Boston Globe · einstein · film · history of science · stem cells

Catch Up for Thanksgiving, 2015.

Some recent posts: My review of the film, Spotlight, about the Boston Globe’s investigation of the clerical abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. My Forbes post on Canadian researcher Timothy Kieffer and his lab’s breakthrough on a stem cell therapy for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. And my plug for the History Channel’s Einstein… Continue reading Catch Up for Thanksgiving, 2015.

Galileo · history of science · Kepler · medieval history · Tycho Brahe · weight-driven clock

Prague’s Grand Old Astronomical Clock

In Prague this week. The ‘old city’ section is a treat for history of science buffs. We managed to get a perch in front of the medieval astronomical clock in the Square. This is the oldest operating clock in the world, and the third oldest overall, surviving from the fifteenth century. The clock strikes on… Continue reading Prague’s Grand Old Astronomical Clock

anthropology · David Christian · evolution · history of science · philosophy · philosophy of science · The Edge

Can Science Provide A Big History?

Over at The Edge, John Brockman features British historian David Christian on the need to come up with a new origin story that can serve the global community. Christian, the author of This Fleeting World: A Short History of Humanity, started his career as a professor of Russian history, and over the years as he refined his lectures on… Continue reading Can Science Provide A Big History?

Catholic Church · creationism · Darwin · Delio · evolution · Haught · history of science · Pope John Paul II · Pope Pius XII · science and religion · Tanzella-Nitti · Teilhard

The Vatican and Evolution: Help Wanted

Today, popular attitudes toward evolution and religion take three forms, and the Vatican sits uneasily between two of them. The first, and most widely touted in recent years by prominent atheists, is that science in general and evolution in particular have completely debunked the claims of the major monotheistic religions. The second, what might be… Continue reading The Vatican and Evolution: Help Wanted