Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

September 2004

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, September 30, 2004

  • The Bible teaches that all humanity descended from one man and one woman and originated at a single location in (or near) the Middle East. It also describes humanity’s spread from the Middle East to populate the world. In this study, researchers demonstrate that positive selection effects observed for genes sequenced in European-Americans indicate that humans migrated recently from East Africa (near the Middle East) into Europe¾a result that resonates with the biblical view of human origins. There has been no time in human history in which the biblical account of humanity’s origin has had greater scientific credibility than today.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, September 29, 2004

  • A new study laden with origin-of-life implications provides insight into the extensive complexity of photosynthetic bacteria. One of the most remarkable discoveries in paleontology is the rapid and early appearance of life on Earth. The first life forms were single-cell microbes. Even though Earth’s first life was morphologically simple, it displayed metabolic complexity. For example, geochemical and microfossil evidence indicates that photosynthetic bacteria were present on Earth around 3.8 billion years ago. In this new study, researchers provide the first view of the complex organization of the photosynthetic machinery. Their work reveals that the photosynthetic apparatus displays a far greater elegance and efficiency than previously conceived. Naturalistic origin-of-life scenarios struggle to account for the sudden emergence of such metabolically complex organisms. On the other hand, this fact finds ready explanation if a Creator supernaturally intervened to make the first life forms on Earth.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, September 28, 2004

  • Astronomers in Japan may have found a significant piece of evidence for the biblically predicted big bang creation event. Their measurements on the star HE 0107-5240, the most iron-poor star yet observed, show that it may indeed be one of the long-sought first generation stars predicted by the hot big bang creation model. The big bang model predicts that virtually all first generation stars would be very massive and, thus, would have burned out some 13.5 billion years ago. These stars would be undetectable today, though a small first generation star can burn long enough to still be visible. However, such a star takes so long to form that some of the gas from which it accretes gets polluted by the ejecta from the supernova eruptions of the much larger first generation stars. The Japanese team showed that HE 0107-5240 has the chemical signature of such pollution and probably is indeed a first generation star. Future measurements, soon to be performed, will permit a definitive conclusion. Thus, a significant new evidence for the biblically predicted big bang creation and for the God of the Bible may soon be at hand.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, September 27, 2004

  • For many skeptics the long life spans recorded in Genesis 5 and 11 seem absurd. Recent advances in the biochemistry of aging, however, make these long life spans scientifically plausible. Researchers studying the aging process have known for some time that calorie restriction can dramatically boost life expectancy for a wide range of organisms. Biochemists have shown that calorie restriction activates the enzyme Sir2, which minimizes wear and tear on the cell’s genetic material, among other things. In this study, researchers demonstrate that calorie restriction may also exert its benefits through pathways that don’t involve Sir2. They show that Sir2 activation in conjunction with calorie restriction extends life expectancy in yeast far beyond that observed for each one independently. This study indicates a plausible way that the Creator simultaneously could have made several subtle biochemical adjustments that additively permitted long life spans and, in turn, shortened them at the time of the Flood. In light of this discovery, long human life spans described in Genesis are scientifically reasonable.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, September 26, 2004

  • American astronomers discovered another design feature for the solar system: a just-right amount of far ultraviolet (FUV) radiation. Their study demonstrated that the intensity of FUV radiation from nearby stars at the time our Sun’s circumstellar disk was condensing into planets determined the kinds, masses, and distances of the solar system’s gas giant planets and the mass and extent of the Kuiper Belt objects that exist beyond Neptune’s orbit. If the FUV radiation was any stronger, Uranus, Neptune, and the Kuiper Belt would never have formed and Saturn would have been smaller. On the other hand, if the FUV radiation was any weaker, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the Kuiper Belt would have been much more massive. Either situation would yield devastating consequences for life on Earth. Thus, the FUV radiation level at the time of the condensation of the solar system’s circumstellar disk adds to the list of hundreds of characteristics that must be fine-tuned for life. The accumulation of fine-tuning evidence makes the case for the God of the Bible as the Creator and Designer of the solar system progressively stronger.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, September 25, 2004

  • The discovery of sophisticated organization in cell membranes provides evidence for design. Biochemists have traditionally regarded the cell membrane to be a chaotic system that lacked order beyond the phospholipids bilayer structure. A new picture, however, is emerging. Research shows that the cell membrane displays remarkable complexity and organization that hinges on the fine-tuning of its molecular composition. This study supports this new paradigm. Scientists now recognize that photosynthetic activity associated with bacterial plasma membranes takes place at discrete locations in the bilayer. The photosynthetic domains display an elegant organization that promotes efficiency of operation. This organization is an indicator of Intelligent Design.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, September 24, 2004

  • Dutch astronomers discovered another design feature for our Milky Way Galaxy. They found that the rate of formation of molecular hydrogen on dust grain surfaces when our galaxy was young strongly enhances the star formation rate at that time. If the star formation rate at that time was any lower or higher than it was, then the conditions for life in the future solar system would not have been achieved. Consequently, the molecular hydrogen formation rate on dust grain surfaces during the early history of the Milky Way Galaxy must be fine-tuned for life to be possible. The team also determined that the efficiency of molecular hydrogen formation depends strongly on the dust temperature, to some degree on the gas temperature, and obviously on the quantity of dust. Thus, at least three factors must be fine-tuned to ensure that the star formation rate in our galaxy’s early history is just right to ensure the possibility of future life. This much fine-tuning, together with all the rest of our galaxy’s fine-tuned characteristics, demands a supernatural Creator and Designer.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, September 23, 2004

  • For anthropologists, the ability to walk erect (bipedalism) represents one of humanity’s defining characteristics. For many biologists, bipedalism’s origin equates to humanity’s. Evolutionary biologists posit that humans evolved from an ape-like ancestor about 5 to 6 million years ago. Given the extensive anatomical differences between a knuckle-walking ape and an erect-walking hominid, this transition should take place gradually over a significant period of time, if, indeed, humans evolved. In this report researchers used CT technology to image the femur bone structure of Orrorin tugenensis, a hominid that first appears in the fossil record 6 million years ago. Based on their analysis, O. tugenensis walked erect. This report indicates that, contrary to evolutionary expectations, bipedalism emerged suddenly, as soon as hominids appear in the fossil record.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, September 22, 2004

  • Astronomers have found more evidence that our galaxy possesses unique design characteristics for the support of life. Life, especially advanced life, requires a spiral galaxy with its mass, bulge size, spiral arm structures, star-age distribution, and distribution of heavy elements all fine-tuned. A team of American and German astronomers discovered that these necessary structural and morphological properties for life are missing for spiral galaxies that are either members of a cluster of galaxies or in the process of being captured by a cluster of galaxies. Evidently, interactions with other galaxies in the cluster transform both resident and accreted spiral galaxies. Therefore, only those rare spiral galaxies (such as our Milky Way) that are neither members nor in the process of becoming members of a cluster of galaxies are possible candidates for the support of advanced life.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, September 21, 2004

  • For many skeptics the long life spans recorded in Genesis 5 and 11 seem absurd. Recent advances in the biochemistry of aging, however, make these long life spans scientifically plausible. In this study, researchers demonstrate that activation of the enzyme SIRT1 prevents axonal degeneration, and consequently, neurodegeneration. Loss of neural function is associated with aging and the onset of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. This study identifies the possible biochemical means for the Creator to permit long life spans (through increased SIRT1 deacetylase activity) and, in turn, to shorten them (through decreased SIRT1 deacetylase activity) at the time of the Flood. In light of this study, long human life spans described in Genesis are scientifically reasonable.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, September 20, 2004

  • A new study confirms declarations in the Bible (e.g. Job 39 and Psalm 104) that God creates life with optimal designs in the ecological relationships between plants and animals. Researchers found that protecting forests in the Peruvian Amazon from species-specific herbivores resulted in certain forest species crowding out others. Evidently, the great diversity of herbivore species, with many of them specializing on just one or two plant species, promotes both the health and the diversity of plant species by ensuring that each plant species remains confined to the habitats for which it is best suited. This delicate ecological balance reflects the wisdom of an intelligent Creator.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, September 19, 2004

  • Given its mechanism, evolution should not produce the same outcome repeatedly. Yet this study shows another example of a repeated outcome in nature. The authors describe the repeated, independent origins of the β-lactam-hydrolyzing function of the B1 + B2 and B3 subclasses of metallo-β-lactamases. The independent, multiple origins of this complex biochemical system challenge the veracity of evolution, but affirm a model whereby a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
    • Barry G. Hall et al., "Independent Origins of Subgroup B1+B2 and Subgroup B3 Metallo-β-Lactamases," Journal of Molecular Evolution 59 (2004): 131-41.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, September 18, 2004

  • British astronomers uncovered more evidence that the solar system possesses unique characteristics for the support of life. They discovered that our solar system probably formed by a completely different process than the one responsible for the 108 extrasolar planets detected so far. They point out that the detected extrasolar planets condensed out of the same gaseous material from which their parent stars arose, a process that would not be conducive to the formation of small rocky planets. The solar system planets, on the other hand, formed through the agglomeration of pebbles into large rocks, which then coalesced into planetesimals, which later aggregated into rocky planets. Even the solar system’s gas giant planets (e.g. Jupiter or Saturn) differ from the detected extrasolar planets in that large rocky cores formed first and then attracted thick atmospheres of gas. Thus, evidence continues to accumulate that the solar system is far from typical. The more we learn about extrasolar planets, the stronger becomes the evidence that our solar system is uniquely and supernaturally designed for life.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, September 17, 2004

  • 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 this study, researchers analyze ancient DNA isolated from Neanderthals, cave bears, brown bears, and cave hyenas. They demonstrate that the correlation between geographical location and genetic variation observed for mammals today did not exist before the last glaciation event (~10,000 years ago). This result contradicts results from evolutionary molecular clock analysis, which indicates that the close connection between geography and genetic variation resulted from long-term adaptation to different environments. It appears that molecular clock studies, so often cited as evidence for evolution, are unreliable. This discovery illustrates the power of ancient DNA analysis to provide a window into the biology of past organisms.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, September 16, 2004

  • Astronomers have made the first direct measurement of the density of galaxies in the observable universe-a factor that must be fine-tuned throughout cosmic history for advanced life to be possible. The Hubble Space Telescope was focused for 278 hours on a segment of the sky only one-tenth the diameter of the full Moon. This longest-ever exposure revealed for the first time all the galaxies that could possibly exist in any given sky segment, even the faintest galaxies that formed just after the creation event. In the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field an estimated 10,000 galaxies were imaged. Such a number, multiplied up to represent the whole sky, would translate into 200 billion galaxies. This initial result is consistent with what the properties of a big bang universe must be like for intelligent life to be possible. Thus, the biblically predicted big bang creation model has successfully passed another test and will likely pass more tests to come.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe—Wednesday, September 15, 2004

  • A new discovery reveals more evidence for the supernatural design of Earth’s features for the benefit of advanced life. An international team of atmospheric physicists and climatologists has found another characteristic of Earth that must be fine-tuned for advanced life to be abundant, namely the coupling strength between local soil moisture and precipitation. This parameter, which is particularly significant in the transition zones between wet and dry regions, must be carefully fine-tuned to ensure that rainfall is at the optimal level and optimal geographical distribution for the sustaining of a large amount and diversity of advanced life forms. Determining factors for local soil moisture are soil composition, soil depth, soil albedo, and quantity, distribution, and diversity of microscopic life forms in the soil. Such fine-tuning seems no accident of nature.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Tuesday, September 14, 2004

  • An “imbalance” in the physics of fundamental particle interaction points to supernatural design. From a naturalistic perspective physics should be simple and perfectly balanced in every way. However, for three decades theoretical physics calculations have demonstrated that a very slight imbalance must exist between matter and antimatter and that the level of the imbalance must be precisely fine-tuned for life to be possible. Now, an experimental team (the BaBar Collaboration) has made the first direct measurement of this imbalance, otherwise known as charge parity violation. They found that when B-mesons particles decay, they are about 30 percent more likely to decay into matter byproducts as compared to antimatter byproducts. The measurement supports the conclusion that the physics of fundamental particle interaction indeed is exquisitely fine-tuned, tweaked out of balance by the just-right amount, so that there will be the precisely required amounts of matter and antimatter in the universe to make life possible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Monday, September 13, 2004

  • A clever new application of a standard microscope technology has revealed a previously hidden aspect of cellular design. Using the cantilever of an atomic force microscope, UCLA biochemists discovered that the cell wall of a baker’s yeast cell undergoes regular, rapid vibration. The vigorous and high frequency cell wall vibrations could only be instigated by the concerted, organized operation of many linked molecular nanomotors. These tiny, but amazing motors seem to cause the cell wall vibrations that evidently serve as a pumping mechanism to supplement the passive diffusion of nutrients and waste products across the cell wall. The design and organization of the nanomotors clearly testify to a supernatural, super intelligent Creator.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Sunday, September 12, 2004

  • Astronomers have found more evidence that our solar system possesses unique design characteristics for the support of advanced life. Having ruled out our galaxy’s central bulge, halo, and globular clusters as possible sites for a life-support planet, astronomers are left with only the spiral arms where a significant number of planetary systems could be found. A new study by American astronomers demonstrates, however, that diffuse x-ray emission accompanies the spiral arms of all nearby spiral galaxies, including our own. Not only is such x-ray emission dangerous for life, it is a marker for other dangerous forms of radiation. (Some past mass extinction events on Earth may be explained by a solar system crossing of a spiral arm.) Consequently, only a very rare planetary system that is far from the central bulge, from any globular clusters, from the galactic halo, and from any spiral arms is a candidate for advanced life. Our solar system is such a candidate.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Saturday, September 11, 2004

  • Princeton University astronomers recently uncovered more evidence that the solar system possesses unique characteristics for the support of life. Their theoretical modeling established that when a planetary system experiences close encounters with stars, those encounters will engender a large enhancement in the orbital eccentricities of the planets. Such is the case for the known extrasolar planets. Unlike other planetary systems, the solar system was protected from stellar encounters (the Sun’s birth cluster was much smaller and looser and the Sun was ejected from the cluster much earlier and much more rapidly) that induced large eccentricities in the planetary orbits—eccentricities that would have made a life-support planet impossible. Thus, evidence continues to accumulate that the solar system is far from typical. The more we learn about extrasolar planets the stronger becomes the evidence that our solar system is uniquely and supernaturally designed for life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Friday, September 10, 2004

  • Japanese cell biologists have uncovered more evidence for supernatural design of proteins inside the cell. They discovered an amazing biochemical machine that facilitates and controls the movement of proteins along microtubules—akin to monorail transportation systems—within the cell. The research team examined one protein moving along a microtubule with high enough resolution to see the individual atoms in the protein molecule. They observed within the protein two loops that encompassed the microtubule. Each loop could be put into a strong gripping mode through the removal of water at the site or into a slipping mode through the addition of water at the site. Through alternating the grip and slip modes of both loops the protein can move along the microtubule in a movement similar to that manifested by an inchworm. The researchers also found two switching devices near the loops that control the timing of the grip and slip modes. The biochemical efficiency is truly remarkable in three ways: 1) energy use, 2) small size of the moving parts, and 3) switching control. The researchers were so impressed that they recommended that the design principles they discovered should be exploited for nanotechnology machines. Such exquisite design attests to a supernatural Designer.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Thursday, September 9, 2004

  • A team of Australian and Japanese astronomers has solved a long-time problem in the biblically predicted big bang creation model. In big bang cosmology globular clusters harbor many of the oldest stars in the universe and are the relics of large gas clouds that rapidly condensed to form stars early in the universe’s history. The nearby dwarf galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud presents big bang cosmologists with an anomaly in that while most of its globular clusters measure to be ~13 billion years old, a few measure to be only ~3 billion years old. The team performed the most detailed calculation to date of the past orbits of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds around the Milky Way Galaxy. They demonstrated that the Clouds have been dynamically coupled only for the past 4 billion years and that 3.6 billion years ago they had a very close tidal encounter. This encounter induced the rich gas reservoirs in the Clouds to experience dramatic condensation events, which led to the birth of additional globular clusters. Since the Large Magellanic Cloud is so much more massive than the Small Magellanic Cloud, it ended up with all the new globular clusters. Consequently, the age gap in the Large Magellanic Cloud’s globular clusters no longer poses a problem for big bang cosmology.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Wednesday, September 8, 2004

  • Researchers have affirmed a feature of the biblical big bang creation model and denied a specific criticism from young-earth proponents. Two different teams of astronomers have discovered five more pre-protostellar cores (dense molecular clouds of gas prior to star formation). These cores, along with other pre-protostellar cores discovered during the past year establish that astronomers really are witnessing and understanding the processes leading to the conception and birth of stars across the whole range of star masses. Thus, the young-earth denial of ongoing star formation is now thoroughly refuted, while the biblically predicted continuously expanding universe under constant physical laws is validated anew.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Tuesday, September 7, 2004

  • The search for an extraterrestrial chemical origin for life has hit another roadblock. American astronomers discovered two additional complex, saturated organic molecules in the interstellar medium that some researchers believe provide a little bit of hope for a naturalistic explanation of life’s origin. The team failed, though, to detect the more complex three-carbon sugar glyceraldehyde (CH2OHCHOHCHO). The newly discovered molecules are propenal (CH3CHCHO) and propanal (CH3CH2CHO) which rank as two of the heaviest molecules yet found in the interstellar medium. The addition of these molecules to the other 120 carbon-base molecules found in the interstellar medium, however, still does not provide the necessary ingredients and physical conditions for the production and preservation of either proteins, DNA, or RNA. Thus, it still stands that the only possible cause for life’s origin is a supernatural Creator.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Monday, September 6, 2004

Today’s New Reason To Believe—Sunday, September 5, 2004

  • German molecular ecologists confirm the declarations in Job and Psalms that God creates life with optimal designs in the ecological relationships between plants and animals. They discovered a set of genes in a native tobacco species that when turned off results in greater vulnerability to the species’ normal herbivores and attracted a suite of other herbivore species that normally never feed upon it. Evidently, these genes control a set of chemical defenses that guarantee that this plant species receives the ideal amount of harvesting by herbivore species best designed to benefit from the harvesting. By ensuring that the harvesting is neither too great nor too small, both the plant species and its herbivores sustain population levels and habitat extents that result in the optimal quality of life for all.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Saturday, September 4, 2004

  • Although some atheists and young-earth creationists remain skeptical about the big bang, the model continues to pass test after test. An American astronomer developed a new test for the biblically predicted big bang creation model. Using data from both the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) of galaxies and from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), the most detailed map of the cosmic background radiation, he noted that one could calculate a date for when the entire universe was reionized for a second time. (The first reionization refers to that moment in cosmic history when the first atoms to condense out of the hot big bang creation event were stripped of all their electrons by the heat and light of the first generation of stars. The second ionization refers to that cosmic moment when the second generation of stars stripped all atoms in the universe of their electrons.) If the big bang creation model is correct, then the two dates should agree. The astronomer’s calculations do indeed establish that the two dates agree, namely that the second reionization is complete by the time corresponding to redshift, z = 6 (a distance measure). Thus, the big bang creation model has successfully passed another test.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Friday, September 3, 2004

  • Polish astronomers have found more evidence that our solar system is atypical in possessing the necessary characteristics for the support of life. In their analysis of the latest multiplanet extrasolar system to be discovered, namely the planets orbiting the star HD169830, they found that the two discovered gas giant planets exhibit several life-inhibiting characteristics. The planets’ masses are too large, their orbital eccentricities too great, and their orbital variations too large to permit the existence of life on a planet approaching the size and characteristics of Earth—should such a planet exist in the system. Not even one out of the thirteen multiplanet systems discovered so far would allow for the possibility of life existing on an Earth-type planet in its system. Thus, evidence continues to accumulate that the solar system is far from typical. The more we learn about extrasolar planets the stronger becomes the evidence that our solar system is uniquely and supernaturally designed for life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe—Thursday, September 2, 2004

  • While some atheists and young-earth creationists cling to big bang skepticism, the model continues to pass every test. Two astronomers have developed another confirmation of the biblically predicted big bang creation model. A big bang universe should manifest a relatively smooth continuum of dense star clusters ranging in size from the smallest globular clusters to the largest dwarf galaxies. However, for several decades astronomers have noted a gap between the largest globular clusters and the smallest dwarf galaxies. The two researchers report that their observations of the supergiant galaxy NGC 5128 now fills that gap. Orbiting about NGC 5128 are star clusters with masses in between that of the largest previously observed globular cluster and the smallest previously observed dwarf galaxies. Thus, the big bang creation model has passed yet another test.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, September 1, 2004

  • Processes developed by human designers often incorporate pre-planned responses to a variety of scenarios that likely will arise during the process’ operation. This is also true for many biochemical operations in the cell. In this report, the authors describe the various pathways that cells employ to restart DNA replication when it stalls. The specific pathway that the cell utilizes depends on the precise nature of the molecular impairment that caused DNA replication to halt. If stalled DNA replication cannot restart, genomic instability and cell death can result. The pre-planning incorporated into the cell’s biochemical systems signify that life originated from the Creator’s hand.
  • Related Resource: “Fine-Tuning of Aquaporin Membrane”, Creation Update (6-04-2002)
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