The Happening—the first R-rated film from M. Night Shyamalan, director of The Sixth Sense and Signs—opens today, Friday the 13th. The film, which Shyamalan describes as "the best B-movie you've ever seen," stars Mark Wahlberg as a science teacher searching for explanations for an environmental catastrophe. On NPR's "Science Friday" last week, Shyamalan told host Ira Flatow that the movie deals with what people do when science doesn't provide answers, and says he was inspired by Einstein's views on God and the relationship between science and faith.
There's more science and religion on today's "Science Friday." Biology professor and textbook author Ken Miller speaks with guest host Joe Palca about his new book, Only a Theory, and the fight to keep creationism out of public school science classrooms. —Dan Messier