A lot of religions and the idea of the gods behind them is that they provide answers to these questions. Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way, but given that science doesn't seem well equipped to provide meaningful insight on some of these issues, it actually doesn't seem unreasonable to me to look to other sources for explanations and guidance. If you can find a religious framework that fits with the science (it had better!), then you have a complete worldview that can inform the whole set of questions we face. I thought Francis Collins' book 'The Language of God' was very interesting. He's a rigorous scientist of the highest caliber and a theist.
% "Every morning, I get up and look through the 'Forbes' list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work" -- Robert Orben