Category: Neuroscience & Mind

Glowing brain on computer motherboard with a central microchip, symbolizing artificial intelligence and advanced computing capabilities. AI technology

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post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 27, 2026

Categories
Computational Sciences
Medicine
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, behaviorism, binary logic, body chemistry, brainstem, cerebral cortex, computation, computers, consciousness, Dogs, Dorothea Olkowski, emotion, frogs, hemorrhage, human consciousness, hydrancephaly, hydrocephalus, Jaak Panksepp, language, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Mark Solms:, Michael Egnor, mistakes, near-death experiences, neocortex, neuromodulators, philosophers, reasoning, University of Colorado}

Could This Be One of Science’s Biggest Mistakes?

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 27, 2026

Computational Sciences, Medicine, Neuroscience & Mind

6}

Actually, computers aren’t even the sort of thing for which consciousness is relevant. Dogs are, and maybe frogs, but not computers. Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 24, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, __trending, 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 ›

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post

Date
July 23, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Zoology
Tagged
, adults, Argentina, Ars Technica, Beneath The Waves, Carlyn Kranking, carnivores, Frontiers in Ethology, great white sharks, Gulf of California, Jennifer Ouellette, Jordan Strickler, juveniles, Kathryn Ayres, Masturus lanceolatus, Mexico, Nature (journal), New Zealand, oceans, orcas, Pacific Ocean, prey, rudders, salmon, sea lions, Smithsonian Magazine, stingrays, Strait of Gibraltar, sunfish, wolves, ZME Science}

When Orcas Play — With a Dead Sunfish

_{Science & Culture
July 23, 2026

Neuroscience & Mind, Zoology

3}

While the orcas’ sunfish-exploding behavior is remarkable, it is consistent, after all, with their reputation as the “wolves of the sea.” Read More ›

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post

Date
July 23, 2026

Categories
Neuroscience & Mind
Zoology
Tagged
, asocial brain, body temperature, brain, cephalopods, cuttlefish, dog, dolphins, ectotherm, endotherms, habitat, intelligence, iScience, Jennifer Mather, Jess Cockerill, Lisa Hendry, mammals, mirror, Natural History Museum, neurology, neurons, neuroscience, octopus, ScienceAlert, shellfish, social brain, squid, University of Lethbridge, whales}

Hey Octopus, How Did You Get to Be So Smart?

_{Science & Culture
July 23, 2026

Neuroscience & Mind, Zoology

5}

With the asocial brain hypothesis, researchers ask us to think beyond traditional explanations for why some animals display unexpected intelligence. Read More ›

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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 ›

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Author
Casey Luskin

Date
July 8, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, ancestors, anthropologists, braincase, brains, Christof Koch, evolution, evolutionary biology, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, hominids, Homo (genus), human brain, humanity, humans, Katerina Harvati, Mark Hubbe, Michael Marshall, MIT Press, natural selection, Nature Communications, neuroscience, neuroscientists, neutral evolution, New Scientist, phenotypes, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Phys.org, random mutations, skulls, universe}

Science Journal: Humanity’s Big Brains Evolved “For No Particular Reason”

_{Casey Luskin
July 8, 2026

Evolution, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

This is tantamount to saying the human brain, chief marvel in the cosmos as far as we can tell, evolved because, well, why the heck not? Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
July 7, 2026

Categories
Evolution
Evolutionary Psychology
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, ancestors, brain, Carl Sagan, complexity, crows, evolution, fish, flatscreen television, humans, Jack Reacher, limbic system, lizard brain, lizards, mammals, McGill University, neurobiologists, neuroscience, octopuses, Office for Science and Society, onions, ontogeny, pancakes, parrots, Paul D. MacLean, phylogeny, radio, reptile, reptiles, scientific hypotheses}

McGill University Refutes Pop-Psychology Claim that Humans Have a “Lizard Brain”

_{Casey Luskin
July 7, 2026

Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

The false belief traces back to the fact that Carl Sagan was one of its strongest proponents. Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 6, 2026

Categories
Life Sciences
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, art, atoms, calculus, Carlo Rovelli, chimpanzees, consciousness, Daniel Dennett, Dogs, electrons, great apes, higher power, human consciousness, human language, humans, intelligent design, language, laughter, literature, Michael Egnor, mud, panpsychism, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, sand dollar, speech, squirrels, trees, universe}

Human Consciousness, from Mud to Mind?

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 6, 2026

Life Sciences, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

If human language — which is unlike any other communication in nature — evolved from something, we simply have no idea what that something is. Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
July 5, 2026

Categories
Intelligent Design
Linguistics
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, Bantu, bonobos, Chiara De Gregorio, chimpanzees, Communications Biology, DuckDuckGo, English, French Academy, Genesis, gorillas, great apes, human speech, humans, intelligent design, isochrony, Japanese, laughter, metronome, Nature (journal), orangutans, origin of language, primates, Shigeru Miyagawa, University of Warwick, Why Agree? Why Move?, ZME Science}

Speech, Laughter, and Intelligent Design

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 5, 2026

Intelligent Design, Linguistics, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

A widely publicized thesis around ape and human laughter falls so woefully short that it forces an evaluation of other possibilities. Read More ›

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Author
Denyse O’Leary

Date
June 26, 2026

Categories
Life Sciences
Neuroscience & Mind
Tagged
, brain organoids, cancel culture, chickens, Christof Koch, consciousness, Copernican Principle of Consciousness, Debrief, degenerating paradigm, Essentia Foundation, falsifiability, Frontiers in Science, Hans Busstra, Imre Lakatos, machines, Marxism, neuroscientists, predictions, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Science Daily, testability, Tim McMillan, Wiliam Hunter}

Got Any Theories of Consciousness? Sure, About 325 of Them

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 26, 2026

Life Sciences, Neuroscience & Mind

5}

Consciousness research may be a degenerating paradigm. Philosopher Imre Lakatos used the term to refer to a situation where science is not progressing. Read More ›