Father's Discipline and Kiss Changes Son

Editor's Note: On March 10, 2008, we published the following story as an "Editor's Choice" illustration. The story had a number of errors in it, and we ...

Einstein on Human Depravity

The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denounce ...

Seven More Deadly Sins

We're all probably familiar with the Roman Catholic Church's list of seven deadly sins: pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath, and sloth. ...

The Stumbling-grains of Sin

As a very little dust will disorder a clock, and the least sand will obscure our sight, so the least grain of sin which is upon the heart will hinder ...

Sin in the Heart of Every Man

Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of The Science of Good and Evil, writes:

I once had the opportunity to ask Thomas Keneally, author ...

French Investor Caught for $7 Billion Fraud

Have you ever gotten yourself in big trouble—really, really big trouble? So big you can't even conceive of how much trouble you're in? That's ...

Why We Lie

Bella DePaulo, a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who specializes in studying forms of human deception, asked college ...

What Mushrooms Say About Soil

When we do something wrong, we normally feel guilty, and guilt feels bad. So do shame and a sense of conviction over wrongdoing. These emotions can be ...

Grace for the Worst of Sinners

The film Amazing Grace chronicles William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffedd) as he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century. ...

Children Play with a Bomb

Children will play with virtually anything they get their hands on. It's no surprise, then, that when Dutch children in the town of Barneveld uncovered ...