Sunspots 771

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

Christianity: Relevant reports on a study that showed that graduates of Christian colleges care more about others, and less about making money, than graduates of secular universities.

Relevant also tells us about 4 things that Jesus never said, but that He is often, er, said to have said.

And a Relevant writer says that Christianity isn't just a relationship, but it's a religion.

And Relevant interviews Eugene Cho, new leader of Bread for the World. Cho has a lot to say about Christians and politics.

He Lives reminds us that not everything created on day six was good.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware suggests a program that will help you recover log-ins and product keys.

Politics: (sort of) Gizmodo reports that adding more lanes to highways increases highway congestion.

(and Christianity) Relevant reports that President Trump, once more, disputes Christ's teachings about dealing with one's enemies.


Science: (and Health) NPR reports that gene repair on a person (not on a cell culture), to cure a specific disease, has been attempted.

NPR also reports that global warming is affecting grasshoppers, and that may be a warning for the rest of us.

Gizmodo reports that there may be an explanation for dark matter, and that the explanation involves newly conceived configurations of quarks.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 681

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Relevant celebrates the products of Pixar studio.

Christianity: Sojourners says that we worship the rich.

Relevant has some good advice for married couples who don't engage in sex very often.

Christianity Today warns churches that the church, itself, may be groomed by sexual predators.

Health: It really is harder to think in summer heat.

History: Listverse on the origin of 10 common articles of clothing.


Politics: (or something) Domino's pizza has decided to start fixing roads, so that their pizzas won't be damaged during delivery. Really.

Science: Gizmodo reports the honeybees may be able to comprehend zero -- the absence of something. Ancient human mathematicians didn't seem to comprehend this, by the way.

Gizmodo also explains (as far as we can, at the present) why some scientists believe that there is dark matter, and what that matter might be.

Todd C. Wood, a respected young-earth creationist scientist, reacts to a recent scientific article that claims that all species of animals are about the same age. Wood is not convinced.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

The best science of 2012, from Nature

One can make a good argument that Nature is the most important science periodical in the world. Among the articles published in it was the famous less than two-page article by James Watson and Francis Crick, announcing the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. That article includes this priority establishing sentence: "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material."

Nature has done us a service, by selecting from the developments in 2012. The journal has published several items, as follows:

The most scientifically interesting photos of 2012, including the crystal structure of caffeine, the smallest reptile ever known, and others.

Reports, in Nature, of work reported in other periodicals, but interesting, including:

A study indicating that birds line their nests with cigarette butts as a means of repelling parasites.

The construction of a jellyfish-like entity from rat muscle cells, complete with a video of the entity swimming.

The discovery of some unusual sponges in the Mediterranean, with a video.

A study, indicating that dark matter actually exists. See here for the Wikipedia's article on the subject.

How it has proved possible to communicate with people in a vegetative state.

Articles in Nature, itself, on interesting subjects, such as:

What we have learned from 50 years of studying people with the two halves of their brains separated. (Lots!)

There's a lot more. Thanks for reading. Read Nature!