Sunspots 678

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: A Relevant writer reminds us that contemporary worship style churches aren't the only viable options.

Christianity Today reports that former President Jimmy Carter spoke at the Liberty University commencement.

A Southern Baptist woman says that Jerry Falwell and Robert Jeffress stood up for her against abuse by her husband.

Politics: Benjamin L. Corey is not at all happy with President Trump referring to some immigrants as animals, not people, and Corey says this attacks the foundation of Christianity.

Science: Gizmodo reports that a study has found that chimpanzee beds are much less likely to contain germs or parasites than human beds do.

(or not) Gizmodo also reports that Mo Brooks, a congressman from Alabama, believes that erosion, and rocks falling into the ocean, are responsible for rising sea levels.

FiveThirtyEight discusses the relative intelligence of various kinds of animals. It's not sensible to rank animals by intelligence.

ListVerse tells us more than we knew about the Periodic Table of the elements.

ListVerse also reports on "10 body parts that are secretly awesome."

A BioLogos author tells us ways in which humans are unique.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 394

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science: A National Public Radio report that says that fetuses yawn while in the womb.

National Public Radio also reports on two very long-term experiments, at Michigan State University. One of them was begun in 1879. The other, on bacterial evolution, began in 1988. (For the Wikipedia article on the second experiment, see here.)

The New York Times has an interactive set of maps, showing what parts of several metropolitan areas would become submerged, if the ocean rose to 5, 12, or 25 feet above its current level.

The Arts:  (and computing) A novel is itself a kind of advanced Turing test, in which a writer tries to convince readers that lifeless signs on a page are not just real intelligences moving through the real world, but actual human beings, with lustful urges, deep regrets and breakable hearts. As this novel demonstrates, part of the challenge of giving a machine a truly human intelligence is making it sound humanly unreasonable. Turing predicted that in order to pass his test, a machine would have to fool a judge at least 30 percent of the time, but Scott Hutchins, in this charming, warmhearted and thought-provoking novel, already has that beat. Quoting James Hynes, "Fooled You," review of A Working Theory of Love, by Scott Hutchins. New York Times Book Reviews, November 21, 2012. For more on the Turing test, see here.

Image source (public domain)