Certain fears can be inherited through the generations, a provocative study of micereports. The authors suggest that a similar phenomenon could influence anxiety and addiction in humans. But some researchers are sceptical of the findings because a biological mechanism that explains the phenomenon ha
Using novel techniques to extract and study ancient DNA researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have determined an almost complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a 400,000-year-old representative of the genus Homo from Sima de los Huesos, a unique
Having just edited James A. Lindsay's superb book Dot, Dot, Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals Folly, i thought it would be appropriate to post some of his thoughts on number and God. Please support our project by buying the book! As previously noted, I'm writing a series of blog posts that are ad
Be there, or be square. Jonathan Pearce: The Nativity Hi all, This Monday, 2nd December, local skeptic and author Jonathan Pearce will be giving a talk entitled The Nativity: A Critical Examination, based
I am just about to listen to this but have not yet. H/T Skepticule podcast for this! Let me know what you think. It is the Sci Phi Show with a short
Researchers have discovered a gene that regulates alcohol consumption and when faulty can cause excessive drinking. They have also identified the mechanism underlying this phenomenon.
I would like to put together a logical syllogism which really expresses the denial of free will through the denial of the Principle of Alternative Possibilities. The idea is that the ability to choose otherwise is rendered incoherent by lacking fundamental grounding reasoning since all deliberation
http://youtu.be/GQT8mClsjhs Here is a video that I did with James A. Lindsay. He has put together some footage to go with my rendition of an extract from his excellent book,
Serious H/T to the excellent blog Atheism and the City, by The Thinker. There are often several posts I would love to repost here, so check it out! But this was a
So having posted the Philpapers survey results, the biggest ever survey of philosophers conducted in 2009, several readers were not aware of it (the reason for re-communicating it) and were unsure as to what some of the questions were. I offered to do a series on them, so here it is – Philosophy 101
The Christmas Candle, which was produced by the Christian-themed studio that Santorum heads, fails to fly The Christmas Candle, set in the fictional English village of Gladbury and billed as "a timeless holiday film for the entire family", attracted widespread critical scorn as well as dismal box
I have been away for the weekend, so a little more quiet. Last week, I did a talk for the newly created Worthing Skeptics in the Pub at which I even received a live piano introduction. Nice! The pianist played 'The Devil in Disguise' I believe - fitting.