible for the taste and odour of natural water and are useful for essential functioning of …

It you walk down a street in any town or city, you will see lots of people with different coloured skin: white, black, yellow and coffee colours all appear. But why do people have different coloured skin? The reason is that in your skin you have substances which, under certain conditions and with the correct chemical processes, make colour – …

The Superconducting Quantum Interference Device, or SQUID, is a sensitive magnetic flux-to-voltage transducer. It may be the most sensitive detector of any physical quantity, with an energy resolution that approaches the quantum limit. The sensitivity of the SQUID has caused it to be incorporated into a variety of systems. SQUIDs have been used to measure cortical activity in the human …