Future!
Last week we had an unusual date, February 22. The actual date itself was unusual: 2/22/22. And it was a “Twosday,” that fell on a Tuesday!
About this, Barry Markovsky, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of South Carolina, wrote an article in Conversations.
It’s true the number pattern stands out, impossible to miss. But does it mean anything? Judging by the thousands of commemorative products available for purchase online, it may appear to.
Memory!
It is, no doubt, true that the older you get, the greater your knowledge of the world. But it is also true that the older you get, the worse you do on memory tests. How come? You know more, and so should be able to remember more, one would think.
The answer to the disparity is, apparently, clutter. So saith scientists from University of Columbia, Harvard, and University of Toronto, in “Cluttered Memory Representations Shape Cognition in Old Age,” a review article in
Almighty!
Stronger than steel and lighter than plastic?
Yes, report MIT chemical engineers, led by Prof. Michael Strano, in “Irreversible Synthesis of an Ultrastrong Two-Dimensional Polymeric Material,” published in Nature last week.
They created this new material that is a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers, which can form only one-dimensional, spaghetti-like chains. These grow by adding new molecules onto their ends.
Polymer scientists
Trees!
There is, apparently, a singular key to the health of forests all over the world. So say researchers from The Center for Tree Science, The Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL), and from Tuscia University in Italy and the University of Barcelona in Spain, in an article in Nature Plants: “Old and Ancient Trees Are Life History Lottery Winners and Vital Evolutionary Resources for Long-Term Adaptive Capacity.”
Yup, that’s the key: some ancient trees.
Those scientists say that
Ephesians 6:1–9
Children obey their parents and parents gently instruct their children, and slaves obey their masters with sincerity and masters treat their slaves likewise as they both serve God—all furthering unity and promising reward.
The theme of submission in this text is the extension of the fifth verb (participle)—“submitting”—that qualifies “filling by the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). We see instructions to those in authority (parents, employers) and to those under
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.