In this book Richard Prum (http://prumlab.yale.edu/) argues that natural selection is not the only evolutionary mechanism at work in animal life. Beauty and desire in nature are also dynamic forces, and those features in males that females prefer in choosing mates evolve rapidly. In a nutshell, each species evolves its own standard of beauty by […]
The Evolution of Beauty Read More »
In 1916 Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves: miniscule ripples in the fabric of space-time generated by enormously powerful events. If such vibrations could somehow be recorded, we might ‘observe’ the universe for the first time through sound: the hissing of the Big Bang, the whale-like tunes of collapsing stars, the low tones
Have you ever talked to yourself? Such is the stigma attached to any kind of mental abnormality, one is inclined to answer ‘no’. Privately, though, we do all talk to ourselves. Thoughts seem to bubble up unbidden. We issue reminders, cajolements, praise and corrections to ‘ourselves’ (whoever that may be). Our mental life is more
Many attributes have been posited to distinguish humans from other animals. Tool making, complex social organisation, moral sensibility, ritual practice, self-conscious awareness. All are now known to be shared by other animals in some degree. Sophisticated communication is also known to be employed by other animals, although this also had been used as an absolute
How Language Began Read More »
It might surprise and horrify you to learn that your whole body is crawling with parasites. This is nothing about not having washed your hair properly! Most of the micro-organisms are beneficial, indeed necessary, to the proper functioning of ‘your’ body. I parenthesise ‘your’ because the organism you prefer to call ‘you’ is really an
Well known as a TV presenter, Alice Roberts (http://www.alice-roberts.co.uk/) has travelled the world – from Ethiopian desert to Malay peninsula and from Russian steppes to Amazon basin – in order to understand the challenges that early humans faced as they tried to settle continents. On her travels she has witnessed some of the daunting and brutal
The Incredible Human Journey Read More »
It wasn’t so very long ago that mankind congratulated itself on being on a world which was the centre of the Universe. The stars and heavenly bodies were a mere backdrop to the human drama which was played out in front of a creator deity. It has taken courage and enormous patient observation to break
Mapping the Heavens Read More »
We regard our British countryside as precious and ‘natural’. After all, that’s where we find ‘nature’. In truth, almost the entire landmass of the British Isles above the geology is an artefact of human intervention. It all starts, in this context, with the European climatic spasm of 9,700BC and the end of the last ice age.
The Making of the British Landscape Read More »
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman were two Israeli psychologists whose work revealed patterns of human irrationality, particularly the ways that our minds consistently fool us. They used the word ‘heuristics’ to describe the rules of thumb that often lead people astray, and investigated cognitive biases. One such rule is the ‘halo effect’, in which thinking
The Undoing Project Read More »
