Last week I tried to rectify the dearth of botany in my blog coverage by covering the first few chapters of Stefano Mancuso's The Revolutionary Genius of Plants, and this week we'll pick up where we left off. Mancuso thinks that we can learn much from plants, not least because they have such different solutions to life's major challenges. As we discussed, one of those differences is that animals tend to have dedicated organs for various functions while plants tend to spread out functions throughout their bodies. In … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 4-6
Book Review/Discussion
Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 1-3
Despite being a biologist, I'll admit that I've neglected plant biology relative to some other areas. As a student of molecular and microbiology, I suppose I've not paid as much attention to macroscopic organisms in general, but one picks up a certain amount of animal biology because it is similar to human biology. And the kinds of evolutionary biology conversations that come up in Christian circles often focus on animal evolution, presumably because animals are familiar and because human evolution is the most … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 1-3
Science Book Review: Programming the Universe
Maybe "review" is overly generous, and it's not like anyone is on the edge of their seat for my opinion of a 13-year-old book; still, I wanted to bring up a few ideas from the book for discussion. Programming the Universe is Seth Lloyd's introduction to quantum computing. After a primer on information theory--one of the mathematical foundations of computing--and the inner working of classical computers (like the one I'm typing on and the one you're reading on), Lloyd explores two main topics. The first is how quantum … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: Programming the Universe
Science Corner: Nectar of the Plant Overlords
Last year I discovered Sue Burke's Semiosis at the library and found it an intriguing read. Human colonists arrive on a new planet and over the course of several generations develop a mutually beneficial relationship with the intelligent creatures native to that world. All of the usual first contact challenges apply. How do you communicate without a shared language? How do you establish trust when your very presence could be seen as invasive and hostile? How do you navigate cultural differences? In Semiosis, all of … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Nectar of the Plant Overlords
Living in relationships with immigrants, refugees, and other low-income people . . .
Living in relationships with immigrants, refugees, and other low-income people has forced us to grapple with the question of what it means for us, as followers of Christ, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It has also awakened us to the ethically complex questions of immigration and refugee policy—who do we let in, what do we do with those who came in even though our government did not allow them in, and what effect will our policies have on those already here and struggling to get by? Of course, our attempts … [Read more...] about Living in relationships with immigrants, refugees, and other low-income people . . .