Eye on Faith

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Cellphones even annoy fetuses

(Public Domain)

It seems as though you can’t go anywhere anymore without experiencing the jarring sounds of cellphones.

When you’re a fully-formed human, this is bad enough. But when you haven’t even come to full term within your mother’s uterus, it is particularly disturbing.

Julie Sabino of HNGN reports that “fetuses spend up to 95 percent of their time sleeping, either in deep sleep or light sleep.” When the mother with whom they’re sharing a “bed” (so to speak) is constantly on the phone, this vital sleep can be greatly disturbed.

A study at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in New York City “involved 28 pregnant women who were all in their third trimester.” Ultrasound revealed that when cell phones rang, the fetuses were “turning their heads, opening their mouths, and blinking.”

These precious little ones seemed “definitely disturbed or interrupted…”

Resources

http://www.hngn.com/articles/90325/20150507/cellphones-disturb-sleep-wake-cycles-fetuses-study-finds.htm

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

War: Up close and real personal

Bush after Hurricane Katrina (PD)

As Commander in Chief of the military, the United States president is often faced with making far-reaching, life-and-death decisions.

Although this might sometimes seem to the public like a cold and calculating game of chess, it may feel far different to the

human heart that beats within such an overburdened leader.

The Huffington Post recently reported that when “the mother of a dying soldier” gave then-President George W. Bush an angry piece of her mind, Bush “just stood and took it.”

As this soldier lay suffering in a hospital bed, his mother “yelled at the president” and specifically asked “why it was her child and not his…”

Bush did not try to hurry away from the soldier’s bedside. It was as though he were trying “to soak up” some of this mother’s profound sorrow.

Dana Perino, who was right there with Bush during this hospital visit, later wrote that the president became teary-eyed during the trip home. He then told Perino: That mama sure was mad at me. And I don’t blame her a bit.

Resources

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/25/george-w-bush-dying-soldier-mother_n_7142684.html

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Heavenly Chimes or 'Hell's Bells'?

Swedish Church Bell, c. 1228 (PD)

For some, the sound of church bells chiming throughout the neighborhood is a welcome tradition. For others, it’s an intrusion akin to "Hell’s Bells."

In stereotypically peaceful New England, a controversy is now raging regarding this very issue. Christ the King Church of Burlington, Vermont has been broadcasting recorded bells and hymns three times a day, plus “after funerals and weddings.”

These broadcasts, which have been called “an unholy racket,” can be heard behind closed doors and windows of neighboring homes. Many consider the recordings to be crass-sounding, overly loud, and way too frequent.

Some have complained that the city’s noise ordinances are being violated. Others feel that they are being infiltrated with religious programming that they have not freely chosen.

City officials prefer that the matter be settled via mediation. Some neighbors believe that the church has been “stonewalling” such efforts, and are urging that this mediation begin as soon as possible.

Resources

http://news.yahoo.com/joyful-noise-unholy-din-church-bells-mean-discord-160904316.html

Monday, May 4, 2015

Alien life: Pattern recognition

Secret's in the soil? (Public Domain)

Popular culture has portrayed “life in space" as little green men with big dark eyes.

However, alien life might be a lot more subtle than that. It might be so different from our preconceived notions that we wouldn’t even recognize it while face-to-whatever.

Jessica Orwig of Business Insider reports that scientists are searching for signs of life that go beyond surface appearances. Just because life on Earth is carbon-based doesn’t necessarily mean that methane- (or other-) based life forms aren’t thriving in other worlds.

The usual chemical analyses might therefore be quite limited when determining whether life exists elsewhere. Researchers are instead searching for “a trait that all life forms across the universe would possess…”

This trait might very well involve informational patterns. On earth, this entails genetic sequencing. Living things here “generate specific patterns as they self-replicate and reproduce,” whereas “things that are not living will have only random bits of information that never repeat at regular frequencies.”

Scientists can therefore begin analyzing the soil composition of other planets and moons in order to specifically determine whether there are “repeated sequences” of information to be found. If such patterns are discovered, then life might very well exist there in one strange form or another.

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/heres-how-humans-are-going-to-find-alien-life/ar-AAbg7hJ

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Germline modification: A slippery slope?

Adam & Eve (Photo by Selbymay)

With at least four groups of Chinese scientists (and perhaps others around the world) actively “gene editing” human embryos, the ethical debate regarding such experimentation has reignited.

Researchers in the know have warned that such editing not only affects embryos at hand, but also “could have an unpredictable effect on future generations.”

Proponents of this work point out that these effects might be beneficial. For example, human-based gene editing (aka “germline modification”) could potentially eradicate some deadly genetic diseases.

On the other hand, it could also potentially eradicate genetic traits that future leaders deem unacceptable. Are humans morally capable of making such profound decisions, or is this a case of biting that apple all over again?

Resources

http://www.nature.com/news/chinese-scientists-genetically-modify-human-embryos-1.17378

Saturday, May 2, 2015

DALYs: It's not just the years in your life

Like terminal cancer... (Public Domain)

If a person dies 12 years before the life-expectancy average, and the final four years before death were spent wracked with pain, then how long did that person actually live?

This is not just an idle koan for those who deal daily in DALYs.

Dylan Matthews of Vox explains that DALYs (aka “disability-adjusted life years”) measure how much disease- or situation-induced disabilities affect both the length and quality of lives.

For example, “a year in prison is half as good as one on the outside.” It therefore carries approximately “the same disability weight as having terminal cancer.”

Another way of looking at DALYs is this: “A disease that cuts 10 years off your lifespan and causes 10 years of partial paralysis before that has a higher DALY toll than one that just cuts off 10 years…”

DALYs are currently being utilized to determine where and to what extent altruistic funding should occur. This sounds terrific, but there is a flip side: How is it that a broad-brush formula can determine overall quality of life?

Could a reliance upon DALYs lead to an overly analytical approach concerning such issues? Are not “heart-based” and/or intuitive decisions also quite valid?

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/you-have-dollar8-billion-you-want-to-do-as-much-good-as-possible-what-do-you-do/ar-AAbCGOO

Friday, May 1, 2015

'Widow's mite' a mighty offering

Bronze Mite, c. 90 B.C. (Public Domain)

What amounts to a modern-day widow’s mite was recently found within the collection plate at the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Just as the widow’s mite (a “mite” being the “penny” of its day) in Mark 12 and Luke 21 symbolizes the giving of one’s all, so does the $ .18 that was found tucked within an envelope in that FUMC plate.

The envelope read: Please don’t be mad. I don’t have much. I’m homeless. God Bless.

Rev. Patrick S. Hamrick of FUMC publicized the details of this mighty contribution because he wanted its anonymous donor to know that the church team was greatly “moved by the spirit in which the gift was made.”

Church officials are theorizing that the gift was made by someone who had personally benefited from FUMC’s “long-term commitment to social justice, especially ministries with homeless neighbors.”

Part of this commitment involves a "Muffin Ministry" breakfast each Sunday morning, which serves “an average of 150 chronically and intermittently homeless people.”.

Resources

http://www.wbtv.com/story/28924859/church-moved-after-homeless-person-leaves-money-note-in-collection-plate