Steven Cloud

"Our research suggests that torture may not uncover guilt so much as lead to its perception,” says Gray. “It is as though people who know of the victim’s pain must somehow convince themselves that it was a good idea — and so come to believe that the person who was tortured deserved it."

— Science Daily

"Your brain operates on the edge of chaos."

— David Robson (via New Scientist)

The Bible and Radio Waves

God asked Job a very strange question in 1500 B.C. He asked, “Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?” (Job 38.35). This appears to be a scientifically ludicrous statement—that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know that all electromagnetic radiation—from radio waves to x-rays—travels at the speed of light? This is why can haveinstantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth. The fact that light could be sent and then manifest itself in speech wasn’t discovered by science until 1864 (3,300 years later), when “British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing” (Modern Century Illustrated Encylopedia).

(via Holy Spirit Interactive)

ad infinitum

Linde realised that inflation could be ongoing or “eternal”, in the sense that once space-time starts inflating, it can stop in some parts (such as ours) yet take off with renewed vigour elsewhere. This process continues ad infinitum, giving rise to a patchwork of regions of space, each with different properties. When and how inflation ceases in a particular patch dictates the exact nature and types of fundamental particles there and the laws of physics that govern their behaviour. Over time, eternal inflation gives rise to just about every possible type of universe predicted by string theory. Our universe, argues Linde, is a part of this multiverse. (via New Scientist)

Open Mindedness defined.