Finding God Through Science: Astrophysicist Sarah Salviander
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On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes astrophysicist Dr. Sarah Salviander, one of the experts featured in the new movie The Story of Everything. The movie, opening April 30, 2026 in theaters, is a cinematic exploration of the cosmos that traces the evidence for intelligent design from the precise laws that govern the stars to the intricate structures found in every living cell. Salviander recounts how her scientific research led her to question and eventually reject the atheism of her youth. She also details her experience being interviewed for the movie and reviews some of the evidence for intelligent design that she helps present in the film.
Salviander was raised in a strictly secular home and had no religious background growing up. She was deeply influenced by science fiction and by the popular astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan. But Salviander realized she could not find a basis for morality from purely scientific first principles. Her turning point came during a research internship at UC San Diego while studying the chemistry of the early universe. Salviander realized that though we were but biological “specks” in a massive universe, we were capable of answering key questions about the cosmos and its finely tuned appearance.
Salviander also touches on some of the evidence for fine-tuning presented in The Story of Everything. She points to 31 fundamental constants and initial conditions as detailed in the work of fellow astrophysicist Luke Barnes. She picks a few important ones to explain in detail, including gravity, the expansion rate of the universe, and the strength of the nuclear force. If any were even minutely different, life would not be possible. Salviander calls the evidence for fine-tuning a “cosmic signpost” that reveals evidence of a designing intelligence behind the universe.
Dig Deeper
- Read more of Dr. Salviander’s work on her Substack Schrödinger’s Poodle!
- Get tickets to see The Story of Everything, opening in theaters 4/30/26!
- Watch the trailer to the film below: