Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 21

An opportunity in Germany and an opportunity online

  I’m very excited about the planned medical school at Brigham Young University.  I have high hopes for it:  “Interest, support surge for BYU medical school: ‘It’s as if we have 40 first-round draft picks’: Intermountain Health collaboration with new school begins to take shape amid doctor shortage crisis.” This is a cause, if I had […]

Chalk up another one for the Word of Wisdom

  The local whale-watching people are very concerned.  Apparently there are still reports on the internet that the August 2023 fire that destroyed most of Lahaina has put an end to whale watching here, in one of the best places in the entire world for observing whales.  But it’s not true.  And they’ve asked us […]

A note on the complexity of the biological cell

  Lacking the benefits of today’s powerful microscopes, Charles Darwin evidently thought of biological cells as simple — bounded but otherwise internally undifferentiated — blobs of organic matter.  Even when I was first learning about them, typical illustrations of the cell suggested (to my mind, at least) something resembling, say, an egg with a yolk. […]

Maui’s Sacred Latter-day Saint History

  I published the article below in the Deseret News for 18 February 2016.  I think it appropriate to share the column again today.  It should be noted that, since it appeared, the construction of a temple has been announced for Maui.  George Q. Cannon would be delighted.  In fact, I’m confident that he is […]

Remembering Lāhainā

  I first came to Hawaii when I was five years old.  Because of his construction business, my father belonged to an organization that was known in those days as the Southern California Paving and Grading Association.  I think that he once served as its president, and I think that it was the group that […]

“Ancient Metal Plates?”

  Along with her sister, my wife and I drove the famous “Road to Hana” along the northeastern coast of Maui on Friday, taking time to walk out to waterfalls and sample local cuisine and gaze at spectacular vistas.  The road is very winding and slow, the landscape and its flora are wild, and I […]

“Did Jesus really claim to be divine?”

  Here’s my latest column for Meridian Magazine.  I used it to report on a book that I recently read and that I really liked.  Perhaps somebody out there will enjoy the column, or profit from it, or at least find it uproariously funny:  “Did Jesus Really Claim to Be Divine?” Newly posted on the […]

A note from Maui’s gateway to the afterlife

  Two propositions: Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine did not start the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is neither an admirable man nor a good one, and he is not our friend. Both propositions are eminently defensible, though neither of them should really require any defense. With my late and much lamented colleague […]

“The Worth of Souls is Great”

  From the Interpreter Foundation: Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 9: “The Worth of Souls Is Great”: D&C 18 During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were recently digitized by Steve Whitlock. […]

Never to Be Forgotten

  I continue my incessant whining about the hit Netflix miniseries American Primeval by calling attention to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune that you may be able to access.  It was published on Sunday, and it’s titled “Commentary: To learn the real lessons of history in ‘American Primeval,’ we need the real story: Reducing […]