human brain

Nature envelops one on a rainy day in spring more than on a sunny one. Even in a narrow strip of municipal parkland, the earth returns and belongs to its…

“Ignorance is our natural state; it is a product of the way the mind works.” Statements like that, proffered by cognitive scientists Philip Fernbach and Steven Sloman in the New…

It’s near sunset, and the light subtly changes on a gray, cold day. Sky, trees and land brighten, as if lit by a florescent lamp. The white bark of a…

It’s widely known that some Neanderthals buried their dead, inspiring some anthropologists to deduce that Neanderthals were religious. Perhaps we should find out what it means to be religious before…

Last week I had a possible insight that changed my perspective on the human crisis. I’m still questioning and thinking through it, but essentially, it is that Homo sapiens has…

A woodpecker lands across the stream shortly after I arrive. I’ve never seen one drinking at the water’s edge before. Something about the late afternoon light, the rippling water, the…

Still a young man, he spent 9 years in a Japanese monastery. With shaved head and monk’s dress he looks the part. But from the start of the conversation he…

Since a grasslands fire swept leapt the creek about a decade ago, the great sycamore on its banks has been slowly dying. Sitting under it now is a reminder that…