Does Religion Drive Evolution? And Other Questions from the Cutting Edge of Biohistory
New theories hold that aspects of human culture—religion, art, and economy—have an impact on our evolution as a species. And we’re changing fast.
Evolution and Creation Fight to the Death: What Emerges from the Ashes
You have to look long and hard in the public-square discussion today to find bilateral calls for complementarity and partnership. Yet why should the relations between evolution and creation constitute a zero-sum game?
You Are More Than Your Brain: A Revolutionary Theory of Consciousness
Science tells us that our minds, our consciousness, our very selves, reside in our physical brains. But what if this model, relying as it does on a seventeenth century understanding of mind and matter, is outdated? Philosopher Alva Noë proposes a revolutionary alternative.
Does War Make Sense? Science and Religion on the Battlefield
From thermodynamic war, to cybernetic battle, to the emergence of the “chaoplexic,” a new book by Antoine Bousquet explains what war means in the modern era.
Teaching the Dalai Lama’s Monks: Better Religion Through Science
A scientist/professor in an experimental program teaching science to the Dalai Lama’s monks explains why this project is so much bigger than this one program, bigger even than working to reconcile religion and science. Think: globalization.
Would Manny Ramirez’s Clone Use Steroids?
Unless you are a geneticist the answer may surprise you. The ethical problems with cloning turn out to be the result of some confusion about what cloning is, and isn’t.
RD10Q: Thinking About God Makes Your Brain Bigger
A new book argues that spiritual practices, be they secular or religious, are inherently good for you. Meditation and prayer—be it about God, or evolution, or peace, or the Big Bang—will actually change your brain.
The question of whether Muslims believe in evolution is a knotty one. Here's some background.
RDBook: Technology and Tradition: Carlson’s Indiscrete Image
A philosopher connects the dots between mysticism and modernity, arguing that technology—human invention—is not in opposition to an idealized state of nature, but is part of an ever-evolving created world.
Evolution Sunday: Pastors Celebrate Darwin
A professor of biology gets clergy on board in the fight against those who would teach biblical creationism in America’s schools, showing that science does not always lead to atheism. Sorry, Dawkins.
Double Helix: The Environment Is the Economy
If science and religion had learned to work together, would we be in the same position—fighting two wars while dealing with increasing water shortages, rising energy costs and a tanking economy? Probably not.
On the "God-spot," the psycho-phone, and mapping the mystical brain...
Are God and Aliens Compatible?
A recent statement by a Vatican astronomer opens a theological can of worms...
Get ready for more of the hoary old “raving evangelicals” vs. “atheist scientists” cant. Note to scientists: This is no time for smugness.
What the science of homosexuality tells us—and what it doesn’t.