Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Above our heads, beneath our feet, and beneath our dignity

Above our heads, beneath our feet, and beneath our dignity

Last updated on: March 23, 2018 at 11:41 pm by Dan Peterson

Above our heads, beneath our feet, and beneath our dignity 2018-03-23T23:41:11-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Public domain bathymetry image of the Hawaiian islands

There’s even a bit of pretty good scientist humor here:

“Hawaii: Where Evolution Can Be Surprisingly Predictable”

I was happy to see the article mention the late Harvard evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould’s famous comment that, if you replayed life’s tape—that is, if you rewound time and allowed evolution to play out again—it might yield very different results. The article doesn’t mention, but could have, the Cambridge University paleontologist Simon Conway Morris, who (if I understand him correctly) disagrees.

***

Some interesting speculations that suggest the possibility of life elsewhere within our own solar system:

“Could Shallow Biospheres Exist Beneath the Icy Ceilings of Ocean Moons?”

***

From the British Psychological Society, a relatively brief piece based on research at Utah Valley University, which is within walking distance of where I’m sitting at the moment:

“Best-selling introductory psychology books give a misleading view of intelligence”

***

A thought-provoking essay:

“Is a little science a dangerous thing?”

***

Perhaps related to that topic is this astonishing and somewhat discouraging report:

“Study: On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories: Research project finds humans, not bots, are primarily responsible for spread of misleading information.”

***

Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, very briefly recounts a very famous case in twentieth-century science in his book How It Began: A Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Universe (New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 2012), 146:

Einstein solved his equations for the universe as a whole, but at the time astronomers thought the universe was a single large system of stars with no overall motion. The equations of general relativity are intrinsically dynamic — the solutions want to take flight with expansion or contraction — and to suppress that tendency and produce a static solution Einstein had added a term called the “cosmological constant” to his solution. Because of this he missed predicting the expansion of the universe. He later called this the “biggest blunder” of his life. In the 1920s, both Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lemaître found expanding solutions to the equations of general relativity.

On a very different topic (on page 242), Professor Impey gives us something striking to think about:

50 miles below our feet is heat so intense we’d expire in a few minutes, and 5o miles above our heads is the lung-busting and frigid vacuum of space.

Uncategorized

cosmological constant

Previous Post

March 9, 2018

Beauty and Belief

Next Post

March 9, 2018 The End of the High Caliphal Period

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Whose bones were to be carried from Egypt back to Canaan?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jacob Levi Joseph Benjamin