There is an assumption embedded in ordinary language about growing old, and it is worth examining because it turns out to be misleading.
The assumption is that ageing is what…
The number of signs a writing system requires is not a technical detail. It determines who can be literate.
A system with several thousand signs can be learned, and learning…
Most complicated biological structures are alive. They are supplied with blood, monitored by nerves, maintained continuously and repaired when damaged.
A feather is none of those things. Once grown, it…
The single idea that makes all of this make sense is that cold is not a thing being added but heat being taken away and put somewhere else. Everything below…
There is a category of human variation that is essentially invisible, because it concerns something nobody can observe in anybody else and nobody has reason to compare.
Ask two people…
Most descriptions of the ocean concern its surface, which is understandable, since that is the part anybody sees.
The surface is a thin film on top of something much larger.…