Items included on this page come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
Why Hell Can’t Freeze Over: Quantum Physics And Absolute Zero — We frequently hear popular references to “quantum” in movies and TV. Here is a brief, readable intro to the basic themes in classical “common sense” physics and the quantum world. Instructors and students in various disciplines–psychology, theology, lit, math, and others–can consider the implications.
How I Learned To Love Statistics — And Why You Should, Too: A theoretical physicist who hated stats now offers this apologia for understanding and using statistics. Students can consider his views on data, truth, and what we can know and not know now that the word post-truth is in the OED.
Hijacking Science: How the “No Differences” Consensus about Same-Sex Households and Children Works — Prof. Mark Regnerus at UT Austin takes issue with some of the research claims about same-sex parenting. The article could be used for introducing students to the cultural, policy, or research issues.
A New Culture Of Cooperation In Academia Is Emerging: Students can gain a big-picture perspective from this brief essay. “Questions that span the curriculum (for a wide sample, go here) are essential to both scientific and humanistic research, having broad social implications. To a large extent, they are at the core of a liberal arts curriculum, […]
Race, Religion, and Political Affiliation of Americans’ Core Social Networks: This study measures the ways in which individuals’ choices and attitudes are influenced by their family and close friends. Americans’ core social networks not only demonstrate substantial homogeneity by race and ethnicity, but Americans are also much more likely to associate with people who share their […]
Brain-controlled drone race pushes future tech: A drone race has used a brain-controlled interface by which 16 pilots used willpower to drive drones through a 10-yard dash over an indoor basketball court at the University of Florida. This technology delivers an abstract thought through the digital realm and into the real world as programmers write code to translate […]
Why You Should Use Stats in Ministry: Church agencies too often rely on anecdote and dramatic stories. Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Reseach makes a case for responsible use of data in church work, arguing that statistics can help us define a given situation, teach people, and make informed decisions.
The Future Of AI: Is Something Different This Time? For classes in computer science, religion and ethics, business, and mathematics: the biggest shift in AI research has come through two developments. The first is the new capacity for machines to learn for themselves. The other development driving this wave of excitement is the ubiquity of Big […]
The Logic of God and Why Metaphysical Proofs Still Matter: A helpful article to take students through the basic discussions they find in popular claims about God, arguments, and proofs. The piece may be helpful for courses in science, rhetoric, logic, writing, apologetics, journalism, and culture.
Why Math Rocks: The natural sciences are about identifying patterns in nature that we then call “laws.” These laws have some form of mathematical expression (Newton’s laws of motion and gravity). Laws are so essential to our understanding of the universe that many scientists believe that math goes beyond human invention, being the fundamental language […]
