The Edge Annual Question — 2008:

WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT?

When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that’s faith.
When facts change your mind, that’s science.

Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?”

•• You can click through here for thought-provoking answers to this question from over 100 of the world’s leading scientists and thinkers …

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT:

Post how you’ve changed your mind below …

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin will be celebrated on 12 February 2009.

Because Darwin was one of the greatest thinkers in history there are lots of preparations going on around the world to celebrate this special event. Information for schools and others can be found here at Darwin 200.

You may be interested to know that the complete works of Darwin are online. This site contains all his publications, 20,000 private papers, the largest Darwin bibliography and manuscript catalogue and hundreds of supplementary works: specimens, biographies, obituaries, reviews, reference works and a gem is his first formulation of the theory of natural selection.

About 90,000 pages of manuscripts, field notes, photographs and sketches connected with Charles Darwin are online where they can be viewed free.

Think Darwin!

Meanwhile, I’ve been creating a new online course called–Think Darwin!–so that anyone can get their head around and harness the practical power of Darwin’s Theory–the most powerful theory in all of science!

••Click here for the first lessons …

Medical animator David Bolinsky presents 3 minutes of stunning animation that show the bustling life inside a cell.

Built by his company, XVIVO, to teach Harvard medical students, the clip features sweeping cinematic values and even a little drama. It communicates not only the facts of life, but life’s truth and beauty.

HUMOUR: Ask the question:
What is quite funny about this?

Humour involves the appreciation of oddness.

In humour there is the willingness to enjoy seeing the OTHER SIDE of things, the willingness to see fresh points of view, to see them and appreciate them without necessarily feeling the need to adopt them as one’s own.

Humour includes flexibility in the way we can look at information, the humour of creativity, and the humour of insight. Humour means seeing things in a different way. Appreciating the value of differences.

There’s the humour of wisdom, the humour of balance and tolerance, the humour of plurality. The enjoyment of surprise, chance and variety. The good mood, the sound of laughter, good humour and good health.