Vihren Bouzov (VT): Scientific Rationality as Normative System. Marcelo Gleiser on searching for the essence of physical reality. Philosophy Lives: Why Stephen Hawking’s attempt to banish natural theology only shows why we need it (and more and more). Are physicists wasting their time hunting for a theory that unites the forces of nature? Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking. Does the universe have a purpose? The "point" is beside the point. Charles Seife reviews The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (and more and more and more and more and more and more). From Quarks to Mind: Is our existence inevitable? Evidence emerges that laws of physics are not fine-tuned for life. A review of Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction by Thomas Dixon. A review of Everywhere and Everywhen: Adventures in Physics and Philosophy by Nick Huggett. From a curriculum standpoint, is science religion? Physics as Metaphysics: Is there a quantum spirituality? There is now even more evidence that life on Earth may have been seeded by material from asteroids or comets. An excerpt from The Science and Humanism of Stephen Jay Gould by Richard York and Brett Clark. Adam Frank on how life is more meaningful than mere facts can convey. A review of The Four Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality by Richard Panek. Don't let "miracles" trump science: The Roman Catholic church has either a very good or a very bad sense of humor.
