Michael Strauss, particle physicist and Christian, explains string theory (the most popular attempt at the physicists' 'theory of everything') for the layperson. Amongst other things, string theory has been criticised for not even being science.
In the span of less than a decade, social scientist Elaine Howard Ecklund’s research has ostensibly supported complete opposite observations in the ongoing “wars” (real or imagined) between science and religion.
The mother of all string theories passes a litmus test that, so far, no other candidate theory of quantum gravity has been able to match.
Daniel Dennett’s latest book marks five decades of majestic failure to explain consciousness.
In this 12 min video David Bentley Hart discusses the problem of understanding consciousness; materialism (or physicalism) just doesn't have the resources to explain the most overwhelming reality that we all experience. Those ISCASTians who have heard or read ISCAST President Alan Gijsbers' reflections on the self will be interested in this short video.
Parents often ask me what they ought to do to prepare their children for a future they can scarcely imagine, in a world that's changing before their eyes.
An opinion piece by Alan Finkel.
Albert Einstein said that the ‘most incomprehensible thing about the Universe is that it is comprehensible’. He was right to be astonished.
Each semester, I teach courses on the philosophy of science to undergraduates at the University of New Hampshire. Most of the students take my courses to satisfy general education requirements, and most of them have never taken a philosophy class before.
John Buchanan, a Christian psychiatrist in Melbourne, reflects in The Spectator on the recent passing of a euthanasia (assisted suicide) bill in Victoria.
The December issue of the ISCAST Digest begins with a passionate plea from the Executive Director. The Digest is full of fascinating stories and resources, and it's now available for download.
In conjunction with Bruce Craven and John Pilbrow, Allan Day compiled extensive notes on science and Christian belief.
Augmented and virtual realities promises to dramatically change how we work in the future, but the technology is already having an impact in education and training.
Our friends at Eastern College Australia are looking for a reviewer of four undergraduate units in Earth and Environmental Science as preparation for offering an Earth and Environmental major of six units to education students. The College needs the units to be reviewed for alignment with the AQF and appropriate content and material for the respective units.
John Pilbrow, ISCAST Fellow and former President, has been cataloguing and compiling the ISCAST archives. To many within ISCAST, his paper given at COSAC 2007 is pivotal, changing the way ISCAST saw itself and ushering a new future for ISCAST. This paper has recently been loaded to the ISCAST website.
George Ellis spoke at COSAC in 2005. The slides from these presentations have been recently added to the ISCAST website and can be found using the links below.
Other interesting resources can be found on our resource page.
Climate change denial, intelligent design, creationism, and anti-vaccines hypotheses: are these scientific?
This week as I was demonstrating “Messy Church Does Science”, I extracted someone’s DNA using salt water, washing-up liquid and methylated spirits.
Although too much can be made of connections between Protestantism and science, it is not coincidental that the Reformation and the rise of modern science occurred at the same time and in many of the same places.
A super-precise measurement shows proton and antiproton have identical magnetic properties, writes Cathal O’Connell.
ISCAST fellow Mick Pope writes: "Any time there is a ‘natural disaster’, or what insurance companies might call ‘an act of God’, there is a variety of responses from Christians. Some mourn with those who suffer, but quickly jump in with what they think is most needed - Bibles. Some are very quick to judge and scapegoat whatever cause, be it social or political, they dislike. Others, like Kirk Cameron, make ill-timed statements that are only half-correct ..."
ISCAST fellow Ian Hore-Lacy featured recently on the ABC's slightly irreverent weekly radio show God Forbid; he was discussing a Christian perspective on the use of resources. Ian was mildly frustrated at the lack of opportunity to correct some of the ill-informed comments of others on the program. You will find Ian's comments just after 18 minutes into the program.
ISCAST fellow Mick Pope writes ... George Monbiot recently wrote a piece in the Guardian challenging us to change our language when it comes to talking about topics like the environment, climate change and extinctions.
ISCAST fellow James Garth writes ... Two decades have passed since the day I saw a remarkable advertisement in Aviation Week. It took up a full page and featured a beautiful artist’s concept of an elegant, futuristic spaceplane.
The latest issue of the ISCAST Digest, full of fascinating stories and resources, is now available for download.
It is usually towards the end of Year 4 that students begin to ask me various questions concerning the creation of this world. How did God create the world? Did it begin with a big bang? What did God make humans out of? How does God heal people? How old is God because I think he must be 14 million years? Of course this last student has had some conversation or read about the age of the earth somewhere and put together the age of the earth with the age of God.