David Pruett, James Madison University emeritus professor of mathematics, recently argued in a Suter Science Seminar that particles as basic as electrons and photons may have at least some elemental consciousness and free will.

Evolution, then, is a distilling process that concentrates elemental consciousness into higher consciousness in the more complex organisms such as humans, Pruett said, acknowledging the views of scientist-priest Teilhard de Chardin.

Pruett鈥檚 lecture 鈥淩eason and Wonder鈥� took its title from his 2012 book (Praeger). The work was the result of a celebrated honors undergraduate course that Pruett developed and taught six times at JMU, 鈥淔rom Black Elk to Black Holes鈥擳ales of a Mysterious Universe.鈥� The book has earned a CHOICE Award from the American Library Association.

A former NASA researcher and award-winning computational scientist, Pruett has been teaching at JMU since 1996 and at several institutions before that. He blogs regularly about science, climate, religion, and politics at . His views of reason, faith and identity have also been featured in a lengthy with peacebuilder Yago Abeledo, 鈥�14.

Pruett began his lecture by describing the accomplishments of Isaac Newton. This well-known scientist 鈥渃ontributed more to modern science than any other single individual,鈥� said Pruett. Newton鈥檚 book, Principia Mathematica, describes mechanics, calculus, fluid mechanics, and the applications of these principals. One application includes the orbit of planets around the sun.

Despite his achievements, Newton was a humble man. He famously claimed that 鈥淚f I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.鈥� Pruett explained that these 鈥済iants,鈥� who established the foundation that Newton built on, were scientists, including Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler.

Copernicus is well known for rejecting the idea that the planets and stars revolved around the earth. He opposed the church-supported geocentric model and proposed a heliocentric model. Galileo further rejected ancient beliefs by perfecting a telescope and turning it heavenward. He saw craters on the moon and moons around Jupiter, unquestioningly proving that not everything revolved around earth. Kepler further supported Copernicus by making careful measurements of the celestial motions.

After explaining the history behind the science, Pruett took a philosophical turn. He mentioned that Newton鈥檚 ideas encouraged the idea of determinism. Determinism suggests that, if an intelligent being knew the location, velocity, and force of every single particle in the universe, that being would be able to precisely predict the future. In other words, the future would be determined by the laws of nature. There would be no room for free will.

Pruett then claimed that modern science has invalidated determinism. On the atomic level, particles can act in very strange ways. He used the example of radioactive decay: if you have a collection of identical atoms, you can predict the rate at which the aggregate decays.

But 鈥測ou cannot predict when an individual atom will decay,鈥� said Pruett. 鈥淵ou can only find the probability.鈥�

Pruett further discussed the relevance of this idea to human freedom. If elementary particles are undetermined, how can one claim that the universe is deterministic? Pruett extensively cited de Chardin, describing cosmology and evolution as processes involved in creating higher consciousness.

Pruett said he felt liberated to share what he calls 鈥渟omewhat unorthodox views鈥漚fter reading the titles of the other Suter seminars. Such an environment didn鈥檛 force him to 鈥減lay it safe鈥� for his audience of approximately 60 students and faculty.

The Suter Science Seminar series consists of 17 expert presentations 鈥� averaging two per month 鈥� during the fall and spring semesters. Visit for information about future talks.

The attention from one of the most heavily trafficked blog curations on the web wasn鈥檛 totally unexpected. Baer鈥檚 July 9 post about the stresses of balancing career and parenthood had gone viral, with more than a million hits on her blog, .

But still, at a time when Baer says she was struggling, more than she usually does, to be patient with her professional goals and the fact that she wasn鈥檛 achieving them due to 鈥渢rying to get a toddler to poop and an infant to sleep,鈥� well鈥ere, at last, was an email affirming that the former English major and aspiring memoirist was, indeed, moving forward.

鈥淚 sat and stared at the screen, trying to figure out how to write back in all capital letters, 鈥極BVIOUSLY, YES, YOU ARE MAKING MY LIFE,鈥� without sounding desperate,鈥� Baer remembered.

Then the mother of two, tired and tightly wound herself, didn鈥檛 fall asleep for several hours.

It鈥檚 exactly that feeling she describes in the post, an anti-paean to motherhood that begins, 鈥淚t is the unwashed dishes. The dirty kitchen sink. The four baskets of clean laundry being scattered over the crumb flavored carpet by a drunk toddler鈥︹��

So stressed she cannot sleep or find the energy to think, let alone to write, Baer finds solace in the multitudes of other mothers facing the same challenges.

We shame ourselves into thinking we鈥檙e the only ones who are overwhelmed, who cry in the bathroom, who sit in the grocery store parking lot as a 鈥榲acation.鈥欌�� I see you鈥�We are in this together. You and me and the 42-year-old mother at the library who has finally had that baby after twelve years of trying but still feels tightly wound at the end of the day.

The post eventually garnered more than 216,000 likes and 15,000 shares on Facebook. The comments from her readers equaled hers in honesty. One mother wrote that she was sitting in her car in the driveway, reading Baer鈥檚 words and sobbing. Another asked, 鈥淎re you living in my house?鈥� Many older mothers shared both joy at being parents, but guilt at wanting to be free from responsibility.

鈥淚 think parents want their feelings validated,鈥� Baer said, reflecting about her post from her home in Pennsylvania which she shares with husband, J. Austin Baer 鈥�06, son Waylon, 3, and daughter Eva, 8 months. 鈥淭here’s a lot of glorification of 鈥榙oing it all鈥� despite what everyone knows is the truth, that we can’t do it all. There is also a loss of community in many circles that has left a pretty deep void and it is always a relief to know we’re in this together.鈥�

鈥淚n this together鈥� are three important words for Baer, who first started blogging (and graciously answering every reader鈥檚 comments, until recently) in 2011 with a 鈥渕ommy blog鈥� called Motley Mama. Thirty weeks pregnant, she had just been let go from her job at a bankrupt non-profit.

鈥淪o I did what any other millennial girl with an would do,鈥� she writes in a celebrating her three-year anniversary. 鈥淚 started a blog.鈥�

鈥淢otley Mama鈥� provided the stay-at-home mom with a reason to practice her craft. When Baer felt like she鈥檇 outgrown its title and format, she created the current forum, where she writes about the highs and lows of parenting, from trimester tips (鈥淗ow to Dress a Large Mammal,鈥� 鈥淗ow to Eat Your Weight in Sandwiches鈥�) to bonding with a second child, postpartum depression, potty training, and television for kids.

But she makes regular and humorous observations about life with a perpetual student (her husband is in his fourth year of medical school), books, writing, holidays, swearing, church and technology.

Baer says her recent success on Huffington Post briefly threw her off balance: she didn鈥檛 write for two weeks after the 鈥淭ightly Wound鈥� post went viral, 鈥減aralyzed鈥� by the pressure and fearful that her 鈥渢iny success鈥� was a fluke.

Yet her first post back, about her experience with daughter Eva called 鈥�,鈥� was picked up by Huff Post Parents. She is now a contributing writer.

With her readership now blossoming to 30,000 hits a day, Baer is realistic about her sudden notoriety. She still hasn鈥檛 made a penny from her three-year-journey into the blogosphere, though she鈥檚 now selling ad space on her website.

鈥淚f my goal was to make any money writing, I would have surely given up by now,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he amount of time, effort, and physical turmoil it takes me to write a sentence would never be worth a paycheck.鈥�

Reflecting on long-term goals, Baer says she鈥檚 bound and determined to publish 鈥渙ne measly book, so I can die an author.鈥�

And in the meantime, there鈥檚 manna to sustain her: the she gives鈥攁nd gets鈥攆rom her growing community of readers 鈥渋n this together.鈥�

“Antoinette Tuff is a national hero,” wrote Schirch, who is affiliated with 黑料正能量’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. “Her story must be shared, passed onto future generations.”

Titling her commentary Schirch pointed out that “learning to talk down a gunman is not some top-secret strategy. FBI agents learn how to talk down gunman. They use the same skills we teach in conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Listen, ask questions, share stories, show compassion.”

Schirch is also the founding director of the human security program under the Alliance for Peacebuilding based in Washington D.C.

A columnist in the Washington Post, Petula Dvorak, drew from Antoinette Tuff’s sympathetic manner of speaking to the gunman, saying: “Are you listening to her, America? Her 911 call 鈥� listen to the whole thing; it鈥檚 riveting 鈥� is a portrait of poise, compassion and selflessness. She was exactly what America is forgetting to be.”