The creation of global mushroom maps is unearthing new species and teaching us how they support Earth’s ecosystem ...

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 slightly, becoming “Does life have a purpose?” One can quibble over the ...

Hopeful Pessimism (Princeton University Press 2025) by Mara van der Lugt ...

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

This article is a preview from the Autumn 2017 edition of New Humanist. From Bacteria to Bach and Back by Daniel Dennett (Allen Lane) Meticulously scientific and scientist-friendly, Daniel Dennett is ...

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 ...

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 ...

God: An Anatomy (Pan Macmillan) by Francesca Stavrakopoulou. We don’t know his real name. In early inscriptions it appears as Yhw, Yhwh, or simply Yh; but we don’t know how it was spoken. He has come ...

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 ...

Historian Jonathan Israel's magisterial three-volume history of the 'Radical Enlightenment' is the intellectual version of a JCB, ripping up the terrain around him. Kenan Malik follows him down the ...

The decision to not have kids on ethical grounds is no longer a fringe, Western trend “Life is full of suffering” is a sentiment that resonates with many. The doctrines of most of the major religions ...

Image from Seamless Transitions, a short film about the UK's immigration detention system by James Bridle, on show at the Photographer's Gallery, London, until 15 April. This article is a preview from ...