I was a bit surprised when “Sean” told me that he was starting to eat compulsively. He said, “I can’t stop eating. This has never happened before.” The family is locking up the refrigerator at night or else he will eat everything inside. Oddly, Sean has never had a compulsive eating problem in the past… Continue reading Exorcist Diary: Demons of Obesity
Shadows in the Big Bang Afterglow Reveal Invisible Cosmic Structures
Explore Nearly 400,000 years after the Big Bang, the primordial plasma of the infant universe cooled enough for the first atoms to coalesce, making space for the embedded radiation to soar free. That light—the cosmic microwave background (CMB)—continues to stream through the sky in all directions, broadcasting a snapshot of the early universe that’s picked… Continue reading Shadows in the Big Bang Afterglow Reveal Invisible Cosmic Structures
Europe: Ukraine’s Essential Ally
While the United States is Ukraine’s primary military backer, Europe is sharing the war’s overall burden. Ukraine’s future lies in Europe. It is embracing Ukrainians, notably hosting 8 million refugees and sending generous economic and humanitarian aid. Ukrainian flags fly everywhere in Europe. For its treachery, Russia has lost Ukraine. Prior to the war, few… Continue reading Europe: Ukraine’s Essential Ally
A Sip of God’s Glory
It started with this quote by St. Gregory Nazianzen: “Recognize to whom you owe the fact that you exist, that you breathe, that you understand, that you are wise, and, above all, that you know God and hope for the kingdom of heaven and the vision of glory … You have been made a son… Continue reading A Sip of God’s Glory
How Snails Cross Vast Oceans
There have been surprisingly few experimental efforts to explore the possible avenues by which Hawai‘i’s snails might have crossed oceans to arrive in their new home. In fact, to date there has been precisely one study on this topic of which I am aware. In 2006, Brenden Holland, a researcher in the biology department at… Continue reading How Snails Cross Vast Oceans
Advancing Women’s Health Requires Better Evidence
For decades, advances in health and health care have had a bias toward the male body. The reasons for this bias aren’t nefarious, but it is simply the case that the research is incomplete. It was long assumed that what researchers found in a male could generally be applied to a female; that, on the… Continue reading Advancing Women’s Health Requires Better Evidence
Mercy Can Save Us – SpiritualDirection.com
In our present moment in history, so many are cautious towards or reject altogether anything in the arena of God and religion. Our culture appears to be more divided than ever, people demean each other over social media constantly, dialogue and discussion are being replaced with mob rule, and our churches continue to hold low… Continue reading Mercy Can Save Us – SpiritualDirection.com
Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility
How does your math timeline intersect with your history as a trans person? I transitioned at the tail end of grad school. When I was coming out, I didn’t know of any other trans people in math. I remember I found one article by this trans guy who wrote a short account of his experiences.… Continue reading Emmy Murphy Is a Mathematician Who Finds Beauty in Flexibility
As China Ascends, Concerns Grow It Might Be Tempted into a ‘Splendid Little War’
When a nation newly ascends or returns to the status of a leading international power, it often feels the need to publicly demonstrate its rise through a brief, victorious war. Today, China’s increasing strength may tempt it to pursue such a conflict, and not necessarily with Taiwan, if it anticipates—perhaps incorrectly—that victory will be swift,… Continue reading As China Ascends, Concerns Grow It Might Be Tempted into a ‘Splendid Little War’
See How Scientists Put Together the Complete Human Genome
For the first time, researchers have sequenced all 3,117,275,501 bases of our genetic code Credit: Martin KrzywinskiAdvertisement The human genome is at last complete. Researchers have been working for decades toward this goal, and the Human Genome Project claimed victory in 2001, when it had read almost all of a person’s DNA. But the stubborn… Continue reading See How Scientists Put Together the Complete Human Genome