Greek for beginning or first
Genes that are expressed at the wrong time or
inappropriately
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Genetics |
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Pain and Suffering |
Contributed by: BU
Any stem cell taken from mature tissue, regardless of the age of the donor.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
Algeny is from Jeremy Rifkin's book of the same name. He defines it as "the upgrading of existing organisms and the design of wholly new ones with the intent of 'perfecting' their performance."
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Genetics |
Contributed by: CTNS
Transplantation of
tissue from one individual to another within a given species
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Genetics |
Contributed by: BU
Alzheimer's disease causes progressive memory loss and severe dementia in advanced cases. It is associated with certain abnormalities in brain tissue, involving a particular protein, amyloid. The gene encoding amyloid has been located and cloned from Chromosome 21.
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Genetics |
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Aging |
Contributed by: CTNS
A controversial cosmological principle that the observable universe, as it is, must be compatible with our powers of observation, or else we would not be able to observe it. Exponents of the principle will often point out that the universe appears to be “fine tuned,”or delicately balanced in its basic physical processes, to allow for the existence of carbon-based life. Although there are many versions of the principle, usually one can distinguish between (a) the Weak Anthropic Principle, which affirms simply that the existence of human life itself implies that nature must be consistent with having evolved carbon-based life, and (b) the Strong Anthropic Principle, which is concerned with the possibility of alternative universes, yet goes on to state metaphysically that our observable universe must be the only kind of universe capable of evolving human-like creatures as observers.
Only a small range of possible values for the universal constants (such as the mass of an electron) are consistent with the presence of life as we know it. The significance of such apparent fine-tuning of the universal constants is disputed by those who regard it as trivial and those who argue from it to the necessity of life in the universe.
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Design |
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Physics |
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Interviews: Was the Universe Designed? |
Contributed by: Marty Maddox and CTNS
The study of the origin and behavior of humans.
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What Makes us Human? |
Matter composed of the counterparts of ordinary matter, such as anti-protons instead of protons; and positrons instead of electrons.
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Physics |
Contributed by: CTNS
A genetically determined destruction of cells from within due to activation of a stimulus or removal of a suppressing agent or stimulus that is postulated to exist to explain the orderly elimination of superfluous cells - called also programmed cell death.
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Genetics |
By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.Merriam-Webster.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.
Italian Dominican Priest and philosophical theologian. He is known, principally, as the author of the Summa Theologiae and in modern times was made official philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church. However, his work continues to be studied by students of philosophy with no special religious interest. He wrote several commentaries on the work of Aristotle, as well as on Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysius and Peter Lombard. His literary achievement was immense, and his impact is second only to Augustine’s. He describes the Summa Theologiae as a textbook for beginners in the Christian faith who required an uncluttered overview of basic Christian truths; though he also insisted that it is our love of God, not our knowledge, which truly matters in life.
He became a friar in the order of preachers in 1244, studied in Paris and Cologne between 1245-52, lectured in Paris 1252-9, in Italy 1259-68, before returning to Paris in 1268 and then moving on to Naples in 1272 to establish a studium (a Catholic house of studies). He was canonised in 1323.
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Theology |
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History |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
A Semitic language that originated in what is present-day Syria. The language, which was used by the Christ and his apostles, flourished between the 4th and 7th centuries. It was then overtaken by the Arabic and virtually disappeared by the 13th century.
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History |
Contributed by: CTNS
The argument from design - argues from the evidence of the natural world, especially the intricacy, ingenuity and adaptedness of living things to their environment, for the existence and ingenuity of a creator God.
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Evolution |
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Design |
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Theology |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
Greek philosopher and scientist. For more than two millennia Aristotle was the greatest influence on the conceptual foundations of science and natural philosophy. From the fourth century BCE through to the seventeenth century and the Galileo controversy over the correct theory of planetary motion, Aristotelianism emerged as the filter through which the world was viewed, particularly in the areas of physics and cosmology, but also in medicine and theology.
Aristotle’s works also formed the basis of the Western European university curriculum and were a dominant intellectual force over late antiquity and three great empires: Byzantium, the civilisation of Islam and Latin Christendom. His corpus of writings included texts on subjects as diverse as metaphysics and economics, poetics and logic, biology and politics and was a positive affirmation of the human effort to investigate the operations of the world. This helped to lay the foundations of what was to follow in the seventeenth century.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
Atherosclerosis is a disease in which the arteries thicken and the inner surfaces accumulated deposits of cholesterol, fibrin, and other cellular debris. The arteries become inelastic, and narrowed, increasing the stress on the heart, as it tries to pump blood through. It has some hereditary links, and is associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
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Health |
Contributed by: CTNS
A process in which an organism can reproduce itself; usually involving cell division, spore formation, fission, or budding and not the union of individuals or germ cells (sperm and egg).
Contributed by: BU
An experiment to
analyze for one or more specific components.
Contributed by: BU
A theory that postulates a basic, generic, and indivisible unit of matter (originally atoms, then protons, neutrons, and electrons, and currently quarks and leptons).
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Physics |
Contributed by: CTNS
A highly reductive theory of the structure of the world, in which all things are made of an infinite number of randomly moving indivisible cells (corpuscles).
This is also known as mechanical philosophy, and was a philosophy of nature popular during the seventeenth century. It sought to explain all natural phenomena in terms of the configuration, motions and collisions of small unobservable particles of matter, or atomies, later known as ‘atoms’.
This philosophy has its roots in the writing of the ancient Epicurus and his Roman disciple, Lucretius. These two men sought to explain all phenomena in terms of the chance collisions of material atoms in empty space. Epicurus believed that atoms have always existed and are infinite in number.
By the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the atomism of Epicurus seemed particularly compatible with the spirit of the new astronomy and physics, rather than the doctrines of Platonism, Stoicism or Aristotelianism. During this period some of its advocates included Sebastian Basso (1550-1600), Walter Warner (1570-1642) and the Dutch schoolteacher Isaac Beeckman (1588-1637), who was influential on later mechanists like Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) and Rene Descartes (1596-1650).
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
African Bishop and Doctor of the Catholic Church. He lived much of his life in Roman North Africa and was, for the last 34 years of his life, the Bishop Regius of the seaport known as Hippo, located in modern-day Algeria. He is the most acute of Christian Platonists and did much to lay the foundations for the synthesis between Christianity and the classical theism that stemmed from Plato and Aristotle. Later authors including Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Pascal and Kierkegaard, all stand within the tradition that he established. His writings were also amongst the favourite books of Wittgenstein and Nietzsche. He was one of the first to explore the existence of a ‘sub-conscious’, anticipating the work of Freud by some fifteen centuries. A biography is located within the pages of his Confessions, but he also wrote on commentaries on the gospel of John, the doctrine of the Trinity and the idea of the just city in City of God: Against the Pagans.
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Theology |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
A constellation of different diseases all characterized by the failure of the body to distinguish “self” from “non-self” causing the body to attack its own tissues.
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Genetics |
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Health |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
Transplant using tissue from the same individual, or a twin.
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Genetics |
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Health |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
"Before common era." This abbreviation has come to replace the previously used B.C. ("before Christ"), and covers the period of history prior to the birth of Christ.
A London-born statesman and philosopher. As a forerunner of the British empiricist tradition and a prophet of the dawning scientific revolution, he was the first writer to outline clearly the proper methods of modern science as the pursuit of knowledge of natural phenomena. The so-called “Baconian Method” of induction emphasizes (a) the examination of particular, concrete facts, (b) generalizations about such facts, and (c) the necessity of testing hypotheses via observations and experiments.
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History |
Contributed by: Marty Maddox/CTNS
English Franciscan and philosopher. Born in either Somerset or in Gloucestershire, he may have begun his studies in Oxford, but certainly spent some time in Paris. His published works include a series of questions on Aristotle’s metaphysical and physical treatises (c.1240-1246). He also invested heavily, whilst in his thirties, in the study of languages, mathematics and experimental science and was particularly influenced by Robert Grossteste. In 1257 he entered the Franciscan order in a bid to pursue his chosen studies further still. His place in the history of science and religion is hard to assess, as recent scholarship has shown that his work is not as original as once claimed. His knowledge of Arabic and Greek texts and their translation was vast, though it never progressed into any unified or systematic scheme of thought. The real achievement of the man has been lost beneath the veneer of a reputation for magical powers and mechanical invention. The twentieth century has seen attempts to represent him as a martyr of science and freedom of thought, but these have been to no avail.
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History |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
Scottish philosopher and psychologist (1818-1903). Bain was Professor of Logic at Aberdeen University from 1860-1881. In 1876 he founded the journal Mind. His major psychological works were The Senses and the Intellect (1855), and The Emotions and the Will (1859), each of which went through several revised and updated editions in the following decades. He was a protégé of John Stuart Mill and an admirer of Comte’s positivist philosophy.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Thomas Dixon
Swiss Protestant pastor and professor, widely regarded as the greatest Christian theologian of the twentieth century. He criticized the anthropocentrism of liberal theologians such as Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), opposed Nazi ideology, and rejected natural theology. Throughout his many publications and, especially, in his multi-volume Church Dogmatics, Barth retrieved and reinterpreted the Reformed emphasis upon the triumphant grace of the Word of God by way of the concrete event of Jesus Christ as he is received in faith through the biblical witness and preached in the ecumenical Church.
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Theology |
Contributed by: Marty Maddox/CTNS
The act of pleasurable and unconditional goodwill and compassion for all those within reach of our influence, arising from our love of God and the spiritual recognition of our common origin, anxieties, and ultimate destiny.
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Ethics |
Contributed by: CTNS
French philosopher and diplomat. His life straddles the turn of the twentieth century and his very complex thought also marks a turn from scientifically minded positivism of the nineteenth century to the more suspicious attitude towards mathematically based physical science, typical of the twentieth century. His own philosophy combined respect for maths and physics with a sense of their limitations as the key to metaphysical reality.
His most famous works are Creative EvolutionR, Matter and Memory and Time and Simultaneity. In 1928 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and during the First World War he acted as a diplomat in the precursor to what is nowadays known as UNESCO. His importance lies in his influence over much of the twentieth century French thought that followed him. Bergson set the agenda for French philosophy with a focus on embodiment, concreteness, rejection of rationality modelled on physics and maths, as well as the recognition of time and the concept of ‘becoming’.
By way of his philosophy of dynamism he described a vital principle, or living impulse, at work in the universe. Contrary to Darwin’s notion of natural selection, Bergson posited such a non-materialistic, non-mechanistic creative urge in nature as the driving force of biological evolution.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite and Marty Maddox/CTNS
A broad area of research that includes theories of the structure and development of the universe based upon Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which implies an expanding universe. The expansion of the universe was first confirmed in 1929 by Edwin Hubble’s observations of the retreating motion of galaxies.
During the decade following the publication of his special theory of relativity, Einstein worked on applying it to a dynamical theory of gravity. His basic insight was to reconceptualize gravity as the curvature of spacetime instead of as a (Newtonian) force in space. Rather than being deflecting from their otherwise linear motion in a Euclidean space with three dimensions, masses would move along geodesics describing the shortest possible path in curved spacetime. Their motion, in turn, would alter the curvature of spacetime, thus giving the field equations General Theory of Relativity (GR) their highly non-linear form aptly described as: ‘spacetime tells mass how to move; mass tells spacetime how to curve’.
Shortly after the discovery of GR, solutions to Einstein’s equations were developed for two distinct classes of problems: i) point masses, which when applied to the solar system led to several key tests of the theory and their eventual confirmation (including the deflection of starlight by the sun and the precession in the perihelion of the orbit of Mercury), and ii) dust, which when eventually applied to the distribution of galaxies and galactic clusters described the universe as expanding in time. During the 1920s, telescopic observations by Edwin Hubble showed that galaxies were indeed receding from us and at a velocity proportional to their distance. In essence, the expansion of the universe had been discovered!
There are in fact three types of expansion possible. i) Closed model: spherical. In one model the universe has the shape of a 3-dimensional sphere of finite size. It expands up to a maximum size, approximately 100 billion years from now, then recontracts, eventually recollapsing to a singularity that mirrors t=0 with infinite temperatures and densities. ii) Open model 1: ‘flat’ and iii) open model 2: ‘saddle-shaped’. Both the ‘flat’ and ‘saddle-shaped’ models are infinite in size and expanding in time. In both cases the universe will expand forever and cool indefinitely towards absolute zero. The future of these models is often used to characterize them as ‘freeze’ (open, both cases) or ‘fry’ (closed). All three came to be called “Big Bang” models because they describe the universe as having a finite past life of 10-20 billion years and beginning in an event of infinite temperature and density, and zero volume. Since the age of the universe, t, is calculated as starting here, it is convenient to label it “t=0"; technically this event is referred to as an “essential singularity.” In the 1960s, Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose, and Robert Geroch proved key theorems which showed that the existence of an essential singularity, t=0, given Einstein’s GR, was unavoidable.
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Physics |
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Did the Universe Have a Beginning? |
Contributed by: Robert Russell - CTNS
An organism used to
control a particular pest. This includes toxins produced by organisms, plants or
animals. The chosen organism might
be a predator, parasite, or disease, which will attack the pest.
Contributed by: BU
A point of extreme mass in spacetime with a radius, or event horizon, inside of which all electromagnetic radiation (including light) is trapped by gravity - No communication is possible from inside the event horizon to the world outside
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Physics |
Contributed by: CTNS
A preimplantation embryo of 30-150 cells. Contains a layer of specialized cells is made up of trophoblasts, which attach to the uterine wall and form the placenta. Inside the trophoblast layer is the inner cell mass. These cells remain undifferentiated. Embryonic Stem cells are derived from the inner cell mass.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
A view of spacetime that affords equal (ontological) status to all points in spacetime, thus regarding temporality as an illusory human construct with no reference to reality as understood by modern physics.
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Physics |
Contributed by: CTNS
Philosopher and quantum physicist particularly important for his proposal of a hidden-variable explanation of the significance of quantum theory.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
Danish physicist. He is one of the most influential scientists of the twentieth century. He was the founder of atomic quantum theory and the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics.
His theory denied the possibility of a unified, observer-independent field. His own interpretation, the heart of his Copenhagen philosophy, implies that quantum phenomena can only be described by pairs of complimentary perspectives. Though it is impossible to apply either perspective to the phenomena simultaneously, both are required for the exhaustive description of the event. Bohr desired that his methodology be applied to other spheres of knowledge – put simply, he believed that new epistemological insights are obtained by adjoining seemingly incompatible viewpoints. The Copenhagen interpretation was later developed in the work of the German physicist, Werner Heisenberg. Their relationship and the related strands of their thought has been dramatised by the playwright Michael Frayn in his Copenhagen.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
A class of subatomic particles that transmit the forces of nature. These include photons, gluons and gravitons.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Dr. James Miller
A genetically
engineered copy of a hormone which cows naturally produce. A 10-15% increase in
milk production can result from the injection of rBGH. The Food and Drug
Administration approved rBGH for use in cows in late 1993 and its uses has been
standard since 1994. Opponents argue that its use is harmful to cows, lessens
the nutritional value of milk, and threatens small family-owned dairy farms.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: BU
Oxen or cows
Contributed by: BU
British chemist and natural philosopher, particularly important scientifically for his work on the behaviour of gases, and theologically for his efforts to deploy science to aid in promoting Christianity.
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History |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
Scottish philosopher (1778-1820). Brown’s main work was his Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind, which was published posthumously in 1820. Though associated by some with the ‘Common Sense’ school of philosophy, Brown’s philosophy was much more sceptical and empiricist than that of e.g. Thomas Reid or Dugald Stewart. He was a pupil of Stewart, and was Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1810-1820.
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History |
Contributed by: Thomas Dixon
German Protestant theologian. He was the twentieth century’s most influential interpreter of the gospel narratives of the New Testament. Based at Marburg in Germany for much of his academic career, Bultmann is associated with the term ‘demythologisation’. That is, Bultmann recognised that the Bible was written in the context of a supernatural world which no longer makes any sense to us today.
The New Testament contains important teaching, about the human situation, which is know as the Kerygma, the message. Yet this is written mythological language which needs to be properly interpreted. He expressed the importance of the existential encounter with God, rather than mere historical knowledge. What matters for Bultmann, is the response to the message in faith, he rejected the dependence of human beings on historical knowledge, emphasising the faith response.
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Theology |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
A name given to the extreme sensitivity of chaotic systems, in which small changes or perturbations lead to drastically different outcomes. A common example of this phenomenon is a butterfly flapping its wings in California, and thereby initiating a change in weather patterns that results in the formation of a thunderstorm in Nebraska.
Contributed by: CTNS
the four components
(nucleotides) that make up DNA, also known as the genetic code. The linear
series of nucleotides are read as triplets, that specifies the sequence of amino
acids in proteins. Each triplet specifies an amino acid, and the same codons are
used for the amino acids in almost all life-forms, an indication of the
universal nature of the code.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: BU
C.E.: "Common era." This abbreviation came to replace the previously used A.D. (anno Domini, Latin for "in the year of the Lord") because of new knowledge regarding the date of the Christ's birth. The common era covers the time from Christ's birth to the present day.
Contributed by: CTNS
French reformer and theologian. Calvin is one of the pivotal figures in the history of theology in Western Europe. Schooled in Paris, in theology and canon law, he began to appreciate the ideas of early reformers and examined the Greek New Testament, during which time he experienced some form of conversion, whereon he begins to read and teach the scriptures along the lines laid out in the reformers approach.
Calvin’s best known theological work is his Institutes of the Christian Religion, across 79 chapters. His foundation was that scripture was the only source of knowledge about God. Nature, for example, may contain some inkling of God, but this was partial due to the fall of man in Eden. Calvin’s theology emphasised the God-man nature of Jesus, the revelation of the Trinity and the glory of God, as well as insisting that the fall has meant that humans are incapable of doing any good.
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Theology |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
A philosopher and psychologist, taught in the department of psychology at Northwestern University; noted for contributions to evolutionary epistemology and especially for introducing the concept of downward causation.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Dr. Nancey Murphy
Stated most simply causation is how one event or process might be said to produce, and so explain, another. In terms of Christian theology, orthodoxy seems to suggest that God is capable in causing things to happen, although this is to oversimplify the idea. There is a great deal of controversy about the precise nature of God’s action in nature, particularly in the area of the extent to which God has established secondary causes in nature to act as intermediaries.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
Strong, cloned copies of otherwise fragile mRNA - the essential messenger element of the genes in the DNA which help in the coding of proteins.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: CTNS
Cultures of disaggregated tissue that can be maintained and propagated for use in research. Cells in the same line are typically clones. The length of time cells will survive in culture varies. Some cell lines are immortalized; that is, they can be maintained essentially indefinitely, for one of a variety of reasons. Embryonic stem cells and embryonic germ cells are immortal because they express telomerase, one of the factors necessary for cells to propagate normally.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER and CTNS
A name given to recent wide-ranging attempts to uncover the statistical regularity hidden in processes that otherwise appear random, such as turbulence in fluids, weather patterns, predator-prey cycles, the spread of disease, and even the onset of war. Systems described as "chaotic" are extremely susceptible to changes in initial conditions. As a result, small uncertainties in measurement are magnified over time, making chaotic systems predictable in principle but unpredictable in practice.
Over the past three decades, the study of chaotic systems has dramatically expanded from physics to include all the natural and even social sciences. Chaotic phenomena now include such physical and biological systems as the weather, water dripping from a faucet, bands in the rings of Saturn, oscillations in the populations of organisms, and the fluctuations of populations in complex ecosystems. In physics, though, chaotic systems are ‘classical’ in scale and thus subsumable in principle under classical mechanics with its deterministic laws of motion. Still even for the simplest systems, minute uncertainties in the initial conditions and the effect of countless interactions with other systems in nature, together with unusual characteristics in the underlying mathematics (e.g., ‘strange attractors’) make complete predictability impossible even in principle. Surprisingly, then, chaos breaks the long-standing philosophical link between determinism and predictability. Still since it is describable by deterministic equations, chaos theory supports a strictly deterministic philosophy of nature, although within subtle epistemic limits.
It is possible, however, as Polkinghorne suggests, that chaotic systems may one day be more accurately described by more complex theories, sometimes referred to as ‘holistic chaos’. The current deterministic laws would then be seen as simple approximations to holistic chaos through what Polkinghorne calls ‘downward emergence.” Finally, the new theories of holistic chaos would, hopefully, suggest an indeterministic interpretation. It is also possible that a satisfying connection will be found between chaos at the present, classical level, and quantum mechanics (sometimes referred to as ‘quantum chaology’), suggesting that the uncertainty in the initial conditions that, together with coupling to the environment, drive chaotic behavior is at least partially due to quantum indeterminism.
Contributed by: Dr. Robert Russell / Dr. Christopher Southgate
An individual, organ, or part of an organism consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution.
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
A
complex of DNA and basic proteins (as histone) in eukaryotic cells that is
condensed into chromosomes in mitosis and meiosis. There are two types: heterochromatic which is densely coiled
chromatin that appears as nodules in or along chromosomes and contains
relatively few genes. Euchromatic is the less coiled and genetically active
portion of chromatin that is largely composed of genes.
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Genetics |
By permission. From Online Biology Book Glossary property of Prof. Michael Farabee
A chromosome is a grouping of coiled strands of DNA, containing many genes. Most multicellular organisms have several chromosomes, which together comprise the genome. Sexually reproducing organisms have two copies of each chromosome, one from the each parent - Humans have 23 pairs. Also see Chromatin.
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Genetics |
Image:
Sinauer Associates
Contributed by: CTNS
Philosopher of mind and philosopher of science at U.C. San Diego, famous for her view that neuroscientific accounts will replace our ordinary explanations of behavior in terms of beliefs, desires, etc.
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Philosophy |
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The Cognitive and Neurosciences |
Contributed by: Dr. Nancey Murphy
A branch of physics that deals with the effects of energy and forces on the motion of physical objects, based on the work of Isaac Newton and on three-dimensional Euclidean geometry, also called Newtonian mechanics.
Recall that in classical physics, nature is described as a closed causal
system of ‘matter in motion’ and governed by
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Physics |
Contributed by: Robert Russell - CTNS
A branch of physics developed in the nineteenth century that deals with the study of heat, and thus with the collision and interaction of particles in large, near-equilibrium systems.
In the 19th century, thermodynamics, the study of heat transformation and exchange, was concerned with closed systems (i.e., systems which do not exchange matter or energy with their environment). In such systems although the total amount of energy E is always conserved (the “first” law, DE=0), the amount of available energy inevitably decreases to zero (the “second” law); equivalently, the entropy S of the system, defined as the amount of unusable energy, increases to a maximum: DS>=0. During the 20th century, the field was broadened to include open systems (i.e., systems which exchanged matter and/or energy with their environment). These first included non-linear systems in which effects on the system were highly amplified, and then non-linear systems far from equilibrium in which spontaneous fluctuations were even more fully amplified. Such systems demonstrated the surprising phenomena of ‘order out of chaos’, to use Ilya Prigogine’s famous phrase: they could spontaneously move to greater forms of organization, driven always by the internal production and dissipation of entropy (i.e., ‘dissipative systems’), and though, of course, the total entropy of the open system plus its environment obeyed the second law. Two final points: 1) Whether ‘entropy’ applies to the universe as a ‘closed’ system is subject to intense debate. 2) Although most physicists reduce thermodynamics to dynamics, thus explaining (away) time’s (thermodynamic) arrow, Prigogine and others insist it should be the converse. In any case, non-linear, non-equilibrium thermodynamics points to at least one form of novelty and apparent openness in nature, although it still comes (pace Prigogine) under the rubric of deterministic classical dynamics, and, like chaos theory, rendering its portrait of novelty in terms of epistemic ignorance.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Robert Russell - CTNS
Research to test the safety and efficacy of new treatments or to compare the effects of different treatments in patients or healthy volunteers.
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
The technique of producing a genetically identical duplicate of an organism. A clone is said to be all descendants derived asexually from a single individual. It involves the process of taking the nucleus of a somatic cell and injecting it into enucleated egg. The egg is then implanted into the uterus to grow. Also see SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer).
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Genetics |
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Ethics |
British philosopher, who promoted deism and a sceptical attitude towards Scriptural revelation.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
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Health |
The never satiated desire to draw as much of reality as possible into one's self; the unlimited striving, for example, for knowledge, sex, and power. The seeking for one's own pleasure through another being without the desire to unite with, affirm, or love the other being.
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Ethics |
Contributed by: CTNS
Physical laws that stipulate the conservation over time of a specific quantity, such as charge, energy, or momentum.
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Physics |
Contributed by: CTNS
The study of the structure, spacetime relationships, and origin of the universe that unites the tools of astronomy and quantum theory.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
Polish Astronomer.Understood by the Christian church and the scientific community as the father of modern astronomy.
His education and professional life was varied both in terms of subject and geography; schooled in medicine, philosophy and mathematics at Cracow, Poland; Bologna and Rome; Heilsburg in Prussia and finally, to take up the position of residentiary canon at Frauenberg.
Copernicus rejected the received Ptolemaic system of the universe, founding his own system with the sun at the centre of the solar system on the grounds that it was improbable that such a large body as the sun would revolve around such a small body as the earth. His reformulation provided some valuable explanations, such as the variation of the seasons, equinoxes and the retrograde motion of planets. Despite the defects of his system, it certainly prepared the way for Johannes Kepler, Galileo and Isaac Newton.
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
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Physics |
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History |
A branch of study concerned with the origins and nature of the universe. (see cosmos)
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Physics |
A complex and orderly system, such as our universe; the opposite of chaos.
A complex, well-ordered, and unified system, usually referring to the world of human experience or to the universe as a whole. The verb in Greek means to put in order and to adorn, hence our words ‘cosmetic’ and ‘cosmetologist’. In referring to the universe as cosmos rather than as chaos, the classical Greeks defined reality as a homogeneous, ordered whole. In contrast, modern Western culture has tended to view reality dualistically, splitting it into subject and object, humanity and nature, mind and matter. Contemporary thinkers who attempt to reclaim the universe as cosmos have been forced to abandon the fixed structure of classical cosmologies in light of the pervasively evolutionary character of the universe revealed by modern science. Nonetheless, such thinkers -- whether they are religious or secular -- share the desire of the ancient Greeks to provide a consistent and meaningful framework for the world of human experience, by relating it to the principles governing all of reality.
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Physics |
Contributed by: CTNS
The review and consolidation of Roman Catholic doctrine and authority following the Protestant Reformation. (Principally 1540-1650)
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Theology |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
Latin: 'Continuous Creation'
This is a concept within the Christian doctrine of creation, specifically within the Eastern Orthodox tradition and some Process Theologies. It refers to speaking of God’s action in relation to the world.
According to this idea, we are to envisage this not as a single act in past, but as a continuing presence here and now, hence it is legitimate to speak of a continuing creation. Historically, it is an approach located in the writings of Maximus, Hildegard of Bingen and Gregory Palamas. It is not a past event, but a present relationship, an initial act that constitutes a starting point. In spite of the different ways this phrase is put to use, it need not be seen as in opposition to the classical position of creatio ex nihilo.
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Theology |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
Latin: 'Creation out of nothing'
In classical thought, Christianity alone, or more precisely, the Judeo-Christian tradition, knows the notion of absolute creation. Creatio ex nihilo (‘creation out of nothing’) is a dogma of the faith. God has not created starting from something, but starting with what is not, from ‘nothingness’. It is the work of the will of God, and therefore is not co-eternal with God (it has a beginning and will have an end).
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Theology |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
A philosophical view of science and/or theology which asserts that our knowledge of the world refers to the-way-things-really-are, but in a partial fashion which will necessarily be revised as that knowledge develops.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
The process of freezing biological materials in such a way that they can be stored for long periods of time, then thawed for use.
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease affecting the lungs, most cases of which are caused by a defect in a single gene. It is the most common genetic disease in Caucasians.
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
Contributed by: CTNS
The organized complex of inorganic and organic substances external to the nuclear membrane of a cell, including the cytosol, and mitochondria (or chloroplasts, which are found in plants).
British scientist, most famous for his book "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection."
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
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Design |
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History |
English physician, grandfather of Charles Darwin. A radical thinker and materialist, he is particularly important for developing an early theory of evolution.
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
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Design |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
A neuroscientist at Boston University and McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School. Known for his evolutionary approach to understanding the neurobiology of language use.
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The Cognitive and Neurosciences |
Contributed by: Dr. Nancey Murphy
A term tied very closely to postmodernism, deconstructionism is a challenge to the attempt to establish any ultimate or secure meaning in a text. Basing itself in language analysis, it seeks to "deconstruct" the ideological biases (gender, racial, economic, political, cultural) and traditional assumptions that infect all histories, as well as philosophical and religious "truths." Deconstructionism is based on the premise that much of human history, in trying to understand, and then define, reality has led to various forms of domination - of nature, of people of color, of the poor, of homosexuals, etc. Like postmodernism, deconstructionism finds concrete experience more valid than abstract ideas and, therefore, refutes any attempts to produce a history, or a truth. In other words, the multiplicities and contingencies of human experience necessarily bring knowledge down to the local and specific level, and challenge the tendency to centralize power through the claims of an ultimate truth which must be accepted or obeyed by all.
A technique of literary analysis that regards meaning as resulting from the differences between words themselves, rather than their reference to the things they stand for. It is a technique that entered theology in the earlier 1980’s as theologians who had been educated in Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Heidegger began to encounter the writings of French theorists, in particular, Jacques Derrida. They emphasised the inability of theological discourse to speak substantively about dogmatic, transcendental certainties. For them, after Hegel, God had been poured into Jesus Christ without remainder and so they believed theology should be expunged of any claims on metaphysics and focus on the sensible realm.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: CTNS and Richard P Whaite
Theological movement, which gathered momentum in the 18th Century, which rejects continuing divine involvement in the details of the world. For the deist God’s action consists of setting the universe in operation at the beginning of time.
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Theology |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
French philosopher and natural scientist. He is often said to be father of modern philosophy. Descartes shifts attention from the question of what is the nature of what we know, to can I know anything at all for sure? The legacy of this is that modern philosophy effectively still deals with problems set by Descartes. In terms of scientific achievements he is the first to provide full world picture to challenge (and replace) Scholasticism. It is a fully mechanistic schema - including biological phenomena.
Cartesian thought holds that there are two worlds, one of mental objects and one of material things, including animals and human bodies. The mental objects are states of consciousness (e.g. pains, fear, joy, experiences), the material objects are more or less ‘bits of clockwork’. Mental states and states of the body are logically independent but causally interrelated: causal interaction is like glue, bonding mind to body in each individual person. The veracity of all our ideas in this system is guaranteed by God’s existence and goodness. His modern-day critics see him as the exponent par excellence of dualism, but contemporary scholarship is presently engaged in the task of trying to separate the man and his ideas from the caricature that has been assembled of him in the history of Western philosophy.
He was schooled at a Jesuit college called La Fleche, after this he joined the army and travelled around Europe. He had a revelation in 'well heated room' and decided to take up philosophy in a serious manner. Legend tells of his habit to meditate in bed until noon. In 1649, he took up a position with Queen Christina in Stockholm, but died of pneumonia.
His main works include: ‘The World’ (Le Monde), 1634; ‘Discourse on Method’, 1637; ‘Meditations’, 1642; ‘Principles of Philosophy’, 1644.
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
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Philosophy |
A far-reaching term, which most widely states that all events in the world are the result of some previous event, or events. In this view, all of reality is already in a sense pre-determined or pre-existent and, therefore, nothing new can come into existence. This closed view of the universe sees all events in the world simply as effects of other prior effects, and has particular implications for morality, science, and religion. Ultimately, if determinism is correct, then all events in the future are as unalterable as are all events in the past. Consequently, human freedom is simply an illusion.
One area of contemporary discourse in science that relates to the issue of human freedom is the notion of genetic determinism. Here, the concept of determinism is linked directly to the genes in the DNA of a person. Because we already know that aberrations in certain genes can lead to various forms of physical and mental disease in humans, we can say with some certainty that people are physically determined by their genes. But genetic determinists want to extend this further, by claiming that even our behavior is determined by our genes. In this line of thinking, we are but victims of our genetic makeup, and any effort to change our moral nature or behavioral patterns is useless. This is sometimes termed "puppet determinism," meaning metaphorically that we dance on the strings of our genes.
Since we can now establish a scientific connection between one's genes and one's actual and/or potential physical traits (hair and eye color, disease susceptibility, etc.), it is thought that we should use this knowledge to restructure the genetic makeup of certain individuals. In other words, genetic determinism does not just show us how we are victims of our genes; it also shows us how we can use the knowledge of our genes in order to change them and, therefore, change ourselves. This understanding of genetics and human freedom, or unfreedom as it were, illustrates the extent to which genetic determinists place the influence of nature (biology and genetics) over nurture (society and family). The fundamental premises of genetic determinism are, therefore, 1) that we are victims of our genes and have no ultimate freedom, and 2) that with proper knowledge, we can take charge of our genes so that we are no longer their victim, but rather, are their architect. This latter premise has been termed "Promethean determinism," meaning that with the proper knowledge we can take charge of our genetic and, therefore, moral/ behavioral makeup.
Though a fascinating and long-debated theory, determinism raises serious difficulties regarding the nature of human knowledge and its bearing on our understanding of morality. For example, if one adheres to the idea of determinism and believes that one's life is simply the mechanical and unchangeable outplay of forces beyond one's control, then how does this affect one's relationship to the world and other people. Does adherence to determinism not lead one into a sense of meaninglessness and impotence regarding one's fate and actions? Does determinism not also lead one into the belief that whatever one does is morally acceptable, by virtue of the fact that whatever one does is already pre-determined, and therefore, meant to be?
If determinism is in fact true, then our whole conception of morality is a pointless illusion. Since everything in existence is the result of necessary and pre-determined causes, then even something like murder can be considered normal. Here, determinism fails to take into account human freedom and choice. The majority of humans would choose not to be killed, just as most humans would choose not to kill another human. Determinists can claim that our choice to be killed or not to kill is itself already a determined effect, but this is only of theoretical interest since the issue of one's life or death is of extreme existential significance. In other words, in relation to issues of morality, determinism is an interesting theory, but in practice it is quite untenable. In essence, the acceptance of determinism makes one into a mere thing, a mechanical and non-autonomous entity without the power to deliberate or change one's direction in life.
The deterministic view is expressed religiously in the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, wherein those elected to a divine eternity and those condemned to an eternal hell are already established prior to birth. A counter doctrine to this view is that humans are co-creators with God, helping to bring about a new and just divine order, symbolically represented by the Kingdom of God. The further theological implication of this nondeterministic view is that of the nature of God. If humans are co-creators and the world's potential is unfolding and open, then the nature of God can also be seen as changing and open to the new.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: CTNS
Cells that are
specialized for a particular function (i.e. heart muscle or blood cell) and do
not maintain the ability to generate other kinds of cells, or revert back to a
less specialized cell (like stem cells).
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Genetics |
Contributed by: BU
English born theoretical physicist who shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics with Erwin Schrödinger for his contributions to the development of quantum theory and its relation to relativity theory. In 1930 Dirac also proposed the existence of the "positron," a positively charged particle with the same mass as the negatively charged electron. It was discovered experimentally in 1932.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Dr. James Miller
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a double-stranded helix of nucleotides which carries the genetic information of a cell. It encodes the information for the proteins and is able self-replicate.
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
Contributed by: CTNS
The name given by the Roslin Insitute to the first cloned mammal; a sheep. It took 277 attempts to clone Dolly (0.4% efficiency).
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Genetics |
Double helix refers to the structure of DNA. DNA is composed of two strands of nucleotides, which form bonds with each other as rungs in a ladder. These linked strands then twist around one another to make a helix with two parallel strands.
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
Contributed by: CTNS
Down's syndrome is condition with several symptoms, including a characteristic body type, mental retardation, increased susceptibility to infections, and various heart and other organ abnormalities. It is a result of an extra copy of chromosome 21. In most cases this is a result of one of the parents' gametes not dividing properly. In some cases, it is a result of one of the parents having a chromosomal abnormality in which chromosome 14 and 21 are merged. This can be detected by looking at the parents' chromosomes.
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
Contributed by: CTNS
Author of The History of the conflict between religion and science, published in 1875.
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The Relation of Science & Religion |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
This is a concept that refers to the division of any given area of reality into two contrasting and, possibly, conflicting areas. Some examples include: mind and matter, spirit and flesh and heaven and earth.
In its classic formulation, in the work of Rene Descartes, mental phenomena are taken as, in some respect, non-physical. The mind for Descartes is a non-physical substance, because minds have no spatial properties and physical reality is essentially extended in space, minds are wholly non-physical. This can be contrasted to ‘body’, which is physical and does have extension in space. In this way the reality of the human person has been divided into two distinct areas.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
The view that the human is made up of two components: a material, physical body, and an immaterial soul or spirit.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: CTNS
A theory that deals with forces and their relation to the motion of objects.
Contributed by: CTNS
The areas of the universe habitable by living organisms.
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Ecology |
The outermost of the three primary layers of an embryo; produces the nervous system, the epidermis and epidermal derivatives, and the lining of various body cavities such as the mouth.
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
Tissue that has formed abnormally temporally or spatially.
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Health |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
American theologian and philosopher (1703-1758). Edwards, a Congregationalist minister, was one of the central figures of the mid-eighteenth-century religious revival in New England known as the ‘Great Awakening’. His Treatise Concerning Religious Affections (1746) was one of his most important religious works. He also wrote on philosophical topics, including The Freedom of the Will (1754).
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Theology |
Contributed by: Thomas Dixon
Embryonic germ cells. These cells are found in a specific part of the embryo/fetus called the gonadal ridge, and normally develop into mature gametes.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
The sperm enters
the egg and the interaction between them stimulates the egg to resume the cell
cycle and begin development.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: BU
German-born naturalised Swiss and American physicist. He is arguably the twentieth century’s most famous scientific figure. His output included the theories of special relativity (1905) and general relativity (1915), which revolutionised the classical mechanical understanding of space, time and gravitation.
He made fundamental contributions to the fields of statistical mechanics and quantum theory. Later in his life, following his emigration to the United States and appointment at Princeton University in New Jersey, he searched for a unified theory of gravitation and electromagnetism. He complained that the new quantum theory was fundamentally incomplete without this unification. It remains one of the physical sciences greatest unsolved puzzles.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
A theory that deals with the physical relations between electricity and magnetism, and which shows visible light to be part of a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation encompassing radio waves, microwaves, and x-rays.
Contributed by: CTNS
The negatively charged fundamental particle that along with protons and neutrons comprise the atom.
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Physics |
Contributed by: Dr. James Miller
A force proposed by physicists Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg which unifies the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces under conditions of extreme temperature prevalent much earlier in the history of the universe - The symmetry corresponding to this unification has since "broken," with the ensuing expansion and drop in temperature of the universe yielding two of the four fundamental forces known today.
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Physics |
Contributed by: CTNS
Organisms in the early stages of growth and development. In animals, embryos are characterized by the cleavage of the fertilized eggs to many cells, the laying down of the three germ layers, and formative steps in organ development. Although there is some discussion about the characteristics marking the switch from embryo to fetus, in human beings, “embryo” generally refers to the time from implantation to about eight to twelve weeks after conception.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
A branch of biology
that studies embryos and their development
Contributed by: BU
The innermost of
the germ layers of an embryo that is the source of the epithelium of the
digestive tract and its derivatives.
Contributed by: BU
Caused by factors
inside the retrovirus; produced or synthesized within the retrovirus. A
retrovirus is an RNA virus (like HIV) that produces reverse transcriptase by
means of which DNA is produced using their RNA as a template and incorporated
into the genome of infected cells.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: BU
An intellectual movement which began in England in the seventeenth century, but then spread to have eventual influence over all sections of the world. The term "Enlightenment," rooted in an intellectual skepticism to traditional beliefs and dogmas, denotes an "illumined" contrast to the supposed dark and superstitious character of the Middle Ages. From its inception, the Enlightenment focused on the power and goodness of human rationality. Some of the more characterisitic doctrines of the Enlightenment are: 1) Reason is the most significant and positive capacity of the human; 2) reason enables one to break free from primitive, dogmatic, and superstitious beliefs holding one in the bonds of irrationality and ignorance; 3) in realizing the liberating potential of reason, one not only learns to think correctly, but to act correctly as well; 4) through philosophical and scientific progress, reason can lead humanity as a whole to a state of earthly perfection; 5) reason makes all humans equal and, therefore, deserving of equal liberty and treatment before the law; 6) beliefs of any sort should be accepted only on the basis of reason, and not on traditional or priestly authority; and 7) all human endeavors should seek to impart and develop knowledge, not feelings or character.
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History |
Contributed by: CTNS
A term from philosophy of biology, introduced by Hans Driesch, to explain the appearance of life. This reflects an episode in the history of biology when it was debated whether life arises from biological complexity alone, or whether a non-material entity needs to be added to organic material to produce a living being.
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Evolution |
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Where did we Come From? |
Contributed by: Dr. Nancey Murphy
A measure of the disorder or unavailability of energy within a closed system. More entropy means less energy available for doing work.
The removal of the
nucleus of a cell; in cloning the nucleus is removed from the egg cell.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: BU
Hellenistic philosopher and founder of the school of Epicureanism, which focused on an ethical, hedonistic way of life in the context of an atomistic, materialistic universe. He had a type of “survival of the fittest” doctrine which accounted for the evolution of species. Although such a teaching avoided Aristotle’s appeal to final causes, it still made room for the activities of Greek gods.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Marty Maddox/CTNS
The study of theories of knowledge or ways of knowing, particularly in the context of the limits or validity of the various ways of knowing.
It is concerned with the nature, extent, sources and legitimacy of knowledge. Key questions in this area include: what must be added to belief to make it knowledge? What is genuine knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? Over the course of western philosophy, philosophers have concentrated on one or two of these issues to the exclusion of all the others; rarely has a philosopher embraced all of them.
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Philosophy |
Contributed by: Richard P Whaite
Embryonic stem cells.
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Genetics |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
Eschatology - from the Greek ‘eschaton’ meaning ‘end,’ so literally the study of the end times. More widely the discussion of the ultimate fate of the universe and of human beings, and of the processes leading to the end.
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Theology |
Contributed by: Dr. Christopher Southgate
The study of the causes, or origins, of diseases or abnormal physiological conditions.
Eugenics involves using principles of genetics to "improve" humankind. Though presently out of favor, the idea that this was a good thing was fairly universally accepted throughout the early part of this century.
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Genetics |
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Ethics |
Contributed by: CTNS
Organisms composed of cells that have a nucleus (i.e., the nucleus, where the genetic material resides, is separated from the rest of the cell, called the cytoplasm, by a complex membrane called the nuclear envelope). The earliest single-celled forms of such organisms appeared about 2 billion years ago.
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Genetics |
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Evolution |
Contributed by: AAAS/DoSER
The merciful act of helping a person or animal end their life in a painless way due to a t