Brain

Is a chimpanzee conscious? Or your cat or dog? What about a goldfish, prawn, or wasp? Most of us will only begin to waver with goldfish. But scientists and philosophers have often seemed strangely keen to deny a mental life to any animal. Rene Descartes usually gets the blame for the way we think about […]

Could a machine ever be conscious? Many experts say ‘yes, of course, believing that technology will one day be able to produce a machine with a mind of its own. But these experts have been proved wrong in the past – and according to earlier predictions, conscious machines should exist by now. If you simulated

How did the animal mind turn into the self-aware human mind? What change occurred, freeing us to think objectively and introspectively? Language, it seems, may have been the key. Experts agree that the development of human consciousness in all its modern complexity happened astonishingly quickly. For millions of years, the early human species had existed

Consciousness is the most remarkable product of the human brain. It is the medium for our thoughts and gives meaning to our experiences. Without it, we could not experience sight or sound, taste, touch or smell, and from it comes our very sense of identity. Consciousness is so multi-faceted that no single definition can do

For almost everything in life, there seems to be a number. Examples range from bank codes and account numbers, PINs, and national insurance or tax numbers to telephone numbers, fax numbers, and postcodes. We also build our lives around numbers in the form of dates and deadlines for work appointments and social events. Although our

Even if you left school or university determined never to take another exam, life continues to throw up occasions when you have to rely on your abilities to commit things to memory. Combining what you know about memory processes with mnemonic strategies and techniques makes you equal to the trickiest memory tasks. In any discussion

Can one consciousness directly examine another – and if so, how is this done? When we ask questions like these, we enter the realm of mind readers and psychics. People are endlessly fascinated by mind readers, psychics, and clairvoyants. By offering a mixture of insight, prophecy, and sheer entertainment, some have built successful careers and

A brain is a machine that has to build itself. While every newborn baby is born with a set of reflexes, it has to learn how to see, feel, and think – that is, how to be conscious – through its interactions with the world. A baby’s brain has to learn how to make sense

Being fully conscious means more than just being awake. Engaging mindfully in whatever you are doing is essential if you are to get the most from each day. You only live your It e once, so make sure you’re full ‘there’ while you’re living it. Many of us live our lives without being as mentally

Different philosophies and religions present us with different ideas about death and its spiritual and personal dimensions. In our modern age, while doctors now have precise criteria to determine when death has occurred, there is still debate among medical scientists about exactly what it means to die. The dividing line between life and death would