Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

December 2005

December 29-31 coming soon.

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Complex Mechanisms Control Earth’s Climate

  • Research into the diversity of influences on climate strengthens the case for a superintelligent Designer preparing Earth as a stable habitat for life. Most discussions regarding global warming focus on the effects of greenhouse gases. However, a team of international scientists shows that changes in the amount of ground foliage during arctic summers contribute more to regional warming than do greenhouse gases. Additionally, other processes that are not influenced by biological organisms also have significant effects. This complex interaction of biological, atmospheric, and geological processes in regulating the climate of Earth is exactly what one would expect in a designed system-especially since most of the processes, when taken individually, tend toward runaway destruction of Earth’s capacity to support life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Biochemical Design: Quality Control

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, December 26, 2005
New Observations Unveil Mystery of Cosmic Dust Origins

  • Results from NASA’s latest "greatest observatory" reveal the sources of cosmic dust and strengthen RTB’s cosmic creation model. Dust is a key tool for tracing the link between star formation/death and the birth of the solar system, and is critical for forming stars the size of the Sun. (Also, dust is likely a key component in planetary formation.) Using infrared telescopes like NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers can use light from the dust to measure its origin. One distinctive result shows that dust produced late in the universe comes from stars similar to the Sun as they are dying. The other likely source, supernova explosions, produces lots of dust, but that dust is quickly destroyed in the aftermath of the supernova. However, astronomers have indications that these dust-destroying processes were not as efficient for the first generation of stars. These results are consistent with the idea of a Creator making sure the universe develops in a fashion that supports advanced life as soon as possible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, December 25, 2005
Biochemical Design: More on Molecular Motors

  • Twenty-first century science continues to affirm the nineteenth-century watchmaker argument. The F1-F0 ATPase is a remarkable biomolecular machine that bears an eerie resemblance to man-made rotary motors. This molecular motor comes with a rotor, stator, camshaft, and turbine. New research highlights the machine-like operation of the F1-F0 ATPase, with its intricacy and efficiency. British natural theologian William Paley argued that just as a watch requires a watchmaker, life logically requires a Creator, since biological systems appear to be machine-like. On this basis, the elegant design and stark resemblance to man-made motors found in these biomolecular machines argues for the work of a divine "Motor Maker."
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, December 24, 2005
Constant 176Lu Decay Rate Over the Last 4.5 Billion Years

  • Researchers have confirmed the constancy of the radioactive decay rate for 176Lu, thereby supporting the usefulness and accuracy of radioisotope dating techniques. A new model put forth by the young-earth community to explain the old ages determined from radioactive dating proposes that the radioactive decay rates were accelerated at various times in the past. A Canadian geologist measured the decay constant of 176Lu in meteorites formed in the early solar system by comparing formation dates determined by two different radioisotopes. Since these meteorites were not affected by the Genesis flood (they were not on the earth at the time), their decay rates history, according to the young-earth model, should have been different. However, the measured decay rates of the meteorites precisely matched the decay rates of terrestrial samples. This result argues against a model requiring accelerated decay and for RTB’s creation model, which presumes constant laws of physics.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, December 23, 2005
Adult Stem Cells Proceed to Clinical Trial

  • Recent advances suggest that there may be an ethically acceptable alternative to embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). Several studies indicate that adult stem cells (ASCs) display capacity to transform into a wide range of cell types suitable for replacement therapy. A new study, performed with rats, demonstrates that direct injection of progenitor cells from bone marrow into the brain after ischemic brain injury helps recover lost motor function. Ischemic brain injury occurs in 10 percent of human babies with cerebral palsy and in 80 percent of patients suffering from stroke. By focusing on ASCs instead of the ethically troubling ESCs, scientific advance may provide the way out of the moral dilemma created by emerging biotechnologies.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, December 22, 2005
Milky Way’s Black Hole Confirmed

  • Astronomers have strengthened the case for a black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and have moved closer to verifying a classical test of general relativity, a feature of RTB’s cosmic creation model. High resolution radio observations of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy show that roughly 400 million times the mass of the sun is concentrated in a region no larger than the orbit of Pluto. The high density required by this large mass and small volume virtually rules out any explanation other than a black hole. More importantly, within the next decade and with reasonable improvements in the observing procedure, astronomers will be able to measure the black hole’s event horizon, which is a unique prediction of general relativity. These results provide additional experimental evidence for general relativity, a key component of RTB’s creation model.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Man-Made Molecular Motors Highlight Elegant Design of Nature’s Motors

  • The recent synthesis of a man-made unidirectional rotary motor deepens appreciation for the elegant design of molecular motors found inside cells. Even though the man-made work could be considered "science at its very best," this newly developed rotary motor’s operation is crude and cumbersome, rotating in a stepwise fashion in four distinct stages. Each step in the rotation process requires researcher intervention. 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. In light of this discovery, it makes little sense to regard molecular motors inside cells as products 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, December 20, 2005
Population III Star Studies Indicate Design

  • Studies of the light from the first generation of stars indicate design in the formation of the universe. Virtually all the elements heavier than helium are formed in stars. The first stars were likely very massive, thus burning very quickly before exploding and enriching the material out of which future stars would form. If too little material were processed through these first stars, the evolution of heavier elements would not have proceeded quickly enough to form life-supporting planetary systems (and the elements on which life is based) before the universe had aged too much. One NASA scientist showed that the cosmic infrared background detected by the Spitzer Space Telescope can be reproduced if only 2-6 percent of all baryons were processed through these first-generation stars, which is a very reasonable value. As scientists gain a more detailed understanding of the first-generation star properties, the constraints on star formation and development will likely show the work of a supernatural Designer.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, December 19, 2005
Biblical Account of Humanity’s Origin Confirmed

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, December 18, 2005
First Direct Observation of First-Generation Starlight

  • Astronomers have finally detected the light from the very first stars in the universe, confirming the scientific picture that supports RTB’s cosmic creation model. Results from the WMAP satellite revealed that the first stars formed 200 million years after the big bang. Consequently, the light from these objects will be redshifted to the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope and carefully subtracting known foreground light, a team of NASA astronomers detected clustering, which is believed to be the summed light from these first stars. The clustering signature confirms the WMAP age of these first-generation stars and also shows that they burned out very quickly-within a few million years. Now that light from these first stars has been detected, further technological advances will allow scientists to study their properties in more detail. RTB’s creation model predicts that results from those studies will confirm the work of a supernatural Designer in the development of the universe.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., with Hugh Ross (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, December 17, 2005
"Junk" DNA: Imperfection or Elegant Design?

  • A new study highlights the functional importance of "junk" DNA. Junk (noncoding) DNA has become an icon of evolution. Evolutionary biologists maintain that because junk DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. Numerous recent studies, however, have identified function for many types of junk DNA. Researchers show that the gene that encodes the enzyme matrix metalloproteinase-2 is regulated by intronic DNA, a class of junk DNA. Such functional importance of junk DNA signifies that careful planning by an intelligent Designer, rather than undirected, random biochemical events, shaped the genomes of organisms.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, December 16, 2005
Incomplete Snowball Earth Shows Divine Care

  • Remains of photosynthetic organisms from 700 million years ago provide evidence for a supercaring Creator preparing a suitable habitat for humanity. A growing body of evidence argues for a snowball Earth event-where glaciers extended from the poles nearly to the equator, thus covering the whole Earth-around 700 million years ago. Geologists would expect runaway glaciation during such events, where glaciers completely cover a planet with little chance of the glaciers receding. A team of international scientists found biomarkers of photosynthetic activity and a complex microbial ecosystem during this last snowball event. These results demonstrate that the earth was not completely covered in glaciers and that sections of the equatorial oceans were exposed to sunlight. It is remarkable that runaway glaciation did not make the earth uninhabitable. Instead, shortly after the earth emerged from the snowball event, the largest explosion of biological advance occurred during the Cambrian explosion. RTB’s creation model predicts outcomes like this where major geological events are used to prepare Earth for the introduction of more advanced species of life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, December 15, 2005
"Junk" DNA: A Functionally Critical Component of the Genome

  • "Junk" DNA studies continue to provide evidence for design. This type of noncoding DNA has been championed as an icon of evolution. Evolutionary biologists maintain that because junk DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution because a Creator would not make mistakes. In this research 40-70% of the noncoding DNA sequences in Drosophila display a mutational pattern similar to that observed for functional DNA sequences. This implies that noncoding, so-called junk DNA plays a role in the genome. As scientists uncover more and more functional importance of junk DNA, their work points to the activity of an intelligent Designer in the shaping of organisms’ genomes.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Chemical Challenges for Origin of Life

  • New research designed to identify a viable source of prebiotic phosphorus (critical for life) highlights the intractable chemical problems associated with evolutionary scenarios for the origin of life. Investigators posit iron phosphide minerals delivered to early Earth in meteorites as a source of reactive phosphorus species. Presumably, once these meteorites reached Earth, exposure to surface water transformed phosphide into phosphate and phosphonate compounds, which could then react with prebiotic organic materials. Laboratory experiments seemingly provide support for this scenario, but there are problems. For example, if any calcium or magnesium is present (which surely would have been the case on early Earth), the phosphate species precipitate, rendering them unavailable as a source of reactive phosphorus. This work typifies the significant obstacles researchers encounter as they pursue chemical evolutionary scenarios to account for life’s origin.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Stellar Metallicity and Planet Migration Relationship Shows Design

  • Research in planetary formation illuminates more evidence of design in the formation of the solar system. Jupiter plays a critical role in minimizing the rate of cometary and asteroid impacts on Earth and, therefore, gas giants can be a required element of a planetary system to contain a life-supporting planet like Earth. It also seems that these gas giants migrate from larger to smaller orbits after they are formed. Two planetary scientists determined that if such migrations occur, the amount of metals in the host star necessary for gas giants to form increases as the formation distance from the star increases. Since Jupiter formed at quite a large distance from the sun, its formation requires a sun with a high concentration of metals. This constraint means that the window in both time and space when the Milky Way Galaxy would support the planetary formation seen in the solar system is small. RTB’s creation model predicts that scientists will continue to find such fine-tuning as they better understand processes that formed the solar system.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, December 5, 2005
"Junk" DNA Is Essential

  • Although "junk" DNA has enjoyed iconic status in evolutionary circles, many recent tudies have identified function for this type of DNA. Evolutionary biologists maintain that because junk DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. A review article reports on numerous recent studies that highlight the functional importance of junk DNA in regulating gene activity. Additionally, the authors propose that the repetitive nature of junk DNA plays an important architectural role in physically ordering the genome. Such functional significance of junk DNA indicates that careful planning by an intelligent Designer, rather than undirected, random biochemical events, shaped the genomes of organisms.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, December 4, 2005
Spiral Pattern Rotation Speed Confirms Solar System’s Special Location

  • A determination of the spiral structure and rotation speed of the Milky Way Galaxy shows the special location occupied by the solar system. Research by two Italian astronomers directly measures the rotation speed of the Milky Way Galaxy’s spiral arms and confirms that the solar system is located just inside the corotation radius (the radius where a body rotates at the same speed as the spiral arms). Because of its location, the solar system will pass through the spiral arms very infrequently and therefore has relatively few encounters with the dense star formation regions and gas clouds (both harmful to life) located in the spiral arms. A number of extinction events in Earth’s history coincide with the solar system’s passage through a spiral arm. In addition, the solar system resides just inside the corotation radius, toward a location of greater galactic metallicity as required for planetary formation. As scientists better understand the solar system formation processes, the evidence for a super-caring, super-intelligent Creator mounts.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, December 3, 2005
Ancient DNA Techniques Hold Promise

  • New ways to test and compare evolutionary models with RTB’s creation model are forthcoming with the emerging technology of ancient DNA analysis. For example, ancient DNA studies have already indicated that Neanderthals lack a genetic and, hence, evolutionary connection to modern humans. In spite of the success of this research program, serious obstacles remain. DNA degradation and contamination are the two chief difficulties confronting this technique. This study provides an unexpected way around these hindrances. Researchers have learned that the intergrown crystal aggregates of fossil bones house DNA. This protected environment helps DNA resist degradation. The intergrown crystals can be treated with strong oxidants without breaking apart. This treatment destroys contaminating DNA, while leaving the indigenous DNA within the bone intact. Such advances will dramatically extend the range and utility of ancient DNA analysis and provide new tools for testing competing human origins models.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, December 2, 2005
Potential to Detect Extrasolar Comets

  • Scientists are designing a telescope capable of directly imaging extrasolar earth-like planets, and their efforts will likely yield more evidence for a creator’s fine-tuning. Research by a UCLA astrophysicist shows how the new telescope will be able to detect earth-sized planets around other stars and also comets around those same stars. The main challenge is how to filter the much brighter starlight to see the relatively dim planet shine. In general, the smaller the object is, the harder it is to detect, so one would expect that anything smaller than Earth (like comets or asteroids) would be nearly impossible to see. It turns out that when a comet approaches the Sun, its dust tail reflects a similar amount of light as does Earth. So, a telescope capable of imaging rocky, earth-like planets will also be able to detect bright comets. This result is significant because analysis of light from comets gives insight into the early times of planetary system development. Increased understanding of planetary systems will allow scientists to study and appreciate intimate details of the Creator’s work.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, December 1, 2005
Challenge to Biological Evolution: Convergence

  • A newly discovered example of biological convergence challenges the evolutionary paradigm. Since chance serves as its mechanism, evolution should not produce the same outcome repeatedly. If the clock of history could be rewound, evolution would take a different pathway. Yet study after study shows that repeated outcomes are routine. Researchers have discovered the repeated, independent origin of nocturnality in prosimians (lower primates such as lemurs). This discovery challenges the veracity of the theory of evolution, but affirms the idea that a Creator repeatedly used the same good designs-in this case animals that function nocturnally-as He brought new life forms into existence.
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