Not long ago it was thought that the Sun was simply a gigantic ball of burning gas which radiates light and heat out into the solar system. Turns out it’s a lot more complicated than that. Professor Lucie Green, solar physicist at UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, (http://luciegreen.com/) is just the person to offer a packaged […]
15 Million Degrees Read More »
Robert Trivers (http://roberttrivers.com/Welcome.html, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Trivers) is one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists. In an extraordinary burst of creativity in the 1970s, Trivers established the basis for our current understanding of how evolution shapes an array of behaviours; his work from this decade alone comprises much of the backbone of today’s evolutionary psychology. Thus, even
Wild Life by Robert Trivers Read More »
It is a proud and correct claim that we can make in these islands that much of the foundational science which underpins the modern world took place in the C17 here. The Royal Society (founded in 1660, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society ) was full of brilliant men whose invention, genius and tenacity guided us out of ignorance and superstition. One
London’s Leonardo by Jim Bennett et al Read More »
It is in line with the perversity of my nature that one of my favourite places in Scotland is Dundee. Aside from its many qualities, one aspect of understanding the city is to know about its history of whaling. (http://www.fdca.org.uk/Whaling_Industry.html) The McManus Galleries (http://www.mcmanus.co.uk/) has excellent displays on the subject, and it was here first in
The convenience of electrical power is all around us. Like many things it is so much the background to our lives that we take it utterly for granted. Yet, in this case as in so many others, we are standing on the shoulders of giants. One giant to whom we should be grateful is Michael Faraday
The intuition that ‘all is one’ dates back at least to the early Greeks. This sense that there is a fundamental unity to all existence is expressed in Parmenides(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides), and is found in much of the ancient religious tradition of the Far East. In more recent times philosphers such as Spinoza articulated their world view
Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs Read More »
As I write on 19 December 2015 people across the world are preparing to put an organ in their bodies through an assault course. This annual ritual is known as ‘Christmas’. The organ in question is not much discussed in polite conversation, and preferably not at a sacred time of the year. It is the
‘Vitalism’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalism) as a theory of life, and to which the author alludes here, is not part of modern science. Life is a form of matter based on a self-replicating molecule. There is nothing supernatural or metaphysical about it. Nick Lane (http://www.nick-lane.net/) tackles the question of how life evolved on Earth by exploring the deep link between energy and
The Vital Question Read More »
The human brain is not an undifferentiated lump of jelly. It is in fact divided into 2 distinct hemispheres, left and right. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateralization_of_brain_function) These are joined by a bundle of nerve fibres known as the corpus callosum. Psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist (http://www.iainmcgilchrist.com/) sets out to inform us about this, and other facts, about the neurophysiology of the brain. Beyond
The Master and His Emissary Read More »
