The case against free will is easily stated. Actions, we remind ourselves, are material events. All such events seem subject to the laws of nature, wired into causally connected sequences that emerged long before we were born or even thought of. Besides, we rely on a stitched-up physical reality to perform actions and to be […]
If a cow said, ‘Don’t eat me’, we wouldn’t. We seem to regard the capacity for language (by which we mean our kind of language) as evidence of moral significance. But do animals talk? Many traditions assume they do, and understanding animal talk has sometimes been thought to indicate great human wisdom. The proverbially wise […]
Twenty years have passed since the Human Genome Project mapped nearly all twenty thousand genes encoded within the three billion molecules of DNA strung out along the two intertwining strands of the double helix. ‘We face a time of dramatic change,’ commented the project’s director, Francis Collins, anticipating ‘unprecedented opportunities’ for medicine and science in […]
James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti’s enchanting and exhilarating annotated atlas of animal movements – tracked across countries and continents by tag and collar, radar and satellite – is a product of ‘big data’ methodology. Although obtained at a considerable remove, the perspectives the data provide often bring us closer to each individual creature than we […]
Horses, says Susanna Forrest, have more in common genetically with humans than with man’s supposed best friend, the dog. She quotes a trainer’s argument that horses are a fine model for society: they don’t want to hoard things, they don’t want to own bits of territory, they don’t fight over air or grass and they […]
Possessing no teeth or scales, but armed with a sharp rostrum up to four feet long, Xiphias gladius is arguably the most aggressive fish in the sea. The huge ones are always female, can weigh more than a thousand pounds and produce some thirty million eggs. A solitary pelagic speedster, the queen of the ocean […]
Hugh Aldersey-Williams previously wrote the highly acclaimed Periodic Table: The Curious Lives of the Elements, and here he proves himself just as fascinating and witty a guide around the geography of the human body. We spend our entire lives inside it yet know so little about it. The author himself confesses, at the start of his journey, ‘I have no idea how my bladder works.’ Some kind of expandable sack, no? ‘Some sort of watertight balloon’ of no particular shape? Actually
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Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm