You can see a bit of it in this photo.

Mainly, though, this is a picture of my wife’s swarm of bird feeders, which were also swarmed with birds this morning, which all fled the instant I stepped outside. There is a squirrel hiding in the photo, you might not be able to see it. They’re kind of sneaky.

You know what that means: I am welcoming all the spiders to come in from the cold and find a cozy place to stay in my house, like this Pholcus in my shower.

I was planning to go into phased retirement at the end of the next school year. I’d told the chair of my division, and had warned all my faculty colleagues, but now…I’m not so sure. This might be a bad time to suffer a reduction in income and to throw myself on the mercies of our health care system.

That is a stunning list of quacks and incompetents. Do I really want to give up my good university health insurance to rely on whatever these humbugs and charlatans cobble up? Fortunately, I have not yet made any legal commitments to retire, so I could rethink everything and continue to inflict myself on a few more cohorts of incoming students. I would rather they got a fresh new face, and that I got to relax for a few years — I know you might think I’ve got an easy job, but still I can feel my stress levels skyrocketing every semester.

So now I’m uncertain. I might have to linger on until the walls of the ivory tower crumble down around me. Which may not take long: Trump is also appointing the wife of a corrupt wrestling promoter, Linda McMahon, to be Secretary of Education. She has no qualifications, of course. This is a clear indication that the intent is to tear down the entire edifice of our school system, and I’m sure higher education is on the chopping block. Maybe I’ll just die with the American universities instead of getting a few years of rest.

Or less dramatically, I’ll be one of a multitude of casualties when the next epidemic sweeps across the nation.

Would you like some free biological illustrations that aren’t the products of an AI’s unrestrained imagination? NIH BioArt is such a source.

These are bold, simple illustrations with limitations. There is a section on arthropods, but it doesn’t contain any spiders, or much of anything outside ticks and mosquitos. If you want a graphic of a tick, it’s got you covered. Here’s a tick for you:

Gaze out from the coast in the UK and there’s a good chance you’ll spot the gentle spin of blades. What you don’t see, over the horizon, are the vast wind farms boasting pylons taller than skyscrapers. The largest in the world, 75 miles off the Yorkshire coast, will soon consist of 750 turbines over an area significantly larger than Greater London.

And the new government wants more. It has committed to tripling our wind capacity to 90 gigawatts (GW). If the wind were to blow on all of these future farms simultaneously, they could generate nearly three times the UK’s electricity requirement.

Reaching this hugely ambitious target requires a great deal of planning – including considering the full life cycle of these thousands of structures. Each blade has an expected lifespan of about 25 years, and many are already being replaced. Designed to withstand harsh weather, they are extremely hardy and therefore difficult to recycle.

Some imaginative small-scale solutions have been found, including repurposing blades as roofs, children’s playgrounds and pedestrian bridges. But the blades generally end up in landfill or are incinerated. We should be designing blades with end-of-life recycling in mind. This means finding a replacement for the incredibly durable epoxy resins that coat the blades. They serve to protect the blades in harsh conditions, but the resins are exceedingly difficult to separate from the carbon or glass fibre and reinforced plastic components. A great deal of research is ongoing to find ways to extract them.

An alternative approach, recently published in Science by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratories in the US, describes a plant-based resin. This appears to perform comparably to traditional epoxies. A nine-metre prototype blade has demonstrated manufacturability and recyclability using mild chemical processes, allowing all components to be reused.

This development could significantly reduce waste by preventing disposal in landfills, allowing the UK’s ambitious wind energy plans to proceed, while sup porting a greener circular economy.

This article is a preview from New Humanist's winter 2024 issue. Subscribe now.

Today is International Men’s Day. Finally! I’m so tired of being ignored all the other days of the year.

I do wish to complain, though. Most of the logos I can find on Google are all about facial hair, ties, and sometimes bowler hats. Is that all we are? We can do better.

The theme this year is “Positive Male Role Models.” I don’t want to hear about your positive role models, though — tell me how you’re trying to be a good role model.

There’s been a rare bit of good news when it comes to the energy transition: The International Energy Agency has found that the world’s renewable energy capacity is on course to outpace the 2030 goals set by governments.

That’s in large part thanks to China, which despite being by far the world’s largest carbon emitter is now at the helm of a green energy boom, according to a report published in October. The IEA said it expects renewable energy projects to be rolled out at an increasingly rapid pace over the next six years, and China is expected to account for almost 60 per cent of the renewable energy capacity installed worldwide during that time – between now and 2030 – giving it vast solar power capacity and slowing its coal power pipeline.

There is a catch, though. China’s green energy push has been associated with egregious human rights abuses. It is the world’s biggest producer of solar panels – and Xinjiang, the province at the epicentre of Beijing’s persecution of the Uyghur minority, is the source of nearly half of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, the primary material used in those panels. That has raised concerns about the use of forced labour in their production.

A 2021 report from Sheffield Hallam University indicated that all polysilicon manufacturers in Xinjiang participate in, or use raw materials from, coercive labour programmes. And the resulting panels are exported worldwide, including to the UK.

This is far from the only area where the green energy transition is being conducted in a way that clashes with human rights. Elsewhere in the world, abuses have been associated with the extraction of minerals needed for renewable power, as we explored in our recent report on lithium mining in Brazil and there have been accusations of land grabs to make way for solar farms.

So while the green energy transition is critical, and news that it is picking up pace – especially in the world’s largest emitter – is truly welcome, we must ensure that it does not replicate the damaging business practices and abuses of fossil fuel extraction. That includes looking at our role here in the UK and where supplies of solar panels, lithium batteries and more are coming from, and under what conditions.

This article is a preview from New Humanist's winter 2024 issue. Subscribe now.

This year, the Nobel Prize in Physics caused quite a stir. The winners, John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hin ton, were awarded the accolade “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks”. Their work has paved the way for advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that are now being used to make game-changing discoveries in particle physics, protein structure biology and materials science.

But you might be thinking, why physics? Isn’t this a computer science discovery? Many in the physics community had a similar reaction. The link is that Hopfield and Hinton both used concepts from physics – energy states, systems of interacting parts, and optimisation – to design AI models that mimic how the brain processes information.

Hopfield applied ideas from physics to create a model system for how the brain stores and recalls memories. He imagined neurons (brain cells) as be having like particles. The bonds between particles store energy, and nature likes physical systems to be in states where this stored energy is minimised. Any disruption that increases the energy will cause the system to rearrange itself until it returns to a state of balance, or the lowest energy configuration.

Hopfield proposed that this concept could be applied to neurons and memory, with the stored pattern represented as the lowest energy state of a neural network. In which case, the system could “remember” patterns – like an image or a sound – by rearranging to find the lowest energy state configuration, even if only part of the pattern is available.

Hinton took things a step further by creating a method that helps machines to learn from their mis takes. His algorithm helps AI systems learn by adjusting “weights” (connections between artificial neurons) to minimise errors, much as physical systems optimise energy states to achieve balance.

Both men took descriptions of the physical world and applied them to the digital realm, showing that physics can be used to make machines learn, remember and recognise patterns, just as humans do.

This article is a preview from New Humanist's winter 2024 issue. Subscribe now.

The far right is on the march. In the US, Donald Trump has been re-elected president, vowing to implement “the largest deportation program in American history” and “end left-wing gender insanity”. Meanwhile, at least six EU countries – Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia – have far-right parties in government, though mostly as part of coalitions. Elsewhere, such parties have only been kept out by a cordon sanitaire. In France, the National Rally – heir to the National Front – was blocked from entering government this year by a broad alliance of parties opposed to the National Rally’s politics. In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party took the largest share of the vote in September but looks set to be excluded from a coalition government as negotiations continue.

But even where the far right has been kept out of government, its rise has often dragged mainstream politics in its direction, particularly on issues such as migration, climate and human rights. We’ve seen this effect at home in the UK, where the Conservative Party has just elected Kemi Badenoch as its new leader – a politician who says that “not all cultures are equally valid” when it comes to controlling immigration and who would consider taking the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In the US, the Republican Party has been transformed by populism. But even the Democrats have been affected. According to an Economist analysis, Kamala Harris’s policies were pushed to the right, particularly on key populist issues like immigration and climate change, by her rivalry with Trump. The president-elect “has redefined both par ties’ agendas”, the magazine argued.

Recently, Vicente Valentim, an Oxford University re searcher and author of The Normalisation of the Radical Right, wrote that “political elites are key” when it comes to setting norms. Dots could be drawn, he argued, between recent political rhetoric in the UK – from mainstream parties even more than fringe ones – and the riots that broke out over the summer, during which mosques and asylum-seekers were attacked. Individuals may have felt emboldened to act on views that had been normalised and legitimised by people in positions of power.

For the next four years, we will also have to contend with the influence of Trump on our politics. So while in the UK we may feel relieved that such parties are not in government right now, it’s only part of the battle. Even outside government, the effect on the broader political life of our democracies can be almost as dangerous.

This article is a preview from New Humanist's winter 2024 issue. Subscribe now.

As of 31 October, buffer zones are now officially in force around abortion clinics in England and Wales – finally protecting women exercising their right to choose from harassment. Similar legislation in Scotland came into force a week earlier, and in Northern Ireland last year.

Protests outside abortion clinics are more commonly associated with the US but they are also a problem here in the UK. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said recent incidents had included dozens of activists standing outside a clinic for hours, protesters displaying graphic images of foetuses and Bible verses outside a hospital, and one man staging a protest in the waiting room of a clinic.

The new law makes it illegal to try to influence patients within a 150-metre radius around clinics, or to obstruct anyone from entering, with the possibility of an unlimited fine for those who break the rules. In England and Wales, the safe zones had already entered law in May 2023 but the then Conservative government postponed enforcement while it drafted guidance that would grant religious exemptions, including permitting “silent prayer” outside clinics. In the meantime, clinics were left unprotected. Under new guidance issued to police under Labour, silent prayer will be dealt with on a “case-by-case basis”.

Some Christian groups have framed this as thought policing and a breach of the right to religious freedom. But these objections must be balanced against the patients’ right to privacy and protection from harassment. It is a relief that after years of women enduring distress at the hands of protesters for nothing more than accessing the healthcare to which they are legally entitled, this protection is finally being enforced.

This article is a preview from New Humanist's winter 2024 issue. Subscribe now.

Welcome to another blog post and many thanks for your kind comments on my previous post. At CSICON I had the pleasure of interviewing Penn & Teller about their work. I am a huge fan and believe that they have created some of the world’s greatest magic. I have known Teller for many years, and in this post, I want to look at a great technique that he uses to generate a sense of joy.

In 59 Seconds , I wrote about the power of gratitude. As I explain in this video, we all have something positive in our lives, such as great friends, good health, a nice job or a fun hobby.  As time goes on, we get used to what we have, and it slowly fades from our mind. To prevent this happening, I came up with a simple exercise based around this research. Just before you go to bed, briefly write down one thing in your life for which you have a sense of gratitude, or the best thing that’s happened to you during the last day. This technique is designed to boost wellbeing by reminding you of the good things in your life.

In one of Penn & Teller’s theater programmes, Teller described a secret ritual that he often carries out after a show. On the way back to his dressing room he allows himself to wonder whether he will leave his theater that night and not perform the show again. Not surprisingly, this thought fills him with intense sadness. Then, a few moments later he reminds himself that that moment hasn’t come, and he experiences a wonderful sense of joy. Teller invites readers to think about an aspect of their lives that they love, and to imagine that at some point in the future that part of their life no longer exists. Finally, they are asked to remind themselves that right now they can still enjoy what they have (at least for the moment!).

Teller’s technique is a wonderful way of eliciting a sense of gratitude, living in the moment, and valuing what we have. It is a version of an idea called ‘mental subtraction’, and research suggests that it is a highly effective way of boosting wellbeing. I have never seen Teller’s technique in the psychological literature, but it would make the basis of a wonderful study.  Oh, here is the great man performing his iconic routine, Shadows.

And if you want to see Penn & Teller live (please do!), then check out their show and tour here. 

See you next time!

I am delighted to say that I am going to regularly blog about quirky things that have captured my imagination. I hope your curiosity will also be tickled! You can follow the posts here or over on Substack. To kick things off, here are some thoughts on the strange link between my life, Paul Daniels, mathematics and wrist watches.

I became interested in magic at a young age, and when I was thirteen years old I saw master magician Paul Daniels in his summer season show at Bournemouth. It was the first time that I had seen a big magic show, and I loved it. Recently, my magic pal Paul Kieve kindly gave me a poster from the show, and it’s amazing to see that it ran six days a week throughout the entire season. Paul Daniels worked hard!
Anyway, I digress. In my favourite part of the show, Paul asked someone to call out any number and then placed 16 large silver numbers onto a giant board. Amazingly, the columns, rows, and diagonals on the board added up to the chosen number! Magicians refer to this as a Magic Square and that performance sparked my lifelong fascination with mathematical magic. For instance, here is a Quirkology video based on the work of mathematician Martin Gardner…

 

A few weeks ago, I received a mysterious package from Chris Cross. Chris buys and sells magic and has a large collection of Paul Daniels props. I had written an article on the impact that Paul and the Magic Square had had on my life, and Chris had kindly sent me one of Paul’s original numbers!

Paul’s influence on me extends beyond mathematical magic. It’s vital that any act doesn’t under- or over-run, and Paul had a reputation for always finishing on time. How did he do it? Openly looking at a watch onstage is never a good idea, and Paul’s secret was as simple as it was effective. He placed a clock inside his onstage box/table, and glanced at the clock each time he took a prop out of the box! I loved the idea and came up with my own version for talks. Whenever I speak, I wear a watch with the face on the inside of my wrist. If my slides are being projected on a screen to my right, the watch is on my right wrist and if the slides are on my left, the watch is on my left wrist. When I need to know the time, I just gesture to the slides and appear to look at them – in reality, I am secretly glancing at my watch! Every time I do it, I think of Paul!

I last met Paul and Debbie McGee when we were all performing at a convention organised by the brilliant Portuguese magician Luis de Matos. At the meeting I was delighted to unveil a new version of the Magic Square. What goes around, comes around.

If you want to see Luis’ wonderful show Impossible, it has just opened at the Folies Bergère in Paris.

This thread has been created for thoughtful, rational discussion on subjects for which there are not currently any dedicated threads. Please note that our Comment Policy applies as usual. There is a link to this at the foot of the page. DISCLAIMER: All comments posted throughout this website are the personal views of users and …

From the Richard Dawkins Foundation Newsletter. Subscribe here. Hello! While Election Day proper is not until next week, millions of Americans have already voted. Elections are always important, but this year feels particularly significant. The choice this year is not just about individual candidates or policy agendas; as Public Religion Research Institute President Robert Jones said …

I am a huge fan of 1930s paranormal researcher Harry Price. Price carried out lots of amazing investigations, including studying an alleged talking mongoose and trying to use an ancient spell to turn a goat into a Prince. However, he also investigated Borley Rectory in Essex, and crowned it the most haunted house in England. The Rectory was associated with lots of strange phenomena (including ghostly nuns, mysterious voices, and chilling apparitions), but burned down in 1939.

Working from original photographs, eyewitness descriptions and detailed floor plans, we have have recreated one of the most haunted rooms in the building using virtual reality.  Now, people can step back in time, re-visit the Rectory, and see if they still have weird experiences in this creepy space.

The team consisted of University of Hertfordshire technician Alex Eckford, paranormal expert Paul Adams, and myself. The room (known as The Blue Room) happens to be almost identical in size to one of the labs in the Psychology Department, and so participants can fully immerse themselves in the space by  touching the walls, sitting in chairs, etc.. We can also add virtual ghosts and other strange happenings! It will be fascinating to see how people respond to this space all these years later.

I am excited about the project and love the idea of bringing this special space back from the ashes. If you have any memories or information about Borley Rectory, or would like to get involved in the project, please get in contact.

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From the Richard Dawkins Foundation Newsletter. Subscribe here. Hello! America is becoming less religious, particularly younger segments of the population. But that doesn’t mean fundamentalists have given up. A recent court case out of Indiana demonstrates that the teaching of evolution is still under assault by those who reject science in favor of the biblical account …

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Two quick bits of news from me.

First, my new book on how learning magic promotes wellbeing is out very soon. It’s called Magic Your Mind Happy, and I am very excited because it provides a new perspective on magic. I will be doing lots of events to promote the book and it’s available to pre-order here.

Second, I have invented a new optical illusion! Well, to be more accurate, a new variant on a known illusion. The Beuchet Chair is one of my favourite illusions and involves a person appearing to be much smaller than they are. Invented by Jean Beuchet in the 1960s, it relies upon forced perspective created by chair legs that are close to the observer, and a large chair seat further away.

I have come up with a variant. This one centres around a plinth rather than a chair. The legs of the original chair are replaced by two pieces of hinged cardboard (these can easily be cut from foamboard and hinged with tape), and the large seat and back of the chair are replaced with a piece of cloth.

The hinged screen forms the base of the plinth and is positioned in front of the photographer, and the cloth appears to form the top of the plinth and is placed on the floor behind the screen. To help to create a sense of continuity between the large cloth and the plinth, two small pieces of matching cloth are draped along the top of the screens. The front and side panels of the screen help to conceal the front and left edge of the cloth, and make lining up the photograph much easier than in the original illusion.

This entire set up can be constructed in a short space of time, is quick to set up, and folds flat after use. Because of this, it’s ideal for those wanting to create a convincing version of this classic illusion that is easy and cost effective to build, assemble, move, and store. I hope that you like it.

UPDATE: So, it turns out that illusion creator Olivier Redon had exactly the same idea  a few years ago. You can see his great version here and watch his other illusion videos here.

Hi there,

I am delighted to say that I am back performing at the Edinburgh Magic Festival this year.

First, on the 28th December I will be exploring the strange world of illusion, mystery and magic in a show called MIND MAGIC. This will involve showing some of the best optical illusions in the world, revealing whether paranormal phenomena really exist, showing how we can all achieve the impossible, explaining how to transform a tea towel into a chicken, and much more. All the info is here.

Then, on the 28th and 29th December, I am presenting a new and experimental show about the invention of magic. This will be an intimate affair for a small number of people. It will examine how magicians create magic, and explore the mind and work of a magical genius who created the world’s greatest card trick. Info here.

So, if you are around, please come along, and fun will be had!

check, 1, 2…is this thing on? hi everyone! it’s been a while.

Someone contacted me hoping to find young atheists who might be interested in being part of a new series. I’m not particularly interested in having my mug on TV, but I would love to have some great personalities represent atheism on the show, so I offered to repost his email on my blog: My name […]

All throughout my youth, I dreamed of becoming a writer. I wrote all the time, about everything. I watched TV shows and ranted along with the curmudgeons on Television Without Pity about what each show did wrong, convincing myself that I could do a better job. I flew to America with a dream in my […]

A friend linked me to this. I was a sobbing mess within the first minute. I sometimes wonder why I feel such a strong kinship to the LGBT community, and I think it’s because I’ve been through the same thing that many of them have. So I watched this video and I cried, because, as […]

UPDATE #1: I got my domain back! Many thanks to Kurtis for the pleasant surprise: So I stumbled upon your blog, really liked what I saw, read that you had drama with the domain name owner, bought it, and forwarded it here. It should work again in a matter of seconds. I am an atheist […]