Lives on Earth

3.8 Billion Years

  • The Evolution of Laughing and Crying

    How have we humans come to be so skillful at smiling, laughing, and crying? Other notable human behaviors – reproducing, fighting, sharing, hunting –  have easily visible predecessors among most animals. But our repertoire of daily grins, laughs, and tears… Continue reading

  • Life after Dying? Absolutely

    I and many – not all – of the people I know feel quite sure that life ends at death. And yet we rely on an afterlife of a natural kind: other people’s lives will continue after we have gone.… Continue reading

  • Lessons From the Origins of Life

    I’ve been following discussions over at the Religious Naturalist Association about the origins of life and the research by scientists Terrence Deacon and Jeremy Sherman. Their ideas are complicated, drawn from physics, chemistry, biology, and philosophy. But as I’ve absorbed… Continue reading

  • Size Matters

    Small things are difficult to see. The smallest things are difficult even to imagine. We are missing life at its smallest, overlooking living things that came before us and make us possible. We need to look inside the box more… Continue reading

  • Are There Any GOOD Viruses?

    Are there any viruses that are good for us? Any that will rejuvenate a liver, improve the digestion, smooth the skin – in addition to those that bring on polio, smallpox, Lyme, HIV, and the flu? After all, certain bacteria… Continue reading

  • Stem Cells: How To Build a Body

    Until recently I didn’t know much about stem cells except that they produce other kinds of cells and that the medical research on them was controversial. But in the context of the history of life, it turns out, their importance… Continue reading

  • Fertility and the Evolution of Ball Games

    The multiple TVs at a local  bar last summer showed all the following games: baseball, football, tennis, soccer, basketball, and golf. Most of the time, on all the screens, the focus was on the ball. Was it in or out,… Continue reading