I’ve been wondering lately: Do I feel more awe and wonder when I discover that an animal is more like me than I thought? Or when I discover that the difference is even greater? We have examples of both in this issue. In our lead story, Rob Moll looks at a bird that may mourn when one of its species dies. Are these gatherings of crows really funerals? And in Wonder on the Web, we look at a new study about zebra stripes. It turns out many of us have come to some wrong conclusions because we’ve assumed that lions and other predators see what we see. More similar, more different—so long as it’s a surprise, I get excited either way.
That surprise is a theme of our other articles in this issue (and, ideally, in every article you’ll read in The Behemoth). Michael Guillen looks at how hard it was to change our understanding of light. Walter Brueggemann dives into James’s instructions for prayer, challenging our assumptions about petitioning God. And Harold Smith describes finding surprise inside surprise as he passed through Washington, D.C.
May your assumptions and expectations be upended as you read on.
Ted Olsen is editor of The Behemoth and tweets @tedolsen.
