EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE – Science & Technology

Gut

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

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The Vital Question

‘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

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The Master and His Emissary

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

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The Deeper Genome

The terms ‘gene’, ‘genetics’, ‘genetic engineering’, ‘gene therapy’, ‘GM crops’ etc. have been current in the media and everyday conversation for a good while now. They are bandied around more than the science behind them is understood. Fortunately, there is a good crop of books for the general reader to gain some understanding. Examples are Matt

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Stiff

Ever wonder what happens to your mortal remains after your spirit has taken the celestial elevator? Journalist and author Mary Roach (http://www.maryroach.net/) offers us this informative and humorous study of the human corpse. Human beings continue to die with alarming frequency: about 6,350 every hour at the last estimate (http://www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates/). That’s an awful lot of solid

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