Einstein Called Faith 'Childish Superstition'

Drew Barrymore, converting to Judaism, is the latest

(NEWSER) - Drew Barrymore is getting married , but first she's—reportedly—converting to Judaism, the religion fiance Will Kopelman practices. She follows the tradition of these seven other celebrity spouses (or not-quite-spouses) who did the same thing, notes The Frisky :

• Isla Fisher: Converted to Judaism for Sacha Baron Cohen.
• Jesus Luz: Started following Kabbalah for Madonna.

More than half of activists don't foresee a warming problem—ever

(NEWSER) - The Tea Party movement is highly skeptical of the threat posed by—and, in some cases, the existence of—global warming, finds a New York Times /CBS poll. Just 14% of Tea Partiers believe warming is currently taking effect, as opposed to 49% of the rest of Americans. More than 50% of the movement doesn’t think global warming will ever pose serious danger. More»

It hurts, but it's a necessary comfort in an uncertain world

(NEWSER) - Taffy Brodesser-Akner believes that circumcision is “brutal” mutilation. So why did she subject her sons, and herself, to the traditional Jewish bris—even as she suffered “self-loathing” for what she was putting them through? She traces her Jewish upbringing, denouncement of religion, and eventual return to the faith in a thoughtful Salon column , ultimately realizing that even though she leaves room “for the idea that religion is a made-up superstition whose goal is to function in exactly the way I'm using it,” she still needs to cling to it as a parent. More»

String theorist shakes up 300 years of science

(NEWSER) - Anyone who's ever seen a ball drop knows it's obvious that gravity exists—right? Not so fast, says a prominent string theorist who has called into question 300 years of science with a new paper arguing that gravity is merely an illusion. Dutch physicist Erik Verlinde says gravity is not a basic force itself, but rather a sort of "cosmic frill," as the New York Times puts it, which emerges from some deeper force the way stock markets emerge from the decisions of individual investors. More»

It's both unimaginably hot and unimaginably cold

(NEWSER) - Now that the Large Hadron Collider is up and running again, Ross Bonander of AskMen unearths 5 scientific tidbits:

• It's really, really cold: The system's magnets are cooled to -456°F, a bit chillier than deep outer space.
• It's really, really hot: After those magnets do their stuff, the resulting collisions of proton beams create temperatures about 100,000 times hotter than the core of the sun. For all of a trillionth of a second.