Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

March 2004

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, March 31

  • As recently as ten years ago, microbiologists viewed bacteria as a ‘container” of haphazardly arranged molecules. Recent advances indicate that this view is incorrect. Microbiologists now understand these simplest of life forms to possess a remarkable degree of internal organization at the molecular level. This article adds to this new understanding by describing the dynamic subcellular localization of the MamA protein during the formation of functional magnetosome vesicles. The internal organization of the simplest life forms serve as markers for biochemical design and are expected if a Creator is responsible for life.
  • Related Resource: Origin-of-Life Predictions Face-Off, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Hugh Ross and Fuz Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, March 30

  • Astronomers have discovered more evidence that the universe appears to have been designed for the benefit of human civilization and technology. They accurately measured the silicon abundance in the intergalactic medium. The measured value finds an easy explanation only in the context of supermassive Population III stars (metal-free stars) predicted by big bang creation. This silicon in such an early part of cosmic history sets the stage for the later production of the just-right elements in the just-right abundances at the just-right times for the support of advanced life. These parameters support a supernatural cosmic creation model.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, March 29

  • Two Canadian astronomers discovered additional evidence that our solar system is designed for advanced life. They performed a long-term study of the stability of asteroids and comets in a planetary system dominated by an inner gas giant of the mass of Jupiter and an outer gas giant of the mass of Saturn. They found that exquisite fine-tuning of the two gas giants’ orbital parameters are necessary to avoid chaos (hence, catastrophic terrestrial collisions) in the distribution and orbital elements of the asteroids and comets. The just-right orbital parameters of Jupiter and Saturn for the benefit of life on Earth are indicative of supernatural foresight, planning, and design.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, March 28

  • Astronomers have uncovered a new constraint on a naturalistic explanation for life’s origin. That naturalistic explanation requires as a first step the orienting of all the building block molecules (amino acids and sugars) into all left- or right-handed configurations. The only possible naturalistic mechanism for achieving such “homochirality” is circularly polarized UV light. The astronomers found the highest yet detected circular polarization for a radio jet emanating from the center of a galaxy, namely 3 percent. However, just like with the only other astrophysical source of circular polarized light, that from neutron stars and black holes, the polarization level is too low and too broadband to solve the homochirality problem for a naturalistic origin of life.
  • Related Resource: Homochirality Problem Still a Problem, Creation Update (airdate 02-24-2004)
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Hugh Ross and Fuz Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, March 27

  • What is the minimum complexity for life? For the evolutionary model to work, life in its minimal form must be simple. In contrast, RTB’s creation model predicts that life in its minimal state is irreducibly complex. This work provides added support to the notion that minimal life requires 250-500 genes. In this study researchers were able to remove a large number of "dispensable" genes from the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. This approach has numerous biotechnology applications, but also suggests a new approach to determine life’s minimal complexity. Irreducible complexity supports the idea that life is the product of a Creator.
  • Related Resource: Life’s Minimum Complexity – Archaeal Parasite, Creation Update (airdate 10-21-03).
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Hugh Ross and Fuz Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, March 26

  • Many consider the 99% genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees as evidence for biological evolution. This 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 brain. This study indicates that the gene expression pattern for humans and chimpanzees is more similar than it is for chimpanzees and gorillas. Still, these researchers noted significant differences in gene usage for the anterior cingulated cortex of humans and chimpanzees. This brain region displays high levels of activity during cognitive tasks. Researchers think that this may explain the profound differences between human and chimpanzee brain function. It appears that the Creator used the same building blocks (genes) to construct both humans and chimpanzees, but used them in very different ways.
  • Related Resource: Humans and Chimps Differ, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, March 25

  • German astronomers have strengthened the case for the design of a spiral galaxy’s bulge mass (the nucleus of stars at the center) for the support of life. Their research shows a much tighter correlation than previous studies had shown between a galaxy’s bulge mass and the mass of its central black hole. Consequently, any galaxy with a large bulge mass assuredly will possess a black hole of such great mass as to guarantee the sterilization of that galaxy (no possibility for life). However, a small bulge mass means that the heavy elements necessary for life will not reach the right galactic location for life to exist. This discovery shows that the bulge mass must be just-right, as it is in the Milky Way, and thereby adds to the cumulative case for supernatural cosmic creation.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, March 24

  • Given its mechanism, evolution should not repeatedly produce the same outcome. Yet this study shows that this occurred. The authors of this research report on the origin of arthrin, a protein complex found in some insects. Based on their analysis, it appears that arthrin emerged independently in Diptera and Hemiptera. The independent, multiple origins of arthrin challenges the veracity of the theory of evolution, but finds ready explanation if a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
  • Related Resource: Convergence: Evidence for a Single Creator, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, March 23 

  • According to evolutionary models, humans and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor. If this is true, then paleoanthropologists should be able to show that hominids in the fossil record descended from a single ape-like species in a branching tree-like manner starting five to six million years ago. The hominid fossil record fails to display this expected pattern, however. Throughout the hominid fossil record, paleoanthropologists observe a menagerie of co-existing hominid species. This trend continues all the way back to 7 million years ago. Instead of a single species that gave birth to two evolutionary branches (apes and hominids), paleoanthropologists now believe that a plethora of hominids existed 6 to 7 million years ago. This study further exacerbates this problem. Based on newly discovered teeth, these researchers reclassify Ardipithecus ramidus specimens that date at 5.2, 5.6 and 5.8 million years in age as a new species, Ardipithecus kadabba. With this discovery, hominid diversity, at the time when these primates first appear in the fossil record, increases. Human evolutionary models fail to meet this key prediction.
  • Related Resource: Toumai Man Offers Evolutionists No Hope, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, March 22

  • Japanese astronomers have discovered a new design feature necessary for advanced life to live on Earth: avoidance of superbubbles. A superbubble is a ball of hot gas blown out by a type II supernova. A team of astronomers determined that the nonthermal x-ray radiation from the shell of a superbubble can remain deadly for at least ten million years, which is about ten thousand times longer than previously thought possible. Consequently, a new requirement for advanced life in any planetary system is that there be no nearby superbubbles that are younger than ten million years. The lack of such harmful effects in our galactic neighborhood in relatively recent cosmic history is consistent with the notion of a Creator who designed our galaxy as a place that could facilitate advanced life forms.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, March 21

  • One of the necessary steps in the evolutionary origin-of-life scenario is the emergence of homochirality in amino acids and sugars. Researchers have been unable to identify any chemical or physical mechanism that can produce 100% chiral enrichment. In this study, two researchers evaluate whether or not the slight enrichment of homochirality observed for some amino acids found in the Murchison meteorite could be transferred to sugars that are produced by amino-acid catalyzed reactions. These researchers posit that if this is the case, then it’s possible that amino acids delivered to early Earth by extraterrestrial means may be responsible for generating homochirality in sugars made on early Earth. These researchers discovered that under even the most ideal conditions only a slight enrichment towards homochirality occurs. To date, all attempts to explain the origin of homochirality have failed. If this necessary chemical property of life cannot be accounted for by natural processes, then evolutionary explanations for the origin of life cannot be valid.
  • Related Resource: Homochirality Problem Still a Problem, Creation Update (airdate 02-24-2004)
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Hugh Ross and Fuz Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, March 20

  • Given its mechanism, evolution should not repeatedly produce the same outcome. Yet this study shows that this occurred. The authors of this research report on the origin of a specialized form of photosynthesis, called crassulacean acid metabolism, from an evolutionary perspective. Based on their analysis, it appears that crassulacean acid photosynthesis emerged at least three times independently in the Bromeliaceae family of plants. The independent, multiple origins of the complex crassulacean acid metabolic system challenges the veracity of the theory of evolution, but finds ready explanation if a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
  • Related Resource: Convergence: Evidence for a Single Creator, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, March 19

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, March 18

  • Given its mechanism, evolution should not repeatedly produce the same outcome. Yet this study shows that this occurred. The authors of this research report that the cardiovascular risk factor LPA protein emerged independently in primates (baboons and humans) and an insectivore (hedgehog). The independent, multiple origins of the LPA protein challenges the veracity of the theory of evolution, but finds ready explanation if a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
  • Related Resource: Convergence: Evidence for a Single Creator, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, March 17

  • Genetic studies of mitochondrial DNA taken from representatives of different population groups indicate that humanity had a recent origin from a single location. Mitochondrial DNA analysis also indicates that humanity’s original population size was small and that all of humanity traces back to a single woman, called mitochondrial Eve. These results are consistent with the biblical account of humanity’s origin. One point of departure, however, is the date for mitochondrial Eve. Molecular clock analysis indicates that Eve lived around 150,000 years ago, about 50,000 years outside the biblically allowable range for Adam and Eve’s creation (10,000 to 100,000 years ago). A growing body of evidence, however, suggests that the mitochondrial DNA molecular clock may be inaccurate on the high side. This study adds to this idea. With a more realistic mitochondrial DNA date (likely well under 100,000 years ago), the biblical account of humanity’s origin has even more powerful scientific confirmation.
  • Related Resource: Complications with mDNA Dating Methods, Creation Update (January 14, 2003).

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, March 16

  • Many are troubled by embryonic stem cell research, since it involves the destruction of human embryos. This report describes the use of embryonic cells from pig pancreas to reverse diabetes in rats. This indicates that cross-species transplants of embryonic cells may be useful to treat human diseases and injuries. This technology holds the hope of restoring lost tissue function without relying on embryonic stem cells. Scientific advance may provide the way out of the ethical dilemma created by emerging biotechnologies.
  • Related Resource: A New Direction for Stem Cell Research, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: A Christian Perspective on Biotechnology, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, March 15

  • A team of astronomers has discovered another parameter that must be fine-tuned in order to facilitate complex life. They observed that galaxies in the vicinity of the Milky Way manifest a slow but measurable merger rate compared to galaxies located at great distances. This means that the merger rate in galaxies for the past few billion years is much less than it was for earlier times. A high and sustained merger rate in earlier times is necessary to foster the kind of star formation and ongoing buildup of heavy elements so that life could arise at the right time in cosmic history. A low merger rate in recent times is critical for ensuring that life is not totally and permanently wiped out. This discovery indicates supernatural foresight, planning, and design.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: The Creator and The Cosmos, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, March 14

  • A supernova study has uncovered more evidence that the universe appears to have been designed for the benefit of human civilization and technology. An astronomer found that a rare type of supernova must have been responsible for producing much of the rare elements on Earth. While most of these elements are not critical for making life possible, they do factor into humanity’s capacity to sustain a high-technology civilization. The possibility for such a civilization depends on this rare type of supernova exploding at the just-right time and place relative to the condensing gas cloud that formed the solar system. The demonstrated fine-tuning of this event indicates supernatural foresight, planning, and design.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, March 13

  • A team of astronomers has discovered another parameter that must be fine-tuned in order to facilitate complex life. They found that three different kinds of stars contributed to forming the life-essential s-process (slow nucleosynthesis) elements on Earth. Stars of all three types must predate the emergence of the solar system and they must form, burn, and scatter their ashes in the just-right amounts in the vicinity of the nebula that led to the formation of the solar system. This unlikely series of events is indicative of supernatural foresight, planning, and design.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, March 12

  • Paley’s classic Watchmaker argument is thought by many atheists to have been discredited by the work of 18th century skeptic, David Hume. However, the eerie resemblance between biomolecular machines in the cell and man-made devices revitalizes this powerful argument for Intelligent Design. Adding to the growing list of literal machines inside the cell is kinesin. This molecular motor functions as a Brownian ratchet. This new study provides additional understanding into the mechanism of kinesin’s operation and new insight into its machine-like behavior. 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.
    • Lisa M. Klump et al., “Kinesin’s Second Step,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 101 (2004), 3444-49.
  • Related Resource: Nanodevices Make Megascopic Statement, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Travels to the Nanoworld, by Michael Gross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, March 11

  • Given its mechanism, evolution should not repeatedly produce the same outcome. Yet this study shows that this occurred. The authors of this research report on the origin of a specialized form of photosynthesis, called crassulacean acid metabolism, from an evolutionary perspective. Based on their analysis, it appears that crassulacean acid photosynthesis emerged at least three times, independently in the Bromeliaceae family of plants. The independent, multiple origins of the complex crassulacean acid metabolic system challenges the veracity of the theory of evolution, but finds ready explanation if a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
  • Related Resource: Convergence: Evidence for a Single Creator, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, March 10

  • In order for human evolution to be a fact, paleoanthropologists must reliably construct the evolutionary pathway from the last common ape-like ancestor to modern humans. This perspective article illustrates the confusion and difficulty that paleoanthropologists face when they attempt to use the hominid fossil record to describe human evolution. As this article points out, many of the assumptions that these scientists employ lack merit and lead to erroneous results. The inability of paleoanthropologists to establish clearly delineated evolutionary pathways makes the notion of human evolution at least formally untenable.
  • Related Resource: The Unreliability of Hominid Phylogenetic Analysis Challenges The Human Evolutionary Paradigm, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, March 9

  • A new discovery challenges the naturalistic paradigm for life’s history on Earth. Zoologists reevaluated a fossil in a British museum of a winged insect possessing double-hinged mandibles (jaws). The chert in which the insect was found is between 396 and 407 million years old. This date establishes that certain modern insect features have been stable — that is, not evolving — for at least the past 400 million years. It also establishes that these modern insect features must have arisen relatively rapidly previous to 400 million years ago. Such a history for insect morphology poses a challenge to naturalistic models of biological evolution at a foundational level, but is easily explained from a creation model perspective.
  • Product Spotlight: The Genesis Question, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, March 8

  • Two Japanese astronomers have discovered why only a very few galaxies are candidates for the possible support of life. Life is possible only in a large galaxy, but for all but a few large galaxies the mass of their central black hole is too large. The astronomers found that stellar radiation in the galactic bulge drives the mass accretion (gas) on to the central black hole. Consequently, all large elliptical galaxies and all spiral galaxies with a large bulge will produce a central black hole too large to permit life’s survival. It seems no accident that the Milky Way is fine-tuned for life.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, March 7

  • Many consider the 99% genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees to be incontrovertible evidence for evolution. This study demonstrates that while a high degree of genetic similarity exists, the way in which those genes are used (gene expression) is quite different. Researchers think that this 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.
    • Wolfgang Enard et al., “Differences in DNA Methylation Patterns between Humans and Chimpanzees,” Current Biology 14 (2004), R148-R149.
    • NO ABSTRACT FOR THIS ARTICLE.
  • Related Resource: “Humans and Chimps Differ,” by Dr. Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, March 6

  • One of the central ideas in the theory of evolution is the emergence of all life from the last universal common ancestor (commonly called LUCA). This review article highlights some of the challenges that evolutionary biologists face in their efforts to identify LUCA. For example, it is not clear if LUCA lived under hot-temperature or cold-temperature conditions. Evolutionary biologists have only identified 60 genes that are universally common to all life. In principle, these would constitute LUCA’s gene set. Yet, it is ten times too small to constitute even minimal life. Some evolutionary biologists suggest that LUCA was not a single organism, but a community. Mathematical analysis, however, indicates that this type of community would be unstable. The inability to root the evolutionary tree of life calls into question the validity of the theory of biological evolution at a foundational level.
    • John Whitfield, “Born in a Watery Commune,” Nature 427 (2004), 674-76.
    • NO ABSTRACT FOR THIS ARTICLE
  • Related Resource: Origin-of-Life Predictions Face-Off, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Hugh Ross and Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, March 5

  • Skeptics often point to supposed “bad designs” in nature as proof that the God of the Bible is not directly involved in creating life, and therefore does not exist. One such example is that the bronchial system in the human lung is not optimally designed to provide maximum efficiency in distributing air with minimal dissipation. In fact, the system is slightly oversized. A physicist, a mathematician, and an anatomist joined forces to demonstrate that the “less than optimal” design of the human lung actually is optimal when one takes into account physiological variability, the fact that humans show slight variations in the sizes of their internal organs. A more “optimal” design of the bronchial tree of human lungs would mean that many more humans would suffer from asthma and other lung disorders. Once again, what may appear on the surface to be an evolutionary quirk or “bad” design, actually reveals, with more detailed study, the careful, loving work of a Creator.
  • Product Spotlight: The Problem of Evil, 2004 Message of the Month series

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, March 4

  • Astronomers have discovered a new design feature necessary to enable advanced life to live on Earth. They found evidence that a number of the bright stars in the solar neighborhood are of extragalactic origin. That is, some of the brightest stars in the night sky may be the remnants of a satellite galaxy or star cluster that was disrupted by the Milky Way Galaxy’s gravity. Previously, astronomers thought such disruptions did not affect the environment of the solar system. The fact that they do introduces a new risk factor for life on Earth. Bright stars with aberrant galactic orbits could either gravitationally disturb the solar system or shower it with deadly radiation. The fact that these stars exhibit neither harmful characteristic is consistent with a Creator who designed our galaxy as a place that could facilitate advanced life forms.
  • Related Resource: A Precise Plan for Humanity, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, March 3

  • Many are troubled by embryonic stem cell research, since it involves the destruction of human embryos. This report describes the potential of using adult stem cells to repair nerves and retina cells. This insight may be useful in coaxing nonregenerating tissues to regenerate without relying on embryonic stem cells. Scientific advance may provide the way out of the ethical dilemma created by emerging biotechnologies.
  • Related Resource: A New Direction for Stem Cell Research, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: A Christian Perspective on Biotechnology, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, March 2

  • Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, has been a popular candidate for the emergence of life through evolution. Although the possibility of life existing on the surface of Europa has already been called into question, scientists still cling to the hope that life could exist beneath the surface. But now, two astronomers have put a damper on this prospect as well. They point out that Europa’s primordial ocean most likely was sulfidic and, therefore, that sulfur beds several kilometers thick could exist inside Europa. Such sulfur would totally frustrate both the origin and survivability of life in Europa. As scientists continue to probe the universe for life, we predict that such studies will provide abundant data for the complex nature of the origin of life, inevitably supporting supernatural creation.
  • Related Resource: Origin-of-Life Predictions Face-Off, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, March 1

  • The search for life on other planets has hit a technical obstacle. Two planetary scientists have demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy (a technique that measures scattered radiation from a light source) cannot be used to establish the existence of life’s remains on extraterrestrial bodies. They point out that a Raman spectrum is unable to distinguish the difference between kerogen (a residue of life) and disordered carbonaceous material which arises from nonbiological processes (nonlife). In fact, they warn researchers not to exploit Raman spectroscopy to prematurely announce the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
  • Related Resource: Origin-of-Life Predictions Face-Off, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross