127 | Erich Jarvis on Language, Birds, and People
Many characteristics go into making human beings special — brain size, opposable thumbs, etc. Surely one of the most important […]
127 | Erich Jarvis on Language, Birds, and People Read More
Biology
125 | David Haig on the Evolution of Meaning from Darwin to Derrida
Aristotle conceived of the world in terms of teleological “final causes”; Darwin, or so the story goes, erased purpose and
125 | David Haig on the Evolution of Meaning from Darwin to Derrida Read More
120 | Jeremy England on Biology, Thermodynamics, and the Bible
Erwin Schrödinger’s famous book What Is Life? highlighted the connections between physics, and thermodynamics in particular, and the nature of
120 | Jeremy England on Biology, Thermodynamics, and the Bible Read More
117 | Sean B. Carroll on Randomness and the Course of Evolution
Evolution is a messy business, involving as it does selection pressures, mutations, genetic drift, and the effects of random external
117 | Sean B. Carroll on Randomness and the Course of Evolution Read More
113 | Cailin O’Connor on Game Theory, Evolution, and the Origins of Unfairness
You can’t always get what you want, as a wise person once said. But we do try, even when someone
113 | Cailin O’Connor on Game Theory, Evolution, and the Origins of Unfairness Read More
112 | Fyodor Urnov on Gene Editing, CRISPR, and Human Engineering
Not too long ago nobody carried a mobile phone; now almost everybody does. That’s the kind of rate of rapid
112 | Fyodor Urnov on Gene Editing, CRISPR, and Human Engineering Read More
108 | Carl Bergstrom on Information, Disinformation, and Bullshit
We are living, in case you haven’t noticed, in a world full of bullshit. It’s hard to say whether the
108 | Carl Bergstrom on Information, Disinformation, and Bullshit Read More
106 | Stuart Bartlett on What “Life” Means
Someday, most likely, we will encounter life that is not as we know it. We might find it elsewhere in
106 | Stuart Bartlett on What “Life” Means Read More
101 | David Baltimore on the Mysteries of Viruses
I recently saw an estimate that if you took all the novel coronaviruses in the world (the actual viruses, not
101 | David Baltimore on the Mysteries of Viruses Read More
93 | Rae Wynn-Grant on Bears, Humans, and Other Predators
Human beings have a strange fascination with dangerous, predatory animals — bears, lions, wolves, sharks, and more. The top of
93 | Rae Wynn-Grant on Bears, Humans, and Other Predators Read More