RPG as Sophisticated Make-Believe

A roleplaying game is, in may ways, a sophisticated version of the childhood game of make-believe. If you ever played cops-and-robbers (or cowboys and indians, or army), you remember the arguments about who shot whom, or how quickly you could reach cover before you got blasted by some bad guy, or how much damage a hand grenade did to a bunker, and so on. One of the main differences between roleplaying games and childhood games is that hte rules answer all these questions, and more: The rules...

 Science Works from Approximation to Approximation

I have no patience with attempts to identify science with measurement, which is but one of its tools, or with any definition of the scientist which would exclude a Darwin, a Pasteur or a Kekulé. The scientist is a practical man and his are practical aims. He does not seek the ultimate but the proximate. He does not speak of the last analysis but rather of the next approximation. His are not those beautiful structures so delicately designed that a single flaw may cause the collapse of the who...

 The Brain Consumes Lactose During Exercise

Scientists have discovered that lactose, a byproduct of intense muscular activities, can be used to fuel the brain with energy. When glucose, the natural fuel of the brain, is no longer present in sufficient quantities, the cell tissue can “switch” to alternative energy, to prevent any damage to the brain on account of the lack of energy. [...] Consequently, by consuming the lactose in the blood, the brain clears the way for glucose, the main powering substance in the body, to reach the...