Gunnar O Babcock

Lecturer, Cornell University

Gunnar O Babcock is a lecturer in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. His research is primarily in the philosophy of biology and it appears in journals such as Philosophy of Science, Synthese and the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. He previously managed a non-profit domestication project in Alaska aimed at creating a sustainable form of northern agriculture.

Website

Written by Gunnar O Babcock

A sea turtle swimming underwater in clear turquoise water with sunlight shimmering on the surface.

essay

Philosophy of science

Elusive but everywhere

A new theory argues that unseen ‘fields’ guide all goal-directed things in the Universe, from falling rocks to voyaging turtles

Daniel W McShea & Gunnar O Babcock

Close-up of tiny purple sphere-like fungi growing on a dried brown leaf edge, with a soft out-of-focus background.

essay

Biology

The split-body problem

Why we need to stop thinking about parents, offspring and sex when we try to understand how life reproduces itself

Gunnar O Babcock