Today’s New Reason To Believe

by Jeff Zweerink

In April 2008, the fifth Astrobiology Science Conference convened in Santa Clara, California. According to its mission statement, the SETI Institute, which hosts these conferences, seeks to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.”

One of the sessions at the conference focused on how the habitability of the galaxy varied in space and time. Two of the talks in that session each highlighted an issue important for human life here on Earth. The first talk, by Australian astronomer Charles Lineweaver describes the regions of the galaxy meeting three requirements for life (from strictly natural processes):

1. enough elements to form terrestrial planets,
2. sufficient time for biological evolution, and
3. an environment free from life-extinguishing supernovae.

This galactic habitable zone is an annulus (ring) around the galactic center that brackets the corotation radius. At this radius, stars orbit the galaxy at the same speed as the spiral arms, thus minimizing passages through the spiral arms. According to Lineweaver&’s calculations, his galactic habitable zone contains less than 10 percent of all the stars ever formed in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Another talk, by Kansas University astronomer Adrian Melott, described a 62-million-year periodicity (cycle of increase and decrease) in the level of biodiversity seen in the fossil record. His research argues that the passage of the sun through the galactic plane—which increases the comet and asteroid bombardment in the solar system—as the cause of the periodicity. If correct, the habitability of a star&’s planets depends not only on its location but also on its path through the galaxy. Since the sun oscillates through the galactic plane every 30 - 35 million years, the solar system would now be starting a passage through the galactic plane, thus beginning a period of increased bombardment (and possible extinction).

Both of these papers, as well as many others presented at the conference, articulate the many factors that must exist simultaneously for a planet to be suitable for advanced life like humans to exist. Such research continues to demonstrate the scientific reasonableness of believing that a supernatural Creator fashioned and designed Earth as a unique habitat for human life.

Previously Posted on November 5th, 2007

Hugh Ross, Ph.D.

Sometimes the shortest path to learn about the scientific details of our planet Earth is to study similar details on other planets where the phenomena under investigation are simpler to investigate and understand. Mars is a good example of such a pathway. It also is a good example of how the study of other planets can expose hidden evidences for supernatural design in our own planet.

In a recent issue of Science a NASA astronomer, Norbert Schorghofer, develops a detailed model for the past forty ice ages on Mars.¹ Using measurements from satellites orbiting Mars, Schorghofer identified three different kinds of ice at the Martian poles: on top a dry layer, on the bottom a massive ice sheet, and in the middle a layer of pore ice. He also identified a large amount of subsurface ice at mid-latitudes.

Schorghofer demonstrated that the mid-latitude subsurface ice was well explained by large intermittent increases in the tilt of Mars’ rotation axis. His explanation implied that, unlike Earth, the main driving force behind Mars’ ice ages was changes in the tilt of its rotation axis. Schorghofer’s model showed that these changes were so dramatic and so rapid as to establish that over the past five million years Mars suffered forty ice age events, each event resulting in a wholesale climate change for the entire Martian surface.

If anything like the Martian experience occurred on Earth, all advanced and large-bodied life would be wiped out. Schorghofer’s study shows that dramatic and rapid climate changes by astronomical forcing (changes in the orbital and rotational characteristics) are the norm for planets. What makes Earth so extraordinary is that the variation in the tilt of its rotation axis is virtually nil and changes in the eccentricity and inclination of its orbit are very small compared to the other solar system planets. Evidently, Earth’s orbital and rotational features have been exquisitely fine-tuned to allow for the long-term survival of advanced life on its surface.

The degree of fine-tuning design in Earth’s orbital and rotational characteristics has become increasingly apparent and contributes to the conclusion that Earth and the solar system have been supernaturally and superintelligently manufactured to make human life and human civilization possible. Thanks to Schorghofer’s work, it should not be too long before scientists uncover even more evidence of God’s handiwork in the design of Earth and the solar system.

1. Norbert Schorghofer, “Dynamics of Ice Ages on Mars,” Nature 449 (September 13, 2007): 192-94.

Posted by Fazale ‘Fuz’ Rana, Ph.D.

I always know when our water purification system isn’t working right. All it takes is a gulp of water from the kitchen tap. The intense salty taste followed by spewed water in the sink is a telltale sign that the system isn’t properly washing the column with the liquid from the brine tank.

Salty water is not good to drink—and it’s distasteful for life. Living organisms can tolerate only so much salt. In fact, because of its antimicrobial effects salt is used to cure and preserve meat. High salt in the milieu kills by drawing water out of the microbial cells through the process of osmosis.

New research indicates that salt may have acted as a preservative of sorts on Mars, preventing life from taking hold early in its history.

Astrobiologists focus a lot of attention on detecting life (and/or the remains of ancient life) on Mars. Many scientists argue that if life exists on Mars, particularly if it’s distinct from Earth life, then it validates the evolutionary paradigm. Unique Martian life-forms would seemingly imply that life had arisen twice, once on Earth and once on Mars.

Evidence for ancient life on Mars carries implications for the origin of life on Earth. As Hugh Ross and I discuss in Origins of Life life’s first appearance on Earth is enigmatic within the evolutionary paradigm. Instead of life emerging gradually over a vast period of time (several hundred million years), it appears suddenly as soon as the Earth can sustain it. And the first life on Earth is remarkably complex, metabolically speaking. This makes little sense from an evolutionary perspective, prompting some origin-of-life researchers to speculate that perhaps life originated on Mars very early in its history and was transported to Earth on Martian meteors. Accordingly, life’s first appearance on Earth about 3.8 billion years ago was not an origination event, but the arrival of life from Mars. If it was transported to Earth, it would seem as if it appeared suddenly in the geological record.

Support for this idea comes from the discovery that ancient Mars was a warm, wet planet. But just because Mars once harbored liquid water on its surface doesn’t necessarily mean that life existed on the Red Planet. Liquid water is only one requirement for life. The temperature, pH, and salinity of the water impact habitability.

Recently a team of astrobiologists from Harvard University determined that the salinity of the water on early Mars, as far back as 4 billion years ago, would have rendered the planet uninhabitable. The water on early Mars appears to have been much saltier than Earth’s sea water. In fact, the water on Mars must have been saltier than bodies of water that harbor halophiles, salt-loving microbes that thrive in high saline environments.

Previous work has demonstrated that high salt levels interfere with the assembly of RNA molecules on mineral surfaces, a central idea in the RNA World hypothesis for the origin of life. Large quantities of salt also frustrate the assembly of fatty acids into primitive cell membranes. These are two key stages in most origin-of-life pathways.

The idea that life existed or originated on Mars early in its history has just been spewed into the sink. The water is way too salty.