when you go to a conference on evolution, it’s hard to miss the one guy in the room who actually looks like darwin. a philosopher amongst an auditorium full of scientists, he joked that his uncanny resemblance to ol’ charles might have been the reason he was invited in the first place. dan dennett, co-director [...]

steven pinker is a psychologist at harvard who specializes in the evolution of language. in an appearance on the colbert report he was asked to explain how the mind works in five words or less. his answer: brain cells fire in patterns. he is a charter member of the luxuriant and flowing hair club for [...]

i was raised in an atheist jewish household in two of the biggest (and most liberal) cities in the country. my brother and i never even went to hebrew school. i like to say that we’re more jew-ish than jewish. we love matzo ball soup. we’re expert complainers. but no bar mitzvahs. i have no [...]