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For many of us, the great scientific discoveries of the modern age \\u2014 the Big Bang, evolution, quantum physics, relativity \\u2014 point to an existence that is bleak, devoid of meaning, pointless. But in The Sacred Depths of Nature, eminent biologist Ursula Goodenough shows us that the scientific world view need not be a source of despair. Indeed, it can be a wellspring of solace and hope.

Shermer and Goodenough discuss: origins of her personal beliefs \\u2022 origins life, RNA, DNA, consciousness, language, morality \\u2022 myths and religions \\u2022 what it means to be \\u201creligious\\u201d \\u2022 religious naturalism \\u2022 where the laws of physics came from \\u2022\\xa0why the universe seems so strange \\u2022 chance and evolution \\u2022\\xa0fine tuning of the cosmos \\u2022 autocatalysis and emergence \\u2022 purpose of religion \\u2022\\xa0ethics and morality without religion.

Ursula Goodenough is Professor Emerita of Biology at Washington University. One of America's leading cell biologists, she is the author of a bestselling textbook on genetics, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served as President of the American Society of Cell Biology and of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. She lives in Chilmark, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard. Her book, The Sacred Depths of Nature: How Life Has Emerged and Evolved, is now in a second edition. She currently serves as president of the Religious Naturalist Association.