Have you found yourself witnessing a battle between "religious people" and secular ideas wondering… "How did we get here?" Or maybe you've noticed that some people (most people) have a confusing ability to hold two incompatible views simultaneously so long as they stay in different mental boxes? Both of these have their roots in the …
Jesus Was Made of Chemicals
Scripture describes Jesus Christ as being both fully God and fully human. So, while Jesus as God the Son has existed since before the creation of the world (John 1:1-4), when little baby Jesus was conceived here on earth, he took on a physical body (Hebrews 2:17-18). Physical Body, Chemical Parts Human bodies are made …
Define Your Terms: Science
Words can take on different connotations and even meanings in different spaces. Right now, you and I have the ability to communicate with each other because we have agreed that certain words have certain meanings. When I say, "cloud," you know that I am talking about a white or grey, fluffy-looking mass of water vapor …
What “Lessons in Chemistry” Says About Religion
Bonnie Garmus' novel Lessons in Chemistry tells the story of a confident, young female chemist named Elizabeth Zott. The book primarily takes place in the early 1960s but also slowly reveals the characters' pasts throughout. Lessons in Chemistry has become popular since its release in early 2022. A year after it came out, the waitlist …
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The Coddling of the American Mind
Universities used to be places that engaged an challenged minds... what happened? I first encountered this title when Jackie Hill Perry recommended it (either on her podcast or social media... I don't remember). I immediately put it on my reading list because even from her very short description, I knew I had seen this already. …
Meet Connexin-43!
Scientists nickname Connexin-43 "Cx43" or sometimes "GJA1" (gap junction A1). You know how the uterus has to contract all at once during labor? Or how whole chambers of the heart need to contract together to pump blood? Cx43 is a critical protein for making that happen! Cx43 is part of the connexin family of proteins. …
Meet BChE!
Meet butyrylcholinesterase! Better known as BChE, butyrylcholinesterase was recently identified as a possible indicator of SIDS risk (scientists are not sure about this quite yet). SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) can occur in a vulnerable infant during a critical developmental period when they experience an outside stressor.* A lot of research efforts have been invested …
Define Your Terms: Belief
Words can take on different connotations and even meanings in different spaces. Right now, you and I have the ability to communicate with each other because we have agreed that certain words have certain meanings. When I say, "cloud," you know that I am talking about a white or grey, fluffy-looking mass of water vapor …
Why Science and Faith Need Each Other
We have a lot in common after all. As both a scientist and a "religious person," Elaine Howard Ecklund's research focus is particularly interesting to me: what scientists and religious people think about each other (and also what they think the other thinks about them).* In Why Science and Faith Need Each Other, she answers …
Meet PAH!
As part of their check-up at birth, babies get a prick on the heel. Among many other things, the blood tests for the function of a protein called phenylalanine hydroxylase. (Scientists sometimes call it "PAH" for convenience.) PAH is the first in a sequence of enzymes that break down excess phenylalanine. It speeds up the …
