EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE – Science & Technology

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

Dinosaurs have held a vivid presence in popular culture since the first remains were displayed in The Natural History Museum. The subject of countless primary school projects, fridge magnets, children’s books and, recently, computer animated films – everyone knows their diplodocus from their tyrannosaurus rex. Or, do they?   This book could claim to be

The human capacity for art, religion and science didn’t come from nowhere. Nor did it drop from a cloud one day a few thousand years ago. It has been millions of years in the making. Steven Mithen (https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/about/staff/s-j-mithen.aspx) offers an account of how we got our creative imagination, our passion for metaphor, and how we

In this landmark book of popular science, Daniel E. Lieberman (https://scholar.harvard.edu/dlieberman/home) gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years. He illuminates the major transformations that contributed to key adaptations in the body: the rise of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the development of hunting