Category Archives: evolution
“I just can’t believe in evolution”
Scientific conclusions are not believed in in the same way gods are believed in.
We do not consider scientific conclusions to be absolute truth, we do not worship scientists or credit them with fantastic superpowers. Unfortunately there are no holidays in science. In a totally pragmatic society we’d have to find some other criteria for [...]
The world’s only immortal animal
Turritopsis nutricula is a hydrozoan, and it’s considered by scientists to be the only animal that cheated death.
Solitary organisms are (according to current belief) doomed to die, after they completed their life cycle. Hydrozoa are a huge class of predatory animals that live mostly in saltwater, closely related to jellyfish and corals. Eggs and sperm [...]
The human barbarian
Two hundred thousand years may seem like a long time to us with our puny 80 year life spans. But on the evolutionary scale it’s not long at all. We are more similar to our early cousins than we are different. There have been modest increases in life span thanks to modern medicine, but physically [...]
Why our brains are so clumsy
Free thinking, indeed any kind of thinking, is dependent on the abilities of our brains. Learning more about our brain can give us insight into the process and products of thinking.
In his new book, Kluge: The haphazard construction of the human mind, Gary Marcus aims to take the human species down a peg or two. [...]
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