globalbriefs


News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all.


Survey Says Most Scientists Don’t See Science and


Spirituality at Odds


Research for a new book, Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, reports that a sig- nificant number of scientists from elite universi- ties do not see much of a conflict between their work and their faith. (Those who do see such conflict tend to be atheists or agnostics.) Author Elaine Howard Ecklund, a Rice University soci- ologist, also learned that the younger scientists,


who are more likely to be religious, feel less of a sense of conflict than their older counterparts.


While believing scientists, who comprised 70 percent of the nearly 1,500 sur- vey participants, may feel beleaguered by their non-believing colleagues, Ecklund found that the strongly anti-religious views found among “new atheists,” such as Oxford University Biologist Richard Dawkins, are in the minority. “What religious scientists fail to realize, however, is that a significant proportion of their col- leagues, [even if] not religious themselves, are open to talking and thinking about matters of faith,” she comments.


Scientists who say they are “spiritual, but not religious” range from those who find their secular spirituality in nature or teaching science, to those engaged in such practices as yoga and meditation. Ecklund writes that such spiritual entre- preneurs may help in bridging the perceived gulf between science and religion, because they see their practice of spirituality as flowing into their scientific disci- pline, yet they tend to avoid politicized science-religion conflicts.


Source: Religion Watch


Green Marketplace Environmentally Conscious


Behavior is Encouraging


With more organic foods and sustainable products becoming available, it’s a bit easier to go green these days, and consumers are responding. The lat- est annual study by the Natural Market- ing Institute finds that we are increasingly taking bags with us to the store, avoiding brands that don’t reflect our values and making better transportation choices, including carpooling and using public transit.


24 Collier/Lee Counties swfl.naturalawakeningsmag.com


Nature’s Cure Monarch Butterfly Behavior


Hints of Self-Medication


As with many species, Monarch butterflies’ bright coloring warns predators of the insects’ potential toxicity, which in many cases is true. Biologists have now discovered that female Monarchs infected with a particularly noxious parasite will choose to lay their eggs on a more toxic version of milkweed, their basic food foliage, which works to reduce pass-along parasite infection in their offspring and is harmless to the larvae.


“These experiments provide the best evidence to date that animals use medication,” says Jaap de Roode, the biologist who led the Emory University study. Some scien- tists theorize that animals’ practice of self-doctoring by using nature’s medicine cabinet may be more widespread than we realize.


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