Category Archives: Anthropology

What humans have been, are now and might yet be.

Brainy Blogging from Brazil: Part 1

The human brain as a linearly scaled-up primate brain. There are truisms in brain-science which hide more than they reveal. For example, the old line that there’s 100 billion neurones in the brain and ten times as many non-neurones as … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropology, Biology, Super-Tech | 3 Comments

Neanderthal Man is… Us!

NEANDERTALS LIVE! from Assoc. Prof. John Hawks’ weblog. John Hawks discusses how Neanderthals have survived to the present day, as recently revealed by their sequenced genomes. More interestingly it means the Neanderthals were the same species as Homo sapiens – … Continue reading

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Neuro-Theology Part 1

Dr. Michael Persinger is a researcher in neuroscience at the Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada. He has made a wide-range of often controversial claims for the origins of “spiritual” experiences – for example, that magnetic stimulation of the brain can … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropology, Belief or Not, Biology, Cosmos, SETI, Super-Tech | 1 Comment

God of the Goofs

Theology and theodicy are fraught with pitfalls and surprises. Amateur theology even more so. Here’s a review that is a case in point… A caring God would not have designed us like this …discussing a review of a new book, … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropology, Belief or Not, Biology, Cosmos | 5 Comments

A Secret Gospel?

Prof. James Tabor is a scholar whose work on Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity I have a lot of respect for. His teacher, in turn, was Morton Smith, who attracted a storm of controversy in his life because of … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropology, Belief or Not | 2 Comments

Beyond the Desert Earth…

Long, long after Earth has dried up it may end up locked tidally into facing the Sun on one side and the Cosmic Heatsink on the other, forever. What would such an Earth be like? Earth: 7.5 Billion AD …a … Continue reading

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A Girl With Familiar… Feet

Ardipithecus is a hominid species from Ethiopia, discovered in 1994 but only just revealed in her full glory by the team who have laboured for 15 years to pull her bits together to give us a clear image… Credits: Illustrations … Continue reading

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Hobbit may not have been…

Human? What makes us ‘man’? Aside from gender-specific bits, I mean humanity has some distinct features to its nearest relatives, the Chimpanzees and Gorillas. We talk, make and keep things, and we have this curious need to drape artificial fur … Continue reading

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AfterLives

Mankind’s first Science-Fiction, tales of visionary quests, let humans tread the pathways of the Immortals, gods and heroes. More recent varieties of SF have often focussed on the not-too-far-off here-and-now, but Big Stories and big themes lure even the hardest … Continue reading

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Anchiornis huxleyi

Dinosaurs and birds were kin, so said Thomas Huxley in the 19th Century. Now a new dino-bird, Anchiornis huxleyi honours his insight and gives us a closer peak at a form between dinosaur and bird… (from The Guardian) Dating from … Continue reading

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