Sciency Stuff
Articles and posts I’ve written of a scientific nature. Above all, I think I am a rationalist who keeps an open mind.
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Remembering past lives
Reincarnation: There are many compelling cases of children who recall past lives. They are able to provide such convincing accounts and details of events that are not easy to dismiss. One such case is that of James Leininger, a young… Continue reading
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The will to live
What is the mysterious force that pervades all things and drives all of life on Earth? How knowing it can help us lead richer lives: Throughout recorded history, thinkers and natural philosophers have commented on the innate, energetic spark that… Continue reading
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K2-18b, a planet with 97% certainty of alien life
New scientific evidence on the question of is there life in the universe? Scientists have detected a molecule called dimethyl sulfide, or DMS for short, which is the gas that gives beach areas their distinctive smell. The gas is produced… Continue reading
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It’s Life Jim!
How the building blocks for life may be scattered around the universe : Some scientists now believe the chances of life emerging on Earth by itself are too remote. In a very honest, refreshing, (but complex), scientific paper, Robert Endres… Continue reading
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The Blob
An evolutionary short story that illustrates the origins of complex life forms: The blob floated mindlessly in the darkness. It had no eyes, or senses, save the ability to touch. To feel. It had no explicit conscious thoughts as such.… Continue reading
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One in a billion
The incredible unlikeliness of our existence, and why our universe should not exist at all: In the Big Bang, when the universe was formulated, there should have been a blinding flash of radiation as these opposing forces cancelled each other… Continue reading
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Reality is a load of balls
What do the world’s greatest minds say about the metaphysical nature of matter? It is easy for imaginative humans to slip into science-fiction, or non-evidence based beliefs, simply because they fit our own world view and yet the reality is… Continue reading
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Come on down, try your luck on Fortuna’s Wheel of Fortune!
There’s no such thing as luck or fate. Everything has already happened. If physicist Sabine Hossenfelder is right, then it means we live in a Predetermined Universe – everything that can happen has already happened, we just don’t know it… Continue reading
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Stephen Hawking: Is there a God?
What did Stephen Hawking believe about the nature of God? “One could define God as the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of as God. They mean a human-like being, with… Continue reading
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The axis of evil
Instead of pointing in random directions, fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation point roughly along a common axis relative to our Solar System. Aristotle’s geocentric model of the universe, with earth in the centre, fitted with western Biblical ideologies… Continue reading
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The grand coder
Eastern metaphysics on the nature of reality: A computer coder creates a virtual world which replicates our ‘real’ world, and the characters have a form of artificial intelligence. Characters in this world have the ability to sense their environment, and… Continue reading
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Transcending Time
What is the nature of time? Time. We all know it. We all feel it’s passing and are bound by its earthly laws. Time is integral to every culture, every place, every epoch. It is known by many names: Father… Continue reading
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Dark Matter
What is dark matter? What does dark matter look like? As the early universe expanded, dark matter clumps formed. However, the dark matter didn’t expand as quickly as the universe, leaving a sprawling cosmic web of dark matter strands and… Continue reading
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Finding Patterns
What is the nature of religion? Faith has a deep, profound nature and order to it that has survived the test of time. It encompasses inherent human virtues but elevates them to help us to become better people, wrapped within… Continue reading
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Where are your missing years?
Are your childhood memories real? I was dismayed when listening to a podcast: The Guardian Science Weekly: where do our early childhood memories go? with Nick Turk-Browne, a professor of psychology at Yale University, to learn that in his professional… Continue reading
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Melding our Minds
A mind meld is a fictional, telepathic link that the character Spock was able to perform on other organisms to connect their minds. But could it possibly be a real ability? Might we be able to connect our thoughts with… Continue reading
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Part of something greater
Is the universe alive? If the Earth were a hydrogen atom, and I looked out from my window at the electron whizzing past in the air above, I might be tempted to think that this was all there was. After… Continue reading
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Loneliness of the long distance space traveler
Why you’re unlikely to ever see your loved ones again if you went into deep space. I’m a huge fan of Sci-Fi programmes such as Star Trek where they travel from star to star, trekking the universe in search of… Continue reading
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Believing in Something is better than Believing in Nothing
Why believing in implausible things can be good for you. Learned people tell us that there is nothing to this world, save that which can be observed, measured and recorded. They state quite firmly that we must savour things in… Continue reading
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Near Death Experiences
Why do so many people experience overwhelming spiritual experiences when faced with death? I’ve been reading an old book about Near Death Experiences called Life After Life by Dr Raymond Moody. It very much relates to a topic I wrote… Continue reading
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The effects of infinity on finite systems
The repercussions of our universe being infinite are mind-boggling! “Imagine you had a perfectly sealed box. Nothing can come in, and nothing can escape. Into this box you placed an apple and sealed it shut. If you waited long enough,… Continue reading
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Life and time
How does time affect you, scientifically speaking? Einstein showed that, rather than there being a single unified time, time is relative, and so every phenomena has its own time. There isn’t a single entity of time, there are numerous times,… Continue reading
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Beyond Words
Knowing what lies beyond the limits of language is an incredibly powerful and profound aspect of our existence. All of our thinking is through words, all of our actions, all of our science, all of our literature, all of our… Continue reading
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What is the shape of the universe?
What is the shape of the universe? Cosmologists aren’t sure what shape the universe is. And, while this may sound like a pointless thing to think about, it is actually a profound question that has significant implications. Continue reading
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Facts about electrons
Taken from the article What is an Electron? by Peter Ripota Continue reading
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An Elegant and Persuasive Power
Why should we believe in something that only adds an immaterial layer to the scientific view, and which takes away the profound, revelatory nature of religion? I’ve set out in earlier blog posts what my evidence is for believing there… Continue reading
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I am that I am
I am that I am. A poem by Mike Flanagan, to be read at my funeral. Continue reading
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More is Different
The phenomena of Emergence is how incredibly complex, profound things stem from humble components and flies in the face of Reductionist science. Continue reading
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The fuse of time
It occurred to me that our perception of time and reality is like a burning fuse. We experience the point of ignition in unison, all of us moving along in the heat of a singular moment, burning our available energies,… Continue reading
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What Matters?
Is matter all there is? The prevailing scientific viewpoint leaves some big unanswered questions. Here are my answers. Materialism is a philosophical and scientific viewpoint that states that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including… Continue reading
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Explaining premonitions of future events during dreams
Much has been written about premonitions during dreams, which seem to be a recurring phenomenon throughout human history. My theory is that some people can ‘tune in’ to EMF waves emitted by temporal future events during deep sleep. Continue reading
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Is God an invention?
Are religious people deluded? Do we simply invent Gods that don’t exist in reality? Evidence shows that religious belief is actually a natural state of human consciousness. This may actually prove God’s existence, rather than disproving it. I argue that… Continue reading
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Evidence the Universe was created
A scientific summary, from an agnostic viewpoint, as to why I believe the universe was created. I’m not religious, or an atheist. I am agnostic, but I am coming to the increasing conclusion that the universe was created. My reasons… Continue reading
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Reality? There’s nothing to it!
What’s something most people don’t understand? Everything in the universe is made of 17 elementary particles and four forces. Those particles are incredibly small. Barely even a dot. As far as anyone knows, they are point-like, exhibiting no finite and… Continue reading
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What is a flower?
If you want to know what a flower is, be mindful of who you ask, because this will determine the answer you get. Continue reading
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The hard problem of Paul
What is it about us that makes us, us? What is it that makes our conscious experience? Scientists and philosophers battle it out to try to define it, but in the end, we just have to sit back and enjoy… Continue reading
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What in the World…
Why do we exist? Where do we come from? Science tells us that everything is made from particles and forces, but this does not tell us why these things exist or where they come from. Continue reading
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Abstractions of Microbes
A selection from a series of drawings I did based on microbiology. These are produced digitally on an iPad using an Apple Pencil in Procreate. Continue reading
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Am I going bananas?
Alethea thought she was going mad. When she awoke that morning, she went downstairs for breakfast and her banana started talking to her! It said it wasn’t really real. It told her it was just a shadow on a cave… Continue reading
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“This is another fine-tuned mess you’ve gotten me into…”
‘When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?’ John Maynard Keynes ‘We have overwhelming evidence for cosmic purpose. Goal-directedness played some role in shaping the early universe. Professor Phillip Goff I recently outlined that I… Continue reading
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The Great Creative in the Sky
“I often wish (God) would manifest himself a bit more. He limits himself to once in a million years if we’re lucky.’ Peter Cook ***** I’m not an atheist – I don’t disbelieve in God, but I’m not religious either.… Continue reading
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Anatomical Self-Portraits
Here are a few anatomical self-portraits I did in 2022. I find it incredible that all of this is stuffed inside our heads! Continue reading
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Anatomical art
I produced these drawings during lockdown from medical atlases. I have a long obsession with the human body and its many intricacies. I hope you like them. Don’t forget to hit subscribe and like! If any medical students want to… Continue reading
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The Electric Life Orchestra
How bioelectricity shapes the whole universe and every living thing. Why is life so incredibly persistent, energetic and determined? Where does this vitality come from? What is it that makes us alive? Wherever it is encountered, life is imbued with… Continue reading
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Where do we go when we die?
Where do we go when we die? I’ve been thinking quite a lot about spirits lately, and what happens to us when we die. Unfortunately for me, the spirits are the out of body kind, not the alcoholic kind, as… Continue reading
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Drawing for Science, Invention & Discovery
This book is aimed at all the scientists, mathematicians, engineers, pioneers and thinkers out there who understand the value of creative thinking in their field. It identifies some of the key cognitive processes that drive innovation, invention and discovery. They… Continue reading
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Drawing for Anatomy
I observed a second-year medical students’ practical anatomy session at the school of medical education, Newcastle University in May 2019 under the tutelage of Doctor Joanna Matthan. It was a great honour to be given an insight into this important… Continue reading
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Perfect Child
No two things in nature are exactly the same, yet everything is made from perfect, exact particles. Nature is like some eerie living Minecraft game, where electrons and atoms simulate bricks and build incredible, unique structures. The implication of this… Continue reading
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