Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

October 2004

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, October 31, 2004
Accelerated Radiometric Decay?

  • News that scientists observed the largest-ever increase in the rate of radiometric decay offers no hope either for young-earth creationists or for those intent on denying evidence for supernatural fine-tuning in the radiometric decay rates. The observed increase was seen only for that kind of radiometric decay where the decay occurs as electrons stray into the nucleus. The researchers forced the accelerated decay rate by encasing the radiometric atoms inside buckeyballs (soccer-ball-like lattices of sixty carbon atoms) which surrounded the radiometric atoms with a dense field of electrons. Even for this highly contrived circumstance, the decay rate was sped up by only 0.9 percent. (A young-earth scenario would require orders of magnitude changes in decay rates.) This extraordinary experiment in no way would alter any radiometric dates for the age of the earth or the universe or any of the evidence for the supernatural design of the radiometric decay rates for the benefit of life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, October 30, 2004

  • A watch requires a watchmaker. On this basis it logically follows that life requires a Creator. Biochemists have discovered that many molecules inside the cell function as molecular-level machines. In fact, some display an eerie resemblance to man-made machines. This study provides another example. Researchers have provided new insight into the mechanistic operation of the enzyme, collagenase. They noted that this enzyme functions just like man-made nanodevices known as Brownian ratchets. The elegant design and stark resemblance to man-made motors indicate that these biomolecular machines, and all of life’s chemistry, must be the work of a divine "Motor Maker."
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, October 29, 2004
New General Relativity Test

  • The reliability of general relativity in describing the dynamics of the universe is the basis for the scientific proof that the universe must have been created by a causal Agent who operates beyond matter, energy, space, and time. Consequently, any new evidence for the reliability of general relativity provides more proof for the God of the Bible. Recently, astrophysicists performed a brand new test for general relativity to add to the dozen plus that already have been performed. They measured the precession (the slow circular movement or wobble of the spin axis relative to a fixed frame of reference) of the rapidly spinning pulsar (an extremely dense, massive star that emits relativistic pulses of intense radiation) PSR B1534+12. The measured precession was consistent with the predictions of general relativity. Thus, the biblical cosmic creation model has successfully passed another test.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, October 28, 2004

  • Experience teaches that intelligible messages-information-come from intelligent sources. The cell’s biochemical machinery (proteins, DNA, RNA, and oligosaccharides) is information-based, indicating that life stems from an Intelligent Designer. A new report affirms this conclusion. Researchers describe the use of a single gene, called cytochrome c oxidase I, as a DNA "barcode" that can identify closely related species of birds. This discovery highlights the fact that DNA truly is an information storage molecule. Such elegant, information-rich biochemical systems of the cell point to the source of life’s information¾the Creator described in the Bible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Martian Methane: Evidence for Life?

  • A team of astrochemists claimed that their detection of methane gas in the Martian atmosphere indicates the existence of methanogens (methane-producing bacteria) on or in Mars. For a variety of reasons most experts on Mars remain skeptical. The methane was found at three locations only and only in extremely small quantities (ten parts per billion). The three locations all have stores of ice below the surface. Since that ice most likely came from comets, then methane, a common comet constituent, would reside there too. Alternately, the methane could come from volcanic activity or from rocks deep in the Martian crust being squeezed together. Thus, the conclusion that the tiny amounts of methane found in a few exotic regions on Mars establishes that life exists there appears unwarranted, as does the conclusion that life can arise naturally without divine intervention.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Refuting "Refuting Compromise"

  • Geophysicists have developed a new proof for the old-earth creationist model and for the reliability of radiometric dating and a refutation of the young-earth creationist claim that radiometric decay rates have changed. They found a different ratio of xenon-137 compared to xenon-136 for zircon crystals ranging in age from 4.12 to 4.22 billion years than they did for crystals only 3.6 billion years in age. Both uranium-238 and plutonium-244 radiometrically decay to produce xenon-136 but at different rates resulting in distinctly different xenon-137/xenon-136 ratios. The team’s measurements prove that plutonium-244 was present for the first half billion years of Earth’s history, that plutonium-244 had completely decayed away in the zircon cyrstals by the time Earth reached an age of 950 million years, and that the half life for the decay of plutonium-244 between 3.6 and 4.2 billion years ago must have been identical to what it is today, namely 82 billion years. Thus, the predictions of the old-earth creationist model have been vindicated while those for the young-earth creationist model have been refuted.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, October 25, 2004
Elegant Hurricane Design

  • Marine biologists have discovered another design benefit humans receive from hurricanes. Using remote sensing mapping, they showed that eastern U.S. seaboard hurricanes significantly increased chlorophyll concentrations across the continental shelf. Such semi-regular endowments of chlorophyll concentrations play an important role in sustaining both the biomass and biodiversity of life on the continental shelves, which in turn enhance the living standard and quality of life for humans. This study provides yet more evidence (see "Design Update: Hurricanes Bring More Than Destruction," by Hugh Ross, http://www.reasons.org/resources/faf/98q4faf/hurricanes.shtml) that God has so designed both the frequency and intensity of hurricanes to maximally benefit life and human civilization.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition, by Hugh Ross (DVD or VHS)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, October 24, 2004

  • RTB’s creation model for humanity’s origin regards Neanderthals and other extinct hominids found in the fossil record as nonhuman primates that lacked spiritual capacity. This field report from the third triannual meeting on Neanderthals and modern humans held in Gibraltar, Spain, confirms this view. Paleoanthropologists all agree that Neanderthals were complex hominids that behaved in interesting ways. Still, their behavior was nonhuman. One talk from this scientific meeting illustrates the difference between Neanderthals and modern humans. Even though Neanderthals’ bodies were better adapted to cold than modern humans’ bodies, modern humans living in Europe during the last ice age occupied sites that were much colder than Neanderthal sites. This means that modern humans possessed a superior cognitive capacity that allowed them to better survive under harsh environmental conditions. Scientific evidence continues to indicate that modern humans were clearly distinct from Neanderthals, in line with RTB’s explanation for the hominid fossil record.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, October 23, 2004
Northern GreenlandIce Core

  • Analysis of an ice core drilled in northern Greenland gives more evidence for the supernatural timing of humanity’s arrival and for an old-earth, local flood interpretation of the Bible. Recovery of a 3-kilometer-deep ice core from the NGRIP Greenland site provides a continuous, unbroken climate record for the past 123,000 years. Unlike the two previous deep ice core samples taken from central Greenland, there is no question about the disturbance of the deepest ice layers. The NGRIP record shows that the current epoch compared to earlier epochs is exceptionally benign for sustaining a large, globally distributed, high-tech human population. As with five other deep ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica, there is no evidence for any kind of global flood and definitive evidence that Earth is older than 100,000 years.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, October 22, 2004

  • Many biologists think that one of the most important evolutionary routes for biochemical innovation is through gene duplication. According to this model, a gene undergoes duplication to produce an extra copy that then experiences mutations that eventually yield a new protein with novel function. In most cases, this putative evolutionary pathway must alter several amino acids. In this report, researchers perform mathematical simulations to model this evolutionary process and demonstrate that it is nonviable for all practical purposes. Based on their modeling, for a new functional protein with 5 amino acid changes to emerge in 100 million generations, it would take a population size of 1025 (10 trillion trillion) individuals. As these researchers note, "These numbers seem prohibitive." In light of this work, gene duplication coupled to mutations can’t explain the origin of new biochemical systems.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, October 21, 2004
Great Telescope Site

  • A tremendous opportunity for discovering new scientific evidences for a supernatural Creator has been determined to exist on the coldest spot on Earth. Australian astronomers found that truly remarkable seeing conditions exist above Dome C in Antarctica. The average seeing disk at Dome C is more than three times smaller than it is at the next best site on the planet. This means a telescope at Dome C would outperform a telescope three times as large anywhere else on the planet. Moreover, interferometric measurements that would be impossible anywhere else on Earth can be achieved at Dome C. Another team of Australian astronomers determined that Dome C also provides unprecedented conditions for millimeter wavelength measurements. Thus, future telescopes and instruments placed at Dome C will enable astronomers to measure with unparalleled accuracy cosmic design features and explore in detail the physics of the cosmic creation event. Such advances can significantly augment the scientific evidence for the God of the Bible and the biblical cosmic creation model.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition, by Hugh Ross (DVD or VHS)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, October 20, 2004

  • Geologists have uncovered new evidence for the supernatural timing of humanity’s appearance. Researchers in Canada confirm that the human race indeed is living at the ideal moment in Earth’s history for the exploitation of petroleum to launch and sustain a high technology civilization. Their research confirms that bacterial degradation significantly affects not only surface petroleum but also deep subsurface oil reservoirs. Thus, if humans appear too late in Earth’s history, bacteria will have degraded too much petroleum. But, if humans appear too early, insufficient time will have transpired for chemical and geological processes to transform kerogen (predominantly produced just after the Cambrian explosion 540 mya) into petroleum. Therefore, there exists an ideal moment in geological history when the quantity of petroleum on Earth is maximal. That humans appeared at the maximal petroleum moment is evidence of divine planning, foresight, and provision for humanity.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, October 19, 2004

  • A watch requires a watchmaker. On this basis it logically follows that life requires a Creator. Biochemists have discovered that many molecules inside the cell function as molecular-level machines. In fact, some display an eerie resemblance to man-made machines. One of these is myosin, a linear motor replete with a lever arm. This research paper provides new understanding of the elegant design of the myosin lever arm and the importance of the lever arm’s rigidity for generating the necessary force to move actin filaments. Yet another example of elegant design and stark resemblance to man-made motors indicates that these biomolecular machines, and all of life’s chemistry, must be the work of a divine "Motor Maker."
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, October 18, 2004

  • Although some atheists and young-earth creationists remain skeptical about the big bang, that biblically consistent cosmic creation model continues to pass test after test. A powerful new test for big bang cosmology involves the strength of the homogeneous magnetic field when the universe was extremely young. If that field were even as strong as a millionth the strength of Earth’s magnetic field, the biblically predicted big bang creation model would either be overthrown or in need of major revision. However, if that field were nonexistent (very much less than a billionth of the strength of Earth’s magnetic field), astronomers would be hard-pressed, in the context of big bang cosmology, to explain the existence and origin of the large-scale magnetic fields they observe in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. A team of American, Georgian, and Japanese astronomers carefully analyzed the WMAP database to look for the vortices in the temperature and polarization fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation. The firm upper limit they established for the cosmic homogeneous magnetic field at that very early moment in cosmic history, namely less than 15 billionths of a Gauss, is consistent with the big bang creation model and contradicts the predictions arising from competing plasma cosmology models. Thus, the big bang creation model has successfully passed another test.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, October 17, 2004

  • In an attempt to give naturalistic origin-of-life scenarios as much time as possible, some scientists propose that life arose during the high temperature conditions of the Earth’s Hadean era, prior to 3.9 billion years ago. This scenario requires the first organisms to be heat-loving, thermophilic microbes. Results of a recent study make this scheme unlikely. Researchers demonstrate that in order to achieve chemical stability and functionality at high temperatures, specialized molecular features must be incorporated into the enzymes of thermophiles. This restriction reduces the probability that random processes can generate functional biomolecules at high temperatures. In other words, evolutionary scenarios for life’s origin are more difficult at high temperatures than at moderate temperatures in which this chemical restriction does not apply. The bottom line: origin-of-life researchers cannot look to the Hadean era for the time needed to make naturalistic origin-of-life scenarios plausible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, October 16, 2004

  • A new discovery reveals more evidence for the supernatural design of Earth’s features for the benefit of advanced life. American atmospheric scientists measured an average of 80-90 negative or positive charges each for cloud droplets in the 10-26 microns size range for clouds floating high above Earth’s surface. Electrical charges of this magnitude would speed up how quickly droplets would merge to form raindrops large enough to fall as precipitation. The researchers determined that the high charges originate from vertical air movement at cloud boundaries. Consequently, for rainfall rates to be at the just-right levels for advanced life, the average electrical charge per cloud droplet must be fine-tuned, which in turn implies a fine-tuning of cloud boundary properties and the upper movement of air at such cloud boundaries. Such fine-tuning seems no accident of nature.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, October 15, 2004

  • RTB’s creation model for humanity’s origin regards Homo erectus/ergaster and other extinct hominids found in the fossil record as nonhuman primates that lacked spiritual capacity. A recent study adds further support for this view. Researchers measured the endocranial volume of the Mojokerto Child, the only H. erectus infant skull known. The remains date to 1.8 million years. This "child" was about 1 year in age when it died. Based on its endocranial volume, the researchers concluded that its brain size was about 80% of a H. erectus adult. (For humans the brain volume at 1 year of age is 50% of an adult’s.) The brain growth pattern of H. erectus closely resembles that of an ape’s. Therefore, researchers conclude that H. erectus lacked the advanced cognitive abilities of modern humans. Scientific evidence continues to indicate that modern humans were clearly distinct from Homo erectus/ergaster and the other extinct hominids, in accord with RTB’s explanation for the hominid fossil record.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, October 14, 2004

  • A British astronomer demonstrated how a new radio telescope, once its construction is completed, will give astronomers the tools to develop powerful new tests for the biblical creation model. Specifically, this telescope, the Square-Kilometer-Array, will allow astronomers to detect 1) a dense array of distant precision clocks (extragalactic pulsars), which can be used to make precise measures of the cosmic expansion rates throughout cosmic history; 2) pulsars orbiting black holes, which can be used to subject general relativity and its theorems-theorems that prove a transcendent cosmic Beginner-to even more rigorous tests; and 3) the properties of gravity wave propagation in the universe, which will determine what big bang creation model is correct. While observational verification for the biblically predicted cosmic creation model already is pervasive and very strong, this new instrument has the potential to yield dramatically stronger proofs.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, October 13, 2004

  • The fossil record lacks transitional intermediates. When confronted with this challenge, evolutionary biologists point to fossils that appear to document the macroevolutionary transition from a wolf-like terrestrial mammal (Pakicetus) to whales. At quick glance, this fossil series seemingly provides compelling evidence for biological evolution. However, when examined in detail, numerous difficulties come to light. One is the rapidity of the "transition"-the land mammal-to-whale transformation would have to take place in less than 15 million years. A new study highlights this time problem. Paleontologists demonstrate that the sound-transmission system in the ears of Pakicetus would have to have evolved from a form suitable for an air environment to one suitable for an aquatic environment in less than 7 million years—a time far too short for natural-process biological evolution to explain. The sudden emergence of whales in the fossil record is a fingerprint for the Creator’s work.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, October 12, 2004

  • A recent announcement that astronomers had discovered small rocky planets like Earth-with the implication that life-supportable planets are common-was dispelled in the discovery research papers submitted for publication. The newly discovered planets have minimum masses equal to 14.2 and 21 times the mass of Earth. Both planets orbit their stars far too closely for the planets to have formed there. Thus, they must have formed farther out and drifted in. The presumption the planets are "rocky" is based on models showing that rocky planets 15 to 20 times the mass of Earth could form in the warm portions of dusty disks around newborn stars. However, the newly discovered planets more likely formed in cold portions of the disk out of a predominantly gas mixture and then drifted a large distance inward. In either case, the planetary drift would have so disturbed the orbit of any possible planet like Earth in the system that it would have rendered such a planet unfit for life. These discoveries once again demonstrate that the more scientists learn about extrasolar planets, the more evidence they uncover for the supernatural design of the solar system for the support of life.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, October 11, 2004

  • "Junk" DNA has become an icon of evolution. Evolutionary biologists maintain that junk DNA provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution because such nonfunctioning DNA would be a relic of random processes rather than intelligent design. Yet, numerous advances over the last few years indicate that virtually all the classes of "junk" DNA have function. This study continues in this vein. Comparative analysis of the DNA sequence of human chromosome 5 with corresponding sequences from other mammals indicates that vast regions of noncoding DNA (referred to as gene deserts because they are devoid of genes) are conserved. For biochemists, this means that they must be functional. Presumably these so-called gene deserts control gene expression or usage. The functional importance of junk DNA indicates that careful planning by an Intelligent Designer, rather than undirected, random biochemical events, shaped the genomes of organisms.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, October 10, 2004

  • An international team of astronomers has proven the viability of a new technique for measuring solar system design. Until now, astronomers had been limited to studying only large extrasolar planets in their quest to determine how fine-tuned our solar system must be for life. Now, gravitational microlensing has been shown capable of detecting extrasolar planets as small as Earth. A foreground star perfectly aligned with a distant star and with the astronomers’ telescope will act as a powerful gravitational lens, making the astronomers’ telescope up to 1,000 times more powerful. The team found a foreground star that magnified the light of a distant star by 500 times. Then, by carefully searching for distortions in the lensing effect of the foreground star the team was able to rule out the existence of certain-sized planets orbiting the foreground star. For the star under observation, for varying ranges of distances from the star, any planet ranging from 1.3 times the mass of Earth to planets many times the mass of Jupiter would be detected. None were. Future exploitation of this technique will determine just how rare are Earth-sized planets orbiting in systems nearly identical to the solar system.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, October 9, 2004

  • Irreducible complexity is a hallmark feature of designed systems. Many biochemical systems inside the cell appear to be irreducibly complex, and hence designed. This study provides another example. Scientists have learned that without the enzyme lysyl hydroxylase 3, type IV collagen (a protein) loses attachment sites for carbohydrates. Carbohydrate attachment plays a critical role in the structural stability of type IV collagen. In the absence of this stability cell death quickly ensues. Lysyl hydroxylase 3 and type IV collagen constitute an irreducibly complex system. Natural process evolution simply cannot yield systems like those involved in protein transport. As biochemists continue to characterize the cell’s chemical systems, the evidence for design mounts and with it evidence that life is the product of a Creator.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, October 8, 2004

  • The multiple, complex nitrogen fixation processes found in nature present significant evidence for the supernatural design of Earth and its biosystem so as to make advanced life possible. For biogenic nitrogen fixation, specialized organisms convert gaseous nitrogen into a form usable by plants. A team of biologists and oceanographers has discovered yet another critical nitrogen fixation process that must exist for advanced life to thrive. Where scientists once believed that large-celled, colony-forming cyanobacteria were responsible for virtually all the biological nitrogen fixation occurring in the oceans, they now recognize that small-celled, non-colony-forming cyanobacteria and bacterioplankton contribute up to half of the total oceanic biological nitrogen fixation. This discovery demonstrates that in order to sustain nitrogen fixation at the level necessary for advanced life to thrive, at least three different species of nitrogen fixing bacteria must exist together at extremely large population levels in the oceans. Such a circumstance would be difficult, to say the least, to explain by random, mindless evolutionary processes but would be the expected outcome of a Creator carefully preparing Earth for the arrival of humans.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, October 7, 2004

  • Advances in ancient DNA analysis promise to provide powerful new insight into the biology of past organisms. In this study, researchers analyzed ancient DNA isolated from montane vole and northern pocket gopher fossils (that date to 3,000 years old) recovered from the Lamar Cave (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming). By comparing the ancient DNA sequences with DNA sequences taken from living montane voles and northern pocket gophers (both rodents), these researchers characterized the impact of climatic change on genetic diversity and population size through time. For the montane vole, climatically induced population loss had no effect on genetic diversity. On the other hand, population decline of the northern pocket gopher led to a loss of genetic diversity. The capacity to monitor genetic diversity through time in response to environmental changes provides a powerful way to test evolutionary and creation models.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, October 6, 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. This report announces the discovery of compounds that mimic calorie restriction. Scientists hope that in the near future, such advances will lead to pharmaceutical therapies that extend human longevity to several hundred years in age. If human intervention holds the potential to extend life span to several hundred years, is it unreasonable to think that the Creator could do the same? In light of this study, long human life spans described in Genesis are scientifically rational.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, October 5, 2004

  • Better understanding of cell membrane structure 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. Recent work supports this new paradigm. Researchers have developed a new methodology to characterize the organization and compartmentalization of the plasma membrane and provide new insight into the role that these features play in the immune response. This organization is an indicator of Intelligent Design.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, October 4, 2004

  • European astronomers have produced another confirmation of the biblically predicted hot big bang creation event and another accurate measure of the time back to the cosmic creation event. Independent of the WMAP determinations (see Creation Update, February 18, 2003), they measured the date at which the universe’s first stars must have formed. They noted that the only source of beryllium in interstellar space results from cosmic rays striking the nuclei of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen that are ejected by the supernova eruptions of the universe’s first stars. They then proceeded to carefully measure the quantity of beryllium in the oldest known second-generation stars. That amount of beryllium added up to 300 million years’ worth of production by cosmic rays. Adding 300 million years to the well-determined age for the particular second-generation stars yielded a date for the first stars just 200 million years after the cosmic creation event. This date is consistent with both the WMAP determination and what the hot big bang creation model would predict about the character, the number, and the date of the first-born stars. The team’s measurements also are consistent with the age of the universe determinations from both the WMAP and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, namely 13.7 billion years.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, October 3, 2004

  • Given its mechanism (based on chance), evolution should not produce the same outcome repeatedly. Yet this study shows such repetition in nature. The authors of this research describe the repeated, independent origins of the enzyme, tRNA(m1G37) methyltransferase, in bacteria and archaea (which represent different domains of life). Remarkably, these enzymes catalyze the same reaction and display similar properties. The independent, multiple origins of this complex biochemical system, which makes a key modification to tRNA, challenge the veracity of evolution, but find ready explanation if a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
    • Thomas Christian et al., "Distinct Origins of tRNA(m1G37) Methyltransferase," Journal of Molecular Biology 339 (2004): 707-19.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, October 2, 2004

  • Studies by two separate teams of American astronomers confirm certain life-critical design features in our galaxy and our galaxy’s nearest large neighbors. One team compared a detailed study of the globular cluster systems of five nearby spiral galaxies with previous studies on the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. The astronomers confirmed that indeed both the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies have had a relatively quiescent merging history. That is, no major merging events took place in either galaxy since the formation of their galactic thick disks. Another team of American astronomers demonstrated the consequences of a major merging event. For the merger system ARP 299 they observed a supernova rate about a thousand times greater than the Milky Way Galaxy’s, they noted much more powerful supernova eruptions, and they deduced an even higher supernova rate a few million years ago. Such extreme supernova activity would sterilize any life in the galaxy and, of course, the merger itself would seriously disrupt the galactic orbits of planetary systems in the galaxy. Thus, for life to be possible in a galaxy, that galaxy and any large galaxy in its immediate vicinity must be free of major merging events since the formation of its primary spiral structure. Our Milky Way Galaxy seems no accident of nature.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, October 1, 2004

  • Many people consider the 99% genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees as evidence for evolution. A new study demonstrates that while a high degree of genetic similarity exists, the way in which those genes are used (gene expression) is quite different in the human and chimpanzee brains and may explain the profound differences between human and chimpanzee brain function. As this study indicates, genetic similarity is a meaningless comparison. Rather, it’s how the genes are used that is critical, and in this respect humans and chimpanzees are radically different. It appears that the Creator used the same building blocks (genes) to construct both humans and chimpanzees, but used them in very different ways.
    • Rosaleen Gibbons et al., "Distinguishing Humans from Great Apes with AluYb8 Repeats," Journal of Molecular Biology 339 (2004): 721-29.
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