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Q&A: Five Questions with Betül Kaçar
Betül Kaçar is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona in the departments of Cell Biology and Astronomy. Her research investigates molecular mechanisms of evolution, the origins of life, and the distribution of life throughout the universe. Her research team uses a new approach that infers ancient DNA sequences using phylogenetics, engineers these reconstructed DNA inside microbial genomes, and reanimates them in order to study ancient enzymes in modern organisms. Kaçar’s work at the University of Arizona and previously at Harvard University has been supported by multiple grants from the John Templeton Foundation, including the latest $357,843 grant “Molecular…
Q&A: Five Questions with Jeffrey Rosen
Journalist and legal commentator Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia and led the development of the John Templeton Foundation-funded Interactive Constitution. Rosen is also a professor at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He spoke recently with Nate Barksdale, lead writer for the John Templeton Foundation’s Possibilities newsletter, about how the NCC has responded and adapted to the COVID-19 era, as well as the big questions being raised by the personal and collective challenges of the pandemic. How is the COVID-19 crisis affecting the National Constitution…
Foundation Releases White Paper on Study of Hope and Optimism
A new report explores the benefits of two related virtues. A new paper published by the John Templeton Foundation explores the latest scientific and philosophical research on the related but distinct virtues of hope and optimism. The 45-page white paper, written by Michael Milona, a philosophy professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, examines findings on the benefits and risks involved in both hope and optimism. Milona’s summary gave particular focus to the results of another Templeton-funded initiative, “Hope & Optimism: Conceptual and Empirical Investigations,” a three-year, $4.4 million project led by Samuel Newlands at Notre Dame and Andrew Chignell…
Character, Virtue, Quarantine
The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for nearly everyone around the world. Even for those whose homes are untouched by the coronavirus itself, daily life, work, and family rhythms have been disrupted. One of the John Templeton Foundation’s core interests is the ways that understanding and cultivating character and virtue can measurably improve human flourishing. Over the past several years, we have commissioned research reviews collecting insights and future questions around the topics — many of which seem especially relevant for the challenges that COVID-19 has brought to the foreground. Generosity. From sewing handmade masks to help protect medical…
JTF Symposium: Does Religion Contribute to Human Flourishing?
CAMBRIDGE, Ma. – At a time of spiritual dynamism, as religions surge in the global south and traditional faith affiliations decline in the west, the John Templeton Foundation brought together scholars for a three-day symposium at Harvard to discuss a question of growing academic interest: Does religion contribute to human flourishing? And if so, how can such flourishing be measured among individuals, groups, and social and cultural institutions? The event, organized by the Foundation's Humble Approach Initiative in collaboration with Harvard's Program on Integrative Knowledge and Human Flourishing, featured presentations on the topic by over a dozen academics from institutions around the…
Video: What Is Life?
Have we encountered alien life already and just not realized it? Will deepening our understanding of life in the universe transform our understanding of ourselves? Explore the profound questions surrounding the nature and origins of life that propel the research of astrobiologist Dr. Sara Walker of Arizona State University in this interview. Walker is the recipient of a $2.9 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a project, co-led by Templeton Prize laureate Paul Davies, to explore the transitions bridging chemistry and the origins of life. What Is Life? "Life is literally the physics of creativity," says Walker. "It's…
End of Year Message from President Heather Templeton Dill
Dear Friends, Curiosity is one of the core principles that guides our work at the John Templeton Foundation. How can we live meaningful and purposeful lives? How does our social context inform decisions that we make or the way we interact with each other? How does basic science research contribute to human flourishing – even when it takes years to get results or to transform our understanding? These questions drive our curiosity because they focus on the role that humans play in making the world a better place. This year, perhaps more than others in recent memory, reminded us why…
Training Faculty to Tackle the Big Questions of Today and Tomorrow
A new round of fellowships will equip tenured philosophers and theologians to dive deeply into the empirical sciences From the origin of the universe and the emergence of life to the meaning of human existence, certain “Big Questions” are so big that they transcend individual disciplines and beg to be examined from multiple perspectives. In order to help spur more fruitful interdisciplinary engagement, the John Templeton Foundation is offering a new round of $220,000 fellowships to provide recently tenured philosophers and theologians the opportunity to spend up to three academic years in “academic cross-training” in deep engagement with the empirical…
Paul Davies on ‘What’s Eating the Universe?’
Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and best-selling author is Regents’ Professor of Physics and director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. His research has explored quantum gravity, black holes, early-universe cosmology, and astrobiology as it relates to the origin of life. In 1995 he became the third physicist to be awarded the Templeton Prize, both for his groundbreaking research and his work engaging philosophers, religious leaders and the public around questions of the universe’s origin and nature. Nate Barksdale, lead writer for the John Templeton Foundation’s “Possibilities” newsletter, recently spoke with Davies…
How Quantum Biology Could Uncover the Secret of Our Origins
