Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

February 2005

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 28, 2005
Inventory of the Stuff of the Universe

  • Two Princeton University astronomers have developed evidence that strengthens the case for both the anthropic principle (that the universe manifests fine-tuned design parameters for the support of humanity) and for consistency of the biblically predicted big bang creation model. They performed an exhaustive compilation of the best astronomical measurements of the forty leading components that make up the density or "stuff" of the universe. Their analysis showed that all the constituents of the universe are now well accounted for and that the uncertainties in the relative amounts of the various constituents have shrunk dramatically over the past two years. Stars and stellar remnants account for only 0.27 percent of the universe’s density whereas dark energy, exotic dark matter, and the intergalactic plasma make up the other 99.7 percent. The Princeton duo’s findings demonstrate that astronomers’ confidence in the big bang creation model and in the extraordinary fine-tuning of the cosmic density parameters for the benefit of life is indeed well justified.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 27, 2005
Biochemical Design: Cell Membrane Organization

  • 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. It turns out the cell membrane displays remarkable complexity and organization that hinges on the fine-tuning of its molecular composition. In this new study researchers discovered 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-Saturday, February 26, 2005
Huygens Lands on Titan

  • Hope for a natural extraterrestrial origin of life has suffered another defeat. Early press releases of the Huygens landing on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, confirm that chemical conditions conducive to origin-of-life chemistry are exceptionally rare. Measurements and images analyzed so far show that molecular nitrogen is the predominant atmospheric component, with methane a distant second. While the methane abundance did increase with descending altitude and while one image did reveal what might possibly be drainage channels, there was no direct evidence for lakes or ponds of liquid methane on Titan’s surface. The Huygens probe sank about six inches upon landing, indicative of a thin crust over a spongy layer. Ammonia, which is essential for the synthesis of even the simplest prebiotics, remains undetected in both Titan’s atmosphere and on its surface. Likewise, water has been found only in Titan’s upper atmosphere and only in trace amounts. Evidence for hydrocarbons remains restricted to the atmosphere of Titan’s dark pole. Consequently, the boast that Titan holds the secret to understanding a naturalistic pathway for the origin of life remains greatly exaggerated.
    • The Register, "Huygens Lands on Titan, and the Data Floweth," January 14, 2005, http:www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/14/huygens_lands/ (accessed January 17, 2005).
    • John Johnson, "Possible Lake Revealed in Titan Images," Los AngelesTimes, Sunday, January 16, 2005, A23.
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  • Fazale R. Rana, "Origin-of-Life Predictions Face Off: Evolution vs. Biblical Creation"
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, February 25, 2005
Adult Stem Cells Offer Hope

  • The ethical dilemma surrounding embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) has been well documented. For supporters, ESCR holds the promise to effectively treat several debilitating diseases and injuries. However, critics are troubled by ESCR because it involves the destruction of human embryos. Recent advances, however, suggest that there may be an ethically acceptable alternative to ESCR. Adult stem cells from a variety of tissues display the capacity to develop into a wide range of cell types, just like embryonic stem cells. Researchers demonstrate that adult stem cells from bone marrow can differentiate into the epithelia cells that line the airways of lungs. Since adult bone marrow stem cells are amenable to gene correction, researchers think that adult stem cells might be useful in the treatment of cystic fibrosis (a disease that results from a single defective gene in airway epithelial cells). By exploiting adult stem cell research, which does not involve the destruction of human embryos, scientific advance may provide the way out of the ethical dilemma created by emerging biotechnologies.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 24, 2005
Testing the Big Bang Through Lithium Measures

  • Two University of Illinois astronomers have developed a new test that can be applied to the biblically predicted big bang creation model. The big bang model predicts that the cosmic creation event will produce a highly specified abundance of primordial lithium, a metal. The problem for observers has been locating lithium measures that are not significantly contaminated by stellar burning processes. To date, low-metallicity stars in the halo of the Milky Way Galaxy have been the best sources for primordial lithium measurements. Now, the U. of Illinois team has demonstrated that low-metallicity, high-velocity clouds of gas external to the Milky Way are not only easily accessible to modern instruments but also much less contaminated than low-metallicity halo stars. Finally, the team has identified specific gas clouds for which accurate lithium abundance measurements could be made easily. Thus, the potential for a powerful new test of the big bang creation model is at hand.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Chicken Genome Reveals Function for Junk DNA

  • Evolutionary biologists often present "junk" DNA as an icon of evolution. They maintain that since junk (noncoding) DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. Numerous recent studies, however, including this new one, have identified function for many types of junk DNA. Researchers have reported the draft genome sequence for the red jungle fowl, Gallus gallus, the first genome sequenced for a nonmammalian amniote. Comparison of the chicken and human genomes reveals numerous regions of junk DNA that are conserved in both organisms. Biochemists consider conserved sequences as functionally important. While researchers currently don’t know what functional role these shared sequences perform, they are convinced that they must be critical. Such functional importance of junk DNA indicates that careful planning by an Intelligent Designer, rather than undirected, random biochemical events, shaped the genomes of organisms.
  • International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium, "Sequence and Comparative Analysis of the Chicken Genome Provide Unique Perspectives on Vertebrate Evolution," Nature 432 (2004): 695-716.
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  • Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth?, by Jonathan Wells

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Trigonometric Distance to Milky Way Galaxy’s Center

  • Two Princeton University astronomers have compiled and analyzed the most accurate measurements to date of the distance to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Their results place the biblically predicted big bang creation model on firmer footing. They demonstrated that careful measurements of the motions of stars closely orbiting around the giant black hole that marks the center of the Milky Way Galaxy deliver a direct trigonometric determination of the distance between Earth and the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Since this distance measure is the cornerstone for measuring the scale, age, and expansion rate of the universe, a more accurate and direct determination indeed strengthens the evidence for the predicted big bang creation model. Also, since the distance to the galactic center now proves by direct measures alone to be 26,000 light years, the implied light-travel time provides a new direct challenge to the young-earth creationist model.
  • Masataka Fukugita and P. J. E. Peebles, "The Cosmic Energy Inventory," Astrophysical Journal 616 (2004): 643-68.
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  • Hugh Ross and John Rea, "Big Bang-The Bible Taught It First!"
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  • The Creator and the Cosmos, 3rd ed., by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 21, 2005
Did Life Originate Extraterrestrially?

  • Recent critical analysis indicates little hope exists that an extraterrestrial origin of life can be scientifically validated. The author of this work maintains that the most reasonable location for an extraterrestrial origin of life is the solar system, since the SETI Institute has not detected any signals from civilizations outside the solar system, and life could not survive interstellar travel. However, it is highly unlikely that extraterrestrial life in the solar system will ever be unequivocally detected. According to the author, if Earth-like life is discovered on another planet or in a meteorite, it would not be clear if life originated at that location and then seeded Earth, or if life ultimately originated on Earth and was transported to that location. Moreover, the search for extraterrestrial life is hampered by the fact that current scientific knowledge is insufficient to detect life fundamentally different from that on Earth. For these reasons (and others) the author concludes, "the search for extraterrestrial fossils is doomed to fail."
  • A. J. van Loon, "The Needless Search for Extraterrestrial Fossils on Earth," Earth-Science Reviews 68 (2005): 335-46.
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  • Fazale R. Rana, "Mars Life: A Second Opinion"
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  • Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 20, 2005
Lunar Mass Design

  • A British geologist has found more evidence for the supernatural design of the Moon for the benefit of advanced life on Earth. His analysis showed that although the Earth-Moon system currently yields a stable obliquity (rotation axis tilt) and consequently a stable climate for Earth, if the Moon’s mass were even slightly larger, Earth’s obliquity would be unstable. He then deduced that the Moon must be as massive as it is to slow Earth’s rotation sufficiently for human existence to ever be possible on Earth. This just-right size makes possible Earth’s stable climate and a 24-hour rotation period at the time that the Sun is almost exactly middle-aged. These features imply an extraordinary fine-tuning of the Moon’s mass, density, distance from Earth, and rate of recession from Earth. Such extraordinary fine-tuning, in turn, implies the existence of a supernatural, superintelligent Creator.
  • Dave Waltham, "Anthropic Selection for the Moon’s Mass," Astrobiology 4 (2004): 460-68.
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  • Hugh Ross, "Anthropic Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity"
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  • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (VHS or DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, February 19, 2005
Biochemical Design: Molecular Fine-Tuning

  • For some time biochemists have recognized fine-tuning as a defining feature of the cell’s chemistry that is required for biomolecules to effectively carry out life’s necessary operations. New research on the relationship between the structure and function of the sodium channel found in the bacterium, Bacillus halodurans, continues to illustrate this concept. This protein complex spans the cell membrane and allows sodium ions to flow through the channel when the voltage across the membrane dissipates (called voltage-gating). Researchers have recently demonstrated the importance of a single glycine residue in the voltage-gating behavior of the channel. They also showed that distorting one of the alpha-helixes that helps form the conduit for sodium ions reverses the voltage-gating behavior of the channel. The functional properties of this sodium ion channel depend precisely on its structural makeup (hence, the fine-tuning). Just as fine-tuning is one hallmark of well-designed man-made devices, similarly, the fine-tuning characteristic of biochemical systems signifies that life originated from the Creator’s hand.
  • Yong Zhao et al., "Reversed Voltage-Dependent Gating of a Bacterial Sodium Channel with Proline Substitutions in the S6 Transmembrane Segment," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 101 (2004): early edition.
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  • "Fine-Tuning of Aquaporin Membrane," Creation Update (6-04-2002)
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, February 18, 2005
Overdue Glaciation

  • American environmental scientists have found evidence for the supernatural design of human behavior and for the supernatural timing of such behavior. Their studies of deep ice cores showed that for the past half million years Earth has experienced a 100,000-year glaciation cycle-apparently driven by regular variations in Earth’s orbit-where glaciation encompasses about 90 percent of the cycle’s duration. Their analysis of the deep ice core data revealed that a new cycle of ice growth should have begun 5,000 years ago. The reason we are not presently in an ice age is due to anthropogenic activity (human activity that affects nature). Specifically, the deforestation of Eurasia to make room for intensive crop cultivation and pasture land that began about 6,000-8,000 years ago has raised the atmospheric carbon dioxide level from 245 parts per million to 285 parts per million, while irrigation for rice farming and an increased cow population has raised the atmospheric methane level from 450 parts per billion to 700 parts per billion. Since carbon dioxide and methane efficiently trap heat from the Sun, the next ice age has been forestalled. Thus, three parameters of anthropogenic activity must be fine-tuned in order for global human civilization and technology to develop: the kind of activity, the level of such activity, and its timing. Such design is testimony for a supernatural, superintelligent Creator.
  • William F. Ruddiman, Stephen J. Vavrus, and John E. Kutzbach, "A Test of the Overdue-Glaciation Hypothesis," Quaternary Science Reviews 24 (2005): 1-10.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 17, 2005
Junk DNA Has Function

  • "Junk" DNA has achieved icon status in evolutionary circles. Evolutionary biologists maintain that since junk (noncoding) DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. Numerous recent studies, however, including this new one, have identified function for many types of junk DNA. By comparing human and chicken genomes, researchers have uncovered new evidence that noncoding DNA found in "gene deserts"-vast regions of the genome that are devoid of genes-plays a functional role in gene regulation and development. 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.
  • Ivan Ovcharenko et al., "Evolution and Functional Classification of Vertebrate Gene Deserts," Genome Research 15 (2005): online preprint
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Coastal Water Circulation Shows Design

This report replaces the previous post for this date. The former lacked adequate caveats and details about what had and had not been discovered.

  • A team of oceanographers in Massachusetts has found additional evidence that supports the idea of a super-intelligent Designer. Ample nutrients in coastal waters are essential for marine life to thrive. While large outflows of seawater have been measured and inferred for coastal waters, sufficient inflow sources had not been found to balance the outflow. Measurements by the team of scientists showed that seawater is exchanged with coastal aquifers based on seasonal changes in water table elevation. The seasonal aspect of this exchange is important because water discharged from the aquifers will replenish the nutrients preferentially in summer when biological activity is at its maximum and river flow is at its minimum. These results again demonstrate the care of a supernatural Creator in preparing a planet capable of supporting abundant life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Human and Chimpanzee Genetic Differences

  • Many people consider the 99% genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees as evidence for evolution. This report demonstrates that while a high degree of genetic similarity exists, even small genetic differences can be profound. When humans are compared to other mammals, researchers note significant differences in the genes that encode the proteins that make up the electron transport chain. The electron transport chain plays a central role in generating the chemical energy that powers the cell’s operations. Typically, these genes are resistant to mutations because of their central importance. Researchers propose that these genetic differences may account for the large human brain. Given the resistance of these genes to mutation, it’s hard to envision how evolutionary changes could have produced these genetic differences (smaller brain to large brain). From a creation model perspective it appears that the Creator altered the biological raw materials (genes) to uniquely construct the human brain.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 14, 2005
Design of Location of Baryons in Galaxies

  • American x-ray astronomers have provided more evidence for the supernatural design of galaxies and their surroundings for the benefit of life. They confirmed that most of the baryons (protons and neutrons) in galaxy clusters reside between, not in, the galaxies. The team’s observations showed that this counterintuitive result is probably caused by supermassive black holes in the large galaxies that create outward "winds" or "flows" that evacuate baryons from the galaxies. As such, these winds or flows are critical for life. If the ratio of baryons in galaxies to baryons between galaxies were slightly higher than what astronomers observe, galaxies in the universe would be too large and too numerous, yielding a radiation and stellar density that would make advanced life impossible. On the other hand, if the ratio were slightly smaller than what astronomers observe, galaxies in the universe would be too few and too small, yielding inadequate heavy elements to make advanced life possible. Such fine-tuning, combined with the dozens of other galaxy and planetary system characteristics that also must be fine-tuned, implies the existence of a supernatural, superintelligent Creator.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 13, 2005
Biochemical Design: Molecular Fine-Tuning

  • One defining feature of the cell’s chemistry is the fine-tuning required for biomolecules to effectively carry out life’s necessary operations. This study illustrates this feature. Here its authors demonstrate the critical importance of the precise spatial orientation of a single glycine amino acid in the so-called potassium ion "selectivity filter" of potassium channel proteins. Structural fine-tuning is one hallmark of well-designed man-made devices. Similarly, the fine-tuning (here, the precise spatial orientation) characteristic of biochemical systems signifies that life originated from the Creator’s hand.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, February 12, 2005
Autophagy Design During Neonatal Starvation

  • Japanese cell biologists have found another amazing design feature for mammals. They discovered that newborn mammals undergo autophagy (the cellular process of self-digestion) during the neonatal starvation period. In this phase, newborns transition from feeding through their mothers’ placentas to feeding on their mothers’ milk. In autophagy, a portion of a cell’s cytoplasm becomes sequestered in an autophagosome, which then makes contact with a lysosome. There the lysosome breaks down the contents of the autophagosome into food and energy sources for sustaining the cell’s critical metabolic reactions. When the research team bred mice that lacked one of the proteins essential for autophagy, the newborns of such mice died before breastfeeding was able to take effect, thus showing that autophagy indeed is critical for the survival of mammals. The evolutionary model cannot explain the instantaneous origin of autophagy in the first mammals, nor how genes instantaneously arose to turn autophagy on and off at the just-right times in neonatal development. The Reasons To Believe creation model, on the other hand, entirely predicts and expects autophagy or its equivalent.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, February 11, 2005
An Alternate Approach to Stem Cell Research

  • Even though embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) holds potential promise to treat several debilitating diseases and injuries, the thought of destroying human embryos troubles many people. Recent breakthroughs, however, offer the hope for treatments that don’t require the use of embryonic stem cells. One study involves the use of the peptide thymosin b4 to treat damaged cardiac tissue. This peptide promotes the migration, survival, and repair of cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells). Researchers have shown that in mice, after a mock heart attack, thymosin b4 treatment improves cardiac function. Scientific advance may provide the way out of the ethical dilemma created by emerging biotechnologies.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 10, 2005
Rapid Recovery from Mass Extinction Event

  • Two American paleobiologists have uncovered evidence that significantly challenges the evolutionary model for life’s history on Earth but supports the RTB creation model. They found that marine benthic (bottom-dwelling) diversity for the paleocontinent of Laurentia recovered to pre-extinction levels in less than 5 million years after the Late Ordovician mass extinction event 443 million years ago. This limit is four times briefer than what previous researchers had established. Although the limit on this recovery time is not nearly so brief as those placed on the recovery events after the Triassic-Jurassic and Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction events, it is still too brief a time duration to be explained by natural speciation events alone. The RTB biblical creation model accounts for this brief period by ascribing the actions to a superintelligent Creator who replaces extinct species with new ones at a rapid rate.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Challenge to Biological Evolution: Convergence

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 8, 2005
Cicada Resource Pulses in Forest Ecosystems

  • An American ecologist has found more evidence for the optimal design of Earth’s life for the benefit of humanity. He discovered that cicadas (of eastern North America) experience synchronized reproductive events that benefit the entire ecosystem. For 17 years cicada nymphs feed on tree xylem, incorporating into their bodies nitrogen absorbed by the trees’ roots. The nymphs emerge all at the same time to produce gigantic mating swarms. Birds feast on the mating adults but are able to consume no more than 15 percent of them. After reproduction the remainder die and fall to the forest floor. The nitrogen accumulated in their carcasses is released in the soil after a burst of activity by microbial decomposers. This spike in soil nitrogen content significantly increases nitrogen content and seed sizes for a large number of plant species. Such optimal designs of the life cycle and behavior of cicadas and of their relationships with all the other species in their ecosystem is evidence for the supernatural design of life on Earth for the maximal benefit of all life and for human beings in particular.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 7, 2005
Biochemical Design: Life’s Molecular Machinery

  • A watch requires a watchmaker. And a motor requires a motor maker. On this basis it logically follows that life requires a Creator. Biochemists have discovered that many biochemical systems function as molecular-level machines. One is the E. coli DNA clamp-loader enzyme complex. This molecular machine "loads" replicases (enzymes that replicate DNA) onto DNA strands. These replicase enzymes possess domains that function as C clamps, holding the enzyme onto DNA. New research reveals important insight into the structure and machine-like character of the clamp-loader complex. The elegant design and machine-like behavior of the E. coli DNA clamp-loader enzyme complex suggests the work of a divine "Motor Maker."
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 6, 2005
Organic Aerosol Lifetimes

  • An interdisciplinary team of American scientists has found more features of Earth and life on Earth that suggest supernatural design. They noted that aerosols (small liquid or solid particles suspended in the atmosphere) play a critical role in maintaining a life-suitable climate. Aerosols affect how much solar radiation is reflected into space or absorbed into the troposphere. They also noted that organic aerosols make up about 37 percent of all aerosols and their research produced the first accurate measure of the lifetimes of various organic aerosols in the troposphere. For Earth’s climate to be kept within the range necessary for the support of abundant advanced life, both the rate of production of organic aerosols into the troposphere and the lifetimes of organic aerosols in the troposphere must be fine-tuned. Such design testifies of a supernatural, superintelligent Creator.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, February 5, 2005
Junk DNA Has Function

  • "Junk" DNA has become an icon of evolution. Evolutionary biologists maintain that because junk DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. Numerous recent studies, however, have identified function for many types of junk DNA. This new study continues in this vein. Researchers have learned that genes associated with junk DNA sequences, called LINEs, change their expression patterns during development in conjunction with programmed changes in the timing of replication. On the other hand, genes found in regions devoid of LINE DNA showed no such relationship. This intriguing result opens up the possibility that LINE DNA plays a critical role in regulating gene usage during organismal development. 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-Friday, February 4, 2005
Confirmation of Big Bang Creation Model

  • Although some atheists and young-earth creationists remain skeptical about the big bang, this biblically consistent cosmic creation model continues to pass test after test. A powerful new test for big bang cosmology would be the level of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in cosmic background radiation. The inflationary hot big bang model predicts that the MHD turbulence level should be low while plasma cosmology models predict that it should be very high. A team of Danish, Chinese, and Russian astronomers in their analysis of the WMAP database placed an upper limit of the MHD turbulence level that proved consistent with inflationary hot big bang models while clearly ruling out all plasma cosmology models. Thus, the big bang creation model has successfully passed another test.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 3, 2005
Biochemical Design: Can Man Do It Better?

  • Yet again, engineers turn to the elegant designs found in nature to inspire new technology. In this new study, researchers have gained insight into the structural proteins that constitute the dragline silk produced by the garden spider, Araneus diadematus. Spider dragline silk possesses extraordinary properties that engineers hope to emulate. Researchers hope that their study of nature’s silk will eventually lead to the commercialization of a new class of fibrous biomaterials. Does it make sense to conclude that the designs found in nature stem from random, undirected processes when they inspire human inventions and are far superior to what human designers can accomplish?
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, February 2, 2005
Comet Test for Creation Models

  • New measurements by astronomers have provided another refutation of a recent prediction made by young-earth creationists while confirming a contravening prediction made by old-earth creationists. Specifically, young-earth creationist organizations have predicted that astronomers will never find any evidence for a huge cloud of comets and asteroids in the outer solar system or in the outer reaches of any other planetary system that could explain a population of short-period comets persisting for billions of years close to the Sun or any other star. Not only have astronomers found extensive evidence for such distant comet clouds in the solar system (the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud), but also they now have established the existence of such distant clouds around many young stars and at least six solar-type stars that are of the same approximate age as the Sun (about four billion years old). Thus, an important prediction of the old-earth creationist model has been vindicated while the corresponding young-earth creationist prediction has been refuted again.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 1, 2005
invitroFertilization Advances Undermine Stem Cell Research

  • Even though embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) holds potential promise to treat several debilitating diseases and injuries, the thought of destroying human embryos troubles many people. Proponents attempt to ease the moral "sting" of ESCR by maintaining that only embryos left over after in vitro fertilization would be used. Often during in vitro fertilization more embryos are produced than needed because of the cost and inefficiency of the procedure. These unused embryos are frequently discarded after the couple producing them decides not to have any more children. Some biomedical researchers have requested access to these embryos prior to their destruction. This new report, however, highlights improvements in in vitro fertilization procedures that reduce the need for extra embryos. This means that in the future fewer unused embryos will be available for ESCR and necessitates the need for biomedical researchers to look elsewhere for a source of stem cells. Fortunately, some types of adult stem cells can develop into a wide range of cell types and could be used instead of embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells can be isolated without destroying human embryos, and may offer an ethical alternative to ESCR.
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