There is a new book called “How to argue with a racist”, by Adam Rutherford. Writing at a time when genetic services such as 23 and Me are being used by huge numbers of people, Rutherford points out that the last common ancestor of all people with long-standing European ancestries lived only 600 years ago. …
Continue reading ‘Modern genetics and how they don’t really mean much.’ »
The outlook for wildlife would be grim even if the world wasn’t warming. According to a major report last year, 1 million species could soon be wiped out – a sixth mass extinction. The main cause at present is the loss of habitat, but over this century the changing climate is expected to push ever …
“I have recently fallen head over heels in love, but my cynical friends keep telling me that love is nothing but a cocktail of pheromones, dopamine and oxytocin, and that these wear off after a couple of years. The thought scares me, it makes the whole thing seem meaningless. Is love really just brain chemistry?” …
( A bit long, but very important) In an essay for the Atlantic – The Nuclear Family was a Mistake — New York Times columnist David Brooks argues that the family structure we’ve held up as the cultural ideal for the past half century has been a catastrophe for many. By “nuclear family,” he means a …
The recent death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash wasn’t just a tragedy for his family and for basketball fans. It was also “a sign of the times”: that even the rich and famous now can’t avoid “the traffic hellscape that American cities have created for their residents”. Like everyone else in southern California, …
