Miscarriage is often a socially taboo topic that can isolate parents in their grief. But some new studies are finding there is one area of life that can have a significant positive effect on the mental health of women dealing with miscarriages: Faith. One major study found that religious participation may increase mental health and be an important coping mechanism for women dealing with pregnancy loss.

The debate about whether science and religion are adversaries often misses the fact that many people are comfortable both with scientific findings on topics such as evolution and the idea God plays a role in the universe. Public opinion surveys that force people to choose between a Darwinian theory of evolution and their personal faith create an artificial division that can misrepresent their positions, research indicates.

A major celebrity appears to be destroying himself with alcohol before the eyes of a nation, and his antics become comic fodder, fueling an endless thirst for celebrity voyeurism. What is obscured among the ridicule being heaped upon Charlie Sheen is our own discomfort in confronting alcohol addiction. Religion can be both help and hindrance in the battle against alcoholism, research suggests.

A new book, “The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion,” brings together research from international scholars on subjects ranging from the genetics of faith to religion’s role in developing altruism. In a world struggling with tribal warfare and unfettered globalization that shuns the common good, the contributions of the biobehavioral sciences on religion can point the way toward a more peaceful, compassionate global culture, the authors say.