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Articles about human life, archaeology, anthropology, palaeoanthropology, philosophy and history of science...
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12 May 2020
15 December 2009
It is the stuff of nightmares - a society so wound up in the legal system that no-one is allowed to tell you the truth...
01 October 2009
Noam Chomsky, a rookie professor at MIT, published a ground-breaking book called Syntactic Structures, which set out a...
15 June 2009
Sure, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and has received a number of other honours, but has Sir Tim Berners-Lee yet...
04 April 2009
What can microfossils tell us about past climate? Christopher Stanton resumes his story...
16 July 2008
Simpsons fans will know only too well the opening sequence to the cartoon in which Homer discovers, during his commute...
22 April 2008
I.Q. scores have been rising steadily, by about 3 points per decade, ever since they were first administered. This is...
21 February 2008
When the clipper ship Southern Cross sailed into a living hell off Chile during the night of 2 September 1859, little...
14 January 2008
So what exactly is linguistics? Is it all about tape recorders, tongue twisters and dropped "aitches"? Or is...
27 November 2007
The Pythia, the prophetess at the Oracle of Delphi, was said to be able to communicate with Apollo by going into a...
06 November 2007
Ask anyone who made the world’s best violins and they’ll inevitably answer "Stradivari". But science is...
30 June 2007
There are five million new cases of HIV internationally every year, and the virus is second only to tobacco as the...
24 May 2006
Although the summer appears to have ended, I thought I would deal with something that provides a perfect opportunity to...
28 March 2006
This article illustrates the kind of scientist you might encounter in a lab. Understanding how your colleagues think...
08 February 2006
Humans are one of the most formidable species on Earth. How have modern Homo sapiens come to reign over their archaic...
08 February 2006
Dr. Barry Gibb, Scientist and Author, Latest Play - MACHINA
16 November 2005
Functional imaging (brain scanning) using magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used to probe the workings of the...
06 July 2005
One of the fun things about working in science is the scientific meeting. Lots of free tea and coffee, buffet lunches...
08 June 2005
"Neanderthal" was once used as an insult; a term for a stupid, brutish oaf but who were Neanderthals, and how...
11 August 2004
I am organising a public event in Oxford entitled "The Science of Wine Tasting"...
21 July 2004
How can you be sure the wonderful facts and figures we science writers tell you are genuine? Just think about the...