Editor's Note from February 04, 2016

Issue 41: Crow funerals, the strangeness of light, wonder at the Renwick, and asking God rightly. /

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.

Follow The Behemoth on Twitter and Facebook.

Also in this Issue

Issue 41 / February 4, 2016
  1. Funeral for a Feathered Friend

    Researchers are discovering why crows gather when one of them dies. Are they mourning or just learning? /

  2. How Light Changed the Rules of Opposites

    North couldn’t be south. An odd number couldn’t be even. And a particle couldn’t be a wave. Then we saw the light. /

  3. Wonder in Washington

    The newly renovated Renwick Gallery reopens with massive, immersive installations. /

  4. You’re Praying Wrong

    Ask, and it will be given you, Jesus promised. Crave, and you’ll kill for it, James warned. /

  5. Wonder on the Web

    Issue 41: Links to amazing stuff.

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