Sheldrake first published his ideas in 1973, offering a selection of seemingly disconnected bits of evidence in support. One was the research of Harvard University researcher William McDougall, who, in the 1920s, studied the abilities of rats to correctly solve mazes. He found that children of rats that had learned the maze were able to run it faster. The first rats would get it wrong 165 times before being able to run it perfectly each time, but after a few generations it was down to 20. McDougall attributed this was due to some sort ...

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Morphogenetic field, Morphogenetic field - Research background, Morphogenetic field - Evidence, Morphogenetic field - Critical reception, Morphogenetic field - Continuing experiments, Morphogenetic field - Use in fiction

Read more here: » Morphogenetic field: Encyclopedia II - Morphogenetic field - Evidence

See also:

Morphogenetic field, Morphogenetic field - Research background, Morphogenetic field - Evidence, Morphogenetic field - Critical reception, Morphogenetic field - Continuing experiments, Morphogenetic field - Use in fiction

Read more here: » Morphogenetic field: Encyclopedia II - Morphogenetic field - Evidence

British biologist Rupert Sheldrake posited a theory of morphogenetic fields that has become well-known for the criticism and skepticism directed towards it by prominent members of the scientific community. Sheldrake trained as a plant physiologist and became interested in the way that living things took on their form. In particular, he was interested in how what began as a single cell that split into identical copies eventually changed to take on s ...

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Morphogenetic field, Morphogenetic field - Research background, Morphogenetic field - Evidence, Morphogenetic field - Critical reception, Morphogenetic field - Continuing experiments, Morphogenetic field - Use in fiction

Read more here: » Morphogenetic field: Encyclopedia II - Morphogenetic field - Research background

There are many formulations of the genetic disproof, but all have roughly the same structure as the following: Acquired traits do not affect an organisms genome. Only the genome is passed to the offspring. Therefore, acquired traits cannot be passed to the offspring. While this proof may be logically valid, it suffers from the material fallacy of begging the question, since no one who believes in See also:

Inheritance of acquired characters, Inheritance of acquired characters - Evidence, Inheritance of acquired characters - Genetic Disproof

Read more here: » Inheritance of acquired characters: Encyclopedia II - Inheritance of acquired characters - Genetic Disproof

The reception of the scientific community to Sheldrake's theories was critical. "Theories of everything" are generally greeted with skepticism, particularly if they are written in layman's language and not published in peer-reviewed journals, and even more so if the author claims insight into fields that they have no direct experience in. A New Science of Life was all three, and thus generally dismissed out of hand. Sheldrake seems to have become increasingly disenchanted with the science world's reaction. On his we ...

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Morphogenetic field, Morphogenetic field - Research background, Morphogenetic field - Evidence, Morphogenetic field - Critical reception, Morphogenetic field - Continuing experiments, Morphogenetic field - Use in fiction

Read more here: » Morphogenetic field: Encyclopedia II - Morphogenetic field - Critical reception

As he moved away from interest in mainstream institutions, he proposed a list of Seven Experiments That Could Change The World (1994), which included, among other things, the seed of his study of Dogs that Know When Their Owners are Coming Home (1999). In 2003 he published The Sense of Being Stared At, about a sense reported widely by a great many people. This included an experiment where people were blindfolded and having other people behind them either stare at them or at another target; the object beings stared ...

See also:

Morphogenetic field, Morphogenetic field - Research background, Morphogenetic field - Evidence, Morphogenetic field - Critical reception, Morphogenetic field - Continuing experiments, Morphogenetic field - Use in fiction

Read more here: » Morphogenetic field: Encyclopedia II - Morphogenetic field - Continuing experiments