Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

January 2004

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, January 31

  • Yet again, engineers turn to elegant designs found in nature to inspire new technology. In this case, chemists are inspired to develop a new type of surgical adhesive based on the “superglue” produced by mussels. Apart from the design found in nature, these researchers lacked the technological means to develop this unique class of adhesive. Does it make sense to conclude that the designs found in nature stem from random undirected processes when they are far superior to what man can accomplish?
  • Related Resource: Sticky Gecko Feet, Creation Update (air-date 09-03-2002)
  • Product Spotlight: Sign up for our auto-delivery program and a cassette of each week’s edition of Creation Update will be shipped directly to your door in quarterly installments. Call 800-482-7836 for details.

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, January 30

  • RTB’s creation model for the origin of humanity views Neanderthals and other extinct hominids as non-spiritual, non-human animals created by God. Consequently, RTB’s model predicts that Neanderthals did not have language capacity, since this quality reflects God’s image that modern humans alone possess (Genesis 1:26-27). Some anthropologists have argued that Neanderthals employed language based on the size of their hypoglossal canal. This structure serves as the conduit for the hypoglossal nerve that controls the tongue’s motor function. Speech requires sophisticated motor function and complex enervation of the tongue. This study demonstrates that the hypoglossal canal’s size is not a reliable indicator of speech capacity. There is no rigorous evidence that Neanderthals or any other hominid possessed the capacity for speech and language. Rather, the weight of evidence indicates that the extinct hominids behaved strictly in primitive, non-human ways.
  • Related Resource: Neanderthal-to-Human Link Severed, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Related Product: Who Was Adam? (video)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, January 29

  • Using a new technique, a team of astronomers uncovered some new design features of the universe and more evidence that the big bang creation model yields a consistent explanation for the past history of the universe. The team discovered an extremely distant cluster of galaxies that was still in its formative stage. This proto-galaxy cluster formed when the universe was only one tenth of its present age — a date consistent with the measured dates, number density, and characteristics of the first-formed stars in the universe. This just-right date also helps explain how the universe can provide a home for humanity at the time, place, and conditions that are ideal for fostering human civilization and technology.
  • Related Resource: Big Bang - The Bible Taught it First! by John Rea and Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: The Creator and The Cosmos, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, January 28

  • As recently as ten years ago, microbiologists viewed bacteria as a “container” of haphazardly arranged molecules. Recent advances, however, indicate that this view is incorrect. Microbiologists now understand these simplest of life forms to possess a remarkable degree of internal organization at the molecular level. This article adds to this new understanding of prokaryotes by describing the role that the Ics Aprotein plays in establishing the cell pole prior to cell division. The internal organization of the simplest life forms serve as markers for biochemical design and are expected if a Creator is responsible for life.
  • Related Resource: Origin-of-Life Predictions Face-Off, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Hugh Ross and Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, January 27

  • Advances in ancient DNA analysis hold the promise to provide powerful new ways to test and compare evolutionary models with RTB’s creation model. In the first study cited, the researchers demonstrate that under optimal conditions ancient DNA can survive up to 600,000 years. In the second study cited, the researchers demonstrate using ancient DNA analysis that extinct cave bears with distinct morphologies were actually distinct species that did not interbreed. These reports extend the utility of ancient DNA analysis and provide a window into the biology of past organisms.
  • Related Resource: Ancient DNA and Protein Studies to Aid Scientific Advance, Creation Update (air-date 05-13-2003)
  • Product Spotlight: Sign up for our auto-delivery program and a cassette of each week’s edition of Creation Update will be shipped directly to your door in quarterly installments. Call 800-482-7836 for details.

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, January 26

  • Many consider the 99% genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees as incontrovertible evidence for evolution. This study demonstrates that while a high degree of genetic similarity exists, subtle differences in even a single gene may have profound biological effects. In this study, researchers identified a single gene (the abnormal spindle-like microencephaly associated gene) with differences compared to other primates that they interpret as the explanation for the large cerebral cortex of humans. Given that any alteration in this gene leads to abnormal brain function, it's difficult to imagine how this gene could evolve via natural means to produce a functional cerebral cortex. In fact, very little changes have occurred in this gene for primates and other mammals. It seems possible that the Creator may have "altered" this gene in the "just-right" way to allow for advanced human brain function.
  • Related Resource: Human/chimp DNA comparisons, Creation Update (air-date 12-16-2003)
  • Related Product: Who Was Adam? (video)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, January 25

  • According to RTB’s speciation model, natural selection operating on random variation can only produce evolutionary advance for very large populations with short generation times (such as bacteria). This study provides observational support for RTB’s speciation model. Birds that go through bottlenecks in population size suffer dramatic increases in hatching failures due to reduced genetic diversity and greater levels of inbreeding. This places these populations at risk for certain extinction. The susceptibility of complex organisms to extinction makes evolutionary explanations for life’s diversity throughout Earth’s history untenable.
  • Related Resource: Extinction Risks for Birds, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: The Genesis Question, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, January 24

  • New analysis of early stardust strengthens the case for supernatural cosmic design. For life to be possible anywhere in the universe, a very large number of stars manifesting a broad range of masses must form relatively soon after the first generation of stars. Such a circumstance requires that the first generation stars produce and eject the just-right amount of dust and the just-right chemical composition. Both the number density and the mass range of the first-born stars must be fine-tuned in order to get the necessary quantity and type of dust in the required locations in order to create the necessary conditions for life. Such a high degree of fine-tuning seems to defy naturalism, but is consistent with a Creator who is capable of orchestrating such a complex series of events.
  • Related Resource: Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: The Creator and The Cosmos, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, January 23

  • A new design feature in living systems provides more evidence for intelligent design. A biologist noted that metabolic rates are universally fixed across the living spectrum. From individual molecular reactions up to the largest of organisms this metabolic rate scales as the 3/4 power of the mass. This fine-tuning observation demonstrates that a fundamental design principle must underlie the structure, function, and organization of biological systems. In other words, there must be severe constraints on the ways that biological systems can be designed. Limited design options for life make naturalistic explanations for life unlikely, but is what we would expect if a Divine Engineer stands behind it all.
  • Related Resource: Protein Structures Reveal Even More Evidence for Design, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Beyond Irreducible Complexity, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, January 22

  • Most people recognize that water is essential to the survival of advanced life on Earth. But few people understand that the transport of water into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere plays a role in determining three factors critical for life: reflected solar radiation, stratospheric cooling, and ozone depletion. Recently, atmospheric physicists discovered the physical mechanisms responsible for the flow of water into Earth’s upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, and the resulting life-critical factors. They found that several different mechanisms operating in Earth’s atmosphere must be fine-tuned for advanced life to survive on Earth. Such “coincidental” design features are highly unlikely in a naturalistic paradigm, but fit well with a creation model that describes the detailed work of a Designer.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Related Product: The Creator and the Cosmos, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, January 21

  • Once again engineers turn to the elegant designs found in nature to inspire new technology. In this case, researchers demonstrate that the highly symmetric protein coat of a virus (M13 bacteriophage) can serve as a scaffold to form nanowires (molecular scale wires). Apart from the design found in nature, these researchers lacked the technological means to develop such elegant machinery. Does it make sense to conclude that the designs found in nature stem from random undirected processes when they are far superior to what man can accomplish?
  • Related Resource: Nanodevices Make Megascopic Statement, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Travels to the Nanoworld, by Michael Gross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, January 20

  • Genetic studies of mitochondrial DNA taken from representatives of different population groups indicate that humanity had a recent origin from a single location. Mitochondrial DNA analysis also indicates that humanity’s original population size was small and that all of humanity traces back to a single woman, called mitochondrial Eve. These results are fully consistent with the biblical account of humanity’s origin. One point of departure, however, is the date for “mitochondrial Eve.” Molecular clock analysis indicates that “Eve” lived around 150,000 years ago, about 50,000 years outside the biblically allowable range for Adam and Eve’s creation. Several studies, however, suggest that the mitochondrial DNA molecular clock may be inaccurate on the high side. This study confirms this idea. With a more realistic mitochondrial DNA date (likely well under 100,000 years ago), the biblical account of humanity’s origin gains even more scientific confirmation.
  • Related Resource: Complications with mDNA Dating Methods, Creation Update (January 14, 2003).
  • Related Product: Who Was Adam? (video)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, January 19

  • Radiometric dating using carbon-14 is an important tool used to establish the timing of many important events in human pre-history. Some Christians, however, question its ability to yield accurate results. This study provides a robust calibration of the carbon-14 radiometric clock all the way back to 50,000 years ago. This technique is a reliable measure of age and with its now-improved accuracy, this technique will provide even better data that can be used to evaluate evolutionary and creation models for the origin and history of humanity.
  • Related Resource: Dynamics of Dating, by Roger Wiens
  • Related Product: John Ankerberg Debate: Young-Earth vs. Old-Earth (January 2004 Web special)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, January 18

  • Could life exist in some form other than carbon-based? Scientists agree that water is one key requirement for life. Water possesses a remarkable suite of characteristics that make it perfectly suited to support life. This article offers the perspective that no other material could serve as life’s matrix and highlights several of its properties that make it uniquely suited as a life-sustaining substance. Indeed, all data indicates that life must be “as we know it.” Life’s dependence on water makes it unlikely that any other site in our solar system could originate and sustain life.
  • Related Resource: Water on Mars: What Does it Mean? by Hugh Ross
  • Related Product: Creator and the Cosmos, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, January 17

  • Certain unanswered questions about the “big bang” model for the origin of the universe hinder some Christians from believing in its veracity. Recently, Japanese astronomers resolved another one of these problems, namely that the abundance ratios of certain metals in extremely “metal-poor” stars did not match predictions. But new insights into the final burning periods of these early stars add to scientists’ growing body of observational evidence which serves to bolster, rather than erode, confidence in the big bang creation model. The resolution of this question adds to the cumulative case for the big bang model and is consistent with the biblical description for the origin of the universe.
  • Related Resource: Big Bang - The Bible Taught it First! by John Rea and Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: The Creator and The Cosmos, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, January 16

  • The hope-filled but data-poor (from an evolutionary perspective) discipline of astrobiology continues to provide evidence for supernatural cosmic design. Astronomers have demonstrated that the gross features of the universe, and even the laws of physics themselves, must be fine-tuned in order for physical life to be possible anywhere in the universe. Such design is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for life. Other factors must also be present. One astrophysicist explains that in order for life to emerge naturally, one of two scenarios must be true: 1) either the replicator molecules much simpler and smaller than DNA and RNA must exist in great abundance, or 2) there must exist an undiscovered self-organizing principle in physics. Both hypotheses, however, would demand an even greater level of fine-tuning for the laws of physics. This analysis implies that the case for supernatural design is getting stronger instead of weaker.
    • Paul C. W. Davies, “How Bio-Friendly Is the Universe,” International Journal of Astrobiology 2 (2003), 115-120.
    • http://titles.cambridge.org/journals/journal_article.asp?mnemonic=IJA&pii=S1473550403001514
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men, by Hugh Ross, Kenneth Samples, and Mark Clark

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, January 15

  • One of the predictions of RTB’s testable creation model is that the history of Earth has been supernaturally designed to provide humanity with a high level of natural resources. Scientists have now discovered that a certain geological process and the rate at which it operates appear to be fine-tuned so as to provide humanity with concentrated copper ore — critical for the launch of human civilization and technology. Specifically, the geophysics of the earth’s crust must be fine-tuned to provide in a particular location in the upper crust efficient flows of certain chemical compositions. The resulting mixture cools to allow copper sulfide to crystallize and precipitate. In addition, the initial temperature and pressure at the site and both the rate and amount of decompression and cooling must be fine-tuned. Timing is also critical. Enough time must elapse for a significant ore deposit to form, but too much time leads to dilution through erosion and plate tectonics. Such a complex series of finely-tuned parameters are indicative of what we would expect from a Creator whose careful, loving design has crafted the Earth for the benefit of humanity.
  • Related Resource: The Faint Sun Paradox, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, January 14

  • Visions of science fiction dance in our heads as we contemplate a myriad of possible life forms that may exist throughout the universe. Some have even appealed to the idea of artificial alien life. Despite these fantastic visions, a neuroscientist has eliminated both artificial intelligence (virtual creatures) and non-biochemical robots as possible life candidates. Using metabolism as a fundamental criterion for life, the researcher explains that life involves three different kinds of metabolism: 1) basic intake and consumption of energy, 2) collection, storage, spending, budgeting, and transformation of energy, and 3) use and budgeting of energy for bodily construction and maintenance. Since a computer cannot exhibit the third type of metabolism, alien organisms cannot exist or be created in cyberspace. From our perspective, the complexities needed to facilitate the origin of even simple life forms points to an intelligent Creator.
  • Related Resource: Evolving Robots Challenge Evolution, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Hugh Ross and Fuz Rana

January 1 - 13, 2004 – Not available at this time.