The scientific method defined

What the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Science: The scientific method remains the best way to solve many problems, but bias, overconfidence and politics can sometimes lead scientists astray

Excerpt:

In a lecture at Cornell University in 1964, the physicist Richard Feynman defined the scientific method. First, you guess, he said, to a ripple of laughter. Then you compute the consequences of your guess. Then you compare those consequences with the evidence from observations or experiments. “If [your guess] disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It does not make a difference how beautiful the guess is, how smart you are, who made the guess or what his name is…it’s wrong.”

Are Science and Faith Compatible?

• Concept 1: Atheism is Self-Denying

  ... when an atheist reaches the conclusion that scientific naturalism is true, his conclusion has only the illusion of truth. Chemicals in the brain are responsible for the conclusion. Free will choice is an illusion according to scientific naturalism, there is no way to know what is true. According to atheism, a Christian has no choice but to believe in Christianity. It is just the specific mechanical unfolding of chemicals that created his Christian belief—a biochemical illusion. Same for any other worldview, including atheism. In any biochemical illusion of a thought conclusion, there may be programming influences from family, culture, and so forth, but they are also a part of this predetermined mechanical unfolding of chemicals ultimately resulting in the neurochemicals masquerading as the free will choice to decide upon a worldview. When we receive information that influences how we see the world, there is still no choice of how we will respond to that influence because everything, including thought and choice, is a result of a mechanical unfolding of chemicals. The influence is just another player in the illusion of volition. In the atheist’s philosophy of scientific naturalism, the processes of the physical world are chemically rigged from the beginning without any room for free will conclusions about what is or is not true. The problem for the atheist then becomes obvious: Any claim to truth must make an appeal beyond the deterministic unfolding of chemicals, posited by scientific naturalism. Otherwise, without transcendent validation, that truth conclusion is an illusion with no objective reliability, a simple result of ages of undirected chemical reactions. Scientific naturalism is logically self-denying. Atheism cannot rely upon its own conclusions because those conclusions would necessarily be only illusions of thought according to the limitations of scientific naturalism. Illusions are not reliable for suppositions of truth.

• Concept 2: The Cosmological Conundrum
  

  If the universe has not always existed, then something had to bring it into existence. It is illogical to say that the universe could create itself because it was not around in the beginning. Nothing cannot make something.

• Concept 3: The Programming Paradox
  

  We cannot expect such a designed program code to write itself by accident through random chemical events in nature any more than we could expect intelligent functional software to happen by accident without the intelligence of software programmers. There must be a Programmer for these biological software codes just as there must be a programmer for computer software codes. Furthermore, a designed code by definition indicates a personal designer, as does any deliberate design. Deliberation necessitates personal mind as well. Blind neo-Darwinian mechanisms cannot explain information that is necessary in every living cell from the very beginning of life, created fully operational!

.@brettwilliamsCO @dougrmn America's new religion. https://t.co/jvGDt6UMY1 pic.twitter.com/CFDgMjkYPv

— James Peet (@jrpeet) December 12, 2018

The new #paganism . Good #worldview readhttps://t.co/N0R0Gf7dkw pic.twitter.com/lmFhXRoidO

— James Peet (@jrpeet) December 12, 2018

Science Is No Enemy of Christianity https://t.co/iT2uVTDSrC

— James Peet (@jrpeet) January 28, 2019

https://t.co/HWWvckTWpE pic.twitter.com/KXXpI1MEiv

— James Peet (@jrpeet) March 19, 2019

Ten ways in which Christian belief creates a hospitable environment for scientific inquiry

1. The physical universe is an objective reality, which is ontologically distinct from the Creator (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1).
2. The laws of nature exhibit order, pattern and regularity, since they are established by an orderly God (Psalm 19:1-4).
3. The laws of nature are uniform throughout the physical universe, since God created and providentially sustains them.
4. The physical universe is intelligible because God created us to know himself, ourselves and the rest of creation (Genesis 1-2; Proverbs 8).
5. The world is good, valuable and worthy of careful study because it was created for a purpose by a perfectly good God (Genesis 1). Humans, as the unique image bearers of God, were created to discern, discover and develop the goodness of creation for the glory of God and human betterment terment through work. The creation mandate (Genesis 1:26-28) includes cludes scientific activity.
6. Because the world is not divine and therefore not a proper object of worship, it can be an object of rational study and empirical observation.
7. Human beings possess the ability to discover the universe's intelligibility, since we are made in God's image and have been placed on earth to develop its intrinsic possibilities.
8. Because God did not reveal everything about nature, empirical investigation is necessary to discern the patterns God laid down in creation.
9. God encourages, even propels, science through his imperative to humans mans to take dominion over nature (Genesis 1:28).
10. The intellectual virtues essential to carrying out the scientific enterprise prise (studiousness, honesty, integrity, humility and courage) are part of God's moral law (Exodus 20:1-17).

Comment: Douglas Groothuis. Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (Kindle Locations 1034-1037). Kindle Edition. / Image source below is from ASA website here.

God has two "books" for us:

Nature / Science is the study of the Physical

His Word / Theology is the study of the Metaphysical

Does Science "constitute the entire domain of truth"?

The Folly of Scientism (PDF) (19 pages)

The Thomas Edison quote applies:

Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge. Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favor compared with the products of nature, the living cell of the plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life.

Comment: Edison was not a Christian, but he did believe in a Supreme being: "I do not believe in the God of the theologians; but that there is a Supreme Intelligence I do not doubt."

At The Home for Deranged Scientists

Doesn't science disprove Christianity?

Comment: Skip the video and read the article.

SnowCrystals.com

SnowCrystals.com


Comment: Fascinating site!

See-through fish

See-through fish is created to give a clearer idea of how cancer spreads

Excerpt:

Researchers who bred the transparent fish at the Children’s Hospital, Boston, in the United States, were able to watch as melanoma cells left the abdominal cavity and made directly for the skin, where the disease took hold. Before the innovation, scientists were reliant on getting a snapshot of the spread by dissecting specimens.

Comment: Photo w article. Interests me on several fronts, notably that my Brother-in-Law succumbed to melanoma.

The Deep: More cool photos

Kevin Kelly: The Deep

The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss


Comment: See earlier post: Sea Devils

Cholesterol: Questioning the conventional wisdom

What’s Cholesterol Got to Do With It?

Excerpt:

The lipoproteins LDL and HDL became “good cholesterol” and “bad cholesterol,” and the lipoprotein transport vehicle was now conflated with its cholesterol cargo. Lost in translation was the evidence that the causal agent in heart disease might be abnormalities in the lipoproteins themselves.

The truth is, we’ve always had reason to question the idea that cholesterol is an agent of disease. Indeed, what the Framingham researchers meant in 1977 when they described LDL cholesterol as a “marginal risk factor” is that a large proportion of people who suffer heart attacks have relatively low LDL cholesterol.

So how did we come to believe strongly that LDL cholesterol is so bad for us? It was partly due to the observation that eating saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol, and we’ve assumed that saturated fat is bad for us. This logic is circular, though: saturated fat is bad because it raises LDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol is bad because it is the thing that saturated fat raises. In clinical trials, researchers have been unable to generate compelling evidence that saturated fat in the diet causes heart disease.

Comment: Consider dialog from the Woody Allen movie, Sleepers:

Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.

1969: AIDS virus invaded U.S.

Study: AIDS virus invaded U.S. from Haiti in 1969

Excerpts:

They found that HIV was brought to Haiti by an infected person from central Africa in about 1966, which matches earlier estimates, and then came to the United States in about 1969.

The researchers think an unknown single infected Haitian immigrant arrived in a large city like Miami or New York, and the virus circulated for years -- first in the U.S. population and then to other nations.
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"That one infection would have become two, and then it doubles again and the two becomes four," Worobey said. "So you have a period -- probably a fair number of years -- where you're dealing with probably fewer than a hundred people who are infected.

"And then, as with epidemic expansion, at some point the hundred becomes 200, you start getting into thousands, tens of thousands. And then quite rapidly you can be up into the hundreds of thousands of infections that were probably already there before AIDS was recognized in the early 1980s."
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Studies suggest the virus first entered the human population in about 1930 in central Africa, probably when people slaughtered infected chimpanzees for meat.

News you can't use!

Earth Might Survive Sun’s Explosion

Excerpts:

About five billion years from now, astronomers say, the Sun will run out of hydrogen fuel and swell temporarily more than 100 times in diameter into a so-called red giant, swallowing Mercury and Venus and dooming life on Earth, but perhaps not Earth itself.

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Dr. Silvotti said that the results showed that a planet at the Earth’s distance “can survive” the red giant and he hoped the discovery would spur searches for more like it. “With some statistics and new detailed models we will be able to say something more even to the destiny of our Earth (which, as we all know, has much more urgent problems by the way),” he said in an e-mail message.

Comment: Glad we pay these scientists for this hard work! Nice to know that 5,000,000,000 years from now the earth will survive!

Now what's really going to happen:

2 Peter 3:10-13, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

Scientists simulate jet colliding with World Trade Center

Video simulates 9/11 attacks

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A computer simulation of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, posted on the Web site YouTube by Purdue University researchers, shows how hijacked planes crashed through the twin towers, stripping fireproofing materials from the steel columns and eventually leading to their collapse.

The 3-D animation, part of a Purdue study that took two and a half years to complete, will hopefully help engineers design safer buildings, researchers said.

History's greatest scientist ... was religious!

Papers show Isaac Newton's religious side

Excerpt:

Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible -- exhibited this week for the first time -- lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist.

Newton, who died 280 years ago, is known for laying much of the groundwork for modern physics, astronomy, math and optics. But in a new Jerusalem exhibit, he appears as a scholar of deep faith who also found time to write on Jewish law -- even penning a few phrases in careful Hebrew letters -- and combing the Old Testament's Book of Daniel for clues about the world's end.

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In another document, Newton interpreted biblical prophecies to mean that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ends. The end of days will see "the ruin of the wicked nations, the end of weeping and of all troubles, the return of the Jews captivity and their setting up a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom," he posited.

Links of interest:

1. Exhibit: Newton's Secrets
   
2. Isaac Newton's manuscripts on apocalypse, Solomon's temple to be exhibited for first time at Hebrew U
   
3. the Apocalypse and 2060 A.D.
   
4. Wiki: Isaac Newton
   
5. Isaac Newton's Secret Musings
   
6. The Newton Project
   

From the Newton Project:

Although Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is best known for his theory of universal gravitation and discovery of calculus, his interests were much broader than is usually appreciated. In addition to his celebrated natural philosophical writings and mathematical works, Newton also wrote many theological texts ...

Comment: Matthew 25:13, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

Don Herbert - Mr Wizard dies

Minnesota native 'Mr. Wizard' dies at 89

Excerpt:

Don Herbert, the Waconia native who introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science as television's "Mr. Wizard," died Tuesday. He was 89.


Watch Mr. Wizard

Watch Mr. Wizard was a United States television program for children in the 1950s, a general science experiments show, that explained the science behind ordinary things. It was briefly revived in 1971, and then later in the 1980s as a program on the Nickelodeon children's television network as Mr. Wizard's World.


"Mr. Wizard," had a formula to hook kids, dies at 89

A low-key, avuncular presence who wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tie, Mr. Herbert launched his weekly half-hour science show for children on NBC in 1951. "Watch Mr. Wizard" — broadcast live from Chicago on Saturdays the first few years and then from New York — ran for 14 years.

Mr. Herbert used basic experiments to teach scientific principles to his TV audience via an in-studio guest boy or girl who assisted in the experiments.

"I was a grade school kid in the '50s and watched 'Mr. Wizard' Saturday mornings and was just glued to the television," said Nikosey, president of Mr. Wizard Studios, which sells Mr. Herbert's science books and old TV shows on DVD.

"The show just heightened my curiosity about science and the way things worked," said Nikosey. "I learned an awful lot from him, as did millions of other kids."

By 1955, there were about 5,000 Mr. Wizard Science Clubs across the U.S., with more than 100,000 members.

In explaining how he brought a sense of wonder to elementary scientific experiments, Mr. Herbert said in a 2004 interview with The New York Times that he "would perform the trick, as it were, to hook the kids, and then explain the science later."


Official Site: Mr Wizard

It is with deep sadness that we regret to announce the passing of Don Herbert - the one and only "Mr. Wizard". Don lost his battle with cancer today, June 12, 2007, at 9 AM Pacific Daylight Time - slightly more than one month shy of his 90th birthday. He was lovingly surrounded by his family, who are at once, saddened by his passing, and relieved that he is no longer suffering.

We all feel extremely lucky to have had him in our lives and to have known and worked with Don over the years. We have also been tremendously honored to carry on his legacy as an original and truly legendary figure in the worlds of both Television and Science Education. He has been inspirational and influential in so many ways and on so many lives and we are comforted in the fact that his ground breaking work and legacy will continue to inspire many more people for years to come.

Thank you so much to all of you for your support and sympathy.

Sincerely, The Family


Museum of Broadcast Communications: WATCH MR. WIZARD

Watch Mr. Wizard, one of commercial television's early educational efforts was highly successful in making science exciting and understandable for children. Presenting scientific laboratory demonstrations and information in an interesting, uncomplicated and entertaining format, this long running series was a prime example of the Chicago School of Television and of quality education in a visual format. Created and hosted by Don Herbert, the show's low key approach, casual ad lib style and resourceful often magic-like demonstrations led to rapid success and brought Herbert instant recognition and critical acclaim as an innovative educational broadcaster and as a teacher of science.

Donald Jeffry Herbert, a general science and English major at LaCrosse State Teachers College in Wisconsin, had originally planned to teach dramatics. Following his graduation in 1940, he acted in summer and winter stock and then traveled to New York with an eye toward Broadway. World War II interrupted his career and the young actor entered the Army Air Forces as a private. As a B-24 bomber pilot, he flew 56 missions with the Fifteenth Air Force and subsequently participated in the invasion of Italy. Discharged as s Captain in 1945, Herbert had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.


Wiki: Don Herbert

Comment: A show I watched as a child. I did not know he was a Minnesota native or that he served in WW II. He was a contemporary of my Father.

Who killed Ötzi the Iceman?

Ötzi the Iceman

An arrow killed the Iceman

Excerpt:

GENEVA — A prehistoric hunter known as Oetzi whose well-preserved body was found on a snow-covered mountain in the Alps died more than 5,000 years ago after being struck in the back by an arrow, scientists said in an article published Wednesday.

Researchers from Switzerland and Italy used newly developed medical scanners to examine the hunter's frozen corpse to determine that the arrow had torn a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to a massive loss of blood.

That, in turn, caused Oetzi to go into shock and suffer a heart attack, according to the article published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science.


Comment: Google Otzi for much more! Wiki has great links.

All about me

6 Billion Bits of Data About Me, Me, Me!

Excerpt:

Soon enough, scientists say, we will all be able to decipher our own genomes — the six billion letters of genetic code containing the complete inventory of the traits we inherited from our parents — for as little as $1,000. Just what we will do with the essence of who we are once we bottle it, however, is likely to be as much a social experiment as a scientific one.


You can't purchase this service yet, but soon from 23andMe this insight:


Even though your body contains trillions of copies of your genome, you've likely never read any of it. Our goal is to connect you to the 23 paired volumes of your own genetic blueprint (plus your mitochondrial DNA), bringing you personal insight into ancestry, genealogy, and inherited traits. By connecting you to others, we can also help put your genome into the larger context of human commonality and diversity.

Comment: Really want to know about me? Consider what we've all inherited from our first parent, Adam!

Seadevils

Seadevils (NYTimes slideshow)

From The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss by Claire Nouvian/David Shale

Beetle breathing

Beetle breathing highly complex, study finds

Excerpt:

X-rays that effectively peel away the opaque outer-cover off beetles have revealed the bugs have a more complex breathing apparatus at work than previously suspected.

Despite their relatively small body size, insects need more than a simple, mini-respiratory system to suck in enough oxygen to carry out basic processes such as scuttling around.

Results from a recent study reveal that rather than air just passively flowing in and out, a graceful inflation and deflation of tracheal tubes helps shuttle oxygen through the bodies of ground beetles.

Comment: Interesting in case you stay awake wondering how beetles breath. It really is interesting!

Thousands sign up for journey beyond death

Thousands sign up for journey beyond death

Excerpt:

The 33-year-old real estate agent is among more than 7,000 people who have agreed to donate their bodies for plastination, a process in which body fluids are replaced by liquid plastic. The plastic hardens, leaving tissues intact and allowing bodies to be displayed in their natural color and without formaldehyde.

The process was made popular by Gunther von Hagens' "Body Worlds," a controversial anatomy exhibit that puts real human specimens on view. Most are flayed and dissected, revealing their organs. Others are kept intact and displayed in dramatic action poses, such as a basketball player driving to the hoop or a runner in full stride.

"I've always been a big believer in science and medicine," said Owens, of Dallas. "It's like me kind of giving back to knowledge and to anyone out there who's interested in science."

Comment:

The real "journey beyond death" pertains to one's soul. The answer is not "plastination" but "salvation"! Faith in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is the true preparation for one's eternal journey! ("saved" in Romans)

Vanishing bees

Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons


NYTimes
Science
Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: April 24, 2007
More than a quarter of the country’s bee colonies have been lost, and no one can say what is to blame.

Excerpt:

More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.

...

So far, colony collapse disorder has been found in 27 states, according to Bee Alert Technology Inc., a company monitoring the problem. A recent survey of 13 states by the Apiary Inspectors of America showed that 26 percent of beekeepers had lost half of their bee colonies between September and March.

Honeybees are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts. The number of bee colonies has been declining since the 1940s, even as the crops that rely on them, such as California almonds, have grown.

Comment: Also in the Minnesota news:

Why are the bees disappearing?

Excerpt:

Minnesota beekeepers, whose hives are still in hibernation, will learn in coming days how hard they've been hit.

Comment: Of interest to me because bees facinate me and Kathee has expressed a desire to be a bee-keeper when we retire.