My gut made me exercise
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My gut made me exercise

Many of us, when we reach a certain age, look down at our bodies and vow to make a change. We want to get thinner or become healthier, so we start an exercise program and hope it will extend for more than a few weeks. Our change in behaviour is a conscious act of will,…

Dual nature of the light
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Dual nature of the light

As we learn more about God’s creation, our commonsense understanding of things sometimes becomes limiting. Quantum physics, for example, is full of descriptions of the subatomic world that seem, on their surface, bizarre. Light can be described as either waves or particles. Good experiments produce evidence that supports both realities. And yet our commonsense view…

When science seems like Magic
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When science seems like Magic

In December 1903 (only an incredible 120 years ago) the Wright brothers had their first powered flight, traveling 37 metres. By the fourth flight they reached 260 metres and lasted just under a minute in the air. Today a Boeing 787-8 is fifty-seven metres long and can reliably fly for more than 13,500 kilometers carrying…

Chatting with ChatGPT
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Chatting with ChatGPT

Nearly 20 years ago, when I was completing a PhD in computer vision, I was drawn to an AI technique called “machine learning” for recognizing different images. I recall being astounded at the profound elegance of “training” a computer with example images and then observing how well it could identify new images. My early experiences…

Rich reflections for our tech-saturated world
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Rich reflections for our tech-saturated world

In the mid-90s, students studying engineering at Dordt College (now Dordt University) took three semesters of physics using a textbook authored by David Halliday, Robert Resnick and Jearl Walker. As one of those students, I loved how each chapter started with a puzzling question that drew me into engaging the material, like “What size is…

Are we saving lives or saving money?
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Are we saving lives or saving money?

Allen Plug is a Calvin University-trained Ontologist working for Cycorp, a company that has developed an artificially intelligent hospital advisor. Plug knows how to talk to robots, or – to be more precise – he is an expert in semantic knowledge representation. He’s also Canadian and has lived in Saskatchewan, B.C. and Ontario. Do you…

Clean fusion?
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Clean fusion?

In mid-December, scientists for the first time reported a successful nuclear fusion experiment that produced more energy than made it happen. A friend who is a physics professor at the University of Waterloo was bubbling with excitement when he shared its implications with me. Ever since I was in high school, about 60 years ago,…

Solving murder with DNA
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Solving murder with DNA

In late November, many Canadian newspapers reported that police had solved two 39-year-old murder cases using new genetic technology. The technology led to a single suspect who was not initially a person of interest. Further genetic confirmation (using a court-issued DNA warrant) led to the arrest of the individual, who remains only a suspect until…

Human Neurons, Rat Brains
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Human Neurons, Rat Brains

What does it mean to be made in the image of God? New research on human brain neurons implanted in rats forces us to ask this question. The cells of adult humans can be reprogrammed to act as stem cells, and stem cells can then become any of the different cell types found throughout our…

Science, Calvinism and Mysticism
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Science, Calvinism and Mysticism

I grew up in the Canadian CRC community in Montreal. There, in Sunday school and catechism classes, I learned how to understand God’s love and care for his creation, for children like me, and for the church. This education was a blessing. I was given a framework for my faith – creation, fall and redemption…

Mystical Realism and Hope for Creation
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Mystical Realism and Hope for Creation

Why is it so hard to get meaningful action on climate change, even after droughts and storms hit us over the head with its real impacts? Many environmentalists now recognize that scientific knowledge is not enough to motivate the required changes. Humans can know what is needed without being motivated to do it. Changing the…

Polio and Vaccines
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Polio and Vaccines

Polio is a disease that the World Health Organization is seeking to eradicate worldwide. Today, wild polio cases occur only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The success of this eradication work is due to the availability of two very effective vaccines. These vaccines work by causing the body to generate an immune response against the poliovirus….