Author: Denyse O’Leary

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
May 29, 2026

Categories
Human Origins and Anthropology
Paleontology
Tagged
, archaeologists, artifacts, backpacking, cosmos, Darwinian evolution, dentistry, elephants, fossils, geodes, geological features, Griffith University, hand stencil, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, human genome, human mind, human origins, Indonesia, Middle Pleistocene, Moon, Neanderthals, PNAS, religion, Smithsonian Magazine, symbolic thinking, technology, timeline, tools}

It Was Technology, Not the Human Mind, that Advanced

_{Denyse O’Leary
May 29, 2026

Human Origins and Anthropology, Paleontology

4}

At one time, we were encouraged to interpret ancient humans as a long, slow, Darwinian ascent of man. But maybe that didn’t really happen. Read More ›

group of neanderthal cavemen hunting a mammoth, stone age humans

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
May 27, 2026

Categories
Human Origins and Anthropology
Paleontology
Tagged
, Alps, anthropology, Ars Technica, Boston University, brain, cannibalism, dentistry, Hebrew University, human origins, humans, Jerusalem, Kiona N. Smith, Levant, Live Science, Neanderthals, Owen Jarus, paleontology, Patrick McNamara, shamanism, Sophie Berdugo, teeth, The Emergence of Religion in Human Evolution, Tinshemet Cave, toolkits, Villaescusa Fernández, writing}

Let’s Catch Up with the Neanderthals!

_{Denyse O’Leary
May 27, 2026

Human Origins and Anthropology, Paleontology

6}

Remember the famous Neanderthal brain that was supposed to be inferior to the modern one, rendering them the big, dumb brutes of legend? Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
May 16, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Zoology
Tagged
, Albert Newen, anole lizards, Antonella Tramacere, Antonio Damasio, Axel Cleeremans, biology, Carlos Montemayor, Catherine Tallon-Baudry, cognition, cognitive science, consciousness, Dogs, Eva Jablonka, experience, Gianmarco Maldarelli, horses, Jacques Singer, Jonathan Birch, Jonathon D. Crystal, Julio Hechavarria, Kristin Andrews, Krzysztof Dołęga, Lars Chittka, Léa Moncoucy, Lucia Melloni, Maxime Janbon, memory, neuroscience, Nicholas Humphrey, Noam Miller, Olga Dyakova, Onur Güntürkün, philosophy, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Royal Society, Sarah Skeels, self-awareness, Simon Alexander Burns Brown, Simona Ginsburg, T. S. Eliot, Yuranny Cabral-Calderin}

What Is Consciousness For? Sixteen Theories Take a Crack at the Question

_{Denyse O’Leary
May 16, 2026

Neuroscience & Mind, Zoology

17}

It sounds like we do not really know what we are looking for, which will doubtless complicate efforts to find it. Read More ›

Tree brain with human head cave, idea concept of think hope freedom and mind , surreal artwork, dream art , fantasy landscape, imagination of nature

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
May 15, 2026

Categories
Medicine
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Alain Aspect, Albert Einstein, American Heritage Dictionary, Anton Zeilinger, Charles Murray, Discovery Institute, Hanna Webster, Herbert Benson, human mind, International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, John F. Clauser, Margaret Harris, materialism, Michael Egnor, New England Skeptical Society, placebo effect, Popular Mechanics, quantum Zeno effect, Steven Novella, sugar pill, terminal lucidity, The Immortal Mind, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Vaccines}

Hello, Materialists, Let’s Weigh and Measure the Mind

_{Denyse O’Leary
May 15, 2026

Medicine, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

A recent review of our book provides a chances to reflect on mind verus matter — and materialism. Read More ›

A brain with electric currents, 3D brain, A brain with lightning currents of electricity.

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
May 4, 2026

Categories
Medicine
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Alex Hughes, Anna Stone, Anomalistic Psychology, BBC, BBC Science Focus, Chris French, consciousness theories, enhanced experience, fulfilment, Goldsmiths University, happiness, human consciousness, materialism, medical science, Michael Egnor, money, morality, near-death experiences, paranormal, religion, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, sensory stimuli, The Immortal Mind}

Do Brain-Jolts Really Explain Near-Death Experiences?

_{Denyse O’Leary
May 4, 2026

Medicine, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

One change I have noticed recently is that science writers seem a bit more careful with the topic than they used to be. Read More ›

The concept of control and dictatorship over people

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
January 3, 2026

Categories
Ethics
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Alain Aspect, Anton Zeilinger, atheists, Benjamin Libet, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, free will, J. D. Vance, John F. Clauser, logic, meat puppets, Michael Egnor, Minority Report, neuroscience, neuroscientists, physics, readiness potential, Robert Sapolsky, Sam Harris, Soviet Union, Stanford University, The Immortal Mind, totalitarianism, United States, Wilder Penfield, Yuval Noah Harari}

Free Will vs. the Totalitarian Temptation

_{Denyse O’Leary
January 3, 2026

Ethics, Neuroscience & Mind

7}

If our thoughts and choices really are wholly determined, well then what follows? Read More ›

Person is looking for way out of psychedelic maze. A surreal labyrinth in magical forest. Human consciousness is at dead end, searching for solutions. Created with Generative AI

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 29, 2025

Categories
Faith & Science
Neuroscience & Mind
Physics
Tagged
, Bayesian reasoning, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, consciousness, COSM 2025, George Gilder, immaterial reality, information, Jay W. Richards, life after death, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, neurosurgeons, quantum mechanics, Roger Penrose, technology, The Human Advantage}

Does Quantum Mechanics Help Make Sense of the Soul?

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 29, 2025

Faith & Science, Neuroscience & Mind, Physics

5}

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. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 28, 2025

Categories
Faith & Science
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Bayesian reasoning, body, brain, COSM 2025, David Deutsch, Francis Crick, materialist paradigm, Michael Egnor, Michael Shermer, mind, near-death experiences, neuroscience, neurosurgeons, soul}

Skeptic Michael Shermer’s Non-Vision of the Soul

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 28, 2025

Faith & Science, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

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. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 26, 2025

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Zoology
Tagged
, apes, Apple, Aristotelianism, Aristotle, chimpanzees, chimps, deduction, Dogs, intelligence, logic, mind, rationality, researchers, Science Alert, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}

So, Chimps Are Rational Now, Too? War on Human Exceptionalism Goes On

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 26, 2025

Neuroscience & Mind, Zoology

3}

The trouble many researchers go to in order to try to efface the stark reality of human exceptionalism is astonishing. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
November 20, 2025

Categories
Biology
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, animal intelligence, ants, bears, biology, human intelligence, information, intelligent design, James Webb Space Telescope, Mihai Andrei, National Zoo, neuroscience, physiology, Science News, West Coast, wolf, ZME Science}

Does Animal Intelligence Point to a Platonic Realm of Pure Information?

_{Denyse O’Leary
November 20, 2025

Biology, Neuroscience & Mind

7}

How could a life form like an ant — not known for creative or independent thinking as such but rather for a hive mind — “evolve” such a strategy? Read More ›