Creating a storm (2)
I am pleased to see academics of other disciplines defending biological sciences against the pseudo-scientific arguments of creationists (Letters, THES April 5). As well as attacking the scientific...
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Creating a storm (3)
I am baffled by the manner in which postmodernism arouses such prejudice in scholars. Martin Hammersley's comments (Letters, THES , April 5) on my letter ( THES , March 29) are a case in point. I...
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Get donor-parents out of system (1)
The "donations for degrees" allegation that led to the resignation of two fellows at Pembroke College, Oxford ("Price of Pembroke scandal is autonomy", THES , March 29) raises serious questions about...
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Get donor-parents out of system (2)
Many school-leavers attaining the necessary A levels to attend such august institutions as Pembroke College, Oxford, have probably had amounts not dissimilar to £300k invested in their education. By...
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The pure skills trap
Chris Woodhead's article ("Trouble in the trades", Soapbox, THES , March 29) reminded me of when I was a general studies lecturer in the 1980s and charged with widening the education and improving...
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Outdated review
Semir Zeki's review of Out of Mind (Books, THES , March 29) rehashes splinters of the debate on blindsight that took place more than a decade ago. The picture the reviewer sketches is so outdated...
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Rage and the human race
Continuing our series of Big Science Questions, Chris Bunting asks what makes people violent, while Dolf Zillmann (bottom) reviews the role of brain structures. A solitary matador and a half-crazed...
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Our unique motives for violence sit beside archaic animal drives for aggression
Analysis of aggression among animals reveals a basic set of conditions under which more or less all species, especially those towards the upper end of the evolutionary scale, resort to inflicting...
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It's about opening doors
Lis Howell had a lot to learn when she went from a career in the media to lecturing in journalism, and her management experience did little to prepare her. It was a closing door that brought it home...
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The only thing we know is its name
Autism appears to be on the increase, but the condition's cause is still a mystery. Among the current suspects, reports Adrian Mourby, are diet, genes and vaccines. The recent controversy over a...
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Apart from seasickness, a cramped cabin and the students, it's great
I know that my University of York colleagues regard my trip as the academic wheeze of all time. Round-the-world, ten countries, cruising conditions etc, etc. All true. But - and I expect no sympathy...
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I definitely won't spend another night with Fide...
Well, I wasn't alone, and it should really have been an evening, but you know old Fidel. We were told 24 hours earlier that the Commandante would see us the next evening: a spontaneous gesture that...
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Get on course with a cruise
Liz Doig reports on a scheme that offers a semester of study while travelling from the Bahamas to Japan. It might sound like a breeze but James Walvin (below and right) explains why it is not all...
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Stars born in cosmic frenzy
The violent labour pains that accompany star birth have been revealed by a supercomputer study, writes Steve Farrar. In a cosmic feeding frenzy, nascent stars appear to battle with each other to...
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Science unfolds shapes of life
The workings of life are bound up in the intricate folds of the long-chain polymers known as proteins. Yet science has been unable to predict how each one should shape up, writes Steve Farrar. Now a...