For decades, Rees has explored some of life’s big questions—like the emergence of the cosmos and the size of physical reality—by studying black holes, galaxy formation, and gamma ray bursts and making speculations on the multiverse. He has also urged the scientific community to raise awareness of how human activity is impacting our planet. His book Our Final Hour argues that we now have the power to determine the future of the entire biosphere.

As he explained in prepared remarks:

Some people might surmise that intellectual immersion in vast expanses of space and time would render cosmologists serene and uncaring about what happens next year, next week, or tomorrow. But, for me, the opposite is the case. My concerns are deepened by the realization that, even in a perspective extending billions of years into the future, as well as into the past, this century may be a defining moment. Our planet has existed for 45 million centuries, but this is the first in its history where one species—ours—has Earth’s future in its hands, and could jeopardize not only itself, but life’s immense potential.

The Templeton Prize, valued at about 1.61 million dollars, celebrates someone who has made “exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” While Rees says he has no religious beliefs and was surprised to win the award, the big questions his work raises “are reshaping crucial philosophical and theological considerations that strike at the core of life, fostering the spiritual progress that the Templeton Prize has long sought to recognize,” the Templeton Foundation said in a statement. The prize will be officially awarded to Rees by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 1.

Check out Abtahi’s video:

And here’s Carter’s:

The more important questions for most people involve WHETHER we evolved, and HOW we evolved since we diverged from the lines that led to the extant apes. Anatomy of living forms, fossils, and genetics all independently answer the first question the same way: Yes. And fossils and genetics are also combining to reveal HOW we evolved, although there is a good deal more evidence that will reveal even more. That’s why we go to the field every year to gather more evidence and gain more knowledge. And it’s why we search in rocks of many ages, not just those older than 6 million years.

Suppose that I list the coordinates of all images represented in the painting, their shape and size, the pigments used, and the quality and dimensions of this immense canvas, measuring 25 feet, 8 inches by 11 feet, 6 inches. This information would be interesting, but it would be hardly satisfying if I completely omitted aesthetic considerations and failed to reflect on the painting’s meaning and purpose, the dramatic message of man’s inhumanity to man conveyed by the outstretched figure of the mother pulling her dead baby, the bellowing human faces, the wounded horse, and the Satanic image of the bull.
The point is that the physical description of the painting does not tell us anything (by itself cannot tell us anything) about the aesthetic value or historical significance of Guernica; nor, on the other hand, do aesthetics or intended meaning determine the physical features of the painting.

Ayala trained as a scientist under Theodosius Dobzhansky at Columbia University, writing his thesis on how rates of evolution depend on the genetic variation of a species. He’s since developed ways of pinpointing the timing of precise steps in the evolution of a species over millions of years and studied the parasites that cause Chagas and other tropical diseases, as well as malaria.
In 1981, he was an expert witness in the important Arkansas creationism trial (which overturned a law mandating the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in science class), and from 1993 to 1996, he was president of AAAS, where he developed the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. He served on Bill Clinton’s President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, and in 2001, George W. Bush awarded him the National Medal of Science.
Ayala has long been a staunch defender of the teaching of evolution in public school and a strong critic of “intelligent design.” To him, there is no natural hostility between evolution and faith—and the theory of evolution is actually more consistent with belief in a benevolent God than creationism or ID. As he explains:

The point should be valid for those people of faith who believe in a personal God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent, as Christians, Muslims, and Jews do believe. The natural world abounds in catastrophes, disasters, imperfections, dysfunctions, suffering, and cruelty. Tsunamis and earthquakes bring destruction and death to hundreds of thousands of citizens; floods and droughts bring ruin to farmers. The human jaw is poorly designed; lions devour their prey; malaria parasites kill millions of humans every year and make 500 million people very sick; about 20 percent of all human pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion because of the flawed design of the human reproductive system.
People of faith should not attribute all this misery, cruelty, and destruction to the specific design of the Creator. I rather see it as a consequence of the clumsy ways of nature and the evolutionary process.

The Templeton Prize, valued at about 1.53 million dollars, celebrates someone who has made “exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” It will be officially awarded to Ayala by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London on May 5.

Cognitive theories of religion draw on the analysis of our evolved cognitive faculties in order to understand religion. The jury found that Visala deals with a major current development of substantial complexity. His writing displays a strong grasp of relevant literature, also from neighboring fields. The work engages the issues in a mature way, coming up with well considered criticisms of others and an analysis of his own. Last but not least, the work is well written and focused.

The prize will be presented to Visala, now a visiting fellow at the Centre for Anthropology and Mind at the University of Oxford, at the 13th European Conference on Science and Theology in Edinburgh from April 7 to 11.

Embryo development diagram
“There is grandeur” sentence
Gravitation equation
Darwin branching drawing
Brain
Abiogenesis (chemicals to bacteria)
Earth
Words “I think”
Beetles
Dinosaur with wings.
Butterflies
Peas in a pod
Artist’s Name
Lots of different finch beaks
Drake equation
DNA double helix x2
Mushrooms
Ammonites