Apr 8, 2017
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Why scientific ideas are NOT "Just Theories" Our latest animation with Jim Al-Khalili sets the record straight. There’s an important difference between a scientific theory and the fanciful theories of an imaginative raconteur, and this quirk of semantics can lead to an all-too-common misconception. In general conversation, a ‘theory’ might simply mean a guess. But a scientific theory respects a somewhat stricter set of requirements. When scientists discuss theories, they are designed as comprehensive explanations for things we observe in nature. They’re founded on strong evidence and provide ways to make real-world predictions that can be tested. While scientific theories aren’t necessarily all accurate or true, they shouldn’t be belittled by their name alone. The theory of natural selection, quantum theory, the theory of general relativity and the germ theory of disease aren’t ‘just theories’. They’re structured explanations of the world around us, and the very foundation of science itself. Watch the video and let us know what you think. For more, read Jim's blog here.
All work and no play makes for an evolutionarily weaker individual
It's National Play Day here in the UK today, and coincidentally this is our favourite video of the moment. The folks at NPR take a look at why we - and a whole range of other animals - play.
Studying play in the brain is tricky. Human subjects are, understandably, reluctant to have their brains toyed with, and empirical evidence about the neuroscience of play has been hard to come by. Enter ‘the rat tickler’ Jaak Panksepp – the Estonian-born American scientist who has done more research on play than anyone else.
Panksepp aimed to decipher whether play is a learned activity, largely controlled by the more recently evolved outer cortex of the brain, or whether its roots lie deeper, in a more primitive part of us. Through his studies with rats, he came to the conclusion that play is an ancient behaviour, shared amongst many animals. But that begs the question, what evolutionary advantage does play bring?
Play is so deeply wired into the brains of social animals that Panksepp deduced that play must be a crucial tool in the development of social skills. So make sure you don’t work too hard – after all, all work and no play makes for an evolutionarily weaker individual.
This video was featured in the Best of the Web series on the Ri Channel.
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Richard Dawkins - CHRISTMAS LECTURES 1991 - Growing up in the Universe
The world-famous evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins presents the Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTURES in 1991.
Original broadcast live on the BBC, the series explored “our own growing knowledge of how life grows up in the universe.”
This is the first lecture in the series entitled “Waking up in the Universe”.
View the FULL SERIES of CHRISTMAS LECTURES by Richard Dawkins on the Ri Channel: http://richannel.org/christmas-lectures/1991/richard-dawkins
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Admittedly I hardly had a grasp of what the Higgs boson actually was, what its relationship with other particles is, or how scientists are searching for it until I found this video.
The entire Ri Channel is really neat, if you have time watch some videos they really make you think.