Lucas Garden

We sometimes weigh productivity and ethics. Should I continue to keep a rule of community lowering efficiency seriously? The answer is YES. It is because I feel guilty conscience for violating a rule. For example, whenever I infringed a traffic rule due to urgent affairs, I was tormented by a guilty conscience although my action was not found. A renowned Athenian philosopher Socrates chose death pleading that "In no case would I act except in accordance with the law." He seemed to listen attentively and humbly to the low voice of conscience from inner Spirit. In the book " The Language of God ", Dr. Francis Collins mentioned, "the motivation to practice this kind of love exists within all of us despite our frequent efforts to ignore it." C.S. Lewis explained that it comes from the Moral Law as a "universal feature of human existence." Since The Moral Law definitely comes from God, it would be essential for improving my faith to repent all my p...

知之者不如好之者, 好之者不如樂之者。 - 論語 雍也篇 They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it. - Confucius in Chapter VI, The Analects The Confucius' quote is one of my mottoes as a scientist. A true scholar is one who does not only know the truth but also love the truth. I have been studying the functional and structural development of the fetal brain and placenta using magnetic resonance imaging, and their pathological abnormalities associated to congenital heart defects (CHD) or intrauterine growth restriction since I started to work in the Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC. I have quickly fallen in love with the attractive mysteries of the fetal brain and placenta. The fetus grows up in the uterus in a fast pace through being supported with nutrients and oxygen from the maternal placenta. The interplay between the placenta and fetal brain is elaborately designed is incredibly marvelous. For ex...

One of what I really want to avoid from my life is an unfair experience attributed to physical disability. When I was young, I had suffered from stuttering, which inevitably hurt me due to unfair experiences. Because of stuttering, I had to be excluded from some important activities of a community I had been involved although I wanted to join. Because of stuttering, I used to be underestimated in my capabilities in either school or work projects although I believe I have sufficient capability to achieve the goals required by the project. Moreover, I used to be chaffed and talked as an object of ridicule whenever I stammered. Such experiences of being ignored or less recognized had seriously hurt me throughout my life; as a result, I sometimes got stuck in depression. The desire of being loved and recognized from communities might be intrinsic and instinctive for all human beings. Insufficient achievements in satisfying the desire may result in abnormality in mental health. Neverthele...

Blood in Nice. Photo via @martelclem There was an attack to a French city of Nice by ramming a heavy truck into crowds celebrating the Bastille Day , which resulted in killing lots of people. I have no idea of how I could express my message of condolences for victims, and comforts for surviving people. Confronting of this news, I gave a question to myself on 'why terrors have been explosively increasing over the past decades'. I had a thought on it although it might be better to hear the professional analyses by experts who are specialized in religious and political affairs of Middle-East . As a Christian, it is obviously viewed to be a challenge in faith with Jesus' instruction of 'loving enemies'. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends r...

When you are overcome with drowsiness, what would you do? You might have a cup of coffee to keep you awake. Nonetheless, you feel uncomfortable to sit down in a chair. After all, you leave the office earlier with a great feeling of freedom. Guess what? It is not a freedom but just indolence. Mens agitat molem This Latin quote means "Mind moves matter", spoken by Virgil, a Roman poet renowned in a century before Christ. It corresponds to the philosophy of Il-Che-You-Shim-Cho (一切唯心造) such that everything depends on mind [1], which was suggested in Avatamsaka Sutra , one of the important Buddhism scriptures in East Asia, and emphasized by Wonhyo , a renowned Korean Buddhist. In the bible, Jesus also taught, "Everything is possible for one who believes" ( 23 Mark 9 ). The thought had a great impact on forming my philosophy when I was a teen. Drowsiness might be a signal of unfaithfulness and lazy mind since your body physically responds according to spiritual and m...

The Gospel John starts with "In the beginning" ( 1 John 1 ). The phrase always gives me specific stimulation since it lets me think over the truth of my existence and life. Indeed, I believe that to face the beginning going back over time would be sometimes necessary for us to realize the true path in my life. Several decades ago, I was sleeping huddled up inside the uterus of my mother. It is manifest that my birth, parents, race, gender, and all other environments given to me, was not by my own will, but by the Almighty's will. Let me explain it in terms of the first verse of John 1. Imagine that, in my beginning, I was born with his Word by which He created me. Needless to say, it is a scene marvelous and mysterious! With all omnipotent power including happiness in my life, he created me with great joy and love. What a graceful moment it is! The verse is followed by "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was l...

Schematic representation of placental circulation The placenta is similar with a tree planted to a pot. As a tree takes deep root in the soil, the vessels from the umbilical cord , which inserts to the chorionic plate, stretch toward the intervillous space by progressively branching from intermediate villi to terminal villi. It finally forms several local regions called the ' cotyledon ', consisting of villous trees, at the maternal surface called ' decidua basalis '. The intervillous space is filled with maternal blood and perfused through spiral arterioles , which enables the feto-maternal metabolic transports. Further readings Rampersad, R., Cervar-Zivkovic, M., & Nelson, D. M. (2011). Development and Anatomy of the Human Placenta . In The Placenta (pp. 17–26). Wiley-Blackwell. You, W. (2016).  How Does the Placenta Look Like . Brain In God .