The stigma against napping is finally starting to wane — and for good reason. Taking a timeout to sleep during the day does much more than just give us a quick energy boost. It also confers some serious cognitive and health advantages as well. Here’s what the latest science tells us. Unlike 85% of all Read more
Most things sound convincing when Morgan Freeman says them. The host of Through the Wormhole and the voice of God himself recently told told Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show that the Higgs Boson “explains everything – creation.” “Oh oh”, replies Ferguson, “that’s not going to be popular.” The “science puts God out of a job” Read more
Rainbows are a universal sign of hope, although they only exist in the eyes of the people who see them and sometimes in their photographs. How intriguing then that biblical storytellers saw this trick of light as the sign of God’s promise. Talking about the God that was nowhere to be seen before science discovered the unsettling Read more
Humanism in its most virulent form tries to make science into a religion. It is awash with the intolerance of enthusiasm. For a start, there is the near-hysterical repudiation of religion. To quote Richard Dawkins: “I think there’s something very evil about faith … it justifies essentially anything. If you’re taught in your holy book Read more
The tutorial in 8th grade biology that Republicans got after one of their members of Congress went public with something from the wackosphere was instructive, and not just because it offered female anatomy lessons to those who get their science from the Bible. Take a look around key committees of the House and you’ll find a Read more
There is no conflict between evolutionary biology and belief in God, two professors have asserted during a session on faith and science during the international Rimini Meeting in Italy. The annual event, in the northern Italian resort city of Rimini, brings together international experts on religion, politics, economics, science and the arts to debate cutting-edge Read more
1. What Are Fermi Bubbles? No, this is not a rare digestive disorder. The bubbles are massive, mysterious structures that emanate from the Milky Way’s center and extend roughly 20,000 light-years above and below the galactic plane. The strange phenomenon, first discovered in 2010, is made up of super-high-energy gamma-ray and X-ray emissions, invisible to the Read more
Professor Richard Dawkins and Sydney’s Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, battled it out for an hour on Australian Television. In a debate that the Sydney Morning Herald says bordered on barely concealed mutual disdain, boiled over more than once and the Science v God, Atheist v Belief, Logic v Faith debate left all parties bruised. Pell was given Read more
Brother Guy Consolmagno gets a lot of interesting looks and questions when he tells people he’s an astronomer for the Vatican Observatory. “That’s the reason the Vatican has an observatory, precisely so people will get that puzzled look on their face,” jokes the affable American, who’s visiting Vancouver to help Catholics celebrate the 400th anniversary Read more
Pope Benedict XVI met with participants of the International Conference “Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture”, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture. In his address, the Holy Father spoke about the “truly remarkable contributions” science can make to promoting and safeguarding human dignity. At the same time, he warned that scientists must be attentive to ethical concerns in pursuing their research, so that the inviolable dignity of each human being is never compromised.
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