Expert Panel Gives Best Options for the Future of NASA (Hint: More Money!)
Don’t try to put astronauts on Mars yet—too hard, too costly. Go to the moon—maybe. Or build rockets that could zip around the inner solar system, visiting asteroids, maybe a Martian moon. Keep the international space station going until 2020 rather than crash it into the Pacific in 2016. Help underwrite commercial spaceflight the same way the United States gave the airline business a boost in the 1920s with air mail. And spend more money on space. (Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post)

Many Evangelical Couples Use Joint Email Address to Avoid Secrets and Infidelity
Lance Maggiacomo and his wife Lori, like other Christian couples around the country, share one email account as a safeguard against the ever-expanding temptations of the Internet. (Rachel Zoll, Associated Press)

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Religion and Belief
Last night Tony Blair warned against the “dark side” of religion and said the world’s faith community had issues it must “confront and overcome.” He also said that it was not enough to “tolerate” people of different faiths. Muslims, Jews, Christians, and members of all faiths must treat each other as “equal.” (Ruth Gledhill, Times Online)

U.S. Army Adds First Buddhist Chaplain
No military has ever tried to meet such diverse spiritual needs, says Doris Bergen, a history professor at the University of Toronto. (Bob Smietana, The Tennessean)

Q&A
Jean Russell
I asked technology consultant, entrepreneur, and thrivability theorist Jean Russell to join me in a brief but enlightening interview. (Jon Lebkowsky, Worldchanging)

BOOKS
The Age of Empathy
Frans de Waal’s new book, The Age of Empathy, looks at altruism and sympathetic fellow-feeling in both humans and other animals. His title has a double-meaning: empathy is both very old and freshly topical. (The Economist)