Images: Above: Figure 1. (Left) Planetary scientists view the geology of Pluto's surface in 3D. Figure 2.(Center) Conference bulletin board made for a good place to advertise this new group. Figure 3. (Right) Conference Poster hall. End of Post: Figure 4. (Left) Conference bulletin board. Figure 5. (Right) Pluto, credit: NASA 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. . . . In the … [Read more...] about Finding Christian Community in the Planetary Sciences
Astronomy
Interview with Jennifer Wiseman, Part 2
Jennifer Wiseman is an astronomer who studies star forming regions of our galaxy using optical, radio, and infrared telescopes. Her career has involved oversight of national astronomical facilities as well as public science policy and discourse. In 1987 she co-discovered the periodic comet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff as an undergraduate researcher at MIT. She has a bachelor's degree in physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. In Part 1 of her interview with ESN, she shared some of the latest … [Read more...] about Interview with Jennifer Wiseman, Part 2
Interview with Jennifer Wiseman, Part 1
Jennifer Wiseman is an astronomer who studies star forming regions of our galaxy using optical, radio, and infrared telescopes. Her career has involved oversight of national astronomical facilities as well as public science policy and discourse. In 1987 she co-discovered the periodic comet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff as an undergraduate researcher at MIT. She has a bachelor's degree in physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. In Part 1 of this interview with ESN, she shares some of the latest … [Read more...] about Interview with Jennifer Wiseman, Part 1
“What, then, is time?”
As some of you know, I've been enjoying ESN blogger/mentor Kevin Birth's provocative Objects of Time: How Things Shape Temporality (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY: 2012). Augustine of Hippo wrote, "What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to someone who asks me, I do not know" (1997 [ca. 397-98], 256). The question stumps us for quite different reasons. We surround ourselves with cognitive artifacts to tell us what time is, and the time these artifacts represent is demonstrably … [Read more...] about “What, then, is time?”
Who’s Afraid of Angels and Aliens, Alienation and Etcetera?
Socially speaking, as opposed to orations in solipsism, it can be quite alienating to bring up the promises and perils of alien life, especially in the middle of a serious conversation. By aliens, I do not mean our fellow human beings who rarely ever garner the support of rabid nationalists anywhere. Imagine the late Jean Marie Le-Pen breaking a baguette with a North African immigrant, not for the sake of a photoâ€shoot but out of a genuine sense of ubi caritas et amor. It is nearly impossible to persuade an … [Read more...] about Who’s Afraid of Angels and Aliens, Alienation and Etcetera?