Lives on Earth

continuity

  • Genesis for Non-Theists

    Creation narratives are lively stories.  In the Bible, God creates the universe and earth in six days. In other traditions, creatures are dismembered, huge eggs hatch, birds create land.   Even science’s own creation narrative starts with a Bang. And… Continue reading

  • Darwin’s Dark Vision: “Ten Thousand Sharp Wedges”

    Darwin has gotten to me. The third chapter of On the Origin of Species has changed how I look at nature. The name of the chapter sounds quaint at first: The Struggle for Existence. But it is an apt name… Continue reading

  • Before Heart Surgery

    Next week a surgeon will remove my aortic heart valve and sew in a new one. It’s a brutal thing, this fact that someone will carve into my chest and carve out a piece of my heart. But it’s necessary… Continue reading

  • Seasons and Heartbeats

    Age: 68. These days the seasons are less like a perfume to me and more like a clock. When I was young, autumns were my favorite season—painfully romantic, full of the future, life-enhancing and lonely at the same time. The… Continue reading

    Seasons and Heartbeats

  • Video: “Big Bang Big Boom”—A History of Life

    “Big Bang Big Boom.” Here’s a history of all life in 9 minutes of wonderful stop-motion graffiti art on old buildings, empty lots, and industrial stuff, by Italian mural street artist Blu. We watch an animated universe since its beginning—angular bits multiplying… Continue reading

    Video: “Big Bang Big Boom”—A History of Life