science and religion

Don’t worry, it’s mostly aesthetic.

Anatomy of a cross-cultural study.

The famed primatologist’s latest book is a conversation about the common ground among atheists and bonobos, both of whom make it clear that religion has, lamentably and unjustifiably, been given credit for human morality.

With Twitter, there is just the right mix of calculable dissemination and mystery. You know who has retweeted or favorited your prayer, but what of the followers of the followers of the followers who follow you who did not retweet or favorite but may have read and been affected by your prayer?

“Today we’d probably call Darwin something of a seeker. You might say he’s something of a proto-None.”

Perhaps it wasn’t just the pope’s health that sent him into retirement, but his consternation at our increasingly networked lives.

A recent piece by novelist Nathaniel Rich focused on eccentric Japanese researcher Shin Kubota, who studies the “immortal jellyfish.” But what are we after when we seek immortality? And does this quest tell us more about us than the natural world?

Mac is Catholic, DOS is Protestant.

The Dalai Lama recommends a radical new approach: a religionless religion, stripped of myth, superstition, and narrow dogmatism, and focused on the practical work of transforming human behavior.

In the beginning were the stars, the cosmos calmed, ordered, still. Like every other film announcing its mytho-logic from the get-go, the camera angle of Cloud Atlas’ first shot tilts from the milky heavens above, to life in the mortal-bound realm below.