Showing posts with label Evolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evolution. Show all posts
Thursday, January 09, 2025

Marvels of Evolution

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I'm reading a recently published work by famed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, THE GENETIC BOOK OF THE DEAD. The title refers to...
Thursday, December 19, 2024

Octopus Superpowers

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I came across another article about the delightful weirdness and surprising intelligence of octopuses: 10 Incredible Facts About Octopuses...
Thursday, December 07, 2023

The Smartest Animals

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Here's yet another list of the supposedly most intelligent nonhuman animals, or at least a selection of them: 11 of the World's Sm...
Thursday, May 04, 2023

Telepaths and Language

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One panel I attended at this year's RavenCon was about communicating with aliens. I brought up the question of whether a telepathic spec...
Thursday, August 18, 2022

A Taste for Blood

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This week I donated blood, and as usual in that situation, I thought about vampires. (Doesn't everybody?) If vampires have razor-sharp t...
4 comments:
Thursday, August 11, 2022

The Female of the Species

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I've just read a recent book called BITCH: ON THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES, by British zoologist and documentary filmmaker Lucy Cooke. It...
Thursday, November 18, 2021

Bird Brains

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Research published in the journal SCIENCE in 2020 raises the possibility that crows have mental abilities formerly thought of as restricted ...
1 comment:
Thursday, May 27, 2021

Human Domestication

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Here's a cartoon, funny in a slightly warped way, about the alleged negative consequences of Homo sapiens domesticating ourselves in the...
Thursday, November 05, 2020

The Tyranny of Now

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The November/December issue of SKEPTICAL INQUIRER contains an article by psychologist Stuart Vyse titled "COVID-19 and the Tyranny of N...
Thursday, September 24, 2020

Self-Aware Cells?

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The September-October issue of SKEPTICAL INQUIRER reviewed a book called THE FIRST MINDS: CATERPILLARS, 'KARYOTES, AND CONSCIOUSNESS, by...
Thursday, April 23, 2020

Sex Lives of Animals

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I've been rereading DR. TATIANA'S SEX ADVICE TO ALL CREATION, by evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson. As the title implies, the boo...
Thursday, November 14, 2019

Life Not as We Know It

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One episode of the BBC series PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II highlights denizens of the ocean depths that thrive independently of energy from ...
Thursday, September 26, 2019

Animal Minds

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I recently read two books by ethologist Frans de Waal, ARE WE SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW HOW SMART ANIMALS ARE? and MAMA'S LAST HUG, respectiv...
Thursday, November 01, 2018

Reflections on Alien Visitors

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The November-December issue of SKEPTICAL INQUIRER contains three articles about UFOs and extraterrestrials. "UFO Identification Proc...
Thursday, October 04, 2018

The Wonders of Jellyfish

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If possible, pick up a copy of the October NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and contemplate the dazzling photos in the article on jellyfish. Typical jell...
Thursday, September 27, 2018

Biology Marches On

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I'm currently reading, little by little, a book by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins (best known for THE SELFISH GENE), THE ANCESTO...
Thursday, August 30, 2018

The Purpose of Pain

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This title doesn't refer to the metaphysical question of why suffering exists. (My favorite book on that topic is THE PROBLEM OF PAIN, b...
Thursday, August 16, 2018

Annihilation

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Last week, I watched the rather strange SF movie ANNIHILATION. (Spoilers ahead.) An anomalous phenomenon of unknown origin, labeled the Shim...
Thursday, April 19, 2018

Sapient Hibernators?

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Recently on Quora someone asked why human beings can't stay awake for a week straight and then sleep for the same amount of time, instea...
Thursday, July 27, 2017

Human Domestication

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Here's a new article on the hypothesis that the human species may have domesticated itself: How Humans Maybe Domesticated Themselves ...