To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here During the course of a single year (1905), a young man named Albert Einstein submitted several papers to a German physics journal. This was surprising, since Einstein had no scientific pedigree, no university affiliation, and no laboratory to conduct experiments. He was employed at the time in the Swiss national patent… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here If you’re squeamish thinking about bacteria, this might be a good place to stop reading. There are a lot of bacteria in the world. At least several million species exist. Most of them are still unnamed. By number and by mass, there are more of these one-celled organisms on our planet than any… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It seems hard to believe, but just 200 years ago every respectable scientist believed that spoiled meat, all by itself, could generate maggots. The idea that non-living substances automatically morph into living creatures is known as “spontaneous generation.” Dust generates fleas. Dead cows produce wasps. Ocean sand yields barnacles. And a… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here The European adventurers who sailed west across the Atlantic in the 15th and 16th centuries discovered a new hemisphere. But on April 24, 1676, Anton von Leeuwenhoek, without leaving his home in the Netherlands, discovered a whole new world. Leeuwenhoek’s innate curiosity went far beyond the fabrics he peddled as a cloth merchant. … Read more »
Philosopher J.P. Moreland remembers the time he was invited to speak at a gathering on the validity of faith. A friend gave him fair warning. One of the guests, a man who was finishing up his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins, was an outspoken skeptic of all things religious. They ultimately crossed paths at the dessert table. The man could hardly wait to… Read more »
One hundred years ago, people were just coming to grips with a strange idea: Everything is made of atoms. The notion had been around for a very long time. But all of a sudden a truckload of evidence emerged that it was really true. Even though common sense would seem to shout otherwise, reality is composed of exceedingly tiny particles. … Read more »
Who knew that walking your dog could help make the world a more “secure” place, and one day provide encouragement for people in the midst of a pandemic? Swiss engineer George De Mestrel had no such expectations back in 1948 when he and his dog emerged from the woods covered with cockleburs, those spiky seeds that hitch rides on canine fur… Read more »
