What is life? That seemingly trivial question is in fact impossible to answer in a simple way that will satisfy everyone. But in the process of asking the question we come face to face with the assumptions about what we’re looking for, and our assumptions of what will satisfy us… as explored in the links below.
Border Crossing: a review of What is Life? by Addy Pross
Article (book review) 1200 words General audience Dr. Michelle Francl, professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College and an adjunct scholar of the Vatican Observatory, reviews and summarizes What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology, a recent book on the definition of life. From the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Border Crossing When it comes to life, how do we draw the border between biology and chemistry? BY MICHELLE FRANCL From Chemical Heritage Magazine, Fall 2014/Winter 2015 Addy Pross. What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. 224 pp. £16.99. Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Anyone who has played 20 Questions on a long car trip knows these are the most fundamental questions that can be asked about an object. Is it alive? Does it think? Unless faced with a particularly crafty opponent, the answer rarely leads a player down the wrong path. The tomato in the salad? Vegetable. The stainless-steel mug? Clearly mineral. But how did the dividing line we see so … Continue reading →
God’s Planet
Book- 192 pages
- High school level and above
This short book was published in 2014 by Harvard University Press. It is by Harvard astronomer and historian of science Owen Gingerich. From the publisher:
With exoplanets being discovered daily, Earth is still the only planet we know of that is home to creatures who seek a coherent explanation for the structure, origins, and fate of the universe, and of humanity’s place within it. Today, science and religion are the two major cultural entities on our planet that share this goal of coherent understanding, though their interpretation of evidence differs dramatically. Many scientists look at the known universe and conclude we are here by chance. The renowned astronomer and historian of science Owen Gingerich looks at the same evidence—along with the fact that the universe is comprehensible to our minds—and sees it as proof for the planning and intentions of a Creator-God. He believes that the idea of a universe without God is an oxymoron, a self-contradiction. God’s Planet exposes the fallacy in thinking that science and religion can be kept apart.
Gingerich frames his argument around three questions: Was Copernicus right, in dethroning Earth from its place at the center of the universe? Was Darwin right, in placing humans securely in an evolving animal kingdom? And was Hoyle right, in identifying physical constants in nature that seem singularly tuned to allow the existence of intelligent life on planet Earth? Using these episodes from the history of science, Gingerich demonstrates that cultural attitudes, including religious or antireligious beliefs, play a significant role in what passes as scientific understanding. The more rigorous science becomes over time, the more clearly God’s handiwork can be comprehended.
Click here for additional information from the publisher, Harvard University Press
Click here for a preview from Google Books.
Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas
Book- 32 pages
- General audiences (early grade school)
This colorful book by Cheryl Bardoe was produced in partnership with the Field Museum in Chicago. It tells about the life of Gregor Mendel and about his work. The book provides a fairly detailed discussion of both his life as a monk and of his experiments, even though it is only 32 pages long and is a “picture book”. (A Faith and Science entry for a related book on Mendel written for a more advanced audience is also available—click here).
Click here to download a brief excerpt.
From the publisher, Abrams Books:
The only picture book available about the father of genetics and his pea plants!
How do mothers and fathers—whether they are apple trees, sheep, or humans—pass down traits to their children? This question fascinated Gregor Mendel throughout his life. Regarded as the world’s first geneticist, Mendel overcame poverty and obscurity to discover one of the fundamental aspects of genetic science: animals, plants, and people all inherit and pass down traits through the same process, following the same rules.
Living the slow-paced, contemplative life of a friar, Gregor Mendel was able to conceive and put into practice his great experiment: growing multiple generations of peas. From observing yellow peas, green peas, smooth peas, and wrinkled peas, Mendel crafted his theory of heredity—years before scientists had any notion of genes.
Children will be inspired by Gregor’s neverending search for knowledge, and his famous experiments are easy to understand as an introduction to genetics.
F&P level: Q [Lexile level: AD1030L (click here)]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cheryl Bardoe is Senior Project Manager of Exhibitions at the Field Museum of Chicago. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Jos. A. Smith s the well-known illustrator of numerous books for children. He is a professor of fine arts at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where he has taught drawing, painting, and figure sculpture. Smith has illustrated for a number of magazines, including Time and Newsweek. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. He lives near Westchester, New York.
Gregor Mendel explains to children the theory of heredity in simple-to-understand language and examples. Regarded as the world’s first geneticist, Gregor Mendel discovered one of the fundamental aspects of genetic science: animals, plants, and people all inherit and pass down traits through the same process. Living the slow-paced, contemplative life of a friar, Gregor Mendel was able to conceive and put into practice his great experiment—observing yellow peas, green peas, smooth peas, and wrinkled peas to craft his theory—years before scientists had any notion of genes. Includes an author’s note and bibliography.
Awards for Gregor Mendel
Orbis Pictus Honor Book
ALA-ALSC Notable Book
IRA Notable Book
AAAS/Subaru SB&F Excellence in Science Book Finalist
Robert Boyle – A Classical Example of Anglican Apologetics, from “Christian Virtuoso”
Article (book excerpt)- 2400 words
- University level
Robert Boyle is an important figure in the history of science. Indeed, students in chemistry classes of all levels learn of “Boyle’s Law” of gasses. This is an excerpt from Boyle’s 1690 work The Christian Virtuoso. This article has been selected by the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science (Inters.org), which is edited by the Advanced School for Interdisciplinary Research, operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and directed by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti.
Click here for an excerpt from Inters.org.
Click here for this material from Boyle’s original work, courtesy of Archive.org.
Søren Kierkegaard – A Criticism to Materialistic Naturalism of the 19th Century
Article (book excerpt)- 1700 words
- University level
Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard offers a strong criticism of those who focus too strongly on science and actually have very limited understanding. Kierkegaard writes:
If someone knew that even though he picked every leaf from the flower, separated the fibers of the stem, and observed every part microscopically, and still could not explain what is constitutive in plants—why does he do it then? Or is he not keeping the student in a completely wrong kind of self-contradiction? Instead of saying summarily, “I cannot understand this,” he encumbers the student with a mass of detail and very fascinating, engaging knowledge, which nevertheless always ends with the fact that he cannot, after all, explain the ultimate. But it is precisely this kind of preoccupation with much knowledge which results in one’s losing the impress of the purely ethical. Instead of hungrily beginning to eat, instead of enthusiastically beginning with the ethical, lightly armed and unencumbered with any knowledge about the nervous system, ganglia, and blood-circulation etc., one becomes preoccupied with knowledge about digestion and the quasi-knowledge that in spite of all this one is still unable to explain the ultimate.
Click here for an excerpt selected by the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science (Inters.org), which is edited by the Advanced School for Interdisciplinary Research, operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and directed by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti. The Inters.org excerpt is taken from Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers, published by Indiana University Press.
What is Life?
- Video
- One hour
- University level
Br. Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory gives the opening talk for the 2015 University of Arizona annual science lecture series. Throughout history, our definition of “life” reflects our assumptions about how the Universe works – and why we ask the question. The ways different human cultures, ancient and current, have talked about life provide some sense of how we have defined life, and illustrate the aspects of life that fascinate us. Many cultures used life as an analog to explain the movement of winds and currents, or the motions of the planets. Today we use those mechanical systems as analogs for life. Ultimately, we may not really know what life is until we have discovered more than one independent example of it on places other than Earth – we need many diverse examples before we can generalize. But without a definition of what we’re looking for, and why we’re looking, we may have a hard time recognizing life when we find it.
Søren Kierkegaard – A Criticism to Materialistic Naturalism of the 19th Century
- Article (book excerpt)
- 1700 words
- University level
Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard offers a strong criticism of those who focus too strongly on science and actually have very limited understanding. Kierkegaard writes:
If someone knew that even though he picked every leaf from the flower, separated the fibers of the stem, and observed every part microscopically, and still could not explain what is constitutive in plants—why does he do it then? Or is he not keeping the student in a completely wrong kind of self-contradiction? Instead of saying summarily, “I cannot understand this,” he encumbers the student with a mass of detail and very fascinating, engaging knowledge, which nevertheless always ends with the fact that he cannot, after all, explain the ultimate. But it is precisely this kind of preoccupation with much knowledge which results in one’s losing the impress of the purely ethical. Instead of hungrily beginning to eat, instead of enthusiastically beginning with the ethical, lightly armed and unencumbered with any knowledge about the nervous system, ganglia, and blood-circulation etc., one becomes preoccupied with knowledge about digestion and the quasi-knowledge that in spite of all this one is still unable to explain the ultimate.
Click here for an excerpt selected by the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science (Inters.org), which is edited by the Advanced School for Interdisciplinary Research, operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and directed by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti. The Inters.org excerpt is taken from Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers, published by Indiana University Press.
Robert Boyle – A Classical Example of Anglican Apologetics, from “Christian Virtuoso”
- Article (book excerpt)
- 2400 words
- University level
Robert Boyle is an important figure in the history of science. Indeed, students in chemistry classes of all levels learn of “Boyle’s Law” of gasses. This is an excerpt from Boyle’s 1690 work The Christian Virtuoso. This article has been selected by the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science (Inters.org), which is edited by the Advanced School for Interdisciplinary Research, operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and directed by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti.
Click here for an excerpt from Inters.org.
Click here for this material from Boyle’s original work, courtesy of Archive.org.
What is Life?
- Video
- One hour
- University level
Br. Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory gives the opening talk for the 2015 University of Arizona annual science lecture series. Throughout history, our definition of “life” reflects our assumptions about how the Universe works – and why we ask the question. The ways different human cultures, ancient and current, have talked about life provide some sense of how we have defined life, and illustrate the aspects of life that fascinate us. Many cultures used life as an analog to explain the movement of winds and currents, or the motions of the planets. Today we use those mechanical systems as analogs for life. Ultimately, we may not really know what life is until we have discovered more than one independent example of it on places other than Earth – we need many diverse examples before we can generalize. But without a definition of what we’re looking for, and why we’re looking, we may have a hard time recognizing life when we find it.
Border Crossing: a review of What is Life? by Addy Pross
Article (book review) 1200 words General audience Dr. Michelle Francl, professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College and an adjunct scholar of the Vatican Observatory, reviews and summarizes What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology, a recent book on the definition of life. From the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Border Crossing When it comes to life, how do we draw the border between biology and chemistry? BY MICHELLE FRANCL From Chemical Heritage Magazine, Fall 2014/Winter 2015 Addy Pross. What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. 224 pp. £16.99. Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Anyone who has played 20 Questions on a long car trip knows these are the most fundamental questions that can be asked about an object. Is it alive? Does it think? Unless faced with a particularly crafty opponent, the answer rarely leads a player down the wrong path. The tomato in the salad? Vegetable. The stainless-steel mug? Clearly mineral. But how did the dividing line we see so … Continue reading →
Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas
- Book
- 32 pages
- General audiences (early grade school)
This colorful book by Cheryl Bardoe was produced in partnership with the Field Museum in Chicago. It tells about the life of Gregor Mendel and about his work. The book provides a fairly detailed discussion of both his life as a monk and of his experiments, even though it is only 32 pages long and is a “picture book”. (A Faith and Science entry for a related book on Mendel written for a more advanced audience is also available—click here).
Click here to download a brief excerpt.
From the publisher, Abrams Books:
The only picture book available about the father of genetics and his pea plants!
How do mothers and fathers—whether they are apple trees, sheep, or humans—pass down traits to their children? This question fascinated Gregor Mendel throughout his life. Regarded as the world’s first geneticist, Mendel overcame poverty and obscurity to discover one of the fundamental aspects of genetic science: animals, plants, and people all inherit and pass down traits through the same process, following the same rules.
Living the slow-paced, contemplative life of a friar, Gregor Mendel was able to conceive and put into practice his great experiment: growing multiple generations of peas. From observing yellow peas, green peas, smooth peas, and wrinkled peas, Mendel crafted his theory of heredity—years before scientists had any notion of genes.
Children will be inspired by Gregor’s neverending search for knowledge, and his famous experiments are easy to understand as an introduction to genetics.
F&P level: Q [Lexile level: AD1030L (click here)]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cheryl Bardoe is Senior Project Manager of Exhibitions at the Field Museum of Chicago. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Jos. A. Smith s the well-known illustrator of numerous books for children. He is a professor of fine arts at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where he has taught drawing, painting, and figure sculpture. Smith has illustrated for a number of magazines, including Time and Newsweek. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. He lives near Westchester, New York.
Gregor Mendel explains to children the theory of heredity in simple-to-understand language and examples. Regarded as the world’s first geneticist, Gregor Mendel discovered one of the fundamental aspects of genetic science: animals, plants, and people all inherit and pass down traits through the same process. Living the slow-paced, contemplative life of a friar, Gregor Mendel was able to conceive and put into practice his great experiment—observing yellow peas, green peas, smooth peas, and wrinkled peas to craft his theory—years before scientists had any notion of genes. Includes an author’s note and bibliography.
Awards for Gregor Mendel
Orbis Pictus Honor Book
ALA-ALSC Notable Book
IRA Notable Book
AAAS/Subaru SB&F Excellence in Science Book Finalist
God’s Planet
- Book
- 192 pages
- High school level and above
This short book was published in 2014 by Harvard University Press. It is by Harvard astronomer and historian of science Owen Gingerich. From the publisher:
With exoplanets being discovered daily, Earth is still the only planet we know of that is home to creatures who seek a coherent explanation for the structure, origins, and fate of the universe, and of humanity’s place within it. Today, science and religion are the two major cultural entities on our planet that share this goal of coherent understanding, though their interpretation of evidence differs dramatically. Many scientists look at the known universe and conclude we are here by chance. The renowned astronomer and historian of science Owen Gingerich looks at the same evidence—along with the fact that the universe is comprehensible to our minds—and sees it as proof for the planning and intentions of a Creator-God. He believes that the idea of a universe without God is an oxymoron, a self-contradiction. God’s Planet exposes the fallacy in thinking that science and religion can be kept apart.
Gingerich frames his argument around three questions: Was Copernicus right, in dethroning Earth from its place at the center of the universe? Was Darwin right, in placing humans securely in an evolving animal kingdom? And was Hoyle right, in identifying physical constants in nature that seem singularly tuned to allow the existence of intelligent life on planet Earth? Using these episodes from the history of science, Gingerich demonstrates that cultural attitudes, including religious or antireligious beliefs, play a significant role in what passes as scientific understanding. The more rigorous science becomes over time, the more clearly God’s handiwork can be comprehended.
Click here for additional information from the publisher, Harvard University Press
Click here for a preview from Google Books.