We know of at least 4,000 planets outside our solar system, writes the astronomer Samantha Lawler, but we will not be visiting any of them soon—nor do we know if any are inhabitable. Exploring space teaches us the fragility of Earth.
Science
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Why do Catholic priests keep popping up in sci-fi?
Science fiction writers continue to turn to religious characters, imagery and ideas to sort things out.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Why I gave up my job at NASA to become a nun
I have learned that belief is not unique to those who consider themselves religious.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Why the U.S. going to the moon still matters to immigrants
If the frontier of the U.S.-Mexico border represents the America that would exclude me, space is the frontier that invites me.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: One giant leap for mankind
The culmination of President John F. Kennedy’s vision, the lunar landing was the seminal event of a decade that began with promise and ended with sorrow, including assassinations, wars and social upheaval.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Church experts: Vaccines preserve ‘moral health’ of communities
Doctors, physicians and immunologists have come forward to debunk the loud din of the anti-vaccination movement, and the Catholic Church has joined them.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: When giants roamed the earth
Armed with enthusiasm, command of his material and a knack for analogy, Steve Brusatte has written a book that incarnates dinosaurs with color, sound and fury.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
Can you find God in a black hole?
Thanks to the image released by the Event Horizon Telescope consortium, for the first time we have direct proof that a black hole is more than a theoretical construct.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Templeton Prize winner believes science and spirituality are complementary
Marcelo Gleiser, a native of Brazil, became the first Latin American to be awarded the Templeton Prize. A professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College, Gleiser, who is a professed agnostic, was acclaimed as a “scientist who rejects the notion that science alone can lead to ultimate truths about the nature of reality.”
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
Could drugs be a pathway to God?
Psychedelics can blur the line between science and spirituality—but Christian mysticism cannot be studied.