From the category archives:

Science

You Have Colorectal Cancer

March 20, 2010
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This has been a rough week. After CT scans, PET scans, colonoscopies, and biopsies a close family member was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. Three days later surgeons removed an entire large intestine and have already scheduled chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

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The Anti-Sheldrake Phenomenon

February 20, 2010
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By devising a testable hypothesis of natural memory, Rupert Sheldrake has established himself as the world’s central figure in the evolutionary theory of existence. Heir to the lineage of Darwin, Peirce, Bergson, Elsasser and Bohm, Sheldrake bears on his shoulders the weight of their worldview. Attacks on his work amount to an offensive against any alternative to a universe under the control of eternal immutable laws.

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The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana

February 20, 2010

The banana is a freakish and fragile genetic mutant; one that has survived through the centuries due to the sustained application of selective breeding by diligent humans. Indeed, the “miraculous” banana is far from being a no-strings-attached gift from nature. Its cheerful appearance hides a fatal flaw— one that threatens its proud place in the grocery basket. The banana’s problem can be summed up in a single word: sex.

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6 Insane Discoveries That Science Can’t Explain

February 20, 2010

We like to feel superior to the people who lived centuries ago, what with their shitty mud huts and curing colds by drilling a hole in their skulls. But we have to give them credit: They left behind some artifacts that have left the smartest of modern scientists scratching their heads.

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Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves

February 20, 2010

Science deserves to be challenged. After all, it is about questioning dogma and almost ceaseless scepticism. But there are those who want to go further, who believe that science deserves a good kicking too. James Le Fanu, a medical doctor and columnist for this newspaper, points out how many details of our lives, from thinking to breathing, are quite astonishing. They are extraordinary for not appearing to be extraordinary.

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Quantum Physics Findings Are Put to Work in Encryption and Philosophy

February 20, 2010

One of quantum physics’ crazier notions is that two particles seem to communicate with each other instantly, even when they’re billions of miles apart. Albert Einstein, arguing that nothing travels faster than light, dismissed this as impossible “spooky action at a distance.”

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Sheldrake Link Roundup

November 7, 2009
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What Science Can’t Tell Us

2009 looks set to be an exciting year for science: 12th February sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and we’ve already had the Richard Dawkins-endorsed Atheist Bus Campaign, with its catchy slogan ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life’.

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How We Read The Minds of Others

September 12, 2009

Rebecca Saxe, a neuroscientist at MIT, studies how our brains consider and interact with other people’s minds. Using MRI, she discovered that we have a part of the brain specifically dedicated to minding the minds of others, and at a recent TED conference discussed some fascinating findings she discovered in her study:

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