The FDA's recent rejection of MDMA isn't surprising. Too many advocates are trying to frame psychedelics as a miracle drugEarlier this month, an advisory panel rejected MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, possibly dooming US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the drug commonly called ecstasy. In a public meeting alongside FDA staff, panel members said that the research neither adequately accounted for abuse risks nor proved the drug's efficacy in combination with psychotherapy.This decision dealt a major blow to Lykos Therapeutics, the for-profit public benefit corporation of the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (Maps), which sponsored the trials. More broadly, the rejection has been described as a drastic setback for the psychedelic movement as a whole. For several years now, it seemed that greater acceptance and new legal spaces for psychedelics were a certainty. Then, scientists appeared at the FDA hearing and everything went dark. Continue reading...

A new report suggests self-declared night owls tend to have higher cognitive scores. So please can we now ditch the lazy and undisciplined stereotypes?My fellow night owls, grab a strong cup of coffee and gather around: I have great news. For a long time, our kind has been unfairly maligned. Stereotyped as lazy and undisciplined. Told we ought to be morning larks. Advised to go to bed early so we can wake before 5am and run a marathon before breakfast like all high-flyers seem to do. Now, however, we are having the last laugh. Science has officially crowned us superior to our early-rising brethren.OK, it may be a tad more complicated than that. A study published last week, which you may have already seen while scrolling at 1am, suggests that staying up late could be good for brain power. Is this study a thinly veiled PR exercise conducted by a caffeine-pill company? Nope, it's legit. Research led by academics at Imperial College London studied data on more than 26,000 people and found that self-declared night owls' generally tend to have higher cognitive scores". And we are talking quite a lot higher. Evening types ... scored about 13.5% higher than morning types in one group and 7.5% higher than morning types in another group", according to a write-up of the study. Continue reading...

Yes, with the help of AI, I could play Juliet or go on Naked Attraction. But wouldn't something be lost in the process?In my long life, I have had to get my head around massive technological changes. When I was young, I relied on my knowledge of the times tables, and counting on my fingers, to add up. It took me weeks to master the revolutionary Amstrad word processor. The only phone was in the hall, calls strictly rationed by my father. Over the years, I have braved the exasperation of my grandchildren, and now Google, Zoom and unmute with the best of them.But the latest incomprehensible technical revolution has me flummoxed. I seriously fear I will not have mastered artificial intelligence before passing on to a world where, hopefully, the most I will have to cope with are some old-fashioned golden gates, and there will be a nice angel to explain how they work.Sheila Hancock is an actor and a writer Continue reading...

Subjects' performances of songs by Adele, Mariah Carey or from Frozen shown to peers to assess responsesWere scientists to concoct an experiment that was all but guaranteed to unleash full-on, cheek-reddening embarrassment, then filming adolescents singing Let It Go from Frozen and playing back their performance might well do the job.And so to researchers at the University of Amsterdam who invited dozens of young volunteers into the lab before breaking the news as to what was required. In front of a camera, and without the benefit of a shot or two, they were asked to sing the Arendelle anthem or another choice track, before they and others watched the rendition back from inside a brain scanner. Continue reading...

Pharmacologist whose research into tamoxifen helped many women with breast cancer to live longerIn the 1970s only 40% of women diagnosed with breast cancer could expect to survive for 10 years or more. Today that figure is over 75%. Screening and early diagnosis have played a part, but one of the key reasons for the improvement is the drug tamoxifen, which massively reduces the risk of cancer recurring after surgery.The British-American pharmacologist Craig Jordan, who has died aged 76, was the first to show that tamoxifen could stop tumours growing by blocking the female hormone oestrogen from locking on to cells in the breast at specific sites called oestrogen receptors. Continue reading...

Recordbreaking low pressure due to extreme weather meant water was boiling at 98C in Reading on day of stormMillions of Britons were forced to drink subpar cups of tea last November due to the record-breaking low pressure caused by Storm Ciaran.The low pressure caused the boiling point of water to drop below the 100C temperature some experts recommend to extract the full flavour from tea leaves. Continue reading...

Giant publishers are bleeding universities dry, with profit margins that rival Google's. So we decided to start our own

Ramses mission to study 99942 Apophis when it passes closer to Earth than GPS and TV satellites in 2029In 2029 an asteroid larger than the Eiffel Tower will skim past Earth in an event that until recently scientists had feared could foreshadow a catastrophic collision.Now researchers hope to scrutinise 99942 Apophis as it makes its close encounter in an effort to bolster our defences against other space rocks. Continue reading...

Savor, backed by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, says product has lower carbon footprint as it doesn't need cowsButter made from air instead of cows? A California-based startup claims to have worked out a complex process that eliminates the need for the animals while making its dairy-free alternative taste just as good.Savor, backed by the Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, has been experimenting with creating dairy-free alternatives to ice-cream, cheese, and milk by utilising a thermochemical process that allows it to build fat molecules, creating chains of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen. The company has now announced a new animal-free butter alternative. Continue reading...

For children with ADHD, getting the help they need depends on being correctly diagnosed. As a doctor, I have seen how tricky and frustrating a process that can beLate last summer, in the waiting room of a children's mental health clinic, I found Daniel, a softly spoken 16-year-old boy, flanked by his parents. He had been referred to the clinic for an assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As we took our seats on the plastic sofas in the consulting room, I asked him to tell me about the difficulties he was having. Tentatively, his gaze not leaving the floor, he started talking about school, about how he was finding it impossible to focus and would daydream for hours at a time. His exam results were beginning to show it too, his parents explained, and ADHD seemed to run in the family. They wanted to know more about any medication that could help.I had just begun a six-month placement working as a junior doctor in the clinic's ADHD team. Doctors often take a temporary post before they formally apply to train in a speciality. Since medical school I had always imagined I would become a psychiatrist, but I wanted to be sure I was making the right choice. Continue reading...

Artificial intelligence companies have lofty ambitions for what the technology could achieve, from curing diseases to eliminating poverty. But the energy required to power these innovations is threatening critical environmental targets.Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian's energy correspondent, Jillian Ambrose, and UK technology editor, Alex Hern, to find out how big AI's energy problem is, and whether it can be solved before it is too late Continue reading...

As part of the annual Beaker Street festival, a celebration of science and art in Tasmania, finalist images in the festival's annual science photographic competition will be on show at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery from 6 August to 23 August Continue reading...

Researchers find evidence for cave accessible from surface - which could shelter humans from harsh lunar environmentResearchers have found evidence for a substantial underground cave on the moon that is accessible from the surface, making the spot a prime location to build a future lunar base.The cave appears to be reachable from an open pit in the Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), the ancient lava plain where the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon more than half a century ago. Continue reading...

More than sadness, hatred or grief, rage is something that we shut away or flee. That endangers our relationships, our happiness - and our safetyI have wanted to write about anger for some time. As I sat down to begin this column, a recent psychoanalysis session came to mind. I was telling my analyst about something that might have made me angry - but instead, as I spoke to her, I experienced a sudden wave of irresistible sleepiness. I described this sudden onset of fatigue, as I felt the overwhelming weight of my eyelids and gave up trying to keep them open, so losing the thread of what I had just been talking about. Perhaps you are sending your anger to sleep," my analyst said.The more patients I treat in psychotherapy, and the more psychoanalysis I receive as a patient, the more I think that anger is often the hardest feeling to feel. More than sadness, more than love, more than hatred, more than grief, anger is repressed, or acted out, or drunk or drugged away, or killed off, or sent to sleep. Anything, it can seem, but allowed into our minds and felt. Continue reading...

Tess, a 40-year-old female at Houston zoo, has been given a trial mRNA vaccine to help combat the virus, a leading killer of calves in captivityAn Asian elephant at Houston zoo in the US has received the first mRNA vaccine against herpes, which is the leading killer of Asian elephants calves in captivity.Tess, a 40-year-old Asian elephant, was injected with the trial vaccine at the Texas zoo in June, after a spate of deaths in juveniles in zoos around the world from the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Continue reading...

Political violence is not OK but what about snails are they OK?

This artificial star will be dazzlingly bright - almost rivalling Venus - on 15 JulyThis week we're looking for an artificial star: the International Space Station. From London on 15 July, the ISS will pass overhead and will be dazzlingly bright.The pass begins at 22.39 BST when the space station rises above the western horizon, but it is unlikely to be visible until it climbs higher than 10 in altitude at about 22.41 BST. Three minutes later it will have climbed to its very zenith, passing through the constellation Draco, the dragon. Continue reading...

Hope for new treatments after researchers find spread of disease is aided by shutting down of molecules in key genesScientists have made a crucial DNA discovery that could help cure one of the deadliest cancers.A team of researchers from the UK and US have found that pancreatic cancer is able to shut down molecules in one of the body's most important genes, helping the disease to grow and spread rapidly. Continue reading...

Jenny Knight, an author who was a teen world rowing champion, is rediscovering the benefits of exercise after joining a local netball teamWhen I was 17, my rowing coach announced that taking a day off was unnecessary. That one time of the week that I left school at 4pm and watched Neighbours was now gone. I think that's probably why, when I gave up rowing, I stopped doing any exercise at all. I'd had enough. Exercise for me equated to diehard commitment and someone shouting at me all the time. So I did nothing. Which in retrospect was a bad idea, because there were times in my life - getting RSI when I tried to write a book while holding down a full-time job or having a baby and getting swamped by anxiety - when exercise would have helped enormously.It was when I had come out of the baby years, moved to a new area, but worked from home, that I felt the pull to be part of a team again. But I didn't know how or in what sport - there was no way I was going back to rowing. Continue reading...

A British geneticist scoured the globe for diverse grains in the 1920s. His research could be vital as the climate changesA hundred years ago, the plant scientist Arthur Watkins launched a remarkable project. He began collecting samples of wheat from all over the globe, nagging consuls and business agents across the British empire and beyond to supply him with grain from local markets.His persistence was exceptional and, a century later, it is about to reap dramatic results. A UK-Chinese collaboration has sequenced the DNA of all the 827 kinds of wheat, assembled by Watkins, that have been nurtured at the John Innes Centre near Norwich for most of the past century. Continue reading...

The breakup rehabilitation industry is in high demand but the truth is you can't force someone to love you againI got angry yesterday, which is unlike me, a lady of peace and careful breaths. I felt like that guy who kicked in his telly when the Sex Pistols swore and I may have done similar had this not been a work laptop and had I not been a little bit sleepy after lunch. The thing that got me, the thing that threatened to push me over the edge, was an article about the rise of get your ex back" coaches.This is the breakup rehabilitation industry", where people charge brokenhearted followers, typically clients who have found them on YouTube after Googling how to get my ex back", hundreds of dollars for a single coaching session. In addition to these sessions, for an extra $499 the client can send two further inquiries (at no more than 500 words each), with one coach reporting that business is booming - he's currently making multiple six figures". My schedule is packed back-to-back all week," a man called Benny Lichtenwalner told Slate. Think of the worst breakup you've had. Would you try to solve it for the price of a PlayStation? I think if their ex said, Hey, give me a PlayStation and we'll be back together,' they'd do it. I can sleep at night just fine. Because I love that I'm helping people." Continue reading...

Working from her California bungalow, Margaret Press, 77, leads a pioneering team of volunteers in the field of genetic genealogy. Thus far, they've identified the remains of more than 100 Jane and John DoesFor 37 years, the young woman remained nameless. She was known only as Buckskin girl" for the leather poncho she wore when she was found, strangled, in an Ohio ditch in 1981.That was until almost four decades later, when two women in California took up her case. In 2018, Margaret Press, a retired linguist, author and computer programmer, and Colleen Fitzpatrick, a nuclear physicist and forensic genealogist, ran DNA evidence from the crime scene through an ancestry database, looking for the victim's closest relatives. Continue reading...

Campaigners welcome seismic shift' and urge museum bosses to review links with other fossil fuel sponsorsThe Science Museum has been forced to cut ties with oil giant Equinor over its sponsor's environmental record, the Observer can reveal.Equinor has sponsored the museum's interactive WonderLab" since 2016, but the relationship is now coming to close, a move that will be seen as a major victory for climate change campaigners. Continue reading...

A conference in the UK this week will outline new developments in a project to look for technosignatures' of other advanced speciesIt has produced one of the most consistent sets of negative results in the history of science. For more than 60 years, researchers have tried to find a single convincing piece of evidence to support the idea that we share the universe with other intelligent beings. Despite these decades of effort, they have failed to make contact of anykind.But the hunt for alien civilisations may be entering a new era, researchers believe. Scientists with Breakthrough Listen, the world's largest scientific research programme dedicated to finding alien civilisations, say a host of technological developments are about to transform the search for intelligent life in the cosmos. Continue reading...

His page-turning books about quantum physics and game theory have given the Chilean writer a cult following - and won him famous fans from Stephen Fry to Bjork and Barack ObamaI know you're trying to skirt around it," says Benjamin Labatut when I put to him thathis books concern people of unworldly intelligence working on problems that are maximally deep, but the best way to sum it up is: Why am I interested in mad scientists?'" Fair play. There's no getting away from it: that's exactly what his richly satisfying, deeply researched books are about.Both of Labatut's two books currently available in English - the International Booker-shortlisted WhenWe Cease to Understand the World (2020) and The Maniac, recently published in paperback - pivot around that moment in the early 20th century in which our dreams of a perfect rational understanding of the world were turned on their heads. This was when the deranging discoveries of quantum physics killed off the clockwork universe; and when Kurt Godel's incompleteness theorem destroyed for good the positivist project tosupply a stable, logically unimpeachable foundation for therules of mathematics. Continue reading...

Scientists fear adaptations to global heating may leave some species struggling to mate successfullyAn ambush bug with a darker-coloured body is better at snagging a sexual partner than its brighter counterpart when it is chilly. Darker males can warm up more easily in the early mornings, and therefore get busy while everybody else is still warming up.This is one of the many examples of how temperature affects colouring in insects, and in turn can affect their ability to mate, according to a new review article published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Continue reading...

Ideas generated by ChatGPT can help writers who lack inherent flair but may mean there are fewer unique ideasOnce upon a time, all stories were written solely by humans. Now, researchers have found AI might help authors tell a tale.A study suggests that ideas generated by the AI system ChatGPT can help boost the creativity of writers who lack inherent flair - albeit at the expense of variety. Continue reading...

Starlink internet satellites were deployed in dangerously low orbit after explosion on Falcon 9 rocket on ThursdayThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is requiring an investigation into the in-flight failure of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket as it was launching a batch of Starlink internet satellites.The second-stage engine failure occurred on Thursday evening during a routine launch of the satellites from Vandenberg space force base in Santa Barbara county, California. Continue reading...

Kate Bingham says ageing population means tackling dementia must be treated as economic imperativeA Covid-style effort is needed to ensure NHS patients are first in line for a new wave of dementia drugs, according to the former head of the UK's vaccine taskforce.Kate Bingham is calling for the immediate recruitment of large numbers of patients to ensure that, as with Covid vaccines, the UK is a leading player in testing and launching drugs. Continue reading...

A celebration of the gifts and talents of autistic people refutes the idea that autism and empathy cannot coexistIn The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks wrote about two autistic men, twins who had an extraordinary relationship with numbers. Sacks recalled that during one of his sessions a matchbox fell from a table, disgorging its contents, and the twins cried out 111", the exact number of matches that lay on the floor. They later explained that they had not counted the matches, but could see" how many there were. The twins live exclusively in a thought-world of numbers," Sacks concluded. They have no interest in the stars shining, orthe hearts of men."Daniel Tammet only mentions Sacks once in his new book, Nine Minds, but the writings of the British neurologist haunt these portraits of autistic people. Like those twins, Tammet is on the autistic spectrum, can perform absurdly complex calculations in his head, and is able to live in a thought-world of numbers", and yet he is also a writer whose qualities contradict the oft-made assumption that autism and empathy cannot coexist within the same mind. Part literary experiment, part work of activism, his book is an extended riposte to the assumptions in Sacks's chapter; he celebrates the gifts and talents of autistic people, while exploring the richness of their desires and dreams. Continue reading...

Creators hope prototype, modelled on Dune stillsuits', could be used before 2030 in Nasa's Artemis programmeA sci-fi-inspired spacesuit that recycles urine into drinking water could enable astronauts to perform lengthy spacewalks on upcoming lunar expeditions.The prototype, modelled on the stillsuits" in the sci-fi classic Dune, collects urine, purifies it and can return it to the astronaut through a drinking tube within five minutes. Continue reading...

Firm says wires attaching first patient's brain to implant are more or less very stable' after detaching months agoThe Neuralink CEO, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday that the company would soon test its pound-coin-sized implant and brain-computer interface on a second patient. The unnamed patient's surgery is slated for the next week or so", Musk said.Surgery on a different patient intended to be the second participant in Neuralink's human trial had been scheduled for late June but was delayed when they experienced unspecified health issues contraindicating the procedure. Continue reading...

Australian scientists create brick refuges in greenhouses to help green and golden bell frogs survive infectionA sauna" treatment for frogs has been used by researchers in Australia to successfully fight a deadly fungal disease that has devastated amphibians around the world, according to a new study.Scientists created refuges for the animals using painted masonry bricks inside greenhouses that they called frog saunas". They found that endangered Australian green and golden bell frogs were able to clear infections from the deadly Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungus, in the warmer conditions of the greenhouses, when they would otherwise have died. Many of the frogs that recovered in the refuges were then resistant to infection. Continue reading...

Snail mail replaced with slug mail as scientists need 1,000 grey field slugs to explore pest-resistant cropsIt may be known as snail mail, but researchers are hoping the public will use the postal service to send them a different kind of mollusc: slugs.A team of scientists and farmers carrying out research into slug-resistant wheat say they need about 1,000 of the creatures to explore how palatable slugs find various crops. Continue reading...

DNA studies suggest disease was central to devastating collapse of northern European population 5,000 years agoA devastating population collapse that decimated stone age farming communities across northern Europe 5,000 years ago may have been driven by an outbreak of the plague, according to research.The cause of the calamity, known as the Neolithic collapse, has long been a matter of debate. Continue reading...

Researchers build genome using 52,000-year-old remains of woolly mammoth named after ex-England footballerResearchers have reconstructed the genetic code of the woolly mammoth in unprecedented detail after discovering fossilised chromosomes in the skin of a 52,000-year-old carcass preserved in the Siberian permafrost.The mammoth's lavish mane led researchers to name it after Chris Waddle, the mulleted former England footballer. It became freeze-dried on death, a process that preserved the 3D structure of the chromosomes in the animal's skin. Continue reading...

Mutation in RNU4-2 gene linked to severe developmental delay, with hundreds of people already diagnosedA genetic disorder that causes severe disabilities in children and adults has been discovered by researchers who believe the newly identified condition could affect hundreds of thousands of people around the world.Scientists have already diagnosed hundreds of people in the UK, Europe and the US after examining their DNA and spotting mutations in the gene linked to the disorder. Far more are expected to be found as further testing takes place. Continue reading...

Rescued chicks favour seafood, suggesting they turn to urban diet as adults from necessity rather than preferenceHerring gulls have wrecked many a seaside picnic, pouncing on unsuspecting people trying to enjoy a Cornish pasty, a sandwich or a bag of chips.But a study from the University of Exeter suggests gull chicks prefer seafood even after being raised on a diet of the sort of scraps found around humans. Continue reading...

Same-sex sexual behaviours have been reported in a wide variety of species, and a new study suggests that, although animal scientists widely observe it, they seldom publish about same-sex sexual behaviour in primates and other mammals. To find out why and to hear about some of the examples of sexual diversity from the animal kingdom, Ian Sample hears from Josh Davis, a science writer at the Natural History Museum in London and author of the book A Little Gay Natural HistoryPenguin noises by permission of freesound.orgRead more on animal homosexual behaviour Continue reading...

Research on 26,000 people found those who stay up late scored better on intelligence, reasoning and memory testsThe idea that night owls who don't go to bed until the early hours struggle to get anything done during the day may have to be revised.It turns out that staying up late could be good for our brain power as research suggests that people who identify as night owls could be sharper than those who go to bed early. Continue reading...

Engineers working on problems preventing return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are on the ISSTwo Nasa astronauts from Boeing's troubled Starliner capsule may have to remain in space until the middle of August as engineers continue to work through technical problems that prevented their return in June.Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been onboard the International Space Station (ISS) since 6 June after the first crewed docking of the next-generation spacecraft. The test mission was scheduled to last about a week, but Starliner's undocking was delayed several times as faulty thrusters and then a series of small helium leaks raised safety concerns. Continue reading...

Comptonatus chasei roamed island 125m years ago and is most complete dinosaur fossil found in UK in a centuryA new species of large plant-eating dinosaur that roamed the Isle of Wight about 125m years ago has been identified.

This misjudged and unfunny romcom about how the US government planned to fake the moon landing in case the real one tanked undermines the Apollo 11 achievementWould you like to watch a goofy romcom about Bill Gates conspiring to implant 5G in millions of Americans' bodies using the Covid vaccine - but hilariously finding at the last minute he doesn't need to because they were all getting 5G anyway on their phones? Well, in the absence of all that, how about this relentlessly mediocre and misjudged romcom about how the US government planned to fake the moon landing in case the real one tanked?Scarlett Johansson plays slinky ad exec Kelly Jones who in the late 60s is sent to put some PR rocket fuel into Nasa's flagging publicity campaign, using her Madison Avenue tricks to convince wavering public and politicians that showering tax-dollars on the Apollo moon mission is still a good idea. At the same time she falls for the straight-arrow launch director Cole Davis, played by Channing Tatum with a weird proto-combover hairstyle and heavy pancake makeup. But Kelly is bullied by CIA man Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) into faking an alternative landing in a makeshift studio (kept secret from Davis) to be used if the real one doesn't work out - or even if it does work out, because they need the right kind of dramatic pictures. Continue reading...

The debate about the degree to which forests and fungi communicate raises the painful question of confirmation bias

You might have noticed that everyone has recently become a bit obsessed with blood sugar, or glucose. Wellness firms such as ZOE here in the UK - as well as Nutrisense, Levels and Signos - claim to offer insights into how our bodies process food based on monitoring our blood glucose, among other things. But many researchers have begun to question the science behind this. To find out what we know about blood glucose levels and our health, and whether the science is nailed down on personalised nutrition, Ian Sample hears from philosopher Julian Baggini, academic dietician Dr Nicola Guess of Oxford University and ZOE's chief scientist, and associate professor at Kings College London, Dr Sarah BerryRead Julian Baggini's article about the ZOE programme Continue reading...

Health service is at tipping point, say experts, and novel solutions' have been wrongly hypedThe NHS must concentrate on the basics of cancer treatment rather than the magic bullets" of novel technologies and artificial intelligence, or risk the health of thousands of patients, experts have warned.In a paper published in the journal Lancet Oncology, nine leading cancer doctors and academics say the NHS is at a tipping point in cancer care with survival rates lagging behind many other developed countries. Continue reading...

Newly recovered DNA shows the predators share little genetic ancestry with domestic dogs and are descended from ancient animals from ChinaScientists have for the first time recovered DNA from the remains of dingoes between 400 and 2,700 years old to find the predator's population was well established across the Australian continent thousands of years ago.According to the researchers, modern dingoes share little genetic ancestry with domestic dogs introduced into Australia from Europe but are instead descended from ancient dogs and wolves from China and the Tibetan plateau. Dingoes were closely related to modern New Guinea singing dogs, the research confirmed, with both sharing a common ancestor. Continue reading...

The answers to today's questionsEarlier today I asked you to Think Twice about the following puzzles. (It's the name of my new book, on puzzles that often catch us out.) Continue reading...

Researchers found differences in the gut microbes of autistic people, raising hopes for faster diagnosis Do gut microbes have a role in autism itself?Scientists have raised hopes for a cheap and simple test for autism after discovering consistent differences between the microbes found in the guts of autistic people and those without the condition.The finding suggests that a routine stool sample test could help doctors identify autism early, meaning people would receive their diagnosis, and hopefully support, much faster than with the lengthy procedure used in clinics today. Continue reading...

Your own thoughts are just part of the picture - relationships are vital to the way you thinkAs a neuropsychologist I feel as if I'm supposed to start this article withan attitude of deep reverence towards the brain. I might highlight itsstaggering number of neuronal connections (comparable in magnitude to the number of stars in the Milky Way), or draw your attention to our ever more sophisticated tools for neuroimaging getting us closer to a complete picture of how the brain works, or simply gesture towards the profound mystery of matter giving rise to experience.But although I do often experience something of that reverence, I think it can be a distraction in our efforts to understand thought. I know from clinical experience that if the brain is damaged, so too is our cognition, often in quite regular and predictable ways.Ifyou suffer damage to your frontal lobe then you will probably become less able to control your behaviour. If you have a stroke in the relevant part of your occipital lobe, your ability to make sense of visual information will be reduced. This brain-cognition link is an increasingly central tenet of our scientific culture but with it comes a sense that we should understand ourselves as analogous to machines. Remove a part of the hardware and the software is damaged. Continue reading...