Monday's Molecule #227

Last week's molecule was the drug pantoprazole, a proton pump inhibitor used to treat excess stomach acid or acid reflux [Monday's Molecule #225 ]. The winner is Bill Gunn.

This week's molecule (left) is related to one from last April. That molecule, is one of the essential molecules in the human diet and today's molecule is the reason why. This is one of those molecules that everyone should recognize because it's a key metabolic precursor in a large number of species. This is one of those times when all you have to do is supply the common name (Merry Christmas!) and NOT the IUPAC systematic name that correctly identifies the exact molecule shown in the image. However, if anyone wants to supply the systemiac name, feel free to do so.

Email your answer to me at: Monday's Molecule #227. I'll hold off posting your answers for at least 24 hours. The first one with the correct answer wins. I will only post the names of people with mostly correct answers to avoid embarrassment. The winner will be treated to a free lunch.

There could be two winners. If the first correct answer isn't from an undergraduate student then I'll select a second winner from those undergraduates who post the correct answer. You will need to identify yourself as an undergraduate in order to win. (Put "undergraduate" at the bottom of your email message.)

Read more »

CONFERENCE, (Oslo) The Nag Hammadi Codices in the Context of 4th and 5th Century CHristianity in Egypt

The 2013 NEWCONT-Conference

THE NAG HAMMADI CODICES IN THE CONTEXT OF FOURTH- AND FIFTH-CENTURY CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT

Time and place:Dec 16, 2013 09:00 AM - Dec 17, 2013 06:30 PM, Domus Theologica, room U309

Monday, 16 December
Introduction: 9:00–9:30Session One: 9:30–11:00

Stephen Emmel (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster), 
Toward Reconstructing a Coptic Reading Experience in Late Antique Egypt.


Christian Askeland (Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal), 
Dating Early Coptic Manuscripts. Break 11:00–11:15 Session Two: 11:15–12:45

James E. Goehring (University of Mary Washington), 
The Material Encoding of Early Christian Division: Nag Hammadi Codex VII and Its Sub-Group.


Louis Painchaud (Université Laval), 
From Plato, Republic (NH,5) to the Gospel of Judas (CT 3): Some Reflexions on Translation, Rewriting and Interpolations. 

Lunch 12:45–13:45 
Session Three: 13:45–15:15
Hugo Lundhaug (University of Oslo), 
Post-Nicene Christology in the Nag Hammadi Codices.


Lance Jenott (University of Oslo), 
Knowledge of the Father and Movement of the Logos: Echoes of the Arian Controversy in the Tripartite Tractate? 

Break 15:15–15:30 Session Four: 15:30–17:00

Richard Layton (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), 
Didymus as Heresiologist: A Curious Scrap from the Tura Papyri.

Christian Bull (University of Bergen), 
Hermes Between Christians and Pagans in Fourth Century Upper Egypt. Break 17:00–17:15 

Session Five: 17:15–18:45


René Falkenberg (Aarhus University), 
“Not like the idea we have received or seen” – Ritualistic Theology in Eugnostos and the Apostolic Constitutions.


Ulla Tervahauta (University of Helsinki), 
Scriptural Allusions in Authentikos Logos (NHC VI,3) and Early Christian Literature. 

Dinner 21:00 

Tuesday, 17 December Session One: 9:00–10:30

Samuel Rubenson (Lund University), 
New Light on the Copto-Arabic Corpus Attributed to St. Antony.


Philip Sellew (University of Minnesota), 
Reading Jesus in the Desert: The Gospel of Thomas Meets the Apophthegmata Patrum. 

Break 10:30–10:45 Session Two: 11:00–12:30

Lillian Larsen (University of Redlands), 
“Know Thyself”:  Nag Hammadi Gnomic Sentences in Conversation.


Blossom Stefaniw (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz), 
Sextus, Silvanus and Monastic Instruction in Egypt. 
Lunch 12:30–13:30 
Session Three: 13:30–15:00

Dylan Burns (Universität Leipzig), 
Sethian, Coptic, Christian: The “Four Luminaries” in Later Roman Egypt.

Kristine Toft Rosland (University of Oslo), 
The Anointing Scene of the Apocryphon of John: Textual Variants and Theological Implications. 

Break 15:00–15:15 
Session Four: 15:15–16:45

Alin Suciu (Universität Hamburg), 
Apocryphal Texts in Egyptian Monsticism after Nag Hammadi: Textual Traditions and Manuscript Evidence.


Julio Cesar Dias Chaves (Université Laval), 
From the Apocalypse of Paul (NH V, 2) to Coptic Epic Passions: Welcoming and Greeting Paul and the Martyrs in Heaven. 

Break 16:45–17:00 
Session Five: 17:00–18:30

Hugo Lundhaug and Lance Jenott (University of Oslo)(I) 
Presentation of forthcoming book, The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices (Mohr Siebeck, 2014).
(II) Conference volume information Dinner 21:00  

What do they mean when they say they want to extend the Modern Synthesis?

As far as I'm concerned, the "Modern Synthesis" has been replaced by modern evolutionary theory that incorporates Nearly-Neutral Theory and random genetic drift as an important mechanism of evolution [see Is the "Modern Synthesis" effectively dead? ]. This extension, and replacement, of the 1940s version of evolutionary theory took place in mainly in the 1970s.

If I'm correct, then why all the fuss in the 21st century about extending the Modern Synthesis?

I think there are two things going on here. First, there are a bunch of biologists who want to incorporate their favorite fad into modern evolutionary theory. They think that their ideas are so revolutionary that this requires an extensive revision of evolutionary theory. Second, those biologists seem to have been asleep during the 1970s when the Modern Synthesis died so they are fighting a strawman.

Read more »

Is the "Modern Synthesis" effectively dead?

The "Modern Synthesis," or modern evolutionary synthesis, refers to a framework of evolutionary theory developed and promoted by prominent biologists in the 1940s. The term comes from the subtitle of a 1942 book by Julian Huxley. The central theme was the integration of "classic" evolution with population genetics.

Although the original version was fairly broad, the later versions of the "Modern Synthesis" were much less so. The so-called "hardening" of the Modern Synthesis has been documented by many historians; notably, Stephen Jay Gould. By the time of the Darwin Centennial (1959) most biologists thought of the "Modern Synthesis" as a form of Darwinism + population genetics where natural selection was pretty much the only game in town.

Read more »

«Papyrologica Lupiensia» Bollettino del Centro di Studi Papirologici 22 (2013)

«Papyrologica Lupiensia» 

Bollettino del Centro di Studi Papirologici 22 (2013), 

Pensa Multimedia, Lecce, pp. 254.

INDICE:

Giovanni Battista Bazzana, New Testament Studies and Documentary Papyri Interactions and New Perspectives; 

Mario Capasso, A proposito della sistemazione dei Papiri Ercolanesi tra Ottocento e Novecento; 

Mario Capasso, Del cattivo e del pessimo uso dei disegni ercolanesi; 

Mario Capasso, La difficile salvezza di un sito archeologico Egiziano: Soknopaiou Nesos/Dime es-Seba; 

Mario Capasso-Paola Davoli, Soknopaiou Nesos Project. Report on Season 2012 of the Archaeological Mission of the Centro di Studi Papirologici of Salento University (Lecce) at Dime es-Seba (El-Fayyum - Egypt);

Enzo Puglia, Considerazioni sul papiro della donna e dell’asino (POxy LXX 4762);

Paolo Radiciotti, Tra Filologia e Storia: esiste ancora la Paleografia?

Schede bibliografiche e recensioni

Mario Capasso, Scrinia Curva IX; 

Serena Ammirati-Marco Fressura, Palaeographia Papyrologica. XI (2012); 

Natascia Pellé, Papyri Homericae VII (2011-2012);  

Notiziario; Libri ricevuti

ISSN 1391-2140

€ 32,00

Hemant Mehta buys what Chris Mooney is selling

Chris Mooney thinks that humans have certain innate tendencies that predispose them to believe in god(s) and reject evolution. That's why there's such a strong correlation between a fundamentalist religious belief and rejection of science, according to Mooney.

These innate tendencies are part of our evolutionary history thus providing an evolutionary excuse explanation of religion. It's interesting that these behaviors seem to tilt in favor of the Judeo-Christian gods and not Buddhist or Taoist philosophy. It's also quite interesting that million and millions of non-believers don't seem to have had any great difficulty "overcoming" their genetic predispositions.

You don't suppose that it could be religious brain-washing education that makes people think teleologically or adopt essentialist perspectives rather than the other way around? And what about dualism? Is that an innate belief or does religion teach you to think you have a soul? Nah, that would be too simple [Why don't people accept evolution?].

Here's Hemant Mehta explaining why people Americans have a natural inclination to believe in god(s) and not in evolution [7 Reasons Why People Believe in God and Don’t Accept Evolution].

---

Time magazine's person of the year is Pope what's-his-name! WTF?

It's hard to think of anyone who's more irrelevant to my life or the life of my friends and neighbors. Time has also become irrelevant. PZ Myers asks: Seriously, Time magazine?. Hemant Mehta says, Pope Francis Named Time’s Person of the Year, Despite Not Changing the Direction of the Church. What were the editors of Time thinking? You have to wonder whether this isn't some kind of sick joke.

---