Today's New Reason To Believe Archives

March 2007

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, March 1, 2007
King David’s Palace

  • Archeological digs in the Middle East have provided more evidence that the Bible gives an accurate record of history. Although King David is featured prominently in Old Testament history, archeological evidence of his existence has been sparse. However, recent excavations around Jerusalem have unearthed a large building and extravagant pottery that date to the time when David would have reigned. Such findings argue that ancient Jerusalem served as the central government of the region, as described in the Bible. While many people still "explain away" the corroboration with the Bible or dispute the dating, RTB’s creation model predicts that future finds will continue to affirm the historicity of the Scriptures.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, March 2, 2007
A New Type of Ethically Acceptable Stem Cell from Amniotic Fluid

  • A new type of stem cell from amniotic fluid offers yet another viable alternative to the controversy-laden embryonic stem cell research. These stem cells-which are neither embryonic nor adult-can transform into a wide range of cell types and would be useful for cell replacement therapies. Unlike embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which must be isolated by destroying human embryos, amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) are recovered through amniocentesis, in which neither the mother nor fetus is harmed. Additionally, unlike ESCs, AFSCs are not tumorgenic and they grow rapidly. This latter property makes them suitable for establishing banks of cells that could be used to find tissue matches for most of the population. Scientific advances such as this one will undoubtedly provide the way out of the ethical dilemma created by stem cell therapies and other emerging biotechnologies.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, March 3, 2007
New Galaxy Measurement Supports Creation Model

  • A new technique for determining cosmological parameters provides additional evidence in support of RTB’s cosmic creation model. For decades, astronomers have known that the density of massive galaxy clusters depends on two specific cosmological factors. Big bang cosmology, upon which RTB’s model builds, predicts certain values for these parameters. Using a sensitive catalog containing nearly 1,000 galaxy clusters extending out nearly 5 billion light years, an international team of astronomers has determined values for these two parameters. As expected from a good scientific model and a good experimental method, the values of the two parameters agree with the values obtained from numerous other techniques. Thus, as novel techniques continue to be developed and data grows more precise, consistent results put RTB’s creation model on even firmer scientific footing.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, March 4, 2007
Biblical Account of Humanity’s Origin Confirmed by Fossil Find

  • A re-dating of a human skull fossil affirms the biblical account of humanity’s origin and spread. The specimen was recovered from Hofmeyr, South Africa, in the 1950s, but only recently dated. The fossil appears to be about 36,000 years old. Its morphological (anatomical) features link it much more closely to modern human fossils recovered in Eurasia than to contemporary people groups from South Africa. The date and anatomical affinities of this fossil are consistent with a recent origin of humanity (less than 100,000 years ago), in a single locale (near where theologians think the Garden of Eden was located), followed by a migration away from the Middle East after a local flood (about 40,000 years ago).
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, March 5, 2007
Dark Matter Map Validates Creation Model

  • An astronomical survey using the powerful Hubble Space Telescope (HST) provides additional support for RTB’s cosmic creation model by confirming important details of big bang cosmology. Computer simulations of how the universe develops-given the proper amounts of normal matter, dark matter, and dark energy-predict that the dark matter arranges itself into a filamentary web. The intersections of these filaments gravitationally attract the normal matter which then forms stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. HST images allow astronomers to use gravitational lensing of these galaxies to map out the dark matter. A dark matter map extracted by an international team of scientists broadly confirms the central predictions of the computer simulations. In addition, the research presents smaller discrepancies scientists can use to test future models that include more details. This scenario exemplifies scientific progress and affirms the basic validity of RTB’s cosmic creation model.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Archeological Support for Biblical Account of Humanity’s Origin

  • A new archeological study confirms the biblical account of humanity’s origin and spread. Scientists have identified a site in Russia that contains artifacts produced by modern humans. Known as the Don River site, researchers have dated the area to be between 42,000 and 45,000 years in age, indicating that humans migrated recently into Eastern Europe about 45,000 years ago. Presumably, the path of migration began at or near the Middle East and proceeded eastward into Asia before heading into Eastern Europe. The timing of this event and the pattern of human migrations are compatible with the biblical account of humanity’s origin.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, March 7, 2007
New SDSS Results Improve Model

  • The most precise measurements to date of cosmological parameters continue to validate RTB’s cosmic creation model by affirming a finely tuned big bang creation event. Using the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and WMAP data, a team of international scientists extracted the best measurements of the space-energy density and of the universe’s total density. The results match previous findings but significantly reduce the error bars. For example, the error on the mass density decreased from 5% using the WMAP data alone to only 1% with both SDSS and WMAP data. The new values confirm that humans live in a geometrically flat, big bang universe which exhibits tremendous fine-tuning. Not surprisingly, these characteristics match the biblical description of the universe.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, March 8, 2007
Biochemical Design: A Molecular Peristaltic Pump in the Cell

  • Biochemists have reinvigorated a classic design argument with the discovery of a new type of biomolecular motor in bacteria that functions as a peristaltic pump. The AcrB protein complex expels antibiotics from the cell’s interior through a rotary peristaltic action that renders the bacterium resistant to antibiotics. The power for the rotary motion of the peristaltic pump comes from the flow of hydrogen ions (an electrical current, of sorts) through the AcrB complex. New work allows biochemists to visualize the channel pathway (analogous to the tubing of a peristaltic pump) for the transport of antibiotics out of the cell and the pathway that the hydrogen ions take through the AcrB complex. It was the British natural theologian William Paley who 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, the elegant design and stark resemblance to man-made motors indicates that biomolecular machines, like the AcrB peristaltic pump, must be the work of a divine "Motor Maker."
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, March 9, 2007
Confirmation of WMAP Cosmology Results

  • A team of international scientists’ reanalysis of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data has confirmed its cosmological results, thus solidifying the scientific grounding of RTB’s cosmic creation model. One hallmark of the scientific process is the relentless testing and verification (or falsification) of previous work. In that spirit, a team of scientists independent of the WMAP project reanalyzed the three-year data release using multiple methods. In each case, the results corroborated those published by the WMAP project scientists. Such thorough and extensive testing and verification means the scientific community can confidently trust the current model of the cosmos. This model includes numerous aspects, such as the intricately tuned space-energy density, that RTB’s model attributes to the work of a supernatural Creator fashioning a universe capable of supporting advanced life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, March 10, 2007
Advances in Ancient DNA Analysis

  • Improved techniques for analyzing ancient DNA promise better data for testing scientific models. Ancient DNA refers to DNA left behind in the preserved and fossilized remains of past organisms. Analysis of ancient DNA has already provided powerful insight into the biology of past organisms. However, inefficient recovery of genetic material from fossil specimens has hampered such studies. Currently, paleontologists use museum specimens to isolate ancient DNA. But the storage and handling of fossils in museums promotes the degradation of ancient DNA, limiting its recovery. Researchers have learned that freshly procured, unwashed specimens from the field have-on average-about 6 times more ancient DNA associated with them than do museum samples. This new insight should lead to improved handling practices of fossil specimens in order to preserve their genetic record. As ancient DNA technology continues to mature, it will provide many powerful opportunities to test evolutionary and creation models.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, March 11, 2007
Fine-tuning of Early Solar System

  • Continuing analysis of solar system material provides additional evidence of the fine-tuning required to produce a system capable of supporting advanced life. Small grains incorporated into the early solar system contain signatures of the processes that produced them. Using high-precision spectroscopic measurements of a particular type of grain containing silicon and carbon, a team of international scientists found grains produced in different types of supernovae as well as during the dying throes of stars closer in mass to the sun. The fact that the solar system formed in such a turbulent region of exploding stars without being destroyed comports well with the idea of a supernatural Creator working to ensure the solar system contains all the materials advanced life requires.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, March 12, 2007
Biochemical Design: Organization of Simplest Life

  • New research continues to uncover an astounding internal organization and complexity for the simplest life-forms. Microbiologists once viewed bacteria as "containers" of haphazardly arranged molecules. Advances over the last decade, however, have helped change this view. A recent study on the dynamic localization of the protein RecA in the bacterium Bacillis subtilis typifies this remarkable organization. This protein helps repair DNA after it becomes damaged. Researchers demonstrate that once DNA injury has occurred, RecA molecules, which are typically scattered throughout the cell, are "recruited" to the site of DNA damage after the process of replicating the damaged DNA commences. Such molecular-level organization and complexity of the simplest life-forms serves as a marker for biochemical design and makes sense if a Creator is responsible for life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, March 13, 2007
New Tool to Measure Dark Matter

  • A team of cosmologists from UC-Irvine has developed a new tool to test RTB’s cosmic creation model by measuring the distribution of dark matter in nearby galaxies. Scientists strongly agree about the existence of dark matter, but they continue to argue over the distribution of dark matter in galaxies and throughout the universe. A lack of observational evidence contributes to the diversity of proposed models. However, scientists have developed a new tool for measuring the distribution of dark matter in nearby galaxies using an upcoming satellite mission. With a factor-of-five increase in precision, this new technique will resolve a number of issues concerning the dark matter distribution in dwarf galaxies. RTB’s cosmic creation model predicts that these future results will provide additional confirmation of a fine-tuned amount and distribution of dark matter consistent with the notion of a supernatural Designer creating the universe.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Biochemical Design: Elegant Chemical Logic

  • A new study unveils an elegant chemical logic in cellular systems that provides more evidence for biochemical intelligent design. Researchers have developed a new method to assess the location of nucleosomes in chromosomes. These structures form when DNA wraps around a cluster of histone proteins. Nucleosomes further interact to condense DNA into chromosomes. When DNA wraps around the histone complex it prevents the cell’s machinery from accessing genes along the DNA molecule. Scientists have discovered that access sites for genes are located in the "linker" regions between nucleosomes-reflecting an elegant molecular logic. The organization of chromosome structure reflects pre-planning that bespeaks a divine Designer.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, March 15, 2007
General Relativity Affirmation Strengthens Big Bang

  • Difficult experimental tests have confirmed a key assertion of general relativity, thereby strengthening RTB’s cosmic creation model. General relativity predicts that clock rates depend on the gravitational field where the clock resides. However, any shift in the clock rate should not depend on the type of atomic clock used. Using two different atomic clocks-one based on hydrogen and the other on cesium-a team of physicists from Colorado and Russia determined that both clocks ran at the same rate, even as that rate changed over a 7-year period due to Earth’s rotation. These results made the constraints on any difference between clocks 20 times stronger. Furthermore, the results comport well with RTB’s cosmic creation model, which predicts a big bang universe as described by general relativity.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, March 16, 2007
Exoplanets Lack Water

  • The first spectral observations of extrasolar planets provide additional support that the solar system was designed to support life. From a naturalistic perspective, one expects to find many planetary systems similar to our solar system. This view implies that the gas giants in these systems should contain abundant water similar to the amount found on Jupiter and Saturn. Contrary to these expectations, the first two spectral observations of extrasolar gas giants found no detectable water. These findings mirror results regarding the uniqueness, in orbital distance and eccentricity, of Jupiter and Saturn when compared to extrasolar planets. RTB’s cosmic creation model anticipates discoveries of this nature and attributes the uniqueness of the solar system in its capacity to support life to the work of a super-caring Creator.
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    • Rare Earth, by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee [B0008-EPN]

Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, March 17, 2007
Biochemical Design: Information

  • Biochemists from the University of California, San Francisco have gained insight into the cell’s information processing systems that also provides new evidence for intelligent design. UCSF researchers studied the alternative splicing of messenger RNA. Instead of a single gene specifying a single protein, in eukaryotes (protozoans, fungi, plants, and animals) a single gene can specify several different proteins. This is achieved through alternative splicing of messenger RNA. (During the process of protein production the cell’s machinery copies the information contained in DNA in the form of messenger RNA. The cell’s machinery, in turn, uses the information delineated in messenger RNA to produce proteins.) After copying messenger RNA, the cell’s machinery excises parts of the molecule and splices the remaining pieces together. Alternative splicing yields messenger RNA molecules with different information content that can be used to direct the production of different proteins. Messenger RNA splicing patterns play a key role in gene expression and vary from cell to cell and tissue to tissue. The UCSF researchers learned more about the mechanistic processes of alternate splicing. Their work uncovers evidence for elegant, information-rich biochemical systems of the cell that, in turn, point to the source of life’s information¾the Creator described in the Bible.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, March 18, 2007
Water and Tectonic Activity

  • A greater understanding of geophysics provides further evidence that a habitable planet must have water to facilitate the necessary geological activity life requires. As water dissolves in the rocks composing Earth’s mantle, it dramatically alters the characteristics of the mantle. The rocks melt at lower temperatures and become more malleable. Recent work indicates that water also increases the electrical (and therefore thermal) conductivity of olivine-a major constituent of Earth’s mantle. Thus water appears to regulate the tectonic activity of Earth. Without the remarkable properties of water, which no other known compound exhibits, the geological (and chemical) processes life requires would not occur. Such apparent design in water’s properties comports well with the idea of a supernatural Creator preparing a universe capable of supporting life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, March 19, 2007
Adult Stem Cells Continue to Show Promise

  • Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have confirmed the usefulness of adult stem cells in tissue replacement therapies. Researchers have shown that adult stem cells taken from human bone marrow can be coaxed into behaving like neural stem cells. These stem cells may potentially be used to treat brain tumors, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases. Unlike embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which must be isolated by destroying human embryos, adult stem cells come from adult tissues and, therefore, present no controversy. Scientific advances such as this one will undoubtedly provide the way out of the ethical dilemma created by emerging biotechnologies.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Diminutive Plankton Do Heavy Lifting

  • Studies of tiny marine organisms provide additional evidence of design in Earth’s biological and geological processes. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide plays a central role in maintaining a habitable environment on Earth. Recently, two marine scientists demonstrated that-contrary to previous thought-plankton smaller than 5 micrometers play a significant role in sequestering carbon in the deep ocean (thus removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere). This process, along with tectonic and volcanic activity, helps recycle nutrients through the biosphere while regulating the atmospheric temperature. Such important interaction between biological and geological processes to ensure a habitable planet comports well with the idea of a supernatural Creator designing Earth as a place to support abundant life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Can Man Do It Better? Nature’s Design Inspires Engineers

  • MIT engineers have invented strong, elastic nanocomposites that highlight the elegant designs found throughout nature. Material scientists have long been interested in developing fibers that are both strong and elastic. Until recently, these two properties were considered to be mutually exclusive. To overcome this trade-off, a team from MIT turned to spider silk for the inspiration and insight. This material possesses both properties. Spider silk is a composite of a stretchable fiber with nanocrystals adhered to it in highly precise orientations. The MIT team successfully mimicked this design by developing polyurethane fibers with microscopic clay discs attached to the polymer fiber. In light of such imitation, does it make sense to view the elegant designs in nature as the product of blind, undirected, random processes when they inspire and teach the best engineers in the world how to design superior systems?
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, March 22, 2007
Biochemists Continue to Identify Function for Junk DNA

  • New research continues to uncover function for "junk" DNA sequences, thereby contravening evolution but supporting creation. Evolutionary biologists maintain that because junk DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. They reason that a Creator would not design DNA without a function. Numerous recent studies, however, have identified function for many types of junk (or noncoding) DNA. The latest study indicates that a type of noncoding DNA called Long Terminal Repeats (LTRs)-elements of endogenous retroviral DNA sequences-actually function as promoters that regulate gene activity. This discovery adds to the growing recognition of the functional importance of junk DNA and undermines one of evolution’s best arguments. Mounting evidence suggests 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, March 23, 2007
Further Constraining of Dark Matter Candidates

  • Scientists continue to narrow a significant gap in a key component of RTB’s cosmic creation model-namely, big bang cosmology. While scientists almost universally agree on the existence of dark matter, its identification and properties remain elusive. Consequently, physicists have proposed many different proposals for the nature of dark matter. One such dark matter candidate, known as massive compact objects (MCOs), has been ruled out by observations of type Ia supernovae (exploding stars). Had MCOs comprised the bulk of the dark matter, they would have left a particular signature in the observed properties of a large ensemble of type Ia supernovae. That signature was not seen; thus, dark matter does not consist predominantly of MCOs. The pool of dark matter candidates continues to dwindle and scientists are optimistic that dark matter will be directly detected in the near future. These and future results continue to fill in the details of RTB’s model.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, March 24, 2007
Helicobacter Genome Supports Biblical Account of Human Origins

  • Researchers have tracked the history of a human parasite, and their findings support the biblical account of humanity’s origin. Parasites can be useful for tracking human movements because of the intimate associations between hosts and parasites. A new study examines the genetic diversity and origin of Helicobacter pylori, a microbe that causes stomach ulcers. The transmission of H. pylori occurs from parent to child, and therefore mimics the transmission of human genetic material. Analysis of the genetic diversity of H. pylori isolated from different parts of the world indicates an East African origin and a spread from its point of origin around the world about 58,000 years ago. This new study corroborates earlier genetic studies and comports with the timing and location of RTB’s human origins model.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Sunday, March 25, 2007
Antarctic and Greenlandic Core Dates Match

  • Studies of ice cores affirm the antiquity of Earth and pose a serious challenge to young-earth models. Layers in ice cores (cylinders of ice removed from an ice sheet) can be used to determine ages if the layers are deposited annually. Assuming annual layering, high-resolution ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica give ages in the hundreds of thousands of years (indicating Earth is at least that old). Recent work conclusively demonstrates that events occurring on century and millennial timescales in both cores correlate with each other. Furthermore, the cores show variability matching periodicities in Earth’s orbit that occur on millennial timescales. These results corroborate and strengthen RTB’s old-earth model but present an awkward fit-if they can be fit at all-in young-earth models.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Monday, March 26, 2007
Adult Stem Cells Proceed to Clinical Trial

  • A research team in Spain has launched a small-scale clinical study that may help end a controversy by exploring the efficacy of adult stem cells to treat heart failure. Researchers have shown that adult stem cells taken from human fat tissue can be manipulated into cardiac cells. Pre-clinical studies performed by this team demonstrated promise when the patients’ own adult stem cells isolated from fatty tissues were injected into their hearts. To date no such human trials are in the works for embryonic stem cells (ESCs). This is significant because ESCs are fraught with ethical concerns because human embryos must be destroyed as part of the harvesting process. Noncontroversial advances such as this clinical trial will undoubtedly overcome the ethical dilemmas created by emerging biotechnologies.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Common Cause for an Important Cosmological Probe

  • A team of international scientists has helped establish the reliability of an important cosmological probe that also supports the validity of RTB’s cosmic creation model. Scientists’ best understanding of the universe’s expansion history derives from observations of type Ia supernovae (exploding stars) that require a roughly uniform brightness. Researchers used detailed spectra (ways of measuring energy) of many type Ia supernovae to compare the mechanisms responsible for the stellar explosions. Their results confirm that all type Ia supernovae explode via a common mechanism, thus strengthening astronomers’ confidence that these systems are "standard candles" useful for cosmological measurements. This conclusion also buttresses confidence in RTB’s cosmic creation model, which incorporates scientists’ best understanding of the universe’s history.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Biochemical Design: Optimal Nature of the Genetic Code

  • Geneticists have gained new insight into the elegant, optimal nature of the genetic code that also provides more evidence for biochemical intelligent design. The genetic code constitutes a set of rules that the cell’s machinery uses to convert the information stored in DNA into the information functionally expressed by proteins. Previous studies have demonstrated that the rules of the genetic code are optimized to minimize error caused by mutations. This new study extends these previous findings. It turns out that other codes overlay the genetic code. These codes specify protein binding sites on the DNA molecule and splice sites, for example. The design of the genetic code found in nature appears to be better suited to accommodate these overlapping codes than other possible codes that could have been chosen. These optimized properties evince a Creator’s role in bringing life into being.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Thursday, March 22, 2007
Biochemists Continue to Identify Function for Junk DNA

  • New research continues to uncover function for "junk" DNA sequences, thereby contravening evolution but supporting creation. Evolutionary biologists maintain that because junk DNA is an imperfection, it provides incontrovertible evidence for evolution. They reason that a Creator would not design DNA without a function. Numerous recent studies, however, have identified function for many types of junk (or noncoding) DNA. The latest study indicates that a type of noncoding DNA called Long Terminal Repeats (LTRs)-elements of endogenous retroviral DNA sequences-actually function as promoters that regulate gene activity. This discovery adds to the growing recognition of the functional importance of junk DNA and undermines one of evolution’s best arguments. Mounting evidence suggests 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-Thursday, March 29, 2007
No Water Found on Extrasolar Planet

  • The first-ever spectral measurement of an extrasolar planet affirms the uniqueness and design of the solar system and the only known habitable planet, namely Earth. While the list of known planets outside the solar system numbers over 200, a team of US astronomers recently measured the spectrum (distribution of electromagnetic radiation) of such a planet for the first time. This Jupiter-like planet is eclipsed by the parent star it orbits. By subtracting detailed spectra taken during an eclipse from non-eclipse spectra, the team provided the first spectral measurements of the planet itself. Contrary to expectations based on gas giants in the solar system, this extrasolar planet showed no evidence of significant water. Such results comport well with RTB’s creation model, which holds that a supernatural Creator specifically fashioned our galaxy, solar system, and planet with proper resources-including abundant liquid water-to sustain diverse and complex biological life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Saturday, March 31, 2007
Experiment Supports Geodynamo Model

  • A breakthrough by a team of French scientists in understanding molten metals supports the proposed mechanism responsible for generating Earth’s magnetic field that is part of RTB’s cosmic creation model. Geoscientists believe that the turbulent, rotating behavior of the liquid metals in Earth’s core generates the magnetic field that is so essential for life’s existence near Earth’s surface. Past attempts to generate dynamos had constrained the fluid flow to facilitate the magnetic field formation. Recently, the French team produced a magnetic field in a vat of liquid sodium that could freely flow anywhere in the vat. This experiment represents a tremendous advance in scientists’ understanding of the processes at work deep inside Earth and is consistent with a model that describes the remarkable design of a Creator who has fashioned a long-suitable habitat for abundant biological life.
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Today’s New Reason To Believe-Friday, March 30, 2007
Biochemical Design: Organization of Simplest Life

  • New research continues to uncover an astounding internal organization and complexity for the simplest life-forms. Microbiologists once viewed bacteria as "containers" of haphazardly arranged molecules. Advances over the last decade, however, indicate that this view is incorrect. A recent study on the localization of a protein complex called the RNA degradosome typifies this remarkable organization. This assembly breaks down RNA in bacteria. It turns out that the components of the RNA degradosome are associated with the cytoskeleton (cellular framework). The bacterial cytoskeleton appears to play a role in compartmentalizing and localizing enzymatic systems within the cytoplasm. Such molecular-level organization and complexity of the simplest life-forms serves as a marker for biochemical design and makes sense if a Creator is responsible for life.
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