Denyse O'Leary
Does Quantum Mechanics Help Us Make Sense of the Soul?
Quantum mechanics seems to be the game-changer that Albert Einstein (1879–1955) feared it would be. It is certain to liven up discussions about the soul
Skeptic Michael Shermer’s (Non)-Vision of the Soul
Responding to Michael Egnor at COSM 2025, he said that the soul is an explanation but not a good explanation for our relationship to our bodies
What if all that hate is just a few angry people with keyboards?
Does Neuroscience Show That We Are Mere Biological Machines?
At COSM 2025, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor assembled his strongest evidence for no
Animal Intelligence: What We Might Expect — and What Surprises Us
One risk with trying to put animal intelligence on a continuum with human intelligence is that it can result in apparently pointless controversies
Philosopher: Free will hypothesis survives test of predictions
Researcher argues that chimpanzees show rationality too
Physicists: Math Shows That the Universe Can’t Be a Simulation
The physicists argue that pure information underlies the universe of matter and energy, as a Platonic realm of ideas
Mass Delusion Is Interesting — Especially Among Opinion Leaders
The reaction to a new book, The Arrogant Ape, provides a classic in elite opinion, aired without reference to reality
The Neanderthal Story Is Still Evolving (Even If Nothing Else Is)
Their children of mixed heritage may have suffered from a genetic problem; also, what we can learn about Neanderthals from fossil footprints
Tales From the Neanderthal Nights: Why They Really Disappeared
A new paper offers an assessment that does not need the Neanderthal to be the subhuman whose disappearance is explained by evolution. Arithmetic will suffice
A War Between Evolutionary Biologists May Be Looming
Nathan Lents says it doesn’t make a lot of sense” to think of sex in humans as binary. Colin Wright says, “Stop misleading the public”
Why are there 350 different theories of consciousness?
Neuroscience: Brain genes behave differently in men vs. women
Science on Near-Death Experiences: Explaining vs Explaining Away
The first rule of a scientific approach to near-death experiences should be to take seriously what is happening before rushing in with a “science can explain this” hypothesis
Extraterrestrial Life: The Discipline Without a Subject
It’s fascinating but several rhetorical tricks help keep it in the forefront of news
When the Big Bang Cost Physicists Their Lives
A new book from France tells the astonishing story of how governments murdered or drove out scientists to hush up the reality that our universe has a beginning
Denial? Science seeks trust but avoids the need for inner reform
Current science seems to be going full steam ahead to Cancel the means by which it formerly advanced knowledge of the world