Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

February 2006

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Surprising Source of Methane

  • A surprising source of methane provides additional support for RTB’s creation model. Methane is the second-most important greenhouse gas behind carbon dioxide, in part because it requires far more energy to produce than carbon dioxide-especially when oxygen is present. However, a team of international scientists found that plants produce methane in oxygen-rich environments and may contribute up to one third of the methane that enters the atmosphere. While the production of methane would be an evolutionary disadvantage because of the additional energy requirement, it does provide another mechanism to stabilize the global climate from runaway heating or cooling. Such intricate interactions between biological and atmospheric mechanisms comport with a model positing that a supernatural Designer has maintained Earth as a habitat fit for life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 27, 2006
Biochemical Design: Organization of Simplest Life

  • New research on the Min proteins of Escherichia coli adds to the emerging view that a bacterium, life’s simplest form, displays a remarkable degree of internal organization at the molecular level. Only a decade ago microbiologists viewed the bacterium as a "container" of haphazardly arranged molecules. Recent advances indicate that this view is incorrect. The Min proteins play a key role in readying the cell for division. They display carefully choreographed movements inside the cell, which help the FtsZ ring to form at the midplane of the cell. This ring contracts to yield two daughter cells. MinE forms rings that move back and forth between the cell poles. The movement of the MinE protein allows MinD concentrations to build up at the two cell poles by causing this protein to oscillate back and forth from pole to pole. MinD recruits MinC to move along with it. MinC prevents the FtsZ protein from binding at any other location than at the cell’s midplane. New research reveals that the current understanding of Min protein dynamics is incomplete and likely even more elegant and complex than described above. This example of internal organization of the simplest life-forms serves as a marker for biochemical design and would be expected in a biblical creation model positing that a Creator is responsible for life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 26, 2006
Deep-Ocean Mixing Helps Stabilize Earth’s Livability

  • A team of international scientists has found additional evidence for fine-tuning in Earth’s global environment. Oceanic phytoplankton growth (and consequently chlorophyll concentration) maximizes at depths that receive both adequate light from above and sufficient flux of nutrients from below. The location of the chlorophyll concentrations significantly influences how much carbon is sequestered to the ocean interior and, therefore, also affects the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Simulations reveal that global warming reduces deep-ocean mixing, which means the chlorophyll maximum will vary widely and could destabilize Earth’s global climate. The complexity of the global environment, and the many ways it could destabilize, testifies of a supernatural Designer maintaining a suitable environment for life to exist ("…in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17).
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, February 25, 2006
Evidence for Creation: The Repeated Origin of the Panda’s Thumb

  • A new discovery on the origin of the panda’s thumb makes it unlikely that its structure has an evolutionary origin. The panda’s thumb has come to symbolize biological evolution. For evolutionary biologists, the false thumb of the panda-actually an elongated wrist bone-represents biological "imperfection." Skeptics insist that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and good Creator would never produce the "bad designs" found in biological systems. However, as ongoing scientific advance generates new understanding, practically every imperfection identified by evolutionary biologists (including the panda’s thumb) turns out to be an elegant design. Paleontologists have discovered the remains of an ancient red panda that has a false thumb. This work and previous studies indicate that the red panda is not related to the giant panda. If this is the case, then from an evolutionary perspective, the false thumb must have evolved two separate times independently in the red and giant pandas. However, the contingent nature of the evolutionary process means that evolution should not repeat. Therefore, the repeated, independent origin of the false thumb in the red and giant pandas argues against evolution but makes sense from a creation perspective with a Creator reusing good designs.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, February 24, 2006
Support for Biblical View of Marriage

  • Scientific data verifies what the Author of the Bible knew millennia ago-marriage promotes prosperity. The first human relationship defined in the Bible is the permanent bond of a man and woman in marriage. An Ohio State University sociologist showed that this relationship leads to much greater financial gain than for people who divorce. The study revealed that while both single and married persons’ wealth increases over time, the wealth of divorced participants declined precipitously. Clearly the Christian faith is not about wealth accumulation, but this study affirms that in the financial arena, the biblical model of marriage is superior.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 23, 2006
Junk DNA May Help Explain Differences between Humans and Chimpanzees

  • New research demonstrates the resistance of so-called junk DNA to mutations, and therefore points to its likely function. An apparent lack of function for junk (noncoding) DNA has led many evolutionary biologists to conclude that this genetic material provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. However, numerous recent studies have identified function for many types of junk DNA, including this new hominid genome discovery. This study also implies that junk DNA may well play a critical role in establishing the biological differences between humans and chimpanzees. As scientists continue to identify the functional importance of junk DNA, their work 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-Wednesday, February 22, 2006
String Theory and Multiverses Affirm Biblical Creation

  • The extension of string theory positing a veritable multitude of universes-or multiverses-affirms a critical component of RTB’s creation model by offering a supernatural explanation for this universe. String theorists acknowledge a large number of possible solutions to the equations of string theory and that none discovered yet looks like this universe. They also acknowledge that the fundamental constants of nature in this universe appear finely tuned to support life. To reconcile these observations, theorists posit that all possible solutions of the equations actually exist in a landscape outside this universe. However, this solution requires that something outside this universe-another way of saying supernatural-is responsible for its creation. The question then becomes whether this supernatural entity is personal or not. RTB’s cosmic creation model invites testing as it identifies the "entity" as the God of the Bible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Biblical Account of Humanity’s Origin Confirmed

  • New evidence confirms the biblical account of humanity’s origin. Investigators analyzed genetic data to make inferences about human demographic history. Their results indicate that humanity originated recently from a relatively small population size. This study comports with numerous previous studies which show that humanity’s original population size was small and that all of humanity traces back to a single woman, called mitochondrial Eve, and a single man, called Y-chromosomal Adam. The biblical description of human origins continues to find support as anthropologists study human genetic variation.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 20, 2006
Different Male and Female Empathy Responses

  • An international team of scientists has provided further evidence that the brains in men and women operate in fundamentally different ways as indicated by the Bible’s description of humanity’s creation. Using MRI technology to monitor brain activity, researchers found markedly different responses between men and women when viewing physical punishment meted out in response to unfair actions. Men showed less empathy toward unfair players. In contrast, the brain responses were indistinguishable between men and women when viewing physical punishment administered to participants who behaved fairly. Such responses are consistent with biblically derived roles. The man was given the charge to rule over the earth-a role that requires justice and punishment for evil. And the woman was created as a suitable helper-a role that serves to empathically check man’s aggressiveness. Both roles are complementary and equally important.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 19, 2006
Homology Is Not Evidence for Evolution

  • A new study undermines one of the chief pieces of evidence cited in favor of biological evolution, namely homology. Homology refers to shared features possessed by organisms that group together. These features may be superficially dissimilar, but fundamentally they are built upon the same design. The classic example of homology is the pentadactyl (five-digit) architecture of vertebrate forelimbs. (The human hand, whale’s flipper, bat’s wing, horse’s hoof, and bear’s paw, for example, have the same fundamental structure.) According to the evolutionary paradigm, homologous features reflect common ancestry and descent with modification. If homologous structures emanate from an evolutionary process, then these shared features should be produced by common developmental processes and have the same genetic basis. Researchers recognized that the homologous teeth found in the teleost fish and in tetrapods arise through different developmental processes and have a distinct genetic basis, a discovery that flatly contradicts a chief expectation of the evolutionary paradigm.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, February 18, 2006
Unexpected Biogenic Bromine Effect on Ozone

  • Scientists discovered another aspect of the complex biological and atmospheric interactions that testify of a supernatural Creator sustaining Earth as a fit habitat for life. Simulations show that ozone depletion increases 5-30% when accounting for bromine released into the atmosphere by biological processes. These simulations by a team of British scientists concur with satellite measurements of bromine that were much larger than in standard atmospheric models. Biological sources that inject bromine into the atmosphere potentially serve as a link between biological processes and the global climate. Such complex biological, atmospheric, and climatic relations argue for a superintelligent Designer at work to provide a stable environment capable of supporting life.
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    • Journey Toward Creation, 2nd ed., by Hugh Ross (DVD)

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, February 17, 2006
New Genetic Evidence for the Cambrian Explosion

  • A new study provides evidence that the Cambrian explosion-biology’s big bang-was a real event as described by the fossil record. Around 540 million years ago, approximately 50 to 80% of all animal phyla to ever exist appeared explosively over a short period of time (less than 5 million years in duration). In an effort to understand evolutionary relationships during the period, researchers compared the gene sequences of a large group of metazoans. They concluded that the relationships remain "unresolved," meaning that the Cambrian explosion is indeed a real event, and not illusory as some evolutionary biologists claim. The Cambrian explosion stands as one of the biggest enigmas facing the evolutionary paradigm. On the other hand, biology’s big bang serves as a powerful fingerprint for the Creator’s intervention in life’s history.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 16, 2006
Science Constrained by Truth

  • Lawrence Krauss’ latest book reaffirms that science is constrained by the truth, not beauty or ideology, which is consistent with RTB’s creation model. Some scientists want science restricted to only naturalistic explanations. However, as described in Krauss’ book, the tremendous success of science over the past few hundred years is due to its rigorous model testing. Increasing mathematical sophistication precipitated many of the advances, but mathematical beauty by itself was not sufficient to advance scientific understanding. Similarly, RTB argues that restricting science to the philosophy of methodological naturalism (only one model) limits the power and reach of the scientific process to accurately discern the truth.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Biochemical Design: Organization of Simplest Life

  • New research on magnetosomes expands upon the emerging paradigm that bacteria display uncanny internal organization. Magnetosomes are membrane-bound, ultrapure magnetite crystals produced by magnetotactic bacteria. These crystals align inside the cell into filaments, forming chains that align with Earth’s magnetic field to help direct the bacteria into growth-favoring zones. Until now, researchers lacked understanding as to why magnetosomes form chain-like structures, since the tendency should be for these structures to clump into aggregates. New research indicates that the protein MamK, which forms filaments that distribute throughout the cell, plays a key role in assembling the magnetosomes into chains. Such internal organization of the simplest life-forms serves as a marker for biochemical design and points to the work of the Designer described in the Bible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Atmospheric Aerosols May Be Tempering Global Heating

  • Measurements of the cooling from man-made atmospheric aerosols testify to the work of a supernatural Designer maintaining Earth as a suitable habitat. The removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere has balanced the sun’s luminosity increase over the last 3 billion years in order to maintain a relatively constant surface temperature on Earth. However, CO2levels cannot be reduced further without affecting Earth’s biomass capacity (total living organisms). Satellite measurements show that man-made aerosols in the atmosphere scatter sunlight back into space, thereby reducing the amount of atmospheric heating. This adjustment is consistent with the idea of a super-caring Creator who not only prepares a fit habitat for humanity, but allows man to participate in sustaining that habitat.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 13, 2006
Human Evolutionary Trees Ready to Topple

  • New research underscores the inherent unreliability of the evolutionary "trees" used to describe humanity’s origin. For human evolution to be declared a fact, evolutionary relationships (phylogenies) among hominids in the fossil record and modern humans must be clearly established (constituting branches that emanate from larger branches and, finally, from an evolutionary trunk). Paleoanthropologists now recognize that no reliable phylogeny for the hominid fossil record exists or is possible. The reason: many of the physical features of hominid fossil remains used by paleoanthropologists to build evolutionary trees appear to be due (from an evolutionary perspective) to processes other than descent from a shared ancestor. New research continues to highlight the seriousness and complexity of this problem. If reliable evolutionary trees for the hominids cannot be constructed, then, at least formally, human evolution cannot be declared factual.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 12, 2006
Mars Water Research Argues Against Scientific Ideology

  • New research on the geological features of Mars presents evidence for RTB’s creation model and also refutes the charge made by some young-earth creationists that the scientific community only publishes results that fit with its ideology. Evolutionary scientists hope and expect to find evidence for abundant water in Mars’ history. The discovery of water would bolster the hope of finding evidence for Martian life. However, two articles published in the prestigious journal Nature argue that the geological features observed by the Mars Rovers are due to processes that don’t involve long-standing water reservoirs. One article shows volcanic ash from ancient volcanoes (which scientists have direct evidence for) that has been altered by small amounts of acidic water and sulfur dioxide can explain all the features observed by the rovers. While some scientists may be ideologically driven, the publication of these results shows that the charge cannot be made of the scientific community as a whole.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, February 11, 2006
Biochemical Design: Molecular Fine-Tuning

  • New research on the structure of aquaporin AqpM (a cell membrane protein that acts as a water channel) from the microbe Methanothermobacter marburgensis illustrates the molecular fine-tuning of biochemical systems. One defining feature of the cell’s chemistry is the molecular-level precision that characterizes the structure of the cell’s biomolecules. This molecular fine-tuning is required for the cell to effectively carry out life’s necessary operations. This recent work shows the importance of the exact spatial distribution of the amino acids which line the interior of the aquaporin channel. The location of these amino acids plays a key role in the conductance of molecules through the pores that the protein forms in the cell membrane. Such fine-tuning of biochemical systems signifies that life originated from a Creator’s hand.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, February 10, 2006
Was Early Mars Watery?

  • Some spectacular findings by the Mars Exploration Rovers seem to confirm the prevailing and enthusiastically supported idea that ancient Mars was a watery world and possibly an environment where life could originate and flourish. However, further analysis reveals that observations indicating ubiquitous water can be explained by processes involving trace amounts or short-lived water reservoirs. One such explanation involves asteroidal and cometary impacts that form the sedimentary-looking layers observed by the rover Opportunity. Subsequent weathering by intergranular water films can explain all the observed features without need of long-standing water. While the discovery of long-standing water reservoirs on Mars would not pose a problem for RTB’s cosmic creation model, the stark contrast of the water environments of Mars and Earth demonstrate how fine-tuned Earth is to support life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 9, 2006
Biochemical Design: Molecular Motors

  • New insight into the operation of one of nature’s tiny motors adds vigor to the classic watchmaker argument. One of the most remarkable advances in the last two decades of biochemical research is the recognition that some biomolecules inside the cell function as molecular-sized machines. One molecular machine is myosin, a protein that plays a role in muscle contraction. This protein functions as a literal linear motor, complete with a lever arm. New research highlights myosin’s machine-like operation. Scientists have identified two mechanical events that take place during the working stroke when myosin interacts with actin during muscle contraction. British natural theologian William Paley argued that just as a watch requires a watchmaker, so too, life logically requires a Creator, since biological systems appear to be machine-like. On this basis, it follows that the elegant design and stark resemblance to man-made motors found in myosin points to the work of a divine "Motor Maker."
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, February 8, 2006
More Evidence for Fine-tuning of the Solar System

  • Studies in planet formation have provided further evidence that a supernatural Creator has fine-tuned the solar system for life. Previous studies have shown that planetary systems are correlated with stars enriched in iron. However, it is not clear whether the iron enrichment facilitated planet formation or if the iron enrichment was caused by the planetary material. A team of European astronomers showed that indeed stars were more likely to form around iron-enriched stars. In order to form a solar system like Earth’s, the universe needs to be old enough to produce adequate iron, but not so old that elements like uranium and thorium have decayed dramatically. The proper iron enrichment of the sun, coupled with the large abundance of radioactive elements that drive tectonic activity on Earth, testify to the fine-tuning of a Creator in forming a solar system capable of sustaining life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Biochemical Design: Compositional Fine-Tuning of Cell Membranes

  • New insight into cell membrane structure provides evidence for supernatural design. Biochemists have traditionally regarded the cell membrane to be a chaotic system that lacks order beyond the phospholipids bilayer structure. However, a new picture is emerging. It turns out the cell membrane displays remarkable complexity and organization that hinges on the fine-tuning of its molecular composition. A recent review article by one of the world’s leading membrane biophysicists summarizes work that supports the new view of membrane complexity and organization. This dynamic organization of the cell membrane is an indicator of intelligent design.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, February 6, 2006
Increasing Constraints on Variations of Fundamental Constants

  • A team of international astronomers has provided additional evidence for RTB’s cosmic creation model by constraining possible variations of the fundamental constants over the history of the universe. Scientists rely on the constancy of the laws of physics to determine the universe’s past. RTB’s biblical model also predicts such constancy. By measuring a set of emission and absorption lines from two distant quasars, the astronomers determined that the fine structure constant and the magnetic permeability of free space show no variation at the level of one part in 100,000. These results agree with previous studies based on different spectral lines and with the predictions of RTB’s cosmic creation model.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, February 5, 2006
Chimpanzees Don’t Behave Like Humans

  • New research on altruism provides ongoing support for the biblical teaching that humans are uniquely made in the image of God. Human beings seem to be the only species that behave in a truly prosocial fashion. People unhesitatingly incur costs and risks to assist strangers with no hope of the favor ever being returned. This generous, altruistic behavior finds its motivation in an empathy and concern for the well-being of others, even if they are complete strangers (behavior consistent with humans being made in the image of God). Nonhuman primates, on the other hand, display cooperative behavior, but it is limited only to kin and to those members of the species that reciprocate. From an evolutionary perspective, chimpanzees are the primate species most likely to display truly altruistic behavior. A recent study on chimpanzee behavior, however, indicates that chimpanzees have no regard for the welfare of unrelated group members. This discovery rebuffs an evolutionary model for human origins but provides positive evidence for a biblical creation model.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, February 4, 2006
More Knobs to Control Global Environment

  • Research into material transport via rivers provides further evidence that a supernatural Designer has fashioned Earth to support life. One reason the planet does not undergo runaway heating is that calcium helps remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, thereby reducing the greenhouse effect. A team of European scientists has shown that the amount of suspended calcium is similar to dissolved calcium in rivers as they discharge into the ocean. However, the suspended calcium varies much more widely than dissolved calcium due to annual fluctuations in water levels. This means that there is both a baseline amount of calcium (dissolved) to assist in CO2 removal and a much more variable amount of calcium (suspended) to provide a stronger negative feedback to stabilize Earth’s temperature against greenhouse heating. Complex controls in the global carbon cycle would be expected in a biblical creation model positing that a supernatural Creator designed this life-support planet.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, February 3, 2006
Biochemical Design: Protein Spirals Organize Simplest Life

  • New research expands upon the emerging view that bacteria possess a remarkable degree of internal organization at the molecular level. In two separate studies, scientists describe the localization of two protein spirals in the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus and the role these spiral complexes play in establishing cell shape. One spiral, formed from the protein MreB, localizes within the cell’s cytoplasm. The other spiral, formed from the protein MreC, localizes in the space between the inner and outer cell membranes that comprise the cell envelope. Both the MreB and MreC spirals distribute the cell wall assembly machinery in a helical pattern within the space formed by the inner and outer cell membranes. This distribution pattern leads to the production of rod-shaped cells. The dynamic spatial and temporal organization of the molecular components found in such simple life-forms serves as a marker for biochemical design and is expected if a Creator is responsible for life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, February 2, 2006
Light Echoes-Another Window to the Past

  • A team of international astronomers has discovered a new tool for studying past supernovae which, in turn, offers a glimpse of a Creator’s work. As light pours forth from a supernova, sometimes the light encounters various bodies that will reflect it toward Earth. While this reflected light is dimmer than the original supernova, it could potentially allow astronomers to measure spectra from supernovae that occurred before the era of modern astronomy. Using this reflected light, astronomers have pinpointed two supernovae in the Large Magellanic Cloud that occurred over 400 years ago. If spectra can be extracted from this reflected light, then for the first time astronomers would be able to determine the type of supernova. Such knowledge is consistent with a Christian worldview, which maintains that a super-caring Creator has enabled scientists to study and understand His creation in intimate detail.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Adult Stem Cells Proceed to Clinical Trial

  • A recent study shows how adult stem cells (ASCs) may help avert kidney failure, thereby offering an ethically acceptable alternative to the controversial embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). While advocates of ESCR maintain that their research holds the promise to effectively treat several debilitating diseases and injuries, ESCR involves the destruction of human embryos, which many people find objectionable. Several research studies indicate that ASCs display the capacity to transform into a wide range of cell types suitable for replacement therapy. This review highlights recent work that demonstrates the potential utility of ASCs to repair the renal (kidney) tubule and help stave off acute renal failure. By exploring alternative therapies scientific advance may provide the way out of the ethical dilemma created by emerging biotechnologies.
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