It is the morning of July 5, 1054 A.D. You wake to a thin crescent moon between the horns of Taurus the Bull, low in the eastern sky. And nearby — wonder of wonders — a brilliant new celestial object, apparently a star, but shining more brightly than any star you have ever seen, four times brighter than Venus, so bright that for the next several weeks it will be visible even in daylight.
Detail of a Hubble Space Telescope mosaic image of the Crab Nebula • NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)
Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash
Embodied soul
Last week CBS’s 60 Minutes did a story on a 12-year-old musical prodigy named Jay Greenberg. Jay has been composing since he was two, and apparently his music is of a professional quality. He is now studying at Juilliard in New York, and his teachers compare him to Mozart.
The "Hall of Flat Beasts" at the Natural History Museum, London • Photo by Fernando Losada Rodríguez (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Swimming in Jurassic seas
Among the fossil hunters who opened our eyes to Earth’s antiquity, none is more justly famed than Mary Anning, who lived in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England, during the early-19th century.
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
The big sting
I have my annual physical tomorrow, and I have a list of things to ask my doctor about: Allegra‑D, Ambien, Nexium, Celebrex, Viagra, Lipitor, etc., etc. I’m not even sure what all these drugs are for, but according to the ads I watch on TV, I’m supposed to ask my doctor if they are right for me.
A facial reconstruction of Homo floresiensis • Cicero Moraes et al (CC BY 4.0)
What makes us human?
About fifty years ago, a “stone age” tribe was discovered living in an isolated valley of Papua New Guinea. These people had virtually no contact with the outside world, no metal, no cooking vessels, no hearths.
Photo by Evan Leith on Unsplash
In the presence of the sacred
Last week I spent three days in Corvallis, Oregon, as a participant in a gathering celebrating “The Sacred in Nature.” I was invited by two of the conference organizers, philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore and poet Charles Goodrich, friends of nature and writers of exceptional grace.
Photo by Alli Remler on Unsplash
Birds do it. Bees do it. Even the blossoms in the trees do it.
Can a primrose be led down the primrose path?
Photo by James Baltz on Unsplash
Frankenfoods?
We don’t hear much about genetically-modified (GM) food in the United States. Farmers produce it, massively. Consumers eat it without complaint. The big agribusiness corporations salt away the profits.
Photo by Amaury Gutierrez on Unsplash
Prayer of the heart
Last week the New York Times had a front page story on scientific tests of the efficacy of prayer. The gist of the story was that although much energy and money gone into testing the power of prayer, not much has come of it.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Krispy Kreme nation
I’ve recently returned from the heartland, and I have one thing to report. Middle Americans are fat. Hugely, jeans-bustingly, roly-poly fat. The Bible Belt has busted its buckle.