Wonder on the Web

Issue 23: Links to amazing stuff

When Whites Were Not White

We of pale skin assume that our skin color is natural—or maybe has just always been that way. According to recent research, however, Europeans were not always as white as we are today.

Seeing Is Sometimes Skin Deep

Speaking of skin, it's a good thing that we don't use it to see. Because of both modesty and climate, we cover our skin with garments, so we'd be in the dark most of the time. That's not the case with octopi, apparently; we've recently determined that they can see with their skin.

A God Strong to Save

One of the great paradoxes of theology is this: God does not change, and yet he responds to prayer. He is perfect, so does not suffer any type of grief or loss, and yet he is described as one who empathizes with us in our pain. Theologians have been wrestling with this mystery for 2,000 years. In the last few decades, they've tried to abandon one half of this paradox, but that has created more questions than it has answered. The main one is this: do we have a God who merely suffers with us, or one who has power to deliver us from suffering?

The Beginning of Dogs

When did the version of the wolf that we call a dog first emerge? A discovery in the Arctic suggests man's best friend has a long history.

The Largest Galaxy in the Universe

We don’t really need to say anything more to get you to watch this five-minute video, do we?

Follow The Behemoth on Twitter and Facebook.

Also in this Issue

Issue 23 / May 28, 2015
  1. Editors’ Note

    Issue 23: When the heart stops, poetry by Luci Shaw, the glory of an orchestra, and Harriet Tubman.

  2. Even Arteries Need a Sabbath

    How the heart sustains itself over the 2.5 billion beats of a lifetime. /

  3. The Precise Magic of the Symphony

    The modern orchestra produces order out of chaos, and something beautiful for the heart. /

  4. Black Moses

    The mystical faith and no-nonsense tactics of the Underground Railroad’s most famous leader. /

  5. What Secret Purple Wisdom

    ‘un-terrestrial pulse, deep as heaven, that folds you’ /

Issue Archives