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Sara S Tolsma

Professor of Biology, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA

Reviews

The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist’s Warning

The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist’s Warning by Peter J. Hotez is a short, frightening analysis of the rise of anti-science sentiment in the United States and throughout the world. In it, Hotez argues that “anti-science has become a dangerous social force that threatens both our national security and global stature as a nation renowned for its research institutions and universities (xii).” Hotez is particularly well-suited to provide such analysis and warning. He is a well-respected pediatrician and scientist.…
October 9, 2024
ScienceTheology

The Gift of Gene Therapy

My father had his first heart attack at 37 years old. Let that sentence sink in for a second. No part of this shocking statement has been lost on me, certainly not when I recently turned 38. I have spent my entire adult life aware of the seriousness of heart disease and I have assumed since my teens that eventually heart disease will cause my death. However, I am doing my best to prevent that from happening any time soon.…
April 23, 2019
CultureScienceTheology

Determinism

by Clayton Carlson “Of course you are smart, your dad is a scientist.” My kids, who tend to do pretty well in school, have heard a comment like that more than once. There are different ways to interpret what they are being told. The teacher, parent, or classmate trying to affirm my son or daughter might mean that as children of a college professor, they live in a world where education is highly valued. They could be recognizing that my…
March 26, 2019
Essays

The Comfort of Our Insignificance

The universe is vast. On the average, it is about 140 million miles to Mars, which is our next-door neighbor. Considering the broader solar system (from Neptune to the sun), if we were to throw a dart at the solar system, the odds of hitting anything would only be about one in 10 million. Further out, the next closest star in our galaxy is four light years, or tens of trillions of miles, away. Andromeda, the next closest galaxy, is…
January 1, 2019