This page should help you navigate to posts of interest. The list of posts (Titles and first few lines) is in order of posting starting with the most recent. Click on the post title or date to read the post. You can also use the search box in the main blog page with keywords. Please subscribe for email notices of new posts.
Life and Light
Posted on January 21, 2023 by thebookofworks
There are some really strange things about the universe that science has uncovered in the past century, and among the strangest is the behavior of tiny particles such as protons and photons. Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon where two particles …
Absence of Holly
Posted on December 25, 2022 by thebookofworks
No tree. No presents. No bells and no holly. The house was dark when Tommy got home. It was Christmas Eve, but there was no sign of that in the house. Just another stupid day, as his father always said.
Intervention
Posted on November 26, 2022 by thebookofworks
I believe in a God who answers prayers, and who interacts with me on a personal level. I also believe that God is the creator of all that exists. We don’t know how God created our universe, or even what…
Genes and Behavior
Posted on November 10, 2022 by thebookofworks
Towards the end of my academic career, I was appointed to be an academic member of an NIH Special Review Committee tasked with evaluating about a half dozen grant applications submitted in response to a “Request For Applications (RFA)”
Tomorrow is Halloween.
Posted on October 30, 2022 by thebookofworks
Seventy five years ago, on a dark and stormy Halloween night at about 3 AM, a baby was born. To the surprise of all, the baby was a boy. This was surprising because the mother and all her cousins…
The Fundamental Mystery of Life
Posted on October 20, 2022 by thebookofworks
The fundamental scientific problem with a comprehensive solution to the origin of life is not how the basic building blocks of biochemicals (amino acids, nucleotides, fatty acids) were formed, although there are still many unresolved questions about how conditions
The Choice is Yours
Posted on September 28, 2022 by thebookofworks
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born to a virgin. He healed the sick, performed many miracles, preached a gospel of love and redemption from sin, was crucified, and was resurrected on the third day. He rose up to Heaven, where he is seated at the right hand of God the Father
The Biggest Loser
Posted on September 10, 2022 by thebookofworks
I remember a conversation I had in high school with a girl who asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her I wanted to be a scientist. She said she would rather do something that involved working with people.
News and an Explanation
Posted on August 29, 2022 by thebookofworks
The news is good!! I have signed a contract with the publisher of my first book, the award winning The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith (Kregel, 2019) for a second book. Also, the first book, which had been sold out for over two months is back in stock in all formats, which now also includes an audiobook version
An Interesting Quote from a Physical Chemistry Textbook (1971)
Posted on August 18, 2022 by thebookofworks
The following quote is from a physical chemistry textbook called “Introduction to Thermodynamics: Classical and Statistical” by, Richard E. Sonntag, and Gordon J. Van Wylen. published by Wiley Press in 1971.
A Play and a Hymn
Posted on July 22, 2022 by thebookofworks
Two and a half years ago, on the last (in this case, the 29th) day of February, 2020, my wife and I went to the local repertory theater (The Fitzgerald Theater of Rockville MD) to see a wonderful production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.
A Very Important Question for Readers
Posted on July 13, 2022 by thebookofworks
I need to make a decision about my future endeavors and I need your help. If you are interested in my continuing to post and maintain this blog, if you read any of the posts when they appear, or if you have any interest at all in this blog, please leave a comment. You don’t need to say anything, you can use one word, such as “yes”. Thank you for your cooperation.
The End of Evolution
Posted on June 14, 2022 by thebookofworks
I used to believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was the unifying principle behind all of biology, and that this idea was not only scientifically valid, but also consonant with my deep faith as a Christian. The theory does not explain the origin of life, but then it was never intended to do so.
Should you be a writer?
Posted on June 4, 2022 by thebookofworks
Many people ask themselves (and sometimes others) this question. Maybe you are one of them. You like writing. Maybe you write well. You have lots of ideas for plots and characters, and you feel that when you write, you are doing something creative and sometimes wonderful. But you don’t have a lot of time to devote to writing.
Gödel, Penrose, and Consciousness
Posted on May 14, 2022 by thebookofworks
Brilliant physicist and Nobel Laureate Sir Roger Penrose argues, using Gödel’s Theorem, that consciousness cannot be computational. In other words, there is more to human consciousness than can currently be explained scientifically.
A Tale from the Lab
Posted on April 27, 2022 by thebookofworks
Biologists have some neat tricks for seeing the structures of genes. The details are too much to relate, but the end result is an Xray film in which parts of the gene show up as dark bands. The precise pattern of these bands tells us about the specific forms of a gene that are present in different individuals
Simply Simon
Posted on April 16, 2022 by thebookofworks
I have posted this before.
Today is simply Saturday, the day between. We know very little about what happened on this day, but we can imagine.
A Very Old Story
Posted on April 9, 2022 by thebookofworks
One day, 12,494 years ago, somewhere in the middle of Mesopotamia, a young woman named Maya (I don’t know if that was really her name, but I like it, and it does have an Ancient Near Eastern ring to it) was walking around her village feeling bored.
Morality and Evolution
Posted on April 4, 2022 by thebookofworks
There is of course, no question that genes play a role in behavior throughout evolutionary history. Bees, for example are known to sacrifice their lives for the good of the hive. But while this might appear to be the result of a laudatory impulse on the part of individual bees, it is nothing of the sort. No bee decides, in a moment of supreme valor, to give her life for the good of her fellow creatures.
The Good Old Days
Posted on March 26, 2022 by thebookofworks
Everyone knows how horrible modern life is, especially here in the US. Technology running rampant, terrible food, crowds, pollution, on and on. If only we could turn the clock back and live like we used to in “The Good Old Days”
Controversy
Posted on March 20, 2022 by thebookofworks
During my scientific research career, I have never known of any scientific field that is not marked by controversy. When I retired from research and took a position as a senior official in the Center for Scientific Review of the NIH (the agency responsible for managing the review of 80% of US grants in the Biomedical sciences), this observation was strongly confirmed. In many study sections, controversial ideas were often hotly debated.
THEM (A Confession)
Posted on March 12, 2022 by thebookofworks
Early one morning a few years ago, a nondescript man started on a journey to a foreign land. The man was dressed casually, and inexpensively, He carried an ordinary briefcase filled with secret papers. He passed unnoticed through airport security and customs. At his destination he was met by a special unmarked van.
Posted on March 5, 2022
A claim is an assertion that something is a fact. “The world is round” is a claim. So is “the moon is made of cheese,” “the genetic material is composed of DNA,” and “the gravitational force applies equally at all scales of mass.”
Other than the one about the moon, all the above claims are based on evidence. Let’s look at some of the scientific examples.
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How to Write a Scientific Paper
Posted on February 27, 2022
Most people not working in science have no idea of what it means to write, review, and publish a scientific paper. Why should they? Scientists learn the basic rules and customs from our mentors and advisors in grad school, and then continue learning by trial and rejection.
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Posted on February 19, 2022
Laws of physics control most of how the universe operates. These laws are believed to have come into being very soon after the Big Bang—specifically, a Planck time (approximately 10^-43 seconds) after the Big Bang)—and it is generally agreed that we can know nothing about what happened before that moment.
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Posted on February 12, 2022
I studied chemistry in college and biochemistry in graduate school, and I became a professional scientist. I love science, and although retired, I still work at it (just without a lab). But science was not my first love or my first choice as a profession. That was music.
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Posted on February 5, 2022
This is the advice that many physicists give to students when they ask unanswerable questions about quantum mechanics. As atheist physicist Sean Carroll points out, the mysteries of quantum theory do not need to be understood in order to use the reality of the science to make things like cell phones and computers, to see how plants can achieve such impossibly high efficiency levels in the conversion of sunlight to useful energy, and to understand that our world is complex beyond the limits of ordinary reason. The math works, meaning that using it to calculate how electrons and photons move and behave gives us the results we need, even if quantum superposition, the uncertainty principle, and the observer effect simply make no sense. What Carroll and other physicists are saying is that some mysteries just need to be left alone and accepted.
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Posted on January 29, 2022
The world is cold and hard. There is no mercy in nature. The planet shakes and buildings fall, huge waves wash all away. Fires destroy without will or care. When the rain stops, everything dies. Death is the rule in life. Hunters choose the young, the weak, the helpless. The big cats kill whatever they can. Crocodiles spare no creature, they are not merciful, they are cunning, and serve no being except their own appetites.
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Posted on January 22, 2022
In July 2004, I went to Washington DC to attend a meeting/symposium of the Genetic Variation Working Consortium (GVC). This was group of about 2 dozen scientists who had been funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (part of the NIH) to study the “Ethical, Legal and Social Implications” (ELSI) of the human genome project. I was among this first group of people who had gotten grants from the ELSI program to study the social implications of genetic diversity in the human population, and most of us were specifically investigating issues of race and genetics.
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Posted on January 16, 2022
To all my faithful readers and followers, I thank you for being here and reading this. It’s been seven months since my last post, and I am sure many of you thought I was calling it quits for this blog. I thought about that, but clearly I am back, and the blog is about to start a renaissance or resurrection or re birth, or whatever. Here is what happened.
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Posted on June 6, 2021
It was a beautiful day, and I went outside to spend some quality time in my hammock. Looking up, I could see the beautiful yellows and oranges of the Fall leaves set against the blue sky, white clouds.
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Posted on March 26, 2021
In 2007 I published a book about the environment (I was a professor of Environmental Health) entitled Where We Stand: The Surprising Real State of our Planet”. Like most book titles, this was chosen by the publisher. My original title was “The Good News”
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Posted on March 2, 2021
Everyone agrees that evolution by natural selection is real. Some Christians (YECs and IDers) claim it only works for “microevolution” but not for the creation of new species, although AIG now claims that evolution ends above the species level at families or even orders.
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My Latest Research on Origin of Life
Posted on November 17, 2020
About two years ago, I started on a project to probe the mystery of how the self-replication of cells could evolve to the high accuracy it has in all life. I was especially interested in whether the development of accurate replication could have occurred through the slow, gradual process of evolution that is assumed by the “continuity principle.”
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Posted on November 5, 2020
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. …No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. Ezra 3
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Posted on October 11, 2020
For the last six years before my retirement, I was the Director of the Division of Physiological and Pathological Sciences at the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH. I supervised about 50 PhD scientists, who were responsible for recruiting and managing review panels (“study sections”) of 20 to 30 academic scientists who reviewed about 20,000 grant applications each year.
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Posted on September 10, 2020
Miriam called her mother with some great news. “Ma, I just met a wonderful man. He’s kindhearted, really smart, great sense of humor, very successful, and he is crazy about me.” Brief silence, and then her mother speaks. “Nice, dear. Is he Jewish?”
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Posted on August 8, 2020
It certainly does, as every biologist will tell you. And so do individual human lives. Certainly we have all experienced a great deal of change in this remarkable (generally not in a good way) year of 2020. The change I … →
Posted on May 29, 2020
What can we think of God during tragic and terrible times? Is He cruel? People dying alone, with no loved ones around them. People forced to jump from high buildings to avoid being burned. People burned alive in ovens, How … →
Posted on April 4, 2020
How do you explain green to a tribe of completely color blind people? You can point to a leaf and explain that for you, it has a color, different from gray, but those words will have no meaning for the … →
Posted on January 3, 2020
My childhood was not a happy one. It wasn’t my parents—they were fine, and I was never abused or mistreated by my family. They were militant atheists, and I grew up with no concept of God or anything beyond a … →
Posted on November 20, 2019
I am very excited about the release of my book, and I hope and pray that it gets into the hands of those who need it, those whose lives will be improved by reading it. There are, of course, many … →
Why, How, and When did this Book get Written and Published?
Posted on November 9, 2019
I suppose it’s appropriate that this post has a title that contains several questions, since the book itself opens with a chapter called “The Importance of Questions.” The answers to the (six) questions posed by the title could take the … →
Posted on October 23, 2019
In the 1960s, a climatologist named Edward Lorenz worked on developing a set of difference equations to study weather forecasting. This type of equation is used to model what happens to a system as a function of time: a variable … →
Posted on October 6, 2019
Why doesn’t God step in and stop bad things from happening? On a cool cloudy day in Manhattan, a young mother walking with her three children (one in a stroller) was caught in a sudden downpour. She was pushing the … →
Posted on September 25, 2019
Last week I was standing at the ocean’s edge on a beach in eastern Long Island, and I remembered that at an earlier point in my life, while still an agnostic, I used to (in a way) worship the ocean. … →
Creation, Emergence, Magic and Twitter
Posted on September 5, 2019
I recently tweeted something that raised quite a few eyebrows among scientifically minded folks, both atheists and Christians. The tweet implied that I believe that evolution cannot explain all human characteristics, and that a divine intervention in the form of … →
A Cosmic Rebuttal – and so much more.
Posted on August 19, 2019
Carl Sagan’s Cosmos came out while I was an atheist, and I thought it was a wonderful TV series. I loved the state-of-the-art graphics, and, of course, Sagan was a master documentarian. I know now that there was quite a … →
Posted on August 12, 2019
I recently had a “debate” with atheist activist Aron Ra. Aron is known for his sharp attacks on Christian apologists, as well as for being a staunch and highly educated defender of evolution. We first met two years ago, when … →
Posted on July 29, 2019
I am happy to announce that my forthcoming book The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The book will be released by Kregel Publications on November 19, 2019. … →
Posted on July 9, 2019
When most people, including scientists, even including evolutionary and molecular biologists, talk about evolution, they dwell on the critical aspects of variation and natural selection almost exclusively. These two processes are considered to be the heart and soul of the … →
Thoughts on Science, ID, Evolutionary Continuity, and Eugene Koonin
Posted on June 12, 2019
In 2007, the famous and highly respected evolutionary biologist, Eugene Koonin, published a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Biology Direct. The paper is titled “The Biological Big Bang model for the major transitions in evolution.” In the abstract, he summarizes … →
About My Book and Two Others (by Jon Garvey and Joel Edmund Anderson)
Posted on May 28, 2019
My new book, The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith is now in the final editorial stage, and the Publisher (Kregel Publications) has been working on starting the marketing and promotion process. The book is … →
Posted on April 30, 2019
If we define atheism as the lack of belief in God, gods, or the supernatural in any way, or even if we define atheism as the positive belief that gods do not and cannot exist, it’s clear that atheist philosophy … →
Posted on April 21, 2019
The following are the daily tweets I posted during this past Holy Week. The video clip is from The Gospel According to Matthew by Pasolini (1964). The music at the end of the clip if from an African mass called … →
Textual Analysis (Silly Alert!).
Posted on March 13, 2019
Biblical scholarship is a very difficult field of study, requiring expertise in many areas. One of the most challenging aspects of understanding the true meaning of Biblical (or any ancient) text is making sense of the wording in the context … →
Posted on March 2, 2019
Becoming a scientist involves, among other things, personal transmission of knowledge and methodology from academic scientists to their students and trainees. Every scientist has spent time as an apprentice in the laboratory of a senior academic advisor or mentor, from … →
Biblical Inerrancy and Biblical Science
Posted on February 17, 2019
I recently read the draft of a brilliant paper by one of the leaders in the science-and-faith field, my friend Denis Lamoureux. Denis is well known for his outspoken views and the fact that he is in possession of not … →
Posted on January 11, 2019
After I rejected the strong atheism of my upbringing, I spent many years wondering what the truth was about the existence of God. I investigated several theistic and spiritual systems. At one point I became fascinated with Jewish mysticism; I … →
Posted on December 20, 2018
And a happy and blessed new year. I will be back in January with new posts on various topics, including the origin of life, the question of purpose, how to be happy, and similar light stuff. And before we know … →
My Favorite Enzyme Part 3 (Final)
Posted on December 18, 2018
OK readers, here we go. Now that you have the basics, let’s get back to the hero of this series, my favorite enzyme, Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetase (usually referred to as aaRS, not Syzase). Remember that the task of the enzyme … →
Posted on December 10, 2018
My favorite enzyme (see previous post about enzymes in general, and why I have a favorite) has a very specific job, as all enzymes do. But my enzyme, Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetase (or Syase for convenience) has a job that is … →
Posted on December 4, 2018
All enzymes are great. So by saying I have a favorite, I don’t mean to denigrate the others in any way. All enzymes are just great at what they do, and most of them simply couldn’t possibly do their jobs … →
Posted on November 14, 2018
In a recent post I said that the replication of cells is required for evolution and the origin of modern life as we know it. While it’s true that the daughter cells of a parent dividing cell end up containing … →
How to Be a Molecular Biologist
Posted on November 8, 2018
It’s easy. All you need to know about molecular biology is that it’s all about DNA. And you don’t need to know what that stands for, or anything else about DNA except this. It’s a really long molecule, like a … →
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Posted on October 23, 2018
In the transition from chemistry to biology, many new features had to emerge from an increasingly complex chemical system. Examples include some form of membranous enclosure to allow for appropriate concentration of reactants, thus defining the borders of a living … →
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A Goldfish Sings a Tentative Psalm
Posted on October 1, 2018
Today’s guest post is a poem by my wife (and collaborator), Aniko Albert. There is a story behind this poem related to our relationship. After reading it, you might want to take a look at an earlier post on this … →
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Posted on September 18, 2018
People talk about morality a lot. Some say there are moral facts, others that moral codes are subjective and depend on culture. I have read the argument that human moral instincts are the product of evolution, or simply the collective … →
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How I spent my summer vacation
Posted on September 9, 2018
Hello to my readers, and welcome back to the Book of Works. It has been a long, sometimes relaxing and sometime productive summer. In July, I went to the ASA annual meeting near Boston, where I gave a talk and … →
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Posted on July 1, 2018
At this beginning of July, I want to take an opportunity to thank all those who read and comment on this blog. It has been a great three years, and I have learned a lot and enjoyed all the interactions … →
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Posted on June 22, 2018
The phrase “God of the gaps” was invented by the 19th century theologian Henry Drummond. He was speaking of the things that science could not explain yet, and which, he said, some Christians treated as “gaps which they will fill … →
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Posted on June 9, 2018
The declaration in quotes is the title of an article in Tech Times reporting on a paper published in Human Evolution by Stoeckle and Thaler with the title Why should mitochondria define species? Not surprisingly, young earth creationists and others are … →
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Posted on May 28, 2018
The dentist did his best with my root canal, and I went home, took some pain killers, and fell asleep. I woke up still feeling drowsy, so I went out into the backyard for some fresh air. Sitting at the … →
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Intrinsic Biochemical Intelligence
Posted on May 9, 2018
Another rather interesting trait of slime molds and related organisms is that they are capable of rather impressive feats traditionally thought to be limited to “higher” animals. These include behaviors like problem-solving skills and the ability to learn. Amazingly, they … →
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Posted on April 26, 2018
When I first heard about epigenetics, I hated it. I still do, in fact, but I am slowly beginning to accept the fact that epigenetics is a fact. And it’s a terrible fact, like all facts that force one to … →
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Posted on April 17, 2018
The first issue of the online magazine, God and Nature with yours truly as Editor-in-Chief has been released at this LINK. The focus topic is “Chance and Design” and it also includes an essay by me (sent in and approved … →
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The Tortoise and the Hare – The Rematch
Posted on March 27, 2018
The hare, having lost the most famous race in history, eventually gathered up his dignity and asked for a rematch. “This time I’ll be careful” he told himself. “I wont be overconfident, I wont get distracted, I wont let my … →
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Posted on March 9, 2018
Peer review is a critical process in modern science. Scientists with expertise in the right field judge the quality of a grant application or a manuscript submitted for publication in a journal. This judgment determines whether the grant will be … →
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Posted on February 26, 2018
Just about a year ago, I put up a post called Finding My Faith, which presented a brief summary of some of my reasons and experiences that led me from atheism to Christianity. Very recently, I posted a tweet that … →
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Posted on February 13, 2018
I have been asked many times to explain how so called “macro-evolution” works. There are of course many excellent books and articles online and off that cover this, but I thought it might be a good idea to have a … →
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Posted on February 8, 2018
For the past six years, I have been a member (and now a fellow) of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA). From the ASA web site The ASA was founded in 1941 as an international network of Christians in the sciences. As … →
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Posted on January 29, 2018
Arthur Thomson, also known as Lord Kelvin, was an English physicist (and Christian) who wrote a book titled “Progress of Science in the Century” published in 1901. The century referred to was the 19th.. I have a copy of it … →
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Posted on January 14, 2018
There are many essential equations that describe the physical reality of the universe. Einstein’s E = mc2 is probably one of the most famous, and also the simplest. In the 1920s, physicist Erwin Schrödinger developed an equation that is of … →
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Posted on January 2, 2018
First Happy New Year to all. Now, for the matter at hand. Traditionally, the scientific field of origin-of-life research has been divided into two camps based on what theorists propose came first: replication or metabolism. The “replicators-first” group think that … →
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Posted on December 21, 2017
It’s that time of the year again. Everyone is running around, trees are being put up and decorated, presents being bought and wrapped, travel plans being made and tickets purchased. It’s all exhausting. Last year I posted a blog about … →
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Posted on December 16, 2017
The following post is an excerpt from the Preface to my book manuscript, which is now in the final editing phase. The working title is The Book of Works (just like this blog). I am also about to start looking … →
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Posted on December 3, 2017
The nice thing about having a blog is that one can write and publish whatever one wants to, without having to go through peer reviewers, editors, or publishers. The bad part of that is that one can end up posting … →
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Advice to a Reluctant Agnostic
Posted on November 15, 2017
The following is from the Biologos website. A reader posted a poignant question about a month ago, which I (and others) answered. My answer seemed to be well liked by many of the Biologos Forum participants, and I thought I … →
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Posted on November 7, 2017
When I decided to become an official, professing Christian, I was thrilled to see that I could honestly say that I believed in every word of the Apostle’s Creed. I am very grateful that the creed I had to believe … →
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Posted on October 22, 2017
No, this is not about the origins of Christianity. The Paul in the title is not the Apostle, but Sir Paul McCartney, former Beatle. Back 1969, rumors on some American college campuses that Paul McCartney had died in a car … →
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Posted on October 14, 2017
A popular approach to explaining consciousness and other attributes of the human mind and soul is to attribute all of it to evolutionary mechanisms. The purpose of the new field of evolutionary psychology (EP, or Evo Pyscho, my own invention) … →
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How do Biological Robustness and Innovation go together? (Part 2 of 2)
Posted on October 4, 2017
Andreas Wagner and his research group found, both in laboratory experiments and using computer models, that there is not just one way to build a protein with a particular function. There are millions (at least) of ways to do it. … →
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White Knights and Genotypes (Part 1of 2)
Posted on October 2, 2017
Everyone knows that life is complex, but what does that really mean? Take the following fact: we can throw away a large fraction of the genes of most organisms (up to 80% in some cases), and they will live and … →
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Posted on September 24, 2017
Atheism is simply the lack of belief in a god, or in a supernatural being. We hear that all the time, and it’s generally true, from a dictionary point of view. So are there no other beliefs or attitudes or … →
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Posted on September 6, 2017
Why doesn’t anyone speak Esperanto? For the same reason that communism failed, that there are always shortcuts, and that mutations are random. The answer is that planned, designed systems never work as well as unplanned, natural systems that arise by … →
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Posted on August 31, 2017
Today, August 31, 2017 is the last day of the John Templeton grant that made this blog possible. BUT, it is NOT the last day of the blog. I will be continuing this blog into the future, and have no … →
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Guest Post: What the 2017 Eclipse Asks Us About Our Church Ministry, by Jennifer Secki Shields
Posted on August 23, 2017
Today’s guest post is by my friend and colleague, Jennifer Secki Shields. Jen was trained as a biologist, and was the long-term Director of Christian Education at Christ Crossman United Methodist Church in Virginia. More recently, she founded a new … →
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Our Scientific Publication on Gene Regulatory Networks for the John Templeton Foundation Grant
Posted on August 18, 2017
As part of our work for the John Templeton Grant #57657 “A New Biology of Spiritual Information” awarded to the Natural Philosophy Institute for the period from Sept 2015 through August 2017, my wife Aniko Albert and I published a … →
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The American Scientific Affiliation Annual Meeting
Posted on August 4, 2017
From July 26 to July 31, my wife, teenage stepson and I were in Colorado, first to visit an old friend in Boulder, and then to participate in the 76th annual meeting of the ASA in Golden (outside of Denver). … →
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Biological Non-Conservation and Natural Selection (Part 3)
Posted on July 18, 2017
The non-conservation principle (NCP) of life is directly responsible for the process of natural selection. We know that groups of organisms differ in their birth and death rates due to differences in the function of various forms of genes called … →
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Posted on July 12, 2017
I thought I might take an opportunity to update readers on some recent and planned activities that are keeping me busy. I have been working under the aegis of my John Templeton Grant on an analysis of the dynamics of … →
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Non Conservation, Evolution and Teleology in Biology (Part 2)
Posted on July 3, 2017
We have seen in the last post (Part 1) that life is not conserved, while matter and energy are. We know that life is an emergent phenomenon from complex chemical interactions. As discussed in the last post, there are a … →
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The Non-Conservation Principle in Biology (Part 1)
Posted on June 26, 2017
There is no denying that biology is a form of chemistry. Biology is derived from and depends on all the rules of chemistry, including equilibrium, reaction kinetics, catalysis, organic synthesis, hydrolysis, entropy, etc. However, biology is a form of chemistry … →
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Posted on June 22, 2017
“You guys are kidding, right?” “What do you mean?” “What do I mean? You are collaborating on a book. One of you writes the first chapter, the other writes the second. And so on” “Right. That’s what we did.” “Great. … →
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Posted on June 15, 2017
I have noticed that for some people, the reality of evolution is not a scientific issue, nor even a theological one. They will never be convinced by either the science or the theology that evolution is both true and consonant … →
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Posted on June 7, 2017
On Maundy Thursday, Jesus came into the Church where I was, and sat down in the pew behind me. The service was mostly a musical rendition by the Church choir, along with another church choir and a string quartet. They … →
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Posted on June 4, 2017
Some time ago, the militant atheist Richard Dawkins began promoting the idea that while he had to admit that there were some scientists who were Christians, the better scientists, (such as members of the National Academy) tend to be atheists … →
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The Meaning of Purpose by Randy Isaac
Posted on May 22, 2017
Today’s guest post is by Dr. Randy Isaac, former Executive Director of the American Scientific Affiliation, and a good friend. Randy and I share an interest in the concept of teleology in biology, and how notions of purpose and causation … →
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Posted on May 18, 2017
The first time I heard of this new atheist meme, I was so shocked that I ignored it. But since then it has grown in popularity. One can now find people writing that teaching any religion to children is child … →
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The Orphan of the Universe by Dean Ohlman
Posted on May 9, 2017
We are fortunate to have a guest post from my colleague and fellow member of the facebook group, Celebrating Creation by Natural Selection, Dean Ohlman. Dean is retired from Our Daily Bread Ministries (formerly RBC Ministries) where he was a Christian … →
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Posted on May 1, 2017
There is a very popular atheist argument that only objective “scientific” facts count as evidence for anything. I call this the Objectivist Fallacy (OF), which is a form of scientism. Examples of the OF include the often-heard statements and questions … →
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Posted on April 23, 2017
My friend and colleague Mike Beidler just posted something on facebook that I thought was worth re-posting here. Mike is the President of the Washington DC metro section of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), and a well respected writer on … →
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Posted on April 18, 2017
Originally posted on Random Ramblings:
I’ve always loved the Sabbath. Time to stop and be with my family. Time to appreciate God’s goodness to us and remember His promises. The Sabbath of Passover week is always especially a time of joy.…
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Posted on April 11, 2017
It is Holy Week, and I would like to repost something that I put up on Holy Saturday last year. Holy Saturday is the day in-between. Very little is written about what happened on that day, but we can imagine. We … →
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Wisdom from The Biologos Conference
Posted on April 7, 2017
I signed up for the live streaming of the Biologos Conference held in Houston last week and have watched most of the plenary lectures. They were all very good, and I think some were outstanding. I was moved and inspired … →
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Posted on March 31, 2017
I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see. On Wednesday evening, March 29, Dr. Francis Collins and Professor N.T. Wright spoke at the opening session of the second Biologos Conference on Christ and Creation … →
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Posted on March 26, 2017
A couple of weeks ago, I did an audio interview with someone I met on twitter calling himself Max Kolbe (a pseudonym, the real Max Kolbe is a Polish saint). Max runs an anti-atheist group and is very active on … →
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Posted on March 21, 2017
My friend Dr. Randy Isaac read my recent post about emergence and got in touch with me about it. Randy recently retired from a long stint as the Executive Director of the American Scientific Affiliation. A physical scientist and a … →
| 5 Comments |
Posted on March 14, 2017
After many many attempts (don’t ask how many, it was a very large number), God finally made the perfect universe. Everything worked great; the stars shone, the sun was brilliant, plants and animals, birds and fish were everywhere, and humans … →
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Posted on March 6, 2017
There is a remarkable thing about scientific discoveries in all fields. They generally tend to be surprising. Nobody (meaning, no scientist) expected that the universe had a clear beginning – that space and time started at a particular moment, before … →
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Evolution and Christian Belief: How Bad is it?
Posted on March 1, 2017
At a recent symposium I attended, I heard a speaker say that Americans are still ignorant about science and reject evolution. The speaker put a good deal of the blame on Christianity, saying that the majority of the major religion … →
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Posted on February 21, 2017
Not a simple question. And the answer depends on who you ask. A Pastor will say yes, of course. Many biologists will answer no, the whole idea of purpose or, the ancient philosophical concept of teleology, has no place in … →
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Why Charles Bastian isn’t Famous
Posted on February 15, 2017
Charles Bastian was one of the leading biologists of the 19th century. A professor of Pathological Anatomy at University College, London, Dr. Bastian was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Linnean Society. He was the author of … →
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The God of Math, Meaning, and Harmony (by Ethan Ortega)
Posted on February 8, 2017
Today’s post is a guest post from Ethan Ortega, a faithful follower of this blog for some time. I will not write much in introduction to Ethan, since he covers that pretty well in the post. Ethan will be happy … →
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Posted on February 3, 2017
Emergence is an interesting phenomenon that pervades all of existence, one that is often discussed by scientists, by philosophers, and humanists. But despite its ubiquity, I do not believe I have ever seen the idea of emergence brought up as … →
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Posted on January 23, 2017
I had an unusual upbringing for a Christian. My parents were dedicated materialistic atheists. They not only didn’t believe in God – they also thought that anything with a spiritual, psychological or non-rational quality was bogus. I grew up … →
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Posted on January 14, 2017
What is scientific evidence? Can a spiritual experience count as scientific evidence? Most people would say no, but I am not so sure we can say that with absolute certainty. Christians are often asked by atheists “What is your evidence … →
| 9 Comments |
Posted on January 10, 2017
There has been a lot of talk about fake news and what sometimes looks like a “post-truth world” recently. Fake news is obviously a problem in politics. In a similar vein, fake science is a problem for theology. I will … →
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Posted on January 4, 2017
Welcome to 2017!! A decade ago I had a book published about the situation of humanity and the environment. My working title for the book was The Good News, because it put forth the claim that contrary to what most … →
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Posted on December 5, 2016
Dear reader – This blog post reflects a novel and probably controversial theme relating teleology (purpose) to evolution. I have written a much more detailed manuscript regarding these ideas, including the specific scientific background for them, which will be published … →
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Posted on December 12, 2016
The Christmas season is here, and for my last post before the holiday period, I thought I would reflect a bit on my childhood memories of Christmas. They can be summed up with one word: Nothing. That’s right, I have … →
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Magical Thinking, Part 2: Magic and Scientism
Posted on November 3, 2016
We are seeing the flourishing of a strong atheistic world view that holds that that the universe is governed by natural law, as the monotheists first proclaimed (see previous post), but not because of a divinely designed creation, but because, … →
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Guest Post: Looking for God in All the Wrong Places
Posted on November 9, 2016
Today we have a guest post from Noah White. Noah is a junior at Houston Baptist University. He commented on a recent post here called Science, a Crisis of Faith, and Biologos. We began a conversation by email, and I suggested … →
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The Atom and the Atonement: Why we need models in science and theology
Posted on November 17, 2016
Originally posted on Science and Belief:
Atoms by Cezary Borysiuk. Flickr. (CC BY 2.0) If you ask a 14 year old, an 18 year old and an undergraduate to describe an atom you will get different answers. Ask them to…
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Posted on November 23, 2016
For American readers, this is a season to give thanks, even in the midst of hardship and worry. Let us pray. May the good Lord watch over you, bless you in this time of giving thanks, and may you recall … →
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Posted on November 28, 2016
I started out in science as a chemistry major in College. I liked chemistry much more than biology, because chemistry had rules, equations, and laws, and it made a lot of sense to me compared to the strange, messy, and … →
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My Grand Unified Theory of Everything
Posted on October 5, 2016
Despite the title, this is not a scientific post. It is metascientific, meaning its sort of like metaphysics, but not really. Metascience is when you talk about scientific stuff, but not really in a scientific way. There are four forces … →
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Science, a Crisis of Faith, and Biologos
Posted on October 14, 2016
On the Biologos forum on September 20th, a man named Nathan posted an eloquent and very moving cry for help. He confessed that he was a Christian who was undergoing a crisis of faith, and that he had been moved … →
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A Discussion on Evolution (elsewhere)
Posted on October 24, 2016
A discussion about some of the arguments between Intelligent Design and Evolutionary Creationism has been going on at Biologos for a while. Not for the first time. I am mentioning it here, now, because one of the Biologos commenters, Eddie … →
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Magical Thinking, Part 1: Magic and Theism
Posted on October 28, 2016
There are three broad ways of thinking about the world. The first is the magical view that everything that happens, good or bad, is due to the actions of a conscious agent, who might be benign, capricious, or malevolent. … →
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Posted on September 1, 2016
Summer is over, and the glorious month of September is here. Today marks the end of my long blogcation, and I welcome back any readers who were impatiently pining for new posts . I think the coming year will be an … →
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Posted on September 5, 2016
The appearance of design suggests a designer. But how can we define the appearance of design? William Dembski, one of the founders of the Intelligent Design movement (ID), has subjected this question to some rigorous statistical treatment, with the intention … →
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Posted on September 16, 2016
I was quite pleasantly surprised when I became a Christian to find that there is a great deal of rational and logical analysis in Christian theology. Reading or listening to people like NT Wright or John Walton is not at … →
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Posted on September 22, 2016
Among the blogs I follow is one called Resurrection Orthodoxy, written by Joel Edmund Anderson. http://www.joeledmundanderson.com/?p=1813 He recently had a post that I thought was a good accompaniment to my own last blog post on probability and theology. The post … →
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The Blog Banner, Walt Whitman, ID and the Genetic Code (and more).
Posted on September 30, 2016
I chose the banner for my blog mostly from an instinctive attachment to the idea of a parent passing on the wonder of science to a child (as my own father did with me). The fact that the subject is … →
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My Talk on Evolutionary Biology
Posted on July 7, 2016
Here is the link to my recent talk at the American Scientific Affiliation Washington DC Metro Chapter, on June 24, 2016. Its a bit dark, and its long, but about half of the video is discussion from the audience, which … →
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The Reasonable Ineffectiveness of Mathematics in the Biological Sciences
Posted on July 12, 2016
(With apologies to Wigner) The fact that biology is not rich in theory is well known. Of the theories that do exist (such as Darwin’s theory of evolution), many have never been formulated into mathematical laws. Physics envy is … →
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Posted on July 15, 2016
Over the past year I have very much enjoyed posting almost 70 articles on this blog. I have also been happy to see the comments, likes, and post reblogging, and want to say thanks to all of the followers and … →
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Posted on June 4, 2016
My busy two weeks of meetings and deadlines is now past, and I can devote myself to important stuff like lying on the hammock, watching the garden grow, and blogging. I recently started using Twitter to expand my social network … →
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Posted on June 14, 2016
Several decades ago, I welcomed a new graduate student to my lab. She had just graduated summa cum laude from a major Ivy League college, and she was as smart as can be. I put her to work on a … →
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Posted on June 20, 2016
Well, they aren’t brothers – they just share the same last name. I don’t think they knew each other. I don’t even know if they even knew the other existed. One of them, James is alive and well; sadly the … →
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Posted on June 27, 2016
Genes are amazing things. They are storehouses of information. They are also able to copy themselves (with some help), and they are the reason I am here typing. In the 1970s, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins had an insight that propelled … →
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Posted on May 2, 2016
Parsimony has become very popular with scientists and philosophers. The idea is that the simplest explanation for any phenomenon – the one that includes the fewest possible number of causal factors – is the best explanation. This principle was used … →
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Posted on May 8, 2016
I grew up in the middle of Brooklyn, NY, so I missed out on the whole trees and flowers thing until much later. But there were some advantages to being in NY. My parents brought me to see quite a … →
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Posted on May 11, 2016
It has become quite popular to doubt the reality of free will. The famous atheist Sam Harris has a book about this, and the claim that free will is nothing more than an illusion can be found throughout modern atheist … →
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Posted on May 18, 2016
I have studied many things in my long career in biological research. Most of my work was on applied biology. I worked, published papers, and got grants in environmental health sciences, toxicology, cancer research, molecular epidemiology, population genetics, gene-environment interactions, … →
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Posted on May 22, 2016
I will not be posting here for the next week or so, since I am in the middle of a time crunch, with deadlines and obligations bearing down from several directions. I hope to get back to speed after I … →
The Story of My Greatest Discovery
Posted on April 2, 2016
In 1991, on a trip to London, I had some free time and went to the British Library. I saw a lot of manuscripts on display, but nothing on science. I asked a guard for directions to the scientific manuscripts, … →
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Review of Michael Denton’s Book
Posted on April 8, 2016
On Feb 10, I posted a link to our review of Michael Denton’s book Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis that was published on the Biologos Blog. That review did spark some interest on the Biologos site, but the discussion quickly went … →
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Posted on April 13, 2016
I believe that God is the creator of all that exists. We don’t know how God created our universe, or even if there is only one universe or there are many independent ones. We don’t know if life arose from … →
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Praise the Lord, Simulator of the Universe
Posted on April 23, 2016
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s recent debate at the American Museum of Natural History on the question of whether we live in a real or a simulated universe was fascinating. The first interesting thing is that such a hypothesis is considered worthy of … →
The Creator in a scientific paper
Posted on March 2, 2016
A strange situation has arisen regarding a paper in the well-respected, free online journal, PLOS One. The paper, called “Biomechanical Characteristics of Hand Coordination in Grasping Activities of Daily Living”, was published by four Chinese scientists in January. The paper appears … →
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Posted on March 7, 2016
Being pure is supposed to be a good thing, and I guess sometimes it is. But sometimes it isn’t Having pure air to breathe or pure ingredients to work with are universally seen as good. But in other, more abstract … →
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Posted on March 13, 2016
This famous quote from the film “Jurassic Park” is actually not as vacuous as you might expect from a Hollywood blockbuster. In fact it is pretty well true. Life does tend to find ways to spread, adapt, survive, and … →
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Baseball Cards, Gene Regulatory Networks and Chance.
Posted on March 18, 2016
One of the first skills I ever mastered, when I was about 10 or 11, was how to flip baseball cards. One kid would flip a card spinning into the air and let it come down, heads or tails. The … →
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Posted on March 26, 2016
Today is simply Saturday, the day between. We know very little about what happened on this day, but we can imagine. We can imagine a man, much like us. A man defeated, alone, miserable and afraid. This man, who was … →
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Posted on March 28, 2016
This past Good Friday, I posted the following two paragraphs (shown in italics) in the facebook group, Celebrating Creation by Natural Selection. One of the comments was a question shown below in bold. What follows that is my answer. I … →
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Posted on February 3, 2016
The militant atheists I grew up with (my family and all their friends) considered free will a critical component of the human mind. The idea that people were to some degree free to choose their mode of action was crucial to the very fabric of liberal (not to mention radical) social action. The restriction of free will by outside agencies, like the Church, the oppressive ruling class, poverty, or lack of education, was in fact identified as the obvious enemy of progress.
Posted on February 10, 2016
The staff of Biologos asked me to review a new book by Discovery Institute’s Michael Denton. The book is called Evolution Still a Theory in Crisis, not an auspicious title for an evolutionist like me. But I read the book, and Im glad I did.
Posted on February 16, 2016
Evolution is not simply change. Stars change, planets change, galaxies, mountains, rocks, and all aspects of the physical world change, but they do not evolve. Evolution implies more than simple change: it is an accumulating, progressive change that relies on the transmission of information from one state of matter to all future states. In life, this transmission of information is chemically mediated through the informational molecule of inheritance, DNA. Natural selection is the process that selects which states are most likely to pass their information, but without inheritance (a term that means the passing of information from one generation to the next) there is no evolution.
Former atheist astrophysicist, Sarah Salviander, explains her journey to Christianity.
Posted on February 18, 2016
I found this blog post and had to re blog it here, since her story is so close to mine. I was very moved to read it, and I simply had to share it.
Testimony of former atheist Sarah Salviander. She is a research scientist in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Texas.
“I was born in the U.S., but grew up in Canada. My parents were socialists and political activists who thought British Columbia would be a better place for us to live, since it had the only socialist government in North America at the time. My parents were also atheists, though they eschewed that label in favor of “agnostic.” They were kind, loving, and moral, but religion played no part in my life. Instead, my childhood revolved around education, particularly science. I remember how important it was to my parents that my brother and I did well in school.
Posted on February 21, 2016
Today’s post is nothing related to science. I did speak at my Church on Friday about humility, science and faith, and on Ash Wednesday went to an African American Church where I listened to their choir. That experience stimulated this … →
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Two new articles about the new evolutionary biology
Posted on February 23, 2016
My two related articles on the new evolutionary biology have come out at the same time: Sy Garte “God and the New Evolutionary Biology” God & Nature Magazine Winter, 2016 and my first full original article in PSCF (at this … →
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Posted on February 28, 2016
And it came to pass that a famous scientist came upon hard times. People called him names, women said he had castigated them unfairly, others questioned his sincerity. Some criticized him for speaking about things that he knew nothing of, … →
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Posted on January 4, 2016
“The true function of logic…as applied to matters of experience…is analytic rather than constructive; taken a priori, it shows the possibility of hitherto unsuspected alternatives more often than the impossibility of alternatives which seemed prima facie possible. Thus, while it liberates imagination as to … →
Posted on January 12, 2016
Gene Networks are collections of genes that interact with each other. What does that mean, and how do genes interact? First, we must understand that a gene does nothing but store information. The analogy most often used is a book. … →
Posted on January 23, 2016
Several decades ago, I was driving along a country road looking for a cabin owned by a friend of mine. The directions he had given me were vague at best. I came to a spot where the very rustic road … →
Posted on December 2, 2015
When I was a child we used to go for summer vacations to the small New England village where my grandfather owned a house not far from the ocean. During one walk along the beach, I found a nice piece … →
Posted on December 10, 2015
In science, there are many laws that are described mathematically. Some are established from experimentation; others are derived theoretically from other known laws. It has often been pointed out that it is quite remarkable that nature operates in ways that … →
Posted on December 16, 2015
I am sorry to say, but Donald Trump is related to me. But the good news is so is President Obama, Hilary Clinton, and everyone running for President (somewhat good news, I guess). Not only that, but they are also … →
Posted on December 19, 2015
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all. I will be back in early January. Meanwhile I hope all your holiday celebrations are full of joy, and (if you are lucky) peace. Sy
Dodging Darwin: How Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter is Slowly Embracing Evolution
Posted on December 30, 2015
Originally posted on Naturalis Historia:
Please welcome David MacMillan* as a guest author today on Naturalis Historia.** As the strict young-earth creationists at Answers in Genesis work to complete their Ark Encounter “theme park,” they have expended an impressive amount…
The Truth About New Biological Information (Continued)
Posted on November 3, 2015
In a previous post (The Reality of Biological Information), I discussed some of the many mechanisms that allow for the production of NEW genetic information without getting into specific examples. In this post I will cite several examples of new … →
Posted on November 9, 2015
I believe in human exceptionalism. I believe that human consciousness, creativity, intellect, imagination and other characteristics are emergent qualities with no true analogy in the animal world. I believe this as a matter of religious faith (imago Dei), but even … →
Posted on November 19, 2015
After eating, I was feeling pretty good. I swam down to the castle, where, as usual, Blackie and Angel were having their daily discussion, or argument (depending on their respective moods). Same topic of course, – science vs. religion. Blackie … →
Posted on November 25, 2015
I will be traveling for the holiday so I will not be posting anything until Monday Nov. 30. I hope all who read this have a great Thanksgiving. Peace and joy to all.
Posted on October 4, 2015
Now that water has been found on Mars, the question of life outside of our own planet is likely to be a major discussion topic for a while. Since liquid water is a necessary (but insufficient) requirement for life, journalists, … →
God proves His existence. Uh oh.
Posted on October 6, 2015
One bright sunny day, the Lord God paid a visit to Earth. He arrived in a huge, flaming chariot that was visible to millions of people as he circled the globe a few times. Behind the chariot was a banner … →
Posted on October 9, 2015
This was first published on the Biologos Website in December 2010. I was raised in a household of atheists. My parents were card-carrying members of the American Communist Party, and therefore the atheism in my household was quite close to the … →
Posted on October 18, 2015
There is a very popular meme floating around these days. It’s about how immensely huge the universe is. How many billions of galaxies there are, each with billions of stars and planets, and doesn’t that make you feel small? Insignificant? … →
Wisdom from the Apostle Paul (By Guest Blogger Dean Ohlman)
Posted on October 20, 2015
Today’s blog post is from Dean Ohlman, a fellow member of the facebook group Celebrating Creation by Natural Selection (CCNS). I have adapted the post below from some comments that he a discussion thread on that site. Dean … →
Posted on October 25, 2015
God was perplexed. “I don’t get it. What is the point, exactly?” Michael sighed and tried to explain. Again. “You see, Lord, what they are saying now is that if something can be explained by science, then nobody needs to … →
Posted on October 27, 2015
I have given many talks in my life – at symposia, seminars, conferences. I always liked public speaking (being the egotist that I am), but my favorite part was the questions. Some were easy. Sometimes I got a question that … →
Biology, the Lawless Science (Part 2)
Posted on September 5, 2015
In physics, chemistry, geology, climatology and even some of the social sciences, theories and laws are born from models of systems, generally based on observations or experimental data. Molecular biologists also use the term model in their papers and presentations. … →
The Bus and the Drums. A love story for 911.
Posted on September 11, 2015
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 The young woman was crying. She stood at the front of the crowded bus. Her man was soothing her.”It’s OK, honey, … →
Posted on September 17, 2015
“What is truth?” “Oh boy, is that the topic?” “Yeah, why not?” “I mean, like are we still in college or what? Cmon, what is truth, you got to be kidding.” “OK, wise guy, can you answer the question?” “Sure. … →
The Default Position Redux – Suffering and Christianity.
Posted on September 19, 2015
I have just read an excellent blog post by theologian Ryan Patrick McLaughlin entitled The Real Theological Challenge of Evolution.http://www.patheos.com/blogs/evangelicalpulpit/2015/09/the-real-theological-challenge-of-evolution/. The author raises an issue I have seen many times: that the problem with evolution is not that it contradicts … →
Truth in Science (An Introduction)
Posted on September 29, 2015
I love science, and I will always consider myself to be an active scientist. But there are some things going on in certain scientific areas of enquiry that trouble me. I have seen some people (most of them not actually … →
The Problem with Modern Atheism is not about God
Posted on August 3, 2015
Is there a spiritual dimension of reality? Some time ago you could be an atheist and answer yes. But the New Atheists not only deny the existence of God, they also deny the reality of anything spiritual in human existence. … →
The Reality of New Biological Information
Posted on August 12, 2015
According to an idea popular among young earth creationists, evolution cannot result in new genetic information, and biological information can only be degraded with time. There are variations on this theme, including the concept that mutations cannot be beneficial. These … →
New Ideas in Evolutionary Biology, Part 1 (of 3)
Posted on August 14, 2015
(This series of three posts is taken from a review article I am planning to submit for publication. I have removed references from the posts, but will be happy to supply them on request.) The idea that the source of … →
New Ideas in Evolutionary Biology, Part 2 (of 3)
Posted on August 15, 2015
(This series of three posts is taken from a review article I am planning to submit for publication. I have removed references from the posts, but will be happy to supply them on request.) Stress Directed Mutations In 1988, a … →
New Ideas in Evolutionary Biology, Part 3 (of 3)
Posted on August 15, 2015
(This series of three posts is taken from a review article I am planning to submit for publication. I have removed references from the posts, but will be happy to supply them on request.) Natural Genetic Engineering (cont.) There is … →
Posted on August 26, 2015
My first wife was not happy with the house we lived in. It was in a small town, on a quiet street, with a backyard, a driveway, a garage, a front and back porch, three bedrooms upstairs, a living room, … →
What does “Peer Reviewed” mean?
Posted on August 31, 2015
You might have seen or heard people engaged in debates about evolution, climate change, GMOs, vaccinations, or any other popular science-oriented issue refer to peer- reviewed literature, published papers, or journal articles. These all refer to the same thing. So … →
Posted on July 6, 2015
I’ve always loved science. I became a scientist, and I did a lot scientific research in genetics, toxicology, and molecular biology. While I never became a great scientist, I did make a living at it. And I have always read … →
Posted on July 17, 2015
A Troubling Distortion of Science – A Review of A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History by Nicholas Wade. Sy Garte and Aniko Albert The use of pseudo-scientific arguments to advance philosophical and political agendas is quite familiar to … →
Posted on July 27, 2015
The answer is no. I will elaborate. We don’t need to believe in God to be good people. I have known many good people who didn’t believe in God, including most of my relatives. We don’t need to know God … →
Posted on June 5, 2015
In the first human conceptions of the world, nobody thought that any part of reality obeyed fixed natural laws. That is the nature of magic, the basis of primitive religions and world views. According to magical thinking, there is … →
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Posted on June 9, 2015
Here is what I think might have happened. Sam the scribe, a very religious man, was hanging in front of his tent one day when he heard the voice of the Lord. “Sam,” boomed the voice. “Get some parchment and … →
The genesis of Genesis, Part 2
Posted on June 14, 2015
God said, “Listen, Sam, I hope you are getting the point here. The plants, using photosynthesis were able to convert the energy from the sun into useful chemical energy by a complex process of electron transport. What a great system. … →
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A New Biology of Spiritual Information
Posted on June 19, 2015
The title of this this post is also the title of the grant just awarded to The Natural Philosophy Institute by the John Templeton Foundation. I (Sy Garte) am the Principle Investigator of the award, and I will be assisted … →
Posted on May 25, 2015
This blog is about science from the perspective of natural philosophy. There was originally no distinction between science and philosophy. Scientists as recently as 150 years ago referred to themselves as natural philosophers. Natural philosophy is in fact a good … →
The Book of Works 
