Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

May 2006

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Old-Earth Idea Predates Darwinian Evolution

  • A historical review of geology clearly demonstrates that the concept of Earth’s antiquity preceded Darwin by at least 50 years. Many young-earth creationists (YECs) have argued that the concept of a billions-of-years-old Earth and universe arose from attempts to provide Darwin’s theory of evolution adequate time to operate. In fact, however, as 18thcentury scientists sought to understand the geological strata and fossil record, many tried to correlate them with the biblical flood. Further, scientists and theologians closely debated the proper interpretations without the major conflict seen today between the conventional geological community and those holding a young-earth view. Eventually, an ancient Earth provided the only compelling interpretation of the geological record. The history of geology chronicled in this book negates the YEC claim that scientists advocated an ancient Earth to give Darwinian evolution time to produce life and, eventually, human beings.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Biochemical Design: Quality Control of DNA Replication

  • Researchers have gained new insight into the role of a DNA polymerase (Pol δ) that provides quality control for DNA replication and ongoing evidence for intelligent design. Pol δ "proofreads" the work of DNA polymerase α which synthesizes new DNA chains. When Pol δ discovers an error, it corrects the mistake-ensuring the high fidelity of DNA replication. Well-designed, human-engineered systems include quality control checkpoints at critical junctures to ensure efficient production of high-quality products. Similarly, many biochemical operations inside the cell employ quality control procedures and, hence, appear to be designed. As biochemists continue to characterize the cell’s chemical systems, the evidence for supernatural design mounts.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, May 29, 2006
New Signs of Life on Mars?

  • Scientists who found organic material in a Martian meteorite that struck Earth claim it originated from Martian organisms, but the claim seems illegitimate. Given the track record of Martian life claims and the history of the meteorite (named Nakhla), it seems more reasonable that terrestrial contamination explains the findings. Detailed study of Nakhla revealed organic matter residing in thin veins similar to findings in basaltic glass of modern ocean crustal rock on Earth. However, given the history of Nakhla (it fell to Earth in Egypt in 1911, killing a dog) and the abundance of terrestrial life, scientists expect rampant contamination. Although the scientists claim to have accounted for contamination, RTB concurs with a prominent astrobiologist’s statement, "In Nakhla, I assume it’s contamination. Prove me wrong."
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, May 28, 2006
Biochemical Design: Proteins with Machine-Like Parts

  • Scientists have discovered that insect flight muscles reveal the machine-like properties of biomolecules and provide evidence that life comes from a Creator. One of the most remarkable advances in the last two decades of biochemical research is the recognition that some biomolecules inside the cell are comprised of components that are strict analogs to the components used in man-made devices. A team of biochemists has identified two more examples. The scientists were studying projectin and kettin, proteins that impart stiffness to the flight muscles of insects. Their research demonstrates that when these two proteins are exposed to mechanical stresses, which cause them to unfold, they rapidly refold utilizing a molecular spring-like mechanism. The British natural theologian William Paley argued 200 years ago that just as a watch requires a watchmaker, so too, life logically requires a Creator, since biological systems appear to be machine-like. Twenty-first century science continues to add vigor to Paley’s argument.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, May 27, 2006
Binary Stars Tend to Eject Planets

  • Studies of planetary system dynamics affirm the fine-tuning demonstrated in the solar system, which, in turn, points to supernatural design. Scientists believe that planets around binary stars (two-star systems that are common in the universe) tend to get ejected from the host star, but some simulations have produced stable planetary orbits in such systems. More detailed investigations have shown that the additional star contributes resonances to the system, meaning that the planet experiences repeated gravitational tugs that eventually destabilize its orbit. If the companion star is larger or has a higher eccentricity, the region of stable planetary orbits shrinks to small distances from the main star. Thus, binary stars virtually preclude planetary systems with both rocky and gas giant planets (which protect inner, rocky planets like Earth from asteroidal and cometary bombardment). These simulations further illuminate the fine-tuning required to form a planetary system capable of sustaining long-standing life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, May 26, 2006
New Method Will Shine Light on the Complexity of Earth’s First Life

  • A new microscope methodology holds the potential to provide critical insight into what Earth’s first tiny fossils may have looked like. This new technique produces high-resolution (submicron), three-dimensional images of microfossils and reveals the fine-structure of cellular morphology. The technique also reveals the degree of degradation of the microfossils, important for determining whether the microfossils are from a biological source or if they are artifacts of an inorganic process. This type of data would provide important insight into the biological complexity of the fossilized microorganisms, if indeed they are authentic. Such information can be used to evaluate both evolutionary and creation models for life’s origin and early history. RTB’s origin-of-life creation model (based on Genesis 1:2) posits that God directly intervened to bring about Earth’s first life, which appeared early and was metabolically complex. Evolutionary models, on the other hand, require the first life-forms to be metabolically simple and to emerge after a vast period of percolation time on the order of hundreds of millions of years. Scientific advance will help show which model is correct.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, May 25, 2006
Increase of Atmospheric Oxygen Preceded Cambrian Explosion

  • Biological and geochemical causes of an increase in atmospheric oxygen before the Cambrian explosion reveal fine-tuning in Earth’s biosphere. The larger complex animals that arrived suddenly ~550 million years ago (during the Cambrian explosion) required an increase in atmospheric oxygen (which occurred around 600 million years ago) to survive. A team of scientists has provided evidence that a more abundant and diverse land-based biosphere fundamentally changed the weathering cycle of continental land masses. Consequently, an increase in clays provided more efficient burial of carbon, which otherwise reacts with oxygen. So, the production of these clays caused an increase in atmospheric oxygen immediately preceding the advent of larger complex animals. Such sequencing corroborates RTB’s creation model, wherein a supernatural Creator timed the geological, biological, and astronomical processes precisely to prepare Earth for advanced life, particularly human life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Rapid Recovery after Extinctions: Fossil Record Evidence for Creation

  • New research on patterns in the fossil record provides support for RTB’s scientifically testable creation model but raises more doubts about evolutionary models. The fossil record reveals a history of life punctuated with several mass-extinction events. Typically, following these mass-extinction episodes, ecosystems comprised of new fauna and flora appear. The evolutionary paradigm maintains that undirected evolutionary processes led to life’s recovery. A new study, however, indicates otherwise. Scientists from Harvard University have demonstrated that the significant lag time between mass extinctions and recoveries (required to support an evolutionary explanation) disappears when they take into account the incompleteness of the fossil record. Rather, it appears that new ecosystems arose rapidly, well under 5 million years, after a mass-extinction event. This time period is far too rapid to make sense from an evolutionary standpoint, but it makes perfect sense if a Creator has been responsible for life’s history. In fact, the discovery of rapid recoveries after mass extinctions seems to have been anticipated in Psalm 104:27-30.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Skeptic Argues that SETI Scientists Have Religious Motivation

  • In a recent book review, a prominent skeptic contends that scientists involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) deify the intelligent beings they pursue. As noted, SETI continues to be a scientific discipline with no data. The reviewer and book note that most SETI pioneers had a religious background and were motivated by distinctly religious reasons. However, few scientists would question the scientific legitimacy of SETI. In contrast, despite an abundance of data supporting RTB’s creation model, many scientists still regard any model that invokes supernatural input with severe skepticism. However, the data in support of RTB’s model continues to grow, as does its acceptance within the scientific community.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, May 22, 2006
Convergence and Electric Fishes

  • A new discovery of biological convergence, where similar traits or designs appear in otherwise unrelated organisms, provides evidence for supernatural creation. Some fishes possess electric organs. These structures produce weak electrical emissions as communication signals. It turns out that electric organs appear to have evolved two times independently in the mormyriforms in Africa and in the gymnotiforms of South America. Even more remarkably, the appearance of this complex organ is mirrored at the molecular level. A protein complex called a sodium channel, which plays a role in the movement of charged sodium ions in the electric organ, appears (from an evolutionary standpoint) to have had an identical evolutionary history in both types of electrical fishes. However, famed evolutionary paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of historical contingency maintains that evolution will not produce the same outcome repeatedly, since its mechanism relies on a sequence of chance events. This newly discovered example of convergence challenges the veracity of evolution, but supports RTB’s creation model, which posits that a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought new life-forms into existence.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, May 21, 2006
Biologically Inspired Computer Networks

  • A team of computer network designers has drawn inspiration from the design inherent in biological systems. A biological system’s ability to survive relies critically on its ability to respond to changes in environment, even when this adaptability means suboptimal resource usage in a particular environment. Drawing insight from how a select bacterium responds to change, the team of computer experts devised a networking scheme that operated much more robustly in noisy environments where various network nodes crashed. Such human-designed systems increasingly resemble biological systems that supposedly arose by chance. RTB’s creation model argues that a better match to the data involves a supernatural Creator who designed the biological systems.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, May 20, 2006
Convergence of Protein-Import Systems

  • New understanding of the origin of the mitochondria’s protein-import machinery contravenes the theory of evolution. This work indicates that from an evolutionary standpoint, the receptor which binds proteins and readies them for import into the mitochondria appears to have evolved independently in animals and plants to produce a complex with identical structure and function. This result is unreasonable given the chance-driven nature of the evolutionary process. According to Stephen Jay Gould, if one were to rewind the tape of life and replay it, the outcome would be different each time. In the face of this prediction, numerous recent examples of repeated evolution, or convergence, have been discovered, including this study on protein import into mitochondria. Biological convergence gainsays evolution but validates biblical creation in that it would be reasonable to expect that a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought new life-forms into existence.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, May 19, 2006
Disease Protection Research Affirms Biblical Teaching

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, May 18, 2006
New Evidence for Early, Complex Life on Earth

  • Scientists have discovered evidence for the complexity of early life-forms that supports RTB's origin-of-life creation model. RTB's model maintains that a Creator supernaturally introduced metabolically complex life early in Earth's history. Evolutionary models, on the other hand, require the first life-forms to be simple and to emerge gradually over hundreds of millions of years. Over the last decade, scientists have uncovered geochemical and fossil evidence demonstrating that metabolically complex microbes were present on Earth as early as 3.8 billion years ago. This evidence corresponds to the first instance in Earth's history in which the planet could sustain life. New work identifies a new type of fossil evidence for complex microbial ecosystems early in Earth's history (about 3.2 billion years ago). These microbial remains consist of macroscopic carpet-like mats produced by microorganisms in tidal regions. The chemical fingerprint of the carbon associated with these mats indicates it was produced by microbes. This novel evidence for the metabolic complexity of early life refutes evolutionary models but resonates with a model positing that a Creator supernaturally intervened to make the first life-forms on Earth.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Supernova Remnant Discoveries Affirm an Ancient Cosmos

  • A radio search for supernova remnants (SNRs) answers a common objection from those who argue for a young (six- to ten-thousand-year-old) cosmos. The number of currently known Galactic SNRs falls far below the number predicted for a 12-billion-year-old Milky Way Galaxy. Young-earth creationists use this discrepancy to contend that the Galaxy cannot be billions of years old, but instead is a few thousand years old. However, astronomers expect these SNRs to be difficult to detect based on size and brightness biases and source confusion in previous surveys. Recently, a sensitive, high-resolution radio survey of the Galactic plane revealed 35 new SNRs, more than tripling the number known in this part of the Galaxy. This result strongly suggests that similar surveys in the future will completely resolve the discrepancy between predictions and observations. Consequently, the young-earth objection no longer stands and RTB’s cosmic creation model receives new affirmation.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Protein Manufacture by the Cell’s Machinery Uses Quality Control

  • New biochemical research provides insight into one of the cell’s quality control operations and, in the process, yields evidence for Intelligent Design. One of the most important processes in the cell, protein production, occurs at structures in the cell called ribosomes. Molecules called messenger RNAs direct this process. The cell’s machinery produces messenger RNA by copying instructions that specify the protein’s structure, housed in DNA. The cell’s quality control machinery will quickly destroy messenger RNA molecules that are improperly produced. Researchers have found that messenger RNA molecules that cause protein production at the ribosome to stall are also destroyed by separate components in the cell’s machinery. Thus, it appears that the quality control operation for protein production is much more extensive and complex than originally thought. As biochemists continue to characterize the cell’s chemical systems, the evidence for design-and for life’s Designer-mounts.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, May 15, 2006
Design Discovered in Shape of Inner Ear Structure

  • Mathematical modeling of the cochlea in the inner ear reveals the work of a divine Designer. The cochlea, a small, spiral-shaped organ, serves as the sound-sensing organ in advanced mammals. Besides saving space in the skull, scientists had struggled to find any function for the tightly wound spiral shape of the cochlea. Recent research demonstrates how the curled shape enhances sensitivity to low-frequency sound vibrations. Not only does the spiral shape save cranial space, but also it increases the auditory range of advanced mammals, particularly humans. Such fine-tuning and optimization of multiple parameters-highly unlikely in an evolutionary framework-corroborate the supernatural signature predicted by RTB’s cosmic creation model.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, May 14, 2006
Biochemistry Supports Bible’s Long Life Spans

  • Recent advances in the biochemistry of aging make the long life spans recorded in Genesis 5 and 11 scientifically plausible. For many skeptics, these long life spans seem absurd. But in a recent study researchers have demonstrated that feeding the seasonal fish, Nothobranchius furzeri, resveratrol, a compound found in grapes, increased life spans by nearly 60%. This compound presumably activates a family of proteins called sirtuins. Previous studies have shown that when sirtuin activity increases, so does life expectancy. Biochemists believe this compound may one day be part of an arsenal of medicines that will dramatically increase human longevity, perhaps to several hundred years. If scientists can significantly manipulate life spans by pharmaceutical and biochemical intervention, it is not unreasonable for a Creator to adjust human biochemistry to permit long life spans and then shorten them after 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-Saturday, May 13, 2006
Earliest Galaxies Show Importance of Humanity's Timing

  • The earliest optical image of galaxies demonstrates that the early universe was inhospitable for life, pointing to a planned arrival for life and, eventually, humanity. Using the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), a team of astronomers has demonstrated that a large fraction of galaxies merged in the early universe (8-10 billion years ago). While many other factors argue that life must have emerged later in the universe, the high fraction of galactic mergers confirms that stable planetary systems would have indeed been rare. As galaxies merge, gravitational interactions between stars dramatically increase, catastrophically disrupting any existing stable planetary systems. However, these mergers do serve a purpose by fueling star formation, which produces the elements necessary for life. RTB’s creation model predicts such fine-tuning of the timing of life’s introduction.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, May 12, 2006
More Evidence for Early, Complex Life on Earth

  • New research by Japanese scientists that identifies an early source of methanogens on Earth also provides support for RTB’s origin-of-life creation model. RTB’s model predicts the early appearance of metabolically complex life on Earth. Evolutionary models, on the other hand, require the first life-forms to be simple and to appear gradually over hundreds of millions of years. Over the last decade, scientists have uncovered geochemical and fossil evidence showing that metabolically complex microbes were present on Earth as early as 3.8 billion years ago. This data corresponds to the first instance in Earth’s history in which the planet could sustain life. New work has detected methane gas in rocks that date between 3.45 and 3.5 billion years ago. The chemical fingerprint associated with the methane indicates that it was produced by methanogens-bacteria which produce methane-at the time the rocks formed. These results, in combination with earlier studies, indicate that a complex microbial community was present remarkably early in Earth’s history. The metabolic complexity of early life can be readily explained by a model stipulating that a Creator supernaturally intervened to make the first life-forms on Earth.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, May 11, 2006
Distant Galaxies Resolve Observational Discrepancy

  • Making use of new simulations of the history of the universe, astronomers have resolved a distance measurement anomaly that also strengthens RTB’s cosmic creation model. The discrepancy lies in the fact that astronomers observe a much larger number of giant arcs (images of gravitationally lensed distant galaxies) than predicted by past simulations of the evolution of the universe. However, previous simulations did not include galaxies out to far-enough distances with high-enough resolution. New simulations rectifying these deficiencies show a much higher probability of lensing for distant galaxies (those with redshift greater than 2), resolving the discrepancy between predictions and observations. Consequently, RTB’s creation model, which relies on accurate distance measurements, rests on firmer ground.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Man-Made Molecular Motors Highlight Elegant Design of Nature’s Motors

  • Human engineers have produced a tiny molecular motor that, by comparison, points to superior design in nature’s motors. Scientists have synthesized a motor that rotates objects bound to it when irradiated with UV radiation. Even though this work could be considered "science at its very best," the motor’s operation is crude and cumbersome. This motor stands in sharp contrast to the incredibly complex, efficient, and elegant rotary motors (like the bacterial flagellum and F1-F0 ATPase) found inside the cell. Therefore, it makes little sense to regard the molecular motors inside the cell as the product of blind, undirected, random processes, when they are far superior to anything that some of the best chemists in the world can produce.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Object Confirms Large Reservoir of Trans-Neptunian Objects

  • The discovery of a peculiar Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) diminishes a common argument used by young-earth creationists (YECs). YECs argue that the solar system must be less than a few tens of thousands of years old, or all the short-period comets would have evaporated. Traditionally, astronomers have postulated a group of small cometary and asteroidal bodies beyond Neptune, called the Kuiper Belt, that orbit the sun as a supplier of these short-period comets. A team of astronomers recently discovered a KBO on a nearly circular orbit at a large distance from the sun, but with an orbit highly inclined to the plane of the solar system. The existence of this object points to a large, as-yet-undiscovered population of objects well beyond the orbit of Neptune having highly inclined trajectories. If this large reservoir exists, it would easily resupply the short-period comets, thereby removing a common YEC objection to an ancient universe.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, May 8, 2006
Biochemical Design: Quality Control

  • Discovery of a two-stage DNA repair system provides evidence for supernatural design. Many biochemical operations inside the cell employ quality control procedures. One important aspect of the cell’s quality control systems centers on repair of DNA damage. DNA damage occurs, for example, when the proteins involved in DNA replication and recombination become cross-linked to the DNA. Biochemists have had little understanding as to how the cell recovers from this type of DNA damage. New work indicates that the cell’s machinery repairs this damage in two stages. First, the quality control proteins break down the cross-linked protein, leaving a small residue attached to the DNA. The protein residue is then removed from the DNA. Such a quality control process adds to mounting evidence that chemical systems, and hence, life, is the product of a Creator.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, May 7, 2006
Fine-Tuning of the Sun

  • New understanding of stellar formation reveals more fine-tuning in the solar system. Astronomers have known for decades that larger stars form predominantly in multiple-star systems. However, the gravitational interactions of these systems make them unfavorable for the formation of planetary systems. Recent studies have shown that smaller stars are less likely to be part of a multiple-star system. However, smaller stars also pose problems for the formation of habitable planets because the planets must reside closer to the star as the stellar mass decreases. Close proximity to the star leads to tidal locking (as seen for Mercury), where daytime lengths are inordinately large. The solar system contains a single star, large enough to form a diverse planetary system where the habitable planet resides sufficiently far from the star. Such just-right features point to the careful planning of a supernatural Creator who has fine-tuned the solar system for advanced life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, May 6, 2006
Biochemical Design: Information

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, May 5, 2006
Impact of Uranus on Jupiter’s Orbit Reveals Solar System Design

  • The discovery of Uranus’ influence on Jupiter’s orbital properties indicates design in the solar system. Planetary scientists from Colorado propose that variations in Uranus’ orbit may drive the precession (wobble) of Jupiter’s spin axis. This result reveals the far-reaching influence that planets-especially the gas giants because of their large mass-exert on other planets. However, orbital stability critically affects Earth’s capacity to support advanced life such as human beings. Without the gas giants, particularly Jupiter, Earth would experience much heavier bombardment from asteroids and comets. However, without fine-tuning, the gas giants would disrupt the orbital properties of Earth. Either of these outcomes would make Earth uninhabitable for advanced life. The fine-tuned properties of the gas giants’ orbits and sizes argue for the work of a supernatural Designer who crafted the solar system.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, May 4, 2006
Biochemical Design: Optimization of Gene Sequences

  • New research demonstrates that the DNA sequences of genes are optimized to ensure resistance to harmful mutations-a benefit that suggests intelligent design. A gene is a region of DNA that contains information the cell’s machinery needs to produce a protein. Because of the nature of the genetic code, more than one DNA sequence can specify the same protein. Researchers have demonstrated that DNA sequences that comprise genes are not randomly selected from the possible pool of sequences that could conceivably code for a particular protein. Rather, genes use only the sequences inherently resistant to mutations. This optimization can also be found in other biochemical systems and pathways of the cell. Optimization is a hallmark of well-designed, man-made devices. The optimized fine-tuning that is characteristic of biochemical systems also points to design-specifically the Designer found in the Bible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Past CMB Temperature Confirms Creation

  • Astronomers have found evidence in a distant gas cloud that supports a supernatural origin of the universe. Observations of light from distant objects give astronomers pictures of the universe when it was much younger. This light interacts with gas clouds as it travels through space toward Earth. Detailed analysis of how the clouds absorb light reveals information about the cloud’s properties. A team of astronomers detected a distant gas cloud absorbing light from a more distant quasar. The carbon in the gas cloud exhibited a much higher state of excitation (rapid movement) than expected. However, the molecules’ rapid movement could be explained if the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature was 14.2 K (Kelvin). The temperature today is 2.7 K. This temperature matches predictions from RTB’s cosmic creation model, in which the universe started in a hot state and cooled off as it expanded.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Are Humans Still Evolving?

  • Geneticists from the University of Chicago detected microevolutionary changes in the human genome that point to a design feature that ensures survivability of the species. Researchers found hundreds of regions in the human genome that have been influenced by natural selection over the last 15,000 years. These regions contain genes for taste, smell, digestion, skeletal structure, and skin color. This discovery prompted news headlines announcing that "humans are still evolving." (Such verbiage constitutes the logical fallacy of the "complex question.") The data, however, does not support the notion that humans are on a continuous evolutionary journey toward a new species. Nor does it support the naturalistic theory that modern humans emerged from ape-like ancestors over the course of the last 6 million years. These gene changes merely represent microevolutionary changes, indicating that humans have adapted to new environments and dietary changes as they migrated around the world over the last 40,000 years and adopted a sedentary, agricultural-based lifestyle beginning about 12,000 years ago. The ability of species (including humans) to adapt to new environments represents a design feature that provides them with the ability to survive in the face of environmental, predatory, and competitive pressures.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, May 1, 2006
Cosmological Parameters from Supernova Measurements are Reliable

  • A new, reliable method for measuring cosmological parameters validates RTB’s biblical creation model. To measure the expansion history of the universe, astronomers need reliable ways to determine distances. Recently, they started using type Ia supernovae to measure distances and establish the existence of the finely tuned space energy density. However, if gravitational lensing significantly affected the brightness of these supernovae, results obtained from their study would be suspect. Recent results show that while lensing does affect an individual supernova measurement, it does not affect the average values used to calculate the universe’s expansion history. Thus, the evidence for fine-tuning-consistent with the work of a supernatural Designer-exhibited by the space energy density rests on firm ground.
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