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What did Voltaire think about Buddhism?
History & The Arts

What did Voltaire think about Buddhism?

...thinks immediately of David Strauss’ Das Leben Jesu (1835), Eugène Burnouf’s Introduction à l’histoire du Buddhisme indien (1844), and Hermann Oldenberg’s Buddha: Sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde (1881). Over the course of the nineteenth century, the European portrayal of Buddhism underwent a profound metamorphosis: from a form of idolatry practiced by...
Humans better at rapid change than we think
Nature & Environment

Humans better at rapid change than we think

...think that changing to a greener and fairer society is beyond us. But rapid, radical transitions are more possible than we suppose, the study says. Perhaps this sounds like so much wishful thinking. But the authors say their conclusions are firmly based on facts: what we can learn about our capacity for rapid change, they say, comes through examples drawn both from...
Rene Descartes - “I think, therefore I am”
History & The Arts

Rene Descartes - “I think, therefore I am”

Stephen Fry explains Rene Descartes argument 'Cogito Ergo Sum' - 'I think, therefore I am'...Find out more about The Open University's Philosophy courses “I think, therefore I am” This is Descartes' famous Cogito argument: Cogito Ergo Sum. This short animation explains how he came to this conclusion of certainty when surrounded by uncertainty and doubt.
Shift working – does it change how we think?
Science, Maths & Technology

Shift working – does it change how we think?

...system. Shift working, which requires people to be awake during darkness and asleep during daylight for consecutive days, can have more long-lasting effects on this mechanism. What are the effects of circadian disruption? Persistent sleep deprivation can alter cognition. For example, attention deteriorates, with reaction time slowing and lapses in attention increasing...
Food, shelter and re-designing home as a living system
Science, Maths & Technology

Food, shelter and re-designing home as a living system

...systems design can help us think and act differently about food and shelter, and how we need to meet basic needs for people – and the ecosystems we are part of – in creative, reciprocal and integrated ways. References DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs). (22 February, 2024) ‘Understanding biodiversity net gain’, UK Government. Available at:...
Why there's still faith in the Spanish education system
Education & Development

Why there's still faith in the Spanish education system

...system. Parents will not however have to buy new editions of the Bible, to their relief perhaps and to the chagrin of the publishers, as the 2016 curriculum for the course on Religion, by and large backs existing versions of the Bible. It re-states the “fact” that the cosmos was created by divine inspiration. Amongst a number of novelties related to the new course,...
Targeted genome editing: Introducing the CRISPR/Cas9 system
Science, Maths & Technology

Targeted genome editing: Introducing the CRISPR/Cas9 system

...system in bacteria, but scientists have simplified and repurposed the system as a revolutionary genome editing technology. Like the previous methods, CRISPR/Cas9 involves an endonuclease (in this case called Cas9) that cuts DNA molecules at a selected site. It differs in that the endonuclease does not bind the DNA itself. Instead, Cas9 binds to a second molecule called...
The ice-covered ocean worlds of the outer Solar System
Science, Maths & Technology

The ice-covered ocean worlds of the outer Solar System

...System to host extra-terrestrial life. Robotic spacecraft, such as NASA’s Galileo and Cassini missions, have shown that several icy moons contain vast oceans of liquid water deep below their icy surfaces, where conditions may be suitable for life. Two of the best-studied of these icy moons are Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, and Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. Enceladus...