What is it, this life that we are presented with? Human history has brought us from bands roaming, hunting, each day guided by mere survival, through villages and great empires of mortar and steel.…

Throughout history, scientists, philosophers, mathematicians and PhD students lacking funding for actual research have turned to the thought experiment in hopes of discovering something publishable,…

Continuing our discussion of biophysicist John R. Platt's classical paper on “strong inference” and, more broadly, the difference between soft and hard science, another reason for the difference…

Taking up valuable land and growing edible crops for biofuels poses a dilemma: Is it ethical to produce inefficient renewable energies at the expense of an already malnourished population? David…

In doing some research for my next book (on the differences between science and pseudoscience), I re-read this rather stunning piece of writing: “Scientists these days tend to keep up a polite…

Mr Yohei Sasakawa, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for the Elimination of Leprosy and Japanese Government Goodwill Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by Leprosy, has called for an end to the…

Conservatives "cling to their guns and god" and Liberals cling to their "good will" and government The further a culture moves from its religion the closer it moves to its government. Humans…

Introducing presumed consent or opt-out system may increase organ donation rates, suggests a new systematic review published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). There is currently insufficient…

Salon has an interview with Stuart Kauffman, a biologist who has written multiple fascinating books about complex systems. Kauffman has a new book, Reinventing the Sacred, in which he argues that we…

Brian Swimme is fond of saying, "Four billion years ago, the earth was molten rock and now it sings opera."  In their 1992 book "The Universe Story," Swimme and Thomas Berry attempted to bridge…