Barry Markovsky

Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.  —Christopher Hitchens What does the quote have to do with ghosts, aside from the fact that some studies show a healthy correlation between religious beliefs and ghost beliefs—in humans anyway?...

It happens a lot. I get an email or text, or I’m chatting with someone at a party or a group hike. They tell me about a supernatural experience they had, or an impossible coincidence they read about, or some unearthly thing that happened to a friend of a friend’s niece. Is it good that when these folks encounter something weird, they think of me? I’m not sure, but I like that they trust me to listen without mocking. And often I can even help make sense of whatever it was. Whatever the story,...

My earliest interest in cutting-edge science was mainly in evolutionary biology. As a high schooler, I watched National Geographic TV specials about archaeologist Louis Leakey, who unearthed the remains of early hominids in Africa. I read Robert Ardrey’s African Genesis and Desmond Morris’ The Naked Ape. My interests “evolved” into the social sciences, but I still read books like Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden during college breaks, and discovered Richard Dawkins’ amazing The Selfish Gene  in...