Frankenstein at 200

Kirsten A. Hall
The Idea Incarnate
How Dr. Frankenstein’s thoughts ran away from him
Brendan P. Foht
Responsible Frankensteins?
The trouble with the idea that we can play God, but ethically
David M. Buisán (JellyLondon.com)
Why physics can’t get rid of metaphor
by Samuel Matlack
by Mark P. Mills
We need creative breakthroughs in energy, medicine, and transportation. How can we plan for them? Great inventions are often unpredictable and serendipitous — and so curiosity-driven research remains essential for technological progress. EUROfusion
The Decent of Man
Essays on Evolution, Altruism, and Cooperation
Michael Ruse
Darwin Made Me Do It
Our evolved nature provides us with the resources to live morally decent lives, even if the theory of natural selection undermines the project of moral philosophy.
Kevin N. Laland
On the Origin of Cooperation
Both cultural and genetic evolution worked together to help make us the most cooperative species on earth.
![]() The Time of Our Livesby Raymond TallisArguing against the physicists who describe time as an “arrow of information” or “arrow of entropy,” Raymond Tallis shows how reflection on the lived experience of time can help us understand why there is more to human nature than can be described by physical science. READ MORE |
The University the King Built
by Waleed Al-Shobakky
A Saudi experiment in education aims to solve the West’s science malaise — and become a global research powerhouse.
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Must Science Be Useful?
Letters from scientists and policy experts on our widely read article “Saving Science,” with a response from Daniel Sarewitz.
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Till Tomorrow
by Adam Roberts
Three recent books go a long way toward humanizing the abstract “time” of physicists.
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ADD for All
by Joseph E. Davis
Why do we have an “epidemic” of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder? The common explanations miss the underlying reasons our society is disposed to medicalize ADHD.
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Whose Motivation? Which Good?
by James K. A. Smith
Social science’s big flaw isn’t relativism or the idea that social situations shape human action. The real arguments are over competing visions of the Good — and how the pursuit of the Good shapes our motivations.
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Toward a More Human Medicine
by Aaron Rothstein
The emphasis on patient satisfaction can turn doctors into little more than customer-service providers. Reform in medicine must bring both better curing and caring.
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The Use and Abuse of ‘Information’ in Biology
by Murillo Pagnotta
The concept of information has become central to modern biology, especially to the field of genetics, where DNA is often taken to be simply an organism’s instruction manual. But, Murillo Pagnotta argues, much “info-talk” is faulty or oversimplified — a failing with implications for how we think about nature, nurture, growth, and evolution.
Evolution and the Purposes of Life
by Stephen L. Talbott
Modern biology has tried to abolish purpose from living things — even as biologists implicitly attribute purposes and goals to molecules, genes, and the evolutionary process of natural selection. Stephen L. Talbott exposes the hidden assumptions behind the view that purpose in nature is just an illusion, and shows why purpose cannot be ignored or explained away.
Wokeness and Myth on Campus
by Alan Jacobs
The standard critique of college protests cries “free exchange of ideas!” But the students are motivated by social needs more fundamental than the ones affirmed by liberal norms.
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The Moral Case for High-Tech Weapons
by Merav Ceren
Do drones and pinpoint strikes make war more just, or merely more efficient? Israeli innovation provides a test case.
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The Illusionist
by David Bentley Hart
Daniel Dennett’s latest book marks five decades of majestic failure to explain consciousness.
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On the Shelf
Short reviews of books on the opioid epidemic, the crisis of authority, Silicon Valley, the “new eugenics,” and more.
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Pop Goes the Physics
by David Kordahl
Life, meaning, the universe — a physicist’s “big picture” to explain it all gets hazy as he takes on questions outside of his expertise.
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Grit, Gus, and Glory
by George Weigel
Misleading depictions have harmed the image of one of NASA’s first men in space — Gus Grissom. A new book sets the record straight.
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Human Gene Editing Arrives in America
by Brendan P. Foht
CRISPR is unlikely to create designer babies — but it’s already contributing to a cruel instrumentalization of human life.
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