Religion and nature

Loading player...

Religion and nature might have more to do with each other than you thought. In the biggest study of its kind, a team of evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, linguists and religious scholars examined the religions of societies from around the world to see if there was any link between where they lived and what they believed.They found that they can predict which societies will worship moralising high gods - gods who are believed to have created the earth and who care about how humans treat each other - based on how harsh the environments are that people live in. Sara Sjosten spoke to lead author Carlos Botero of North Carolina State University to find out more.

14 Nov 2014 English United Kingdom Science

Other recent episodes

Aspirin vs Clopidogrel: The blood thinner battle

Clots in our blood vessels can be responsible for very serious health problems such as strokes and heart attacks. To combat this, some people at risk of said health problems turn towards blood thinners to prevent this clotting, with the most common household blood thinner being aspirin. The issue with…

2 Oct 5 min

Public Success, Private Grief: remembering Peter Cowley

Peter Cowley was an entrepreneur, angel investor, and for many years was the Naked Scientists technology commentator, a role he fell into by accident when we met one evening at an investment meeting. He became a good friend. But his life, in many respects, despite being incredibly successful, was also…

23 Sep 37 min

Keeping humans healthy in orbit

With only a few walls between an astronaut and a rapid death, what do we know about the various dangers to the human body during space travel? Chris Smith spoke with Mark Shelhamer, a professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at John Hopkins Medical School - about which…

10 Sep 6 min

Ants doing gene therapy, and tadpole microbiomes

This month, as the eLife Podcast hits its century, we hear how getting frog dads to cross-foster tadpoles has revealed the way in which some frogs come by their microbiomes, the ants that do gene therapy, signs that disease causes a breakdown in nutrient exchange between the elements of the…

7 Sep 43 min

Synthetic sustainable spuds

As the global population heads toward 10 billion, the pressure on agriculture is mounting. With that in mind, the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has announced millions of pounds worth of funding for crops enhanced through synthetic biology by designing entirely new chromosomes and chloroplasts, starting with the…

9 Jul 5 min

All episodes