EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE – Science & Technology

The ‘Scientific Revolution’ (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-revolutions/) cannot be thought of as occurring neatly in a certain time period. Steven Shapin (https://scholar.harvard.edu/shapin/home, and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Shapin) states: ‘There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it!’. He continues ‘There was, rather, a diverse array of cultural practices aimed at understanding explaining, and controlling the natural […]

Just as fossils provide a window into the past, evolution leaves a footprint on DNA. In The Making of the Fittest, Sean B. Carroll (http://seanbcarroll.com/about/) sets out the overwhelming evidence for evolution provided in DNA.   Carroll offers examples from sequences of DNA that once coded for genes no longer used, remnants of ancestral lives,

In the week which marked the death of Stephen Hawking on 14 March 2018, many people will be prompted to read one of his books or another on cosmology. Afterglow of Creation is one from which I learned much and enjoyed reading.   This is the story of the cosmic background radiation, the ‘afterglow’ of

In southern California, over 50 years ago, a small band of researchers were pursuing a not inconsequential goal – to uncover the origin and fate of the universe. They were equipped with the new 200-inch telescope. Their quest would eventually engulf all of physics and astronomy, leading not only to the discovery of quasars, black

Ideas about the gene, genetics and genetic engineering get splashed around in the media routinely now. Often the gene is cast up as a simple determinant of behaviour, such as a ‘criminal gene’, or a ‘homosexual gene’. Not many subjects have occasioned as much confusion and misunderstanding.   A clear, accurate, and up-to-date popular science

Here is something to unsettle your conviction that there is any real ‘self’ reading these words. V.S. Ramachandran (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilayanur_S._Ramachandran) shows how strikingly simple experiments can illuminate the ways the brain establishes the illusion of a self.   In avuncular style, he snatches territory from philosophers on the certainty of knowledge. In one experiment, stroking an amputee’s cheek produces sensations

This book puts forward the case that a thorough-going understanding of human evolution by medical professionals is likely to give us better medicine. The book starts by explaining the essentials of Darwinian natural selection and then embarks on showing how these ideas illuminate the reasons why we become ill.   The front runner example is the

Bats are not everyone’s favourite beastie. For those who are fascinated by life on Earth, this volume comes highly recommended. From the African long-tongued fruit bat to the wrinkle-faced bat of Mexico and Central America, Walker’s Bats of the World offers a complete guide to this hugely varied order of mammals.   The book includes scientific and