From New Statesman, predictions of the Rapture may have come to nothing but some still insist that the end is nigh — as 2012 approaches, Martin Rees and other leading scientists discuss the fate of the planet and its people; and Richard Dawkins called him a "compliant quisling" for accepting the Templeton Prize — Martin Rees explains his decision (and more: "I've got no religious beliefs at all"). An interview with Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director of CERN, on the search for the Higgs Boson, the limits of human knowledge and the distinction between science and religion. Many of the hottest topics in science challenge traditional Muslim beliefs about the world — how those conflicts are resolved could determine the future of science. From the New Atlantis, Hillel Ofek on why the Arabic world turned away from science. A review of On Being: A Scientist's Exploration of the Great Questions of Existence by Peter Atkins. A review of How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser (and more). Who is the greatest biologist of all time? An interview with Armand Leroi. Richard York and Brett Clark on Stephen Jay Gould’s critique of progress. In the rush to prove bias in a scientist who erroneously used skull size measurements to demonstrate racial differences, the great historian Stephen Jay Gould may have succumbed to bias himself. It's science, but not necessarily right: Why science struggles to correct its mistakes. The science of right and wrong: Can data determine moral values? Can science provide the ultimate explanation of human nature? No, says Simon Blackburn, who tells us there's life in the philosophical armchair yet. Can science help us tell right from wrong? Sam Harris certainly thinks so (and more and more and more and more and more). From Philosophy Bites, do we have an innate predisposition to form certain sorts of moral judgements? John Mikhail thinks we do.
