Category Archives: Science without worms

Gloriously batty

Posted on August 14, 2007 by acb

piece by Freeman Dyson, which I found when catching up with the NYRB: he foresees personal biotech kits, analogous to personal computers. The first step in this direction was already taken recently, when genetically modified tropical fish with new and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Science without worms | 3 Comments

Science and original sin

Posted on August 13, 2007 by acb

One of the reasons I am not a Christian is that I speak theology quite well. I am naturally gifted in seeing the world that way, so much so that I can never be certain whether I mean or believe … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Science without worms | 4 Comments

Before I forget

Posted on July 17, 2007 by acb

Svenska Dagbladet reports — though I can’t find it in the current PNAS — that researchers at the Karolinska, working with a team in Florida, have managed to reverse Alzheimer’s disease in mice by combining stem-cell transplants into the brain … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Science without worms | 1 Comment

Philip Kitcher on Darwin

Posted on July 14, 2007 by acb

I think I put up a post saying, briefly, that Philip Kitcher’s Living with Darwin was a very good short book. Here is an extract answering a question that has often puzzled me – and, incidentally, suggesting why Dennett’s book … Continue reading →

Posted in God, Science without worms, USA | 2 Comments

Make yourself smarter

Posted on July 13, 2007 by acb

Listen to this documentary next Wednesday, on Neurogenesis. It’s what Louise and I were up to in the States in May. Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Science without worms | Comments Off on Make yourself smarter

On the overuse of “Poetic”

Posted on June 24, 2007 by acb

I’m sympathetic, in principle, to the idea that parts of the Bible need no historical truth for their value. The Book of Job, for example. None the less, we can’t let people get away with saying anything historically false must … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Who could resist this book?

Posted on June 24, 2007 by acb

Apparently written by an Orthodox Jewish mathematician, who has also written on game theory in Pentateuch. If Pascal had had these mathematical tools, might he have bet differently? Superior Beings: If They Exist, How Would We Know? Game-Theoretic Implications of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Literature, Science without worms | 1 Comment

God knows no better than Heisenberg

Posted on June 13, 2007 by acb

I have thought for many years that the point of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle was that you could not measure a system without disturbing it. Hence the idea that your measurement of one aspect (say, momentum) must disturb another, like position, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Science without worms | 7 Comments

Science and Religion (1)

Posted on June 13, 2007 by acb

One of the theological points of Pope Benedict’s speech in Regensburg last year was that the Muslim conception of God was flawed because it allowed him complete and unfettered freedom, even from logic: The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: “For the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Science without worms | 1 Comment

Why I am an agnostic

Posted on May 9, 2007 by acb

The excellent Gene Expression blog has a pointer to a Plos Article on the effects of meditation on the brain: after three months practising , people got better at noticing things which in normal life we can’t (very crude summary). … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Science without worms | 9 Comments