March 2020 Newsletter
In this Clergy Letter Project update, you’ll find the following seven items:
- Dealing with the Despair Brought on by the Coronavirus Pandemic;
- Astrobiology News for March 2020: Ideas from the Zooniverse;
- The Climate Crisis Letter;
- Coronavirus Resources from Sinai and Synapses;
- Evolution Weekend 2020;
- Two Reviews of Some Assembly Required; and
- The Origin of the Hawaiian Islands.
1. Dealing with the Despair Brought on by the Coronavirus Pandemic
First and most importantly, I hope all of you, your relatives and friends are healthy. And I hope you all will be able to weather the crisis financially. This is a time for communities to come together and for governments to step up their efforts to help us.
As I explained in this recent article, like so many others I’ve been having trouble focusing on almost anything other than the growing pandemic. Nonetheless, we can’t ignore everything even while we worry by what we see around us.
As I discussed in the piece I’ve come to the conclusion that at a time such as this it is ever more important that we value expertise and take actions that are based on the best advice scientists have to offer. And, as I explained, that doesn’t mean that religion should be ignored. Upon reflection, I’ve come to the conclusion that the goals of The Clergy Letter Project are actually more important now than ever.
The article ends by saying, “I hope you can find activities that make a difference, both for you and for your community. By focusing on these good actions perhaps we will be able to move past the despair that feels so oppressively heavy right now.”
I hope you find some value in what I’ve written and I encourage you to share your thoughts with me and other readers. I also hope you’ll share the article widely via social media.
2. Astrobiology News for March 2020: Ideas from the Zooniverse
In this month’s Astrobiology News, Clergy Letter Project consultant and Adler Planetarium astronomer Grace Wolf-Chase presents some fabulous ideas detailing how you might help advance science – even while quarantined!
As we’re witnessing an increasing number of cancelled events and institutional closures (including my own) due to uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought I’d share some ways that everyone can assuage anxiety and boredom, while furthering important research, even if you’re temporarily isolated. I realize this isn’t exactly “astrobiology news,” but isn’t it a good time to contribute to medical research in general, or perhaps celebrate Women’s History Month without leaving your house?
At the time I’m writing this, there are seven active medical research projects on Zooniverse.(1) The most popular is Bash the Bug,(2) where you can help the researchers fight resistance to antibiotics. On the other hand, the project that needs the most help is Rodent Little Brother: Secret Lives of Mice,(3) where you can assist important research into human illnesses, while improving the study and care of mice. Perhaps you’d like to explore eye health, changes in cell biology due to diseases, or quality of life issues for urban dwellers? You can find these and more among the medical research projects available on Zooniverse! You don’t even have to create a username and password to participate, if you don’t want to.
How about contributing to research on the groundbreaking work of early 20th century women astronomers through Star Notes(4) to celebrate Women’s History Month? Participants peruse the notebooks of “Harvard Computers” Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and many others to help link their notebooks to the glass plate photographs that gave us our first picture of the visible universe. Connecting black history and women’s history is Transcribe Cooper,(5) an interdisciplinary project delving into the personal correspondence of African-American feminist Anna Julia Cooper, which could reshape our understanding of Black political thought at the dawn of the twentieth century.
These are just a few samples of fascinating and relevant research everyone can explore. There are currently 101 active projects across Zooniverse(6) - the most recent include understanding babies’ speech sounds and expanding access to electricity in Africa. Next month, I’ll get back to the “astrobiology” part of my column, but I hope to present one or two enticing Zooniverse projects each month!
Stay healthy.
Grace Wolf-Chase, Ph.D. (gwolfchase@adlerplanetarium.org)
1. Zooniverse Medical Projects
2. Zooniverse Bash the Bug Project
3. Zooniverse Rodent Project
4. Zooniverse Star Notes Project
5. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/transcribecooper/transcribe-cooper
6. https://www.zooniverse.org/projects
3. The Climate Crisis Letter
Signatures on our Climate Crisis Letter have now grown to well over 800 representing 12 countries. Thank you to all who have signed on. I notice, however, that many who voted for The Clergy Letter Project to create such a letter have not yet signed on. If that’s you, please do so now – it only takes a second:
_______ Yes, by all means, please add my signature to The Climate Crisis Letter.
Name and Title:
Congregation/Denomination/Religion (optional):
City, State, Country
Similarly, please sign on even if you abstained on the vote!
I am well aware that for many of you even this simple action might seem irrelevant given what’s going on in the world right now. Indeed, I share this perspective. However, as I explained in the article mentioned in the first item above, “I am aware that this pandemic is not the only threat facing us. Indeed, climate change, if left unchecked, will likely kill and displace many times the number than covid-19 will.” Join us in this effort.
4. Coronavirus Resources from Sinai and Synapses
Our good friends at Sinai and Synapses have built a (growing) page of resources dealing with covid-19. As the web site notes, “These are definitely some scary and uncertain times, but Sinai and Synapses is in a unique position to bridge the conversation of medicine, science and data with pressing religious, spiritual, ethical and social questions.” Take a look at the page they’ve created; I’m confident that you’ll find many useful items.
5. Evolution Weekend 2020
Just a quick note about Evolution Weekend 2020. First, thank you to all who participated. If you did participate but if you’re not yet listed, please, please let me know. Second, please take a look at our sermon page. Some wonderful new sermons dealing with the climate crisis have been added. The new sermons all are marked with the 2020 designator so they should be easy to find. Finally, if you’d like to have your sermon listed, please send it to me.
6. Two Reviews of Some Assembly Required
Dr. Paul Braterman, a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants, has written a review of Neil Shuban’s new book, Some Assembly Required. Paul’s opening sentence makes it clear why the book is likely to be of interest to Clergy Letter Project members: “This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in the way in which evolution actually proceeds, and the insights that we are now gaining into the genome, which controls the process.”
I wrote the pre-publication review of this book for Publishers Weekly and also found it to be very well done. Hope you find it useful.
7. The Origin of the Hawaiian Islands
Dr. Larry Collins, a member of The Clergy Letter Project’s list of scientific consultants, has recently written an article discussing the origin of the Hawaiian Islands. He also explains how the science disputes what young earth creationists claim. It’s well worth reading!
Concluding Thoughts
I’ll end this newsletter the same way I began it: I hope all of you, your relatives and friends are healthy. I also hope you found some information in this month’s newsletter that was both useful and engaging. Be well and practice effective social distancing.
Finally, as always, I want to thank you for your continued support and as I do every month, I urge you to take one simple action. Please share this month’s Newsletter with a colleague or two (or post a link via any social media platform you use) and ask them to add their voices to those promoting a deep and meaningful understanding between religion and science. They can add their signatures to one of our Clergy Letters simply by dropping me a note at mz@theclergyletterproject.org. Together we are making a difference.
Michael
Michael Zimmerman
Founder and Executive Director
The Clergy Letter Project
www.theclergyletterproject.org
mz@theclergyletterproject.org