Category Science

Stop the dumbing down!

English is one of the easiest languages to learn, despite the logical inconsistencies in its spelling and the multitude of --- seemingly nonsensical to some learners --- phrasal verbs. The fact that you rarely find polysyllabic words in English tends to favour smaller and less developed vocabularies among its native speakers; that's really sad as the potential for expressive power of English is immensely higher than what's actually witnessed in Britain or the U.S. It is absurd, in my opinion, to suggest that simplifying spelling would improve literacy. If anything, English should be taught more rigorously in schools to help children develop a 'feel' for the language beyond what they get by reading books and talking to their parents and friends; it is a well known joke that the Dutch (for example) speak better English than the English. My Ph.D supervisor once told me -- to my surprise -- that he thought I spoke better English than most 'native speakers' and he added that it was probably due to the way many Europeans learn the language. Perhaps he's right. What I believe is that simplifying English spelling would probably be disastrous to the language --- as Marsha Bell's annoying spelling in the article proves. Most commenters on this BBC article seem to agree with this. Stop the dumbing down!

Forget them puzzles and games

One of our best ways to combat the cognitive decline humans experience with age might be theatre, according to this article by Cognitive Daily.

Goodbye Professor.

This Friday I was informed that a member of my research group at Imperial and a friend, Professor Patrick Purcell passed away. I last saw him this past December while visiting London and, despite our efforts, we did not manage to meet, but for a few minutes in some corridor at the university. Our meeting […]

Exploring Life Extension

An almost 2 hour film by the Immortality Institute on, you guessed it, immortality, or if you prefer a more politically correct term, ‘Life Extension’. I won’t comment on it at length, as it is a vastly complex matter, both socially, technologically, scientifically and philosophically. The film also includes a section dealing with breaking away […]

Φάτε τους κλώνους!

Χωρίς ειδική σήμανση και με τις ευλογίες της FDA, το κρέας κλώνων θα βρίσκεται στα κρεοπωλεία κοντά σας...αν βρίσκεστε στις ΗΠΑ. Μια ακόμη αποτυχία της FDA να κάνει τη δουλειά ενώ προωθεί τα συμφέροντα των αμερικάνικων επιχειρήσεων ή δείγμα των καιρών μας;

The return of TB?

A couple of years ago, I went through a phase of my life where I watched innumerable documentaries over the course of a few months. One of the documentaries was PBS’ 2001 documentary series, Evolution. In one episode of that series, there was some mention of the threat by multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB. In the documentary, […]

Infinity

Here's another interesting 'podcast' by the BBC. The history of Infinity in two parts.

Βιοκαύσιμα στην Ευρώπη.

Νωρίτερα φέτος, έγραψα (και εδώ δείτε τη πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα διάλεξη του Vinod Khosla) για την πρώτη άμεση αλλαγή που θα βιώσουμε τα επόμενα χρόνια στις ζωές μας, στα πλαίσια μιας κοινής Ευρωπαϊκής πολιτικής για το περιβάλλον. Στα άρθρα αυτά, καθώς και στην ομιλία του Vinod Khosla, αναφέρεται η τεράστια επένδυση που έχουν κάνει κάποιες από […]

CO2 Alert!

Over the years I've had numerous discussions, some with pretty well educated people, that exhibited an inexplicable denial about global warming climate change. Some of the most common arguments were about the cyclical warming and cooling of the earth and claims that CO2 levels used to be much higher in earlier periods of human history. I guess it's time to reconsider. Correction: I guess it's time to act. [Also here.]