5+ day, 13+ hour ago   (398+ words) I came of age as a scientist just at this time. In the academic milieu in which I spent my formative years, there was no opportunity for doubt. For me, educated and trained at UC Berkeley, UCSF, and UT MD…...

6+ day, 15+ hour ago   (302+ words) Since the consequential documentary The Story of Everything was in theaters and then came online in streaming formats, we’ve had lots of questions, including from overseas, about how to see it. The options have grown to the point that it’s…...

2+ week, 22+ hour ago   (451+ words) Is “The brain is a computer!” one of science’s biggest mistakes? If so, it throws a wrench into claims that conscious computers can ever be built. The mistake, in her view, is assuming that consciousness is a function of a…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago   (308+ words) The many scientific shortcomings of the evolutionary account force us to confront some logical and philosophical challenges. Source If theistic evolution doesn’t work, and Darwinian evolution is scientifically inadequate, what alternative framework better explains the origin of life and the…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago   (408+ words) Celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is often asked if he believes in God. Typically, his response goes something like this: “So … the more I look around at the world, at the universe, I remain unconvinced.” Or, as he put it…...

1+ mon, 19+ hour ago   (393+ words) On Richard Dawkins, arguably the world’s most famous atheist, has spent his career arguing that biology only gives the “appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” In Dawkins’s view, the striking resemblance of living systems to intelligently engineered technology…...

1+ mon, 21+ hour ago   (456+ words) However, one thing Franklin was always quite sure of: The universe had a divine Designer. Franklin argues for God’s wisdom from how precisely situated each element of the creation appears to be and how perfectly adapted each animal is to…...

1+ mon, 3+ day ago   (306+ words) As we celebrated 250 years of American independence this past weekend, I was reminded of those famous words of the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by…...

1+ mon, 4+ day ago   (613+ words) Earlier, I wrote a reflection, “Speech, Laughter, and Intelligent Design,” after reading about an open-access study of primate laughter, including human laughter. The authors think that similarities between human and ape patterns in laughter help us understand how human speech…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago   (565+ words) Consciousness, researchers acknowledge, may resist complete explanation for decades — or longer. However, they argue that the field has matured enough to move beyond simply cataloging brain signals toward building theories that can be tested, challenged, and refined. If that transition…...