As big questions go, you can’t get much bigger than “What is the meaning of life?” It is a question that is often modified ...

Think of a mystery musical instrument. If a physicist is told the loudness of the sound it makes at every possible frequency, ...

The Landscapes of Science and Religion: What Are We Disagreeing About? (Oxford University Press) by Nick Spencer and Hannah ...

Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right (University of Minnesota Press) by Jordan S. Carroll Right-wingers are usually seen as political advocates for the past, associated with ...

In every chapter we find the author in a different bothy (11 in Scotland, one in Wales), usually escaping some undetailed ...

For many generations in societies shaped by Christianity, monogamy has been the almost undisputed champion of relationship norms. In Britain and the US, it has been held up as the dominant – really ...

This article is a preview from the Winter 2017 edition of New Humanist. How many of us haven’t in some idle moment imagined what the world might be like if it had always been run by women? Not that ...

Most scientific breakthroughs take years of research – but often, serendipity provides the final push, as these historic discoveries show .

The popular association of atheism with immorality is a particular deterrent for women who have religious doubts, since in Arab society they are expected to be “virtuous” in order to marry. “It is ...

The view that more information produces better decisions is at odds with the world around us.

The Good Book AC Grayling, photographed by Des Willie , Anthony Grayling tells me as he welcomes me into his office, “is a lifetime’s work”. Dressed in a neat navy suit, his hair is sustained behind ...

The great Buddha statue in Nha Trang, Vietnam by Petr Ruzicka On paper, Buddhism looks pretty good. It has a philosophical subtlety married to a stated devotion to tolerance that makes it stand out ...