Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

August 2004

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, August 31, 2004

  • Given its mechanism, evolution should not produce the same outcome repeatedly. Yet this study shows that this occurred. The authors of this research describe the repeated, independent origins of the brain and inner ear structures needed for flight in birds and pterosaurs. The independent, multiple origins of complex systems like the brain and inner ear challenge the veracity of the theory of evolution, but find ready explanation if a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
  • Related Resource: Fazale R. Rana, “Convergence: Evidence for a Single Creator,” Facts for Faith, Issue 4

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, August 30, 2004

  • For many evolutionary biologists, Archaeopteryx serves as an important example of a transitional intermediate in the fossil record. Even though this specimen is considered to be a bird, it has features that are interpreted as transitional between theropod dinosaurs and birds. These features include teeth, three fingers and a tail. Many think that Archaeopteryx could not fly or at best possessed limited flight capabilities, a characteristic that supports its transitional status. A new study that examined the brain and inner ear structure of Archaeopteryx indicates that it possessed full flight capabilities. This weakens its status as a transitional form. Archaeopteryx was a true bird in every respect, albeit distinct from modern birds. Archaeopteryx’s sudden appearance in the fossil record and the absence of transitional forms that precede it in the fossil record indicate that this creature was the product of divine creation.
  • Related Resource: Fazale Rana, “Feathered Dinosaur or Flightless Bird?” Connections 2 (2000), No. 4
  • Related Product: Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth?

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, August 29, 2004

  • Yet again, scientists’ best efforts pale in comparison to the elegant and sophisticated operation of nature’s biological processes. In this report, the authors describe the difficulties that organic chemists have in their attempts to synthesize natural products. On the other hand, the cell’s biochemical machinery readily produces these relatively simple compounds. Does it make sense to conclude that the compounds and the biochemical systems found in nature stem from random undirected processes when they are far superior to what man can accomplish?
    • K. C. Nicolaou * and Scott A. Snyder, “The Essence of Total Synthesis”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 101 (2004): 11929-36.
  • Related Resource: Fazale R. Rana, “Nanodevices Make Megascopic Statement”
  • Related Product: Michael Gross, Travels to the Nanoworld

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, August 28, 2004

  • "Junk" DNA has become an icon of evolution. Evolutionary biologists maintain that junk DNA provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. This review article describes the newly discovered functional roles that one class of noncoding DNA, endogenous retroviruses, plays in living systems. 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.
  • Related Resource: Fuz Rana, “Yet Another Use for Junk DNA”, Facts for Faith , issue 3
  • Related Product: Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth?

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, August 27, 2004

  • A watch requires a watchmaker. On this basis it logically follows that life requires a Creator. Biochemists have discovered that many molecules inside the cell function as molecular-level machines. In fact, some of these display an eerie resemblance to man-made machines. One is dynein, a molecular motor with “molecular gears” that “shift” in response to the load carried by this protein complex. This study adds new insight into the mechanical operation of this motor protein. 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."
  • Related Resource: Fazale R. Rana, “Nanodevices Make Megascopic Statement”
  • Related Product: Michael Gross, Travels to the Nanoworld

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, August 26, 2004

  • A watch requires a watchmaker. On this basis it logically follows that life requires a Creator. Biochemists have discovered that many molecules inside the cell function as molecular-level machines. In fact, some of these display an eerie resemblance to man-made machines. One is ATP synthase, a literal rotary motor replete with a stator, rotor, and turbine. This study adds new insight into the mechanical operation of this motor protein. 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."
  • Related Resource: Fazale R. Rana, “Nanodevices Make Megascopic Statement”
  • Related Product: Michael Gross, Travels to the Nanoworld

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, August 25, 2004

  • Yet again, scientists’ best efforts pale in comparison to the elegant and sophisticated operation of nature’s biological processes. In this case, researchers describe the total organic synthesis of the marine natural products halichlorine, pinnaic acid, and tauropinnaic acid. Scientists are interested in these compounds because they have anti-inflammatory properties. While the cell’s biochemical machinery readily produces these relatively simple compounds, the world’s best organic chemists struggle to produce them in the laboratory as this report evinces. Does it make sense to conclude that the compounds and the biochemical systems found in nature stem from random undirected processes when they are far superior to what man can accomplish?
    • Hamish S. Christie and Clayton H. Heathcock, “Total Synthesis of(±)-Halichlorine, (±)-Pinnaic acid, and(±)-Tauropinnaic Acid,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 101 (2004):12079-12084.
  • Related Resource: Fazale R. Rana, “Nanodevices Make Megascopic Statement”
  • Related Product: Michael Gross, Travels to the Nanoworld

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, August 24, 2004

  • Yet again, engineers turn to the elegant designs found in nature to inspire new technology. In this case, researchers demonstrate that diatoms (single-celled microbes which produce a rigid, intricate shell from silicon in sea water) can be used to make nanocomposites composed of geranium by feeding them this chemical element. Researchers are interested in geranium nanocomposites for their use as microscopic semiconductors, but struggle to make these materials. At best, production of these materials is expensive and inefficient. Researchers find that the diatoms elaborate metabolic machinery readily produces germanium nanocomposites. Does it make sense to conclude that the designs found in nature stem from random undirected processes when they are far superior to what man can accomplish?
  • Related Resource: Fazale R. Rana, “Nanodevices Make Megascopic Statement”
  • Related Product: Michael Gross, Travels to the Nanoworld

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, August 23, 2004

  • Evolutionary biologists maintain that junk DNA provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. This study demonstrates that one class of noncoding DNA, endogenous retroviruses, plays an important role in protecting the cell from retroviral infections. 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.
  • Related Resource: Yet Another Use for Junk DNA, by Fazale Rana
  • Related Product: Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth?
  • Product Spotlight: Icons of Evolution (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, August 22, 2004

  • 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 the concept. Here its authors show how a single amino acid (glycine) plays a critical role in delivering oxygen to the catalytic site of respiratory oxidase enzymes. Replacing glycine with any other amino acid destroys the enzyme’s catalytic function. Fine-tuning is one hallmark of well-designed man-made devices. Therefore, the fine-tuning, characteristic of biochemical systems signify that life originated from the Creator’s hand.
  • Related Resource: “Fine-Tuning of Aquaporin Membrane,” Creation Update (6-04-2002).
  • Related Product: Michael Gross, Travels to the Nanoworld

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, August 21, 2004

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, August 20, 2004

  • Evolutionary biologists maintain that junk DNA provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. This study demonstrates that one class of non-coding DNA, endogenous retroviruses, plays an important role in protecting the cell from retroviral infections. 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.
  • Related Resource: Yet Another Use for Junk DNA, by Fazale Rana
  • Related Product: Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth?
  • Product Spotlight: Icons of Evolution (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, August 19, 2004

  • Experience teaches that intelligible messages—information—come from intelligent sources. The cell’s biochemical machinery (proteins, DNA, RNA, and oligosaccharides) is information based. This indicates that life stems from an Intelligent Designer. This report affirms this conclusion. The researchers describe the incorporation of short DNA sequences into the genomes of yeast cells. These DNA fragments function as a ‘bar code’ and allow researchers to quickly identify specific yeast cell strains. This highlights the fact that DNA truly is an information-storage molecule. The elegant information-rich biochemical systems of the cell point to the source of life’s information as the Creator described in the Bible.
  • Related Resource: FYI: I.D. in DNA: Deciphering Design in the Genetic Code, by Fazale “Fuz” Rana
  • Related Product: Travels to the Nanoworld, by Michael Gross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, August 18, 2004

  • Foundational for establishing the existence of a transcendent Creator and for several of the strongest design evidences for a supernatural Creator is an accurate determination of the age of the universe. Traditionally, the best method for measuring the universe’s birth date has been the burning time of globular cluster stars. Recently (see Creation Update webcast 6/08/04), a new measurement of the nitrogen-to-oxygen fusion rate by a particle physics lab in Italy pushed the burning time of the oldest globular cluster stars up by nearly a billion years. Now, a team of American astronomers has discovered another adjustment, the inclusion of helium diffusion, to the burning times of globular cluster stars that pulls the age calculation down by about a billion years. The net outcome is that a complete set of all known adjustments to the burning times of the oldest globular cluster stars yields an age for the universe that is consistent with the best measurements based on the WMAP of the cosmic background radiation and the redshifts of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, namely 13.7 ± 0.2 billion years. Thus, the age of the universe is now well established by multiple independent accurate measuring methods.
  • Related Resource: “Speed of carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle,” Creation Update (air-date 6/08/2004)
  • Product Spotlight: A Matter of Days, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, August 17, 2004

  • A new tool for measuring the age of the universe strengthens the case for a biblical big bang creation model. The age of the universe is foundational for the physics of the big bang creation event and for the physics of the histories of stellar burning. The strongest scientific evidences for a supernatural Creator arise from a determination of this age. Traditionally, the best method for measuring the universe’s birth date has been the burning time of globular cluster stars—only recently superseded by cosmic ages from cosmic background radiation maps and deep surveys of galaxy velocities. Now, a team of American and Dutch astronomers has found a technique for increasing the cosmic age precision, based on globular clusters (clusters of very densely grouped stars). They discovered a correlation between the radii of dense cores in globular clusters and their burning times. This correlation will give astronomers an independent tool for selecting out the oldest globular clusters in a galaxy. Calculating the age of the universe based on only the very oldest globular clusters will yield a more accurate cosmic age determination. Also, since the formation of a core in a globular cluster is a dynamical effect based on the gradual accumulation of massive stars and black holes at the cluster’s center, core radii of globular clusters stand as an irrefutable proof that the young-universe creationist model is false.
  • Related Resource: “Big Bang - The Bible Taught it First!” by John Rea and Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: A Matter of Days, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, August 16, 2004

  • A newly discovered molecule in the interstellar medium provided some researchers with a little bit of hope for a naturalistic explanation of life’s origin, but the new “hope” still suffers from the same old problems. American astronomers discovered a complex, saturated organic molecule, ethyl cyanide (CH3CH2CN), in the interstellar medium (dust and gas between stars in a galaxy). This molecule ranks as one of the heaviest yet found in the interstellar medium. The addition of ethyl cyanide to the other 120 carbon-base molecules found in the interstellar medium, however, still does not provide the necessary ingredients and physical conditions for the production and preservation of either proteins, DNA, or RNA. Thus, it still stands that the only possible cause for life’s origin is a supernatural Creator.
  • Related Resource: “Origin-of-Life Predictions Face Off: Evolution Vs Biblical Creation”, Fazale R. Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face-Off, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, August 15, 2004

  • Astronomers have developed a new tool for uncovering evidence for supernatural design of the universe and for establishing the reality of a big bang creation event. They discovered that the ratio of iron-to-magnesium emission in distant galaxies and quasars accurately traces star formation history. Both iron and magnesium are copiously produced by the first stars to form in a galaxy, namely short-lived very massive stars (type II supernovae). Additional iron, however, is produced later by accreting white dwarf supernovae. Consequently, the iron to magnesium ratio will gradually increase as the galaxy distance decreases and the galaxy age increases. This consequence was confirmed by the astronomers’ observations, a confirmation that provides yet another evidence for the biblically predicted big bang creation event and yet another tool for determining the birth date of the universe. The lowest observed ratio of iron to magnesium accurately marks the onset of star formation for different kinds of galaxies and quasars—marks that will help astronomers establish more evidence for the design of the universe for the benefit of life, and human life in particular.
  • Related Resource: “Big Bang - The Bible Taught it First!” by John Rea and Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: A Matter of Days, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, August 14, 2004

  • French geophysicists uncovered new evidence for the supernatural design of Earth’s interior for life. They discovered specific characteristics in the spin states of iron atoms that explain how it is that Earth’s lower mantle has the just-right convection (circulation of mantle constituents) and radiative properties so that Earth sustains the best possible plate tectonic activity to support life, and human beings in particular. They found that iron in perovskite and magnesiowüstite, which makes up nearly all of the lower mantle, transitions from a high-spin to a low-spin state at pressures that correspond to mantle depths of 2600 and 1700 kilometers, respectively. These transitions lead to an increased radiative conductivity and a substantially lower rate of convection for the two minerals, so that Earth maintains the best possible plate tectonic activity.
  • Related Resource: “The Faint Sun Paradox”, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, August 13, 2004

  • A breakthrough in microscope technology will soon enable biochemists to detect and measure design in macrobiomolecules that until now have been hidden from view. The new instrument combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with atomic force microscopy (AFM). A team of IBM scientists built a microscope combining MRI and AFM to detect for the first time, by this means, a single electron spin. This detection means that MRI imaging is about to achieve a one-hundred-million-fold improvement in resolution (power to see fine details). That is, biochemists soon will be able to map in three dimensions the largest proteins (containing one to three million nucleons) with atomic resolution. This new microscope technology has the potential to produce an order-of-magnitude increase in evidence for the supernatural design of complex biomolecules.
  • Related Resource: “Origin-of-Life Predictions Face Off: Evolution Vs. Biblical Creation”, Fazale R. Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face-Off, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, August 12, 2004

  • Solar astronomers found new evidence for the design of the Sun for humanity’s benefit in new measurements of the quiet (little flaring activity) Sun’s magnetic energy density. A new instrument allowed the team to measure the polarization of the Sun’s radiation with a hundred times greater accuracy. For the first time, they found and measured the hidden magnetic fields in the Sun’s atmosphere. The measured strength of these fields is high enough to explain the radiative energy flow from the solar corona. They also learned that the average strength of the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere and the level of anisotropy of the radiation field in the solar atmosphere must be fine-tuned to sustain human life and civilization on Earth. Thus, two more fine-tuned characteristics have been added to the list of 322 that establish a supernatural Creator designed the solar system for the specific benefit of human beings.
  • Related Resource: “Rare Sun”, by Guillermo Gonzalez
  • Product Spotlight: Journey Toward Creation, 2nd edition (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, August 11, 2004

  • A recent study illustrates a defining feature of the cell’s chemistry: the fine-tuning required for biomolecules to effectively carry out life’s necessary operations. Researchers show how single amino acids in proteins play a critical role in the highly specific interactions between protein molecules. These residues serve as recognition sites and as anchors that tether the two proteins together. Once connected at the anchor points, subsequent stabilizing interactions take place that lead to the tightly bound complexes characteristic of protein-protein interactions. Changing the anchoring amino acids dramatically decreases the specificity of protein-protein binding. Fine-tuning is one hallmark of well-designed man-made devices. Therefore, the fine-tuning characteristics of biochemical systems signify that life originated from a Creator’s hand.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, August 10, 2004

  • Astronomers used a correction of a fundamental cosmic distance-measuring tool to strengthen the evidence for the biblically predicted big bang creation event and for the supernatural design of the universe. The universe’s expansion rate is foundational for the physics of the big bang creation event and for the physics of stellar burning histories. The strongest scientific evidences for a supernatural Creator arise from this foundation. The favored standard for the cosmic expansion rate has been the Key Project measure based on Cepheid variable stars. The Key Project value for the cosmic expansion rate (72 kilometers/second/megaparsec), however, is slightly higher than other accurate measures. A team of American astronomers discovered a metallicity dependence for Cepheid distance measures. When this dependence is taken into account, it reduces the Key Project value for the cosmic expansion rate by 2.5 kilometers/second/megaparsec. This correction makes the most accurate cosmic expansion rate measures much more consistent. The correction not only enhances the evidence for a big bang creation event, it also increases the evidence for the supernatural design of the universe for the benefit of life and human beings in particular.
  • Related Resources (see the Facts for Faith page to find the following):
    • Hugh Ross and John Rea, “Big Bang—The Bible Taught It First!” Facts for Faith 3 (Q3 2000), 26-31
    • Hugh Ross, “Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation,” Facts for Faith 9 (Q2 2002), 32-39
    • Hugh Ross, “A Beginner’s—and Expert’s—Guide to the Big Bang,” Facts for Faith 3 (Q3 2000), 14-32.
  • Product Spotlights:

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, August 9, 2004

  • Given its mechanism, evolution should not produce the same outcome repeatedly. Yet this study shows that repetition occurred. The authors of this research describe the repeated, independent origins of the enamel that coats fish and mammalian teeth. Such independent, multiple origins of a complex tissue like enamel from different genes challenge the veracity of the theory of evolution, but find ready explanation if a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs as He brought life into existence.
  • Related Resource:
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Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, August 8, 2004

  • German biochemists discovered an amazing biochemical machine that controls the concentration of a-thrombin, the human blood-clotting factor. The machine is a short piece of DNA that in combination with another short piece of DNA can either strongly bind or release a-thrombin through activating or deactivating a claw-like structure. The exquisite and efficient design of these molecules points to a supernatural Creator.
  • Related Resource:
  • Product Spotlight:

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Saturday, August 7, 2004

  • RTB’s biblical creation model for humanity’s origin regards Homo erectus, Homo ergaster, and other extinct hominids found in the fossil record as nonhuman primates which lacked spiritual capacity. This recent study adds further support for this view. Researchers evaluated the dental developmental pattern in wild chimpanzees and demonstrated that growth rates are slower than those observed in chimpanzees in captivity. The dental data generated in captivity has long been used to assess developmental patterns of the extinct hominids.  Based on the captivity data, anthropologists understood H. erectus/ergaster development to be intermediate between humans and chimpanzees. However, use of the newly measured growth rates for wild chimpanzees leads to a different conclusion¾H. erectus /ergaster development was more like that of a chimpanzee. Once again, scientific evidence continues to indicate that modern humans were clearly distinct from Homo erectus/ergaster and the other extinct hominids—in accord with RTB’s explanation for the hominid fossil record.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe – Friday, August 6, 2004

  • A recent discovery of apparently old galaxies in the young universe may seem to some to challenge the biblically consistent big bang creation models. In truth, this discovery of well-developed galaxies at a time when the universe was young adds a new feature to the most popular big bang creation models. This feature will probably add significant new evidence for the supernatural design of the cosmos for the benefit of human life.  European astronomers made the first direct measurements of the abundance of massive galaxies at great distances. They found that while two-thirds of massive galaxies completed their mass accumulation after the universe was six billion years old, one-third were already fully formed by this time. This observation implies that the merging of small galaxies to make much larger galaxies accounts for only two-thirds of all massive galaxies. The other massive galaxies must have formed quickly from large mass concentrations in the early universe. This combination of two different pathways for forming massive galaxies, one quick and the other slow, provides a fine-tuned neighborhood of galaxy companions for the Milky Way Galaxy that allows the Milky Way Galaxy to continuously sustain life on Earth for nearly four billion years. Such exceptional longevity of life is a crucial requirement for human existence and civilization.
  • Related Resources (see the Facts for Faith page to find the following):
    • Hugh Ross and John Rea, “Big Bang—The Bible Taught It First!” Facts for Faith 3 (Q3 2000), 26-31
    • Hugh Ross, “Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation,” Facts for Faith 9 (Q2 2002), 32-39
    • Hugh Ross, “A Beginner’s—and Expert’s—Guide to the Big Bang,” Facts for Faith 3 (Q3 2000), 14-32.
  • Product Spotlights:

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Thursday, August 5, 2004

  • For many skeptics the long life spans recorded in Genesis 5 and 11 seem absurd. Recent advances in the biochemistry of aging, however, make these long life spans scientifically plausible. In this study, researchers demonstrate that compounds which activate the enzyme, SIRT1 deacetylase, dramatically extend life spans of complex animals. Researchers think that in the near future human life spans can be increased to several hundred years through pharmaceutical intervention. This discovery provides a biochemical means for the Creator to permit long life spans (through increased SIRT1 deacetylase activity) and, in turn, to shorten them (through decreased SIRT1 deacetylase activity) at the time of the Flood. In light of this study, long human life spans described in Genesis are scientifically reasonable.
  • Related Resource (see the Facts for Faith page to find the following):
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Today’s New Reason To Believe – Wednesday, August 4, 2004

  • Better instrumentation brings scientific advance. Consequently, a new measuring tool under construction promises substantial evidence for supernatural design. Astronomers may soon show more evidence for the biblically predicted big bang creation event and for the supernatural design of the universe by using a wide-field space telescope to carefully measure weak gravitational lensing. This instrument would allow astronomers to measure the cosmic dark energy density and the cosmic dark matter density with unprecedented precision as well as the spatial distribution of cosmic dark matter. Such precise measurements will enable astronomers to independently confirm the strongest scientific evidence for supernatural design and may yield discoveries of additional cosmic characteristics manifesting supernatural design.
    • Richard Massey et al., “Weak Lensing From Space. II. Dark Matter Mapping,” Astronomical Journal 127(2004): 3089-3101.
    • Alexandre Refregier et al., “Weak Lensing From Space. III. Cosmological Parameters,” Astronomical Journal 127 (2004): 3102-14.
  • Related Resource: Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: The Creator and The Cosmos, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Tuesday, August 3, 2004

  • A new study helps establish a consistent, unambiguous conclusion that life’s origin on Earth occurred in a geological instant. This work casts additional doubt on a claim made in 1996 that 3.85 billion-year-old carbon found in rocks on Akilia Island (off the southwest coast of Greenland) had a biological origin. A geochemist announced at the 6/11/04 Goldschmidt Geochemistry conference that he could not replicate the original study. His work confirms research done in 2002 that showed the Akilia Island carbon could not be proven to be of a biological origin. This conclusion removes a serious origin-of-life anomaly in that the late heavy bombardment peaked at 3.85 billion years ago and took 60 million years to subside. This bombardment (of asteroid impacts) would not allow stable life to exist on Earth earlier than 3.80 billion years ago, which is identical to the date for the earliest undisputed evidence for life on Earth.
    • Eds., “Fresh Study Questions Oldest Traces of Life in Akilia Rock,” Nature 429 (2004): 688.
    • A. Morbidelli et al., “A Plausible Cause of the Late Heavy Bombardment,” Meteoritics & Planetary Science 36 (2001): 371-80.
    • Linda T. Elkins-Tantour, Bradford H. Hager, and Timothy L. Grove, “Magmatic Effects of the Lunar Late Heavy Bombardment,” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 222 (2004): 17-27.
  • Related Resource: Origin-of-Life Predictions Face Off: Evolution vs Biblical Creation, Fazale R. Rana
  • Product Spotlight: Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Monday, August 2, 2004

  • More confirmation for the big bang creation model comes from the first-ever survey of the X-ray emissions of clusters of galaxies. If the biblical big bang model is correct, the dipole feature (one side of the universe measures hotter than the opposing side) in maps of the cosmic background radiation must be the result of our local group of galaxies being gravitationally tugged by a distant concentration of mass lying in the same general direction as the dipole feature of the cosmic background radiation. This conclusion was confirmed by an all-sky infrared survey (TNRTB December 1, 2003) and a survey of the velocities of distant galaxies. Now, additional confirmation comes from this initial X-ray emission survey. The survey not only demonstrates that a mass clustering lies in the same direction as the dipole feature in the cosmic background radiation but identifies the primary distant concentration of mass as the Shapley supercluster located about 340 million light years away. Since the Bible described the fundamental big bang characteristics of the universe thousands of years before any astronomer took notice, this big bang confirmation powerfully affirms the Christian faith.
  • Related Resource: Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation, by Hugh Ross
  • Product Spotlight: A Matter of Days, by Hugh Ross

Today’s New Reason To Believe – Sunday, August 1, 2004

  • Astronomers have found more evidence for the supernatural timing and arrival on Earth of multicellular life. They analyzed the gamma-ray burst (GRB) database to show that GRB production did not significantly subside until just 2.5 billion years ago. Multicellular land-based life is especially vulnerable to these extraordinarily bright and powerful, yet deadly, rays. Astronomers also recognize that the increasing luminosity of the sun will soon (within ten to thirty million years) render Earth unfit for multicellular life. Thus, it makes sense to conclude that an intelligent Creator would create land-based multicellular life relatively soon after the subsidence of GRBs. The fact that paleontologists observe the appearance of multicellular life in the fossil record at the best possible time provides evidence that a supernatural Creator indeed created multicellular life.