Synapse and the Soul

Coming November 18th, season 2 of Wonderology! Get the free mini-series about evolution and Christian faith by visiting wonderologyshow.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the last episode of Wonderology, we explored fine tuning and the odds of existence. Here, in this bonus episode of Science With Faith, we pick up the questions that linger.Faith Stults and McKenzie Hill take a closer look at how delicate the balance is between complex life and no existence at all, wonder what set us on that knife’s edge, and consider the possibility of a multiverse.Along the way: A listener asks about Fred Hoyle and the carbon problem McKenzie tweaks the constants of physics and keeps breaking the universe They wrestle with the strangeness of Christian faith and the costs that come with choosing your strangeA conversation that invites awe at just how rare and finely balanced it all is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fred Hoyle is standing at a chalkboard when he realizes something is wrong. Every equation arrives at the same conclusion: the universe is producing something that science can’t explain. Something that means humanity shouldn’t exist. But the only way to fix it is to change the story of how the universe works—in a way that will spark a fight no one can walk away from. Because what he finds is only the beginning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who do we become if our power outpaces our wisdom? Scientists studying bacteria discover something strange: a natural system that can recognize invading DNA and cut it out. What happens when humans learn to do the same?A blind man volunteers for an experimental trial, hoping to regain his sight. A scientist conducts one of the most controversial experiments of modern science. And families discover a cure exists—but must survive the maze to reach it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if our bodies came with operating instructions—and we could finally read them? In 1904, a young man named Walter Noel walks into a Chicago hospital. He’s been sick for a month and isn’t improving. An intern tries something medicine is only beginning to trust: they look at his blood under a microscope. His cells look nothing like anything they’ve seen before.Nearly a hundred years later, that moment sets the stage for what could become the biggest medical breakthrough in human history—one powerful enough to explain our past, rewrite our future, and spark a battle that reaches the White House. Learn more about Francis Collins’ organization BioLogos: www.biologos.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Am I bad or sick? Lindsay has lived with disordered eating since childhood. She tried everything she could find, but nothing worked. For decades, each failure felt moral—like she was choosing wrong. Then she starts a new medicine, and within 24 hours, the compulsion that shaped her life disappears. If one shot can silence a lifelong impulse overnight, what does that mean about all the years before? Was it a moral failure or a medical condition? We step into the court room with murder trials. We meet a man caught between his faith and his genetics. And we uncover a secret science experiment aimed at making people more virtuous—all to understand where moral choice ends and biology begins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is my brain me? Diane Lane is a neuroscientist. She’s spent her life studying the brain—its patterns, its failures, its power to define who we are. But when her mom has a stroke, something essential seems to slip away. The woman she knew is still there—but changed. It forces us to ask: If our brain can so deeply alter us, does it define who we are? We visit a neuroscience lab and hold real human brains in our hands. We meet a man who wants his mind back—and he’s willing to go to extreme lengths to get it. Finally, we wrestle with a haunting question at the edge of science and faith: Are we just the sum of our neurons… or are we something more? Have questions about evolution and Christian faith? Get our free mini-series Everything From Nothing exploring evolutionary creationism at wonderologyshow.com.  Want to know more about the science and faith behind each episode? Check out our free after-show Science With Faith by visiting wonderologyshow.com.  Resources:  Neurotheology: Making Sense of the Brain and Religious Experiences Bill Newsome | Neuroscience, Faith & Free Will Neuroscience, Mental Health and the Church Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does living in a vast universe make humanity less significant? Scott Acton spent more than 20 years helping build the most advanced telescope humanity has ever made. The goal? To see the first stars that ever turned on in our universe. If it works, we’ll be looking more than 13 billion years into the past. If it fails, that’s ten billion dollars down the drain. A lot goes wrong. But here’s the catch: the more we learn about how vast our universe is, the more we risk opening even bigger questions—questions about purpose, questions about whether humanity is significant in a universe this massive. And yet, what this telescope could reveal is something no human eyes have ever seen. Have questions about evolution and Christian faith? Get our free mini-series Everything From Nothing exploring evolutionary creationism at wonderologyshow.com.  Want to know more about the science and faith behind each episode? Check out our free after-show Science With Faith by visiting wonderologyshow.com.  Resources:  The Webb Telescope and God’s Evolving Universe Deb Haarsma | James Webb Space Telescope What the Webb Telescope Images Didn’t Capture All Things Created Through Christ, Galaxies Included! Jennifer Wiseman | Light in Space Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming October 15th, a new show about science, faith, and the search for awe. Get the free mini-series about evolution and Christian faith by visiting wonderologyshow.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices