Over the holiday weekend, I chatted with my sister-in-law about a study her and her dog participate in on providing communication tools to canines. Maybe you saw this segment on CBS Sunday Morning or some other reporting on this work. The dogs are given buttons, each of which plays a recording of a spoken word. We know dogs have some capacity to understand spoken language, since they can be trained to respond to commands. The word buttons close the loop, allowing the dogs to use words as well. While the sophistication of the speech may be disappointing for anyone expecting the translator collars from Up, this setup actually requires more intelligence on the part of the dogs since they have to do the translating themselves–possibly with some deciphering by the humans as well. The idea that the dog can press a button that says “dinner” when he’s hungry or “toy” when he wants to play seems pretty straightforward. Combining “downstairs” and “broccoli” to request a vegetable-flavored treat kept downstairs instead of “upstairs broccoli” (florets kept upstairs) is more intriguing.
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communication
Science Corner: Telephone or Bucket Brigade
I may be alone, but I couldn’t quite get that honeybee research I meant to write about last week off my mind. Honeybee dancing gets a lot of press, but that’s not the only kind of message they can send. Honeybees can also use scents for signaling. The trick there is that pheromones will become diffuse. Like talking, it’s fine for a chat with your neighbor but not long distance conversations. But sometimes honeybees need to get in touch with their far-flung friends. For example, sometimes a queen needs to gather a swarm to split off a new colony. How does she get the word out?
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Science Corner: Ain’t No Science High Enough
My preference with these blog posts is to cover topics beyond origins and Genesis. There is so much other fascinating science to talk about, all of which reveals something about our physical reality and by extension something about the one who created it. But I do sometimes dip into faith and science conversations elsewhere, and lots of people have lots to say and lots to ask about Genesis and origins. Many of these conversations tread and retread the same territory, but one recently stuck with me in a way that I felt merited discussion. The topic was a recent book attempting to muster genetic evidence for recent, special creation of living organisms with limited subsequent diversification. One enthusiast expressed disappointment at the medium and source of a widely referenced critique; they expected something more prestigious of the highest levels of science. Detractors reflected on the book’s lack of methodological sophistication and the volume of unexplained data, indications that the discussion was far from the pinnacle of science.
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Healing through the ESN Steam Grant Project
When I was approached to lead conversations with graduate students about science and faith topics as part of the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) STEAM grant project, I accepted with a good deal of hesitation. I had grown up with a narrative of science and Christianity being in conflict, had no resources for resolving that narrative as an undergraduate chemistry major, and became totally exhausted of the topic by the time I was starting my graduate school journey. Things were no different by the time I graduated and joined the staff of InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries at Duke University. [Read more…] about Healing through the ESN Steam Grant Project
How should Christians in the sciences choose an epistemology? (STEAM Grant Series)
ESN is currently creating a Faith/Science curriculum for young adult small groups. We’ve partnered with InterVarsity graduate student discussion groups to identify faith/science questions that are important to emerging scholars, and we’re commissioning thoughtful Christians in science or theology/philosophy to explore those questions in this series at the ESN blog. We will publish these posts as a booklet curriculum for campus groups. Today, we’re delighted to welcome Jim Stump on the topic of epistemology. This project was made possible through the support of an award from the Science and Theology for Emerging Adult Ministries project at Fuller Theological Seminary. The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Fuller or the STEAM project. [Read more…] about How should Christians in the sciences choose an epistemology? (STEAM Grant Series)