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TagJohn Timmer

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Genetic research and Biotech science Concept. Human Biology and pharmaceutical technology on laboratory background.

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

Science writers have been thinking about the present and future position of science recently. Here are three interesting recent examples: Is science just cultural knowledge? In Horizons (Mariner 2022), University of Warwick science historian James Poskett argues that modern science did not really originate in Western Europe as often supposed: “Modern science wasn’t invented in Europe but came about as part of a global exchange”: We are usually told that modern science was invented in Europe sometime between 1500 and 1700. This was an era in which a small group of European pioneers overturned ancient superstition and developed the first modern scientific theories. Think of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus and his heliocentric model of the universe or English mathematician Isaac Read More ›

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Group of cute smart dolphins in the ocean

Why Some Life Forms Are Smarter Than Others Is Still a Mystery

Brains are not simple so many “just common sense” theories have fallen by the wayside

As biologist John Timmer notes at Ars Technica, some life forms appear much more intelligent than others despite having brains of roughly the same size: Animals with very different brains from ours—a species of octopus and various birds—engage with tools, to give just one example. It seems intuitive that a brain needs a certain level of size and sophistication to enable intelligence. But figuring out why some species seem to have intelligence while closely related ones don’t has proven difficult—so difficult that we don’t really understand it. John Timmer, “Brain size vs. body size and the roots of intelligence” at Ars Technica (July 12, 2022) As he points out, some things we might expect to be true — puzzlingly — Read More ›