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Neuroscience & Mind

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Photo source: Discovery Institute.

Babies and Language: A Surprise Finding?

Brain and language specialist Eylem Altuntas told us last week that “Babies Learn Language Much Earlier Than We Thought.” Read More ›
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Photo credit: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Wild Baboons Fail the Mirror Self-Awareness Test

In a video, it seems clear that not one of the animals recognizes that the figure in the mirror is a reflection of itself. Read More ›
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Photo credit: Leonardslee Gardens, Anton Smit 'Walk of Life' Exhibition: 'Stream of Consciousness' 2019 by Michael Garlick, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Scientists Examining Consciousness — Here’s the Problem

Many researchers do like to write about consciousness and here are two recent contributions to the accessible literature. Read More ›
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Photo credit: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Elephant Personhood — Nixed Again

The activists had some reason for hope. Two judges in New York’s highest court swallowed the baloney in a 5–2 ruling. Read More ›
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Photo credit: Alexey A. Polilov, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

By Design: Brain Miniaturization in Some Very Small Insects

Does reduced brain size affect the behavior of animals? The answer appears to be that there is no effect. Read More ›
lobster
Photo credit: David Clode via Unsplash.

What Do Animals Feel? And What About Babies?

With human babies, those who propose laws against cruelty suddenly enter a Cold Zone, at least compared to their feelings for crustaceans. Read More ›
artificial intelligence
Photo credit: Compare Fibre via Unsplash.

What If? The Threat of Sentient AGI

John West brings a word of caution to public health policies espoused by Francis Collins. Collins succinctly illustrates an example of unbalanced morality. Read More ›
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Photo credit: GerryShaw, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

What Does Your Brain Do? And What Can It Not Do?

A surprising result of pioneering neurosurgery was the discovery that some mental processes could be stimulated in the brain but others could not be. Read More ›
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brain
Image credit: geralt, via Pixabay.

Brain Imaging Shows Intelligence Uses the Whole Brain

A focus on specific regions like the prefrontal cortex can mislead. When we are thinking, we use brain-wide connections between many parts of the brain at once. Read More ›
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Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

Why the Multiverse Theory Can’t Explain Away Cosmic Fine-Tuning

Many thoughtful people in science today would see the goal of science as explaining away both goal-directedness and thought. Read More ›

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