Category: Scientific Reasoning | Page 2 | Science and Culture Today

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 24, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, brain, Bruce Greyson, cardiac arrest, Charlotte Martial, coma, dying brain, emergency room, evidence, evolution, evolutionary psychology, explainaway, Galileo Galilei, geocentric cosmology, Kristin French, Marieta Pehlivanova, Mark Johnson, Messiah University, Michael Egnor, Michael Zignarelli, Nautilus, near-death experiences, Netherlands, neuroscience, opossum, optical illusions, possum, Real Clear Science, stereotypical behavior, thanatosis, Venus, Washington Post}

What’s an Explainaway? Here Is an Example from the Debate on Near-Death Experiences

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 24, 2026

Neuroscience & Mind, Scientific Reasoning

5}

Explainaways, whether possum tales or optical illusions, exist to protect a system from unwanted evidence by ignoring or dismissing it. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
July 9, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Neuroscience & Mind
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, apologetics, biochemistry, blind physical processes, brain, chemical reactions, Christianity, cognition, Dallas, Daniel Dennett, ID the Future, inference, intentionality, ions, knowledge, meaning, mind, naturalism, neurons, philosophers, rationality, reasoning, Rebekah Valerius, scientific inquiry, Shadowlands Dispatch, truth, universal acid, universe}

Can You Trust Your Thoughts? The Argument from Reason and Its Implications for Darwinism

_{Andrew McDiarmid
July 9, 2026

Evolution, Neuroscience & Mind, Scientific Reasoning

3}

If human thoughts are merely the result of blind physical processes, then there is no logical basis for trusting our own minds. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Bruce Gordon

Date
June 24, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Aeon, Baylor University, bouncing cosmologies, conformal cyclic cosmology, Conservation of Information, Cumrun Vafa, cyclic cosmologies, dark energy, David Olive, Don Page, empirical record, erebonic field, erebons, eternal recurrence, faith, fantasy, fine-tuning, geometers, Gordon Kane, John Polkinghorne, John Roberts, John Roe, Krzysztof Meissner, Laurie Brown, Michael Denton, Michael Dickson, Northwestern University, Page curve, Paul Tod, Phil Halper, Phillip Johnson, physics, quantum theory, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Dalitz, Richard Dawkins, Roger Penrose, Sean McDowell, Simon Saunders, Stephen Meyer, The Nature of Nature, The Story of Everything, Weyl Curvature Hypothesis, William Dembski}

Fashion and Faith in Conformal Cyclic Cosmology

_{Bruce Gordon
June 24, 2026

Cosmology, Physics, Scientific Reasoning

24}

This brings us, at last, to the remaining “cyclic” proposal, that of Roger Penrose, which is perhaps the most quixotic of all. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 22, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Dean Rickles, dual aspect monism, fine-tuning, Graham Phillips, illusion, John Archibald Wheeler, Leonard Susskind, many universes, materialism, materialists, multiverse, Paul Davies, Princeton University, quantum mechanics, Sydney University, Templeton Ideas, theoretical physicists, universe}

Quantum Mechanics Has Destroyed Classical Materialism

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 22, 2026

Cosmology, Physics, Scientific Reasoning

5}

Whatever this fundamental level of reality that combines mind and matter is, it is — by definition — deeper than human thought can reach. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 19, 2026

Categories
Life Sciences
Philosophy of Science
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, animism, Annaka Harris, cabbage, Cambridge University, chauvinism, consciousness, dandelions, Hard Problem, human consciousness, information, lunacy, materialism, Natalie Lawrence, neurons, Paco Calvo, panpsychism, philosophy, Planta Sapiens, plants, ResearchGate, Sam Harris, slime molds, vertebrates}

The Latest: Plants as “Non-Human Persons”

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 19, 2026

Life Sciences, Philosophy of Science, Scientific Reasoning

5}

The need to see humans as equivalent to animals has now spread to the need to see us as equivalent to plants. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 13, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Alex Rosenberg, brain, Carlo Rovelli, Cheshire Cat, David A. Oakley, Duke University, eliminative materialism, folk psychology, George Orwell, Harry G. Frankfurt, illusion, intelligentsia, Joe Gough, Michael Egnor, mind, naturalism, neuroscience, Patricia Churchland, Peter L. Halligan, philosophers, The Immortal Mind, Thomas Metzinger, University of Mainz}

“Mind as an Illusion” Makes No Sense

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 13, 2026

Neuroscience & Mind, Scientific Reasoning

5}

Philosophers of mind using their minds to prove that there is no mind do not help the credibility of their discipline. Read More ›

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post

Date
June 10, 2026

Categories
Ethics
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, academics, AI slop, artificial inteligence, arXiv, bioRxiv, citations, clinical-trial studies, fabrication, Frankencitations, hallucinations, humans, Jay Van Bavel, Nature (journal), PubMed Central, references, researchers, scholars, SSRN, systematic reviews}

In Science Research, a Plague of Phony Citations Generated by AI

_{Science & Culture
June 10, 2026

Ethics, Scientific Reasoning

2}

Ironically, the public has been taught to worry that AI is taking over and will do everything better than humans. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
David Coppedge

Date
June 9, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, algorithm, Ariel Chipman, Artificial Selection, balancing selection, BioEssays, Cambrian Explosion, co-option, conservation, Darwin Devolves, Dyna Rochmyaningsih, evolution, Galápagos Islands, gene duplication, genetic drift, genetic mutations, Hugo de Vries, hybridization, introgression, John Sanford, John Templeton Foundation, magic, Matti Leisola, Michael Behe, mount improbable, Mutant Ninja Turtles, natural selection, negative selection, Owen D. Jones, personification, Phillip E. Johnson, polyploidy, process, programming, pterosaur, purifying selection, Richard Lewontin, Robert Hazen, Spiderman, stabilizing selection, Stuff Happens Law, subfunctionalization, survival of the fittest, The Design Inference, Tom Bethell, tuatara, William Dembski, Winston Ewert}

Evolutionists Need a Refresher Course in Natural Selection

_{David Coppedge
June 9, 2026

Evolution, Scientific Reasoning

12}

Abuses of the concept of natural selection abound not only in science news but in scientific papers in major journals as well. It’s time for a remedial course. Read More ›

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post

Author
Eric Hedin

Date
June 8, 2026

Categories
Physics
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Albert Einstein, Big Bang, creator, electromagnetic waves, experimental results, funding, honesty, humility, James Hartle, kingdom, Nobel Prize, philosophers, photoelectric effect, physics, Planck time, predictions, Roger Penrose, scientists, servants, Singularity, spacetime, Stephen Hawking, Stephen Meyer, technology, The Road to Reality, theism, transcendent cause, universe}

New Physics Is Always Tentative; Here’s Why

_{Eric Hedin
June 8, 2026

Physics, Scientific Reasoning

6}

The prime example of all difficulties for new theories in physics relates to the ultimate origin of everything. Read More ›

Woman with straitjacket, dark background

^{Type
post

Date
June 5, 2026

Categories
Philosophy of Science
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Adam Frank, astrophysicists, biologists, consciousness, dualism, emergence, Güneş Taylor, Institute for Arts and Ideas, Lisa Feldman Barrett, materialism, Michael Levin, neuroscientists, perspectival view, physicists, religion, spacetime, Stephen Hawking, straightjacket, superstition, third-person view, universe, University of Rochester, Werner Heisenberg, YouTube channels}

Scientists Ask, “Is Materialism Holding Science Back?”

_{Science & Culture
June 5, 2026

Philosophy of Science, Scientific Reasoning

3}

Is materialism a straightjacket? The very fact that a respectable conversation is going on around this question tells us that something has changed. Read More ›