First signs of methane and water vapor on planets outside the solar system: Scientists have used Hubble to detect methane in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star for the first time and to confirm the existence of water vapor there as well.

Paul Scofield, aka, the Man for All Seasons, has passed away, of leukemia, at age 86. Scofield was a great actor and, like Max Von Sydow, had the virtue (if you can call it that) of looking old while still young, so that he seemed the same age from the 1960s right through the turn… Continue reading

Holy ThursdayEdward J. Oakes, SJ, with some striking thoughts on Ian McEwan’s Atonement (the novel and the movie), in light of Pope Benedict’s recent encyclical. What struck me in reading this intricate work of metafiction was the implicit motor of the plot: Briony knew the devastation she wreaked and knew equally she had to atone… Continue reading

Andrew Sullivan completely misses Gerson’s point. But Joan Walsh doesn’t: “As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me … I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who… Continue reading

Michael Gerson on Obama’s speech: But haven’t George Bush and other Republican politicians accepted the support of Jerry Falwell, who spouted hate of his own? Yes, but they didn’t financially support his ministry and sit directly under his teaching for decades. The better analogy is this: What if a Republican presidential candidate spent years in… Continue reading