This week we hear from Michael Brooks – a consultant for New Scientist magazine and author of 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, in which he uncovers some extraordinary mysteries that scientists have been unable to resolve. Why can't we see 96% of the universe? Is free will an illusion? And why do we bother having sex? (evolutionarily speaking, that is)
Unless you spent last week living in an underground bunker, you can't have failed to notice the climate change conference in Copenhagen. It was convened to discuss new findings in climate science that have come to light since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its last report in 2007. The Guardian's David Adam spoke to the head of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, about the deep carbon cuts that scientists and campaigners say the US needs to make.
And James Randerson recently chaired a debate between the Cambridge palaeontologist Simon Conway-Morris and Elaine Morgan, advocate of the "aquatic ape" hypothesis, at the Bath Literature Festival. We bring you some highlights from the talk, including their take on the purposefulness of evolution and the futility of arguing with creationists.
Plus, we have news of the European Space Agency's new mission to map Earth's gravity, how you can blame your stupidity on your old man, a rock-throwing chimp that's challenged our ideas of the uniqueness of human foresight, and how mindreading might be closer than we know you're thinking.
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