What Darwin's Doubters Get Wrong

Michael Ruse wonders why evolution is still being debated. Our readers weigh in:

clearmind: "The question is, if everything we have and everything we are--from our miraculously finely-tuned and well-ordered physical structures, to our emotional outlooks, our religions, our cultures--are all determined by their having survival value, then why do we seek so much beyond mere survival?"

rchill: "I still can spend hours looking through my microscope. But, the wonder of life is still not 'evidence' of a designer. Science requires a natural explanation, requires its practitioners to be 'doubting Thomases', whereas faith is belief beyond proof; its concern and focus is the spiritual world, not natural world."

Peer Review

Percolator: The Podcast

  • Poverty, Reconsidered: Ever since economists started trying to keep tabs on poverty, they've done so by measuring income. But what if that's the wrong way of going about things?

  • The Mix Tapes of Osama bin Laden: Neither CNN nor FBI could find much use for Osama bin Laden's personal collection of audiocassettes, but Flagg Miller is listening, and he says there's much to be learned.

Subscribe to Percolator, The Chronicle's podcast about ideas and how they happen.

Arts & Letters Daily

Simple-minded moral posturing on Darfur by celebrities and rights activitsts has made the conflict even worse. More

Campus Viewpoint

Information provided by participating institution

University of Massachusetts Amherst icon

UMass Amherst is home to a thriving international community of researchers, teachers, and students striving to connect their work to the needs of the region, nation, and world from a beautiful setting in western New England.

View Campus Viewpoint