Life
Bilateral symmetry is a type of body plan in which an organism has two mirror-image halves along a single axis. The axis of symmetry is the sagittal plane, which passes vertically through the head and body. Each half has one set of sensory organs and appendages: one eye, one ear,
3/15 Update: The video on the TEDx YouTube channel was removed by TED. I downloaded a copy before they took it down and posted it to Vimeo (creative commons license). TED created a page where people are invited to debate the merits of their decision to remove the videos.
Mind
Just about every day at work I have to dial a ridiculously long string of numbers in order to join a conference call. Just about every day on the internet I have to fill out those mind-bending CAPTCHA forms. For me, it takes intense concentration to complete those tasks. Maybe
Life
Throughout the twentieth century, one of the strongest taboos in biology was against the inheritance of acquired characteristics, sometimes called Lamarckian inheritance, after the pioneering evolutionary biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829). Lamarck proposed that adaptations by plants and animals could be passed on to their offspring. In this respect, Charles Darwin
Thinking
“The futility of everything that comes to us from the media is the inescapable consequence of the absolute inability of that particular stage to remain silent. Music, commercial breaks, news flashes, adverts, news broadcasts, movies, presenters—there is no alternative but to fill the screen; otherwise there would be an
Mind
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” Henri Bergson A few years ago I was showing my Nana pictures on my phone and though she looked at the phone it wasn’t obvious she understood what she was looking at. It was as if she was
Matthew
I managed to tackle around 20 books in 2012. Mostly for work but some just for fun. Looking back, it looks like 2012 was about acquiring new analytical skills for business. I enjoy my work so most of these were also great to read. I’m pretty sure my favorite
Culture
Myth
Tonight on Belief Joan Bakewell talks to Professor Rupert Sheldrake. Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and a former Research Fellow of the Royal Society. He’s worked at Clare College Cambridge and at the International Crops Research Institute in Hyderabad. During his seven years in India Professor Sheldrake studied the
Myth
The paranormal is defined in relation to the normal. Paranormal means beyond the normal. Therefore to define it implies that we know what the moments in sciences is often taking to be the materialist theory.
Tech
Rajesh Rao is looking for the computational principles underlying the brain’s remarkable ability to learn, process and store information — hoping to apply this knowledge to the task of building adaptive robotic systems and artificially intelligent agents. Some of the questions that motivate his research include: How does the brain
Film
Before the law, there stands a guard. A man comes from the country, begging admittance to the law. But the guard cannot admit him. May he hope to enter at a later time?