Articles By: Cosmo

Cosmo graduated from Oxford University in 2008 with a Double First-Class Degree in Classics, having majored in Philosophy and Ancient History. He has since worked as a researcher for the Beckley Foundation, and designed and run this website...

Can Dope give us Hope?

The ban on hallucinogens is holding back vital research into their medical benefits, says Jake Wallis Simons. Last week, the news took on a decidedly trippy tinge. First, Professor David Nutt, sacked as an adviser to the Labour government for criticising its policy on drugs, sparked controversy...

December 14th, 2010 | Drug Policy | Read More

Drugs: the highs and lows

Natural or synthetic, legal or illegal, people have been taking drugs for thousands of years. High Society, a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, explores the culture of getting out of it By the end of planning her new exhibition, Caroline Fisher had come to an interesting conclusion. “It’s...

December 14th, 2010 | Arts | Read More

‘Tame’ bears guard Canadian marijuana farm

Police raiding a marijuana farm in western Canada were astonished to find black bears apparently guarding it. However initial alarm wore off when officers realised the 10 or so bears did not behave aggressively and were in fact docile and tame. Police believe dog food was used to attract the animals...

August 25th, 2010 | Drug Policy | Read More

An answer to the ‘Nature vs Nurture’ Debate?

Savage-Rumbaugh’s work with bonobo apes, which can understand spoken language and learn tasks by watching, forces the audience to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology — and how much by cultural exposure.

August 6th, 2010 | Evolution | Read More

Monkey Economicus?

Laurie Santos looks for the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primate relatives make decisions. A clever series of experiments in “monkeynomics” shows that some of the silly choices we make, monkeys make too. Laurie Santos studies primate psychology and monkeynomics —...

August 4th, 2010 | Social Insight | Read More

Did the ingredients for Life come from Space?

Ice and organic chemicals found on an asteroid back the theory that asteroids provided the Earth with the bare necessities of life Astronomers have detected a coating of ice and organic chemicals on one of the largest asteroids in the solar system. From the Guardian The space rock, called 24 Themis,...

July 28th, 2010 | Evolution | Read More

Mutation in key gene allows Tibetans to thrive

The gene mutation that enables people to thrive at high altitudes is much more common in Tibetans than Han Chinese and may represent the strongest instance of natural selection ever documented in a human population. From the Guardian, by Cian O’Luanaigh A gene that controls red blood cell production...

July 5th, 2010 | Evolution | Read More

Feathering the Falcon’s nest

ELON MUSK is not, to paraphrase James Watson’s bon mot about Francis Crick, a man given to modest moods. Today, though, he might be forgiven a little hubris. The co-founder of PayPal, and developer of the Tesla, the first modern electric sports car, has long wanted to get into the space business as...

June 13th, 2010 | Science & Technology | Read More

Entrepreneurs leading the Space Race

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — At the Bigelow Aerospace factory here, the full-size space station mockups sitting on the warehouse floor look somewhat like puffy white watermelons. The interiors offer a hint of what spacious living in space might look like. From the New York Times by Kenneth Chang “Every...

June 11th, 2010 | Science & Technology | Read More

How Dudus stayed ahead of the Police

The fugitive whose supporters have reduced the Jamaican capital to a war zone used improvised bombs, closed-circuit TV and cross-dressing mercenaries to defend his stronghold, police said yesterday. From The Times Online by James Bone As the manhunt for Christopher “Dudus” Coke entered its third...

June 7th, 2010 | Drug Policy | Read More