We live in an amazing world! When we dig into the details of nature, we find things that surprise us, make us curious, and often leave us bewildered. Even our best scientists only understand small pieces of the complexity of the world. I believe that there is a God who not only understands it all, …
Why Ice Floating Is So Important
We live in an amazing world! When we dig into the details of nature, we find things that surprise us, make us curious, and often leave us bewildered. Even our best scientists only understand small pieces of the complexity of the world. I believe that there is a God who not only understands it all, …
Why We Don’t Digest Ourselves
We live in an amazing world! When we dig into the details of nature, we find things that surprise us, make us curious, and often leave us bewildered. Even our best scientists only understand small pieces of the complexity of the world. I believe that there is a God who not only understands it all, …
Four Reasons You Can Be Thankful for Viruses
My throat is itchy, my nose is clogged, and my body is achey. Schedules were changed, work was missed, chores were left undone. Most likely, my family can blame a virus for our less-than-stellar week. We all know viruses, but our shared knowledge comes with a largely negative attitude. From little colds like mine to …
Continue reading "Four Reasons You Can Be Thankful for Viruses"
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 …
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 …
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 …
The Language of God
The book that started it all. When I was in high school, I was troubled by a common idea in Christian circles: science was for atheists. But... I liked science a lot. I also believed in Jesus. What I knew about the God of the Bible just didn't seem to go against what I knew …
Meet hCG!
Pregnancy can be detected by looking for the glycoprotein human chorionic gonadotropin, which functions as a hormone. After an egg has been successfully fertilized, the resulting cell multiplies into a mostly hollow ball of cells called a blastula. Trophoblast cells, the cells on the exterior of the blastula, make and secrete hCG when the blastula …
