Denyse O'Leary
Can the Simplest Animal Minds Explain Human Minds?
Kristin Andrews thinks consciousness researchers should discard the assumptions of “overwhelmingly white, male and WEIRD” philosophy profs and study more crabs
Mice Pass the Mirror Test — Not a Self-Knowledge Test
Whether an animal recognizes its own image surely has less to do with self-awareness than with the role that sight — as a sense — plays in its life
Neuroscience Must Be Dualist, Whether or Not “Science” Allows It
Do Scientists Need to Learn to Lie More Believably?
As public trust in science diminishes, one serious proposal that scientists should manipulate our beliefs for our own good
Researchers: Human Cerebellum Aids Higher Cognitive Functions
At one time, the cerebellum was thought to facilitate only functions like movement. But recent research shows that it’s more complex
Hossenfelder vs Goff: Debate About Electrons Sparks Social Media!
The public has not suddenly become interested in whether electrons exist. Rather, more people are using new media for an increasingly broad array of purposes.
Study: Babies Start Learning Their Home Language Before Birth
Neuroscience researchers found that newborns responded better to a folk tale in French than in Spanish or English — when French was their mothers’ native language
Claim: What consciousness studies needs is more Darwinism
The Darwinian view of the evolution of the human mind is, at best, a ladder with no upper rungs
The Likely Reason the Human Mind Has No History
Our efforts to explain the origin of the human mind fall flat because we are looking for an origin that probably doesn’t exist
New Book Looks at Design in Nature From a Catholic Viewpoint
Catholic thinkers who reject Darwinism don’t focus so much on its claims about universal common descent as on its utter inability to account coherently for the human mind
If Science Were Just Bookkeeping, Fine-Tuning Wouldn’t Matter
Astrophysicist Marcelo Gleiser wishes we would just quit asking questions about why the universe is fine-tuned — as if we could…
The Explicitly Human Experience of Growing Up as a Twin
A philosopher muses on growing up as one of a set of two people
Our Brains Don’t Really Rewire, Neuroscientists Caution
Professors Tamar Makin (Cambridge) and John Krakauer (Johns Hopkins) say that when the brain adapts to losses, it uses “latent capacities,” not new ones
Attempt To Tackle Censorship in Science Begins Well, Falls Flat
Scientists, we are told, censor “for the greater good.” Well yes, but ALL censors say that. Has anyone ever censored explicitly “for the greater harm”?
Everyday Evidence of the Mind’s Reality: the Placebo Effect
The placebo effect — you get better because you think you will — may be getting stronger, as researchers manipulate it more effectively
Is Science Slipping Away on Us by Degrees?
Science writers weigh in on misrepresentation of science history, reasons for loss of trust, and whether physics is ripe for a revolution
What Do Bees’ Joy and Pain Really Tell Us About Insect Minds?
If sentience, like intelligence, can be independent of phylogeny (place in Darwin’s tree of life), the conventional picture of evolution might need rethinking
The Multiverse: Better in Fiction Than in Real Life?
The multiverse may be “unscientific nonsense” or a “religious” belief, as some physicists assert but the rules of storytelling are not the laws of nature