Embryo models might offer a way to go down that path with even fewer legal and ethical restrictions. They are not legally considered to be embryos because they do not have the potential to grow into viable organisms. So even under present guidelines and regulations in many countries, if embryo models can be grown through… Continue reading ‘Embryo Models’ Challenge Legal, Ethical and Biological Concepts
The Global Movement Against China’s Economic Coercion Is Accelerating
With the launch of the Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion in May, the Group of Seven (G7) leading economies have taken an important step after years of U.S. allies and partners facing coercion from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) alone. There is no shortage of recent examples regarding why such a coordinated approach by… Continue reading The Global Movement Against China’s Economic Coercion Is Accelerating
On the Need to Receive the Eucharist Worthily
In light of Sunday’s Feast of Corpus Christi, I would like to recall the need for the reverent and worthy reception of Holy Communion and to develop an explanation for the Church’s practice of what some call “closed Communion.” Not everyone who uses this terminology means it pejoratively, although some do. But to some extent it… Continue reading On the Need to Receive the Eucharist Worthily
People Differ Widely in Their Understanding of Even a Simple Concept Such as the Word ‘Penguin’
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “penguin” as “any of various erect short-legged flightless aquatic birds (family Spheniscidae) of the southern hemisphere.” That description seems simple enough, but definitions are not what people have in mind when they actually use words. Instead people think of concepts: the myriad properties, ideas, examples and associations that spring… Continue reading People Differ Widely in Their Understanding of Even a Simple Concept Such as the Word ‘Penguin’
We Aren’t Helpless in the Face of Increasing Fires and Smoke
As swaths of central and eastern North America faced skies choked with smoke last week, those of us in the West empathized. Our part of the continent watches sunsets turned blood red through bloodshot eyes every year. Breathing in acrid brown-yellow haze pulls climate change anxiety right to the surface. Being told that decades of… Continue reading We Aren’t Helpless in the Face of Increasing Fires and Smoke
The Real Presence – Divine Intimacy Meditation
The Real Presence Presence of God – “Hidden God, devoutly I adore Thee, truly present beneath these veils: all my heart subdues itself before Thee, since all before Thee faints and fails” (cf. Adoro Te Devote). MEDITATION “Verbum caro factum est” (Jn 1:14). The Incarnation of the Word, the ineffable mystery of the merciful love… Continue reading The Real Presence – Divine Intimacy Meditation
Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans
How do brains learn? It’s a mystery, one that applies both to the spongy organs in our skulls and to their digital counterparts in our machines. Even though artificial neural networks (ANNs) are built from elaborate webs of artificial neurons, ostensibly mimicking the way our brains process information, we don’t know if they process input… Continue reading Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans
Who Invented the Measurement of Time?
In modern times, clocks underpin everything people do, from work to school to sleep. Timekeeping is also the invisible structure that makes modern infrastructure work. It forms the foundation of the high-speed computers that conduct financial trading and even the GPS system that pinpoints locations on Earth’s surface with unprecedented accuracy. But humans have likely… Continue reading Who Invented the Measurement of Time?
Sorry Pundits, George W. Bush Made the Saudis. Putin Too
“Under Biden, America has surrendered the oil economy. The Saudi king is now the world’s oil king again, and we are all worse for it.” Those are the words of Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power the Future, an organization that “advocates for American energy jobs.” Up front, oil is an essential commodity.… Continue reading Sorry Pundits, George W. Bush Made the Saudis. Putin Too
Japanese Moon Landing Attempt Falls Short as Spacecraft Goes Silent
A Japanese company’s attempt to execute the first commercial landing on the moon has ended with a dramatic silence, with mission controllers unable to establish communications after the scheduled landing. The HAKUTO-R mission was designed by the Japanese company ispace and launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December 2022. With the failed landing… Continue reading Japanese Moon Landing Attempt Falls Short as Spacecraft Goes Silent