Note: Last Tuesday was somethin’ else… This is also a very rough draft, even for a blog.
On my way home from my last day of lab for the summer semester of 2025, I felt tremendously anxious and downright demoralized. I won’t really go into the details as to why I felt so shitty during the final week of the summer semester. But, long story short, I was seriously questioning why I decided to pursue a STEM degree, during a time where public trust in science was (and is) at historic lows, and federal funding for scientific research was (and is) getting gutted by an (almost) explicitly anti-science government.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how one looks at it), I’m not the only person who has felt this way in recent months.
Many people have been sounding the alarm about the public’s declining trust in science. Unfortunately, most of those people haven’t the damnedest clue on how to regain the public’s trust. In fact, I think many prominent scientists have been only making things worse, particularly by doubling-down on politicizing scientific facts (such as vaccines and climate change) and calling Trump and his supporters “stupid” and “ignorant”.
Regardless of how one feels about Trump and his supporters, name-calling doesn’t make things better. If scientists are to regain the public’s trust, they have to be empathetic, understanding, and most importantly, relatable. Especially when it comes to teaching science to people who grew up being told that they must choose between believing in God, or accepting science, but they can’t do both. At least, that’s where I think the greatest disconnect between scientists and non-scientists occurs in America (though, that’s another topic for another day).
Luckily, I’m not the only person who thinks this.
As I was driving home from lab with my tail between my legs, I suddenly remembered that Dr. Francis Collins had a podcast called BioLogos. BioLogos is a foundation that was founded by Dr. Collins to help people understand that science and Christianity can’t just coexist, but they are actually complementary to each other. I discovered it years ago during the Covid pandemic, but I’d honestly forgotten about it until I was headed home from my last lab course of the 2025 summer semester, feeling absolutely terrible.
I briefly pulled over just to switch from my music app to my podcast app. As I got back onto 6th avenue, the BioLogos podcast introduced a new initiative called “Science is Good”, which was BioLogos’ response to the growing disdain for science in our country. My mind went blank as chills inexplicably ran down my spine. I began to hang onto every word that I was being said like my life depended on it.
Just ten minutes later, as I was slowing down to get off of 6th avenue and onto I-70, Dr. Francis Collins began to talk about a recent moment in history when science and faith intersected for him.
“For me… I’ll think first though about one that was a 30-year process of science is good, which is the disease cystic fibrosis…the real answer to prayer took another 30 years of building on that knowledge about the gene to come up with a drug therapy called Trikafta, which now allows 90% of individuals with cystic fibrosis to plan for retirement instead of planning an early funeral.” Dr. Francis explained, his voice damn-near quivering.
My vision got blurry as tears welled up in my eyes.
I cannot explain how I felt in that moment. I guess it’s nearly impossible to explain what it’s like to experience an answered prayer and realize it at the same time. All I can say is that I immediately turned the radio off so I could focus on driving while getting over the initial “shock” of what I’d just experienced.
Except, I couldn’t get over it.
Ok, I was still able to drive. But, I was shivering intensely as I drove in silence down C470 towards the Ken Caryl Avenue exit, struggling to comprehend what just happened. Here I was, driving home from my lab course at university that I was already convinced I’d failed, long before any of my grades began rolling in. Hell, I hadn’t even taken my final yet.
Why, then, was I so damn convinced that I’d failed all of my classes and was the worst scientist (if I could even be called that) the world has ever seen?
To be continued…
The podcast episode: https://biologos.org/podcast-episodes/francis-collins-kristine-torjesen-science-is-good
