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August 12, 2019
Skeptics of big bang creation cite a loophole in their attempts to avert a beginning for our universe and, hence, the implication of a causal agent. A new discovery on gamma-ray emissions from a supergiant galaxy stands to address the loophole from early in the universe’s history in an “era” (an extremely brief moment after the beginning) called quantum gravity.
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Laws of Physics
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Relativity
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Origin of the Universe
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Universe Design
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God
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Cosmology
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Big Bang Theory
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August 5, 2019
It may not occur to people living in a high-tech modern society, but an improbable confluence of natural events in Earth’s past has made our comfortable lives possible. Scientists have learned how four finely tuned snowball events led to just-right plate tectonic activity, along with the timing of the Sun’s brightness, in what appears to be a supernatural arrangement to prepare our planet for advanced life.
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Human Origins
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Earth Design
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Sun
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Life History
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Geology
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Creation vs. Evolution
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Atmosphere
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July 29, 2019
Which model, naturalistic evolution or biblical creation, best explains Earth’s mass extinctions followed by introductions of new species? A new discovery helps provide an answer as it sheds light on a coincidental supernova event and an asteroid impact.
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Extinction
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Life History
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Asteroids
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Natural Disasters
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Atmosphere
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Speciation
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Ocean life
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Creation vs. Evolution
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Animals
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July 22, 2019
A question that is frequently posted on my Facebook page is: Why, if there is an all-powerful, all-loving God, do good people die while they are still young? Here’s a recent example:
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Miracles
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Cancer
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Laws of Physics
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Sin
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Death
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Problem of Evil
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Pain and Suffering
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Bible
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July 19, 2019
Tomorrow marks the fiftieth anniversary of the moment when men first stepped on the Moon’s surface. The Apollo 11 Moon landing remains indelibly etched in my mind’s eye. Shortly after lunch on July 20, 1969, ten of my fellow University of Toronto astronomy grad students and two astronomy professors headed upstairs with me to the department lounge to watch the only television available. We watched and listened intently to communications between Houston and the Lunar Command Module, Columbia, especially during the delicate separation of the Lunar Module, Eagle, from Columbia.
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Relativity
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Moon & Its Formation
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Science in the News
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Famous People
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July 15, 2019
Elusive detection of the universe’s firstborn stars has been a long-standing challenge toward developing a more detailed and better affirmed biblically predicted big bang creation model.1 Astronomers call them Population III stars, and a failure to observe them has led some people to conclude that the big bang creation model has been falsified. For example, past president of the Institute for Creation Research, Henry Morris II, wrote,
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Young-Earth Creationism
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Universe Design
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Stars
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Origin of the Universe
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Big Bang Theory
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July 8, 2019
Development of a biblical cosmic creation model ranks as one of the hallmarks of Reasons to Believe’s case for the Christian faith. In that model we maintain that thousands of years ago, the Bible explicitly predicted the following four features of the universe:
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Old Earth Creationism
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Universe Design
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Young-Earth Creationism
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God's Existence
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Big Bang Theory
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July 2, 2019
Today, July 1, 2019, Norman Geisler passed away peacefully, just 20 days short of his 87th birthday. No doubt he ranks as one of the greatest and most influential apologists of our time. He may be best known for his unswerving defense of biblical inerrancy and was a major participant in framing the Chicago Statements on Biblical Inerrancy and Hermeneutics. He also cofounded two Christian seminaries, Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Santa Ana, California.
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Interviews
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Young-Earth Creationism
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Reasons to Believe
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Inerrancy
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July 1, 2019
I have visited the Dead Sea, 1,412 feet below sea level, and have climbed 14,000-foot-high mountains. In both instances I noticed a decrease in lung function. For advanced life, lungs provide the highest possible respiration efficiency.1 That efficiency, however, requires a narrow air pressure range.
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Exoplanets
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Solar System Design
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Earth Design
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Life on Other Planets
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Life Design
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Atmosphere
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Anthropic Principle
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June 24, 2019
A little more than a month ago the internet and popular press were abuzz about a paper published by a team of astronomers led by Nobel laureate, Adam Riess. Riess and his team reported measurements that indicated that the universe might be a little more than a billion years younger than the date determined from analyzing a map of the cosmic background radiation—the radiation left over from the cosmic creation event.1 As one web article commented, the new measurements are “upending one of the few things scientists felt certain about”2 and consequently “the birth of the universe is shrouded in guesses and hypotheses.”3 Another web article stated that astronomers “lost track of time”4 and quoted Riess in saying that “we’re not passing this test [the age of the universe]—we’re failing the test!”5
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Inflation
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Dark Energy & Dark Matter
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Old Earth Creationism
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Young-Earth Creationism
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Universe Design
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Inerrancy
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Cosmology
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Cosmic Expansion
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Big Bang Theory
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June 17, 2019
Scientific advances continue to demonstrate our improbable planet’s fine-tuned features. In a recent issue of Science, a team of scientists led by Francis Macdonald described another extraordinary feature of Earth’s plate tectonic activity.1 This feature must be fine-tuned for life to persist on Earth for as long as it has and the required fine-tuning poses yet another challenge to naturalistic explanations for the history of Earth’s life.
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Life Design
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Naturalism
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth Design
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Atmosphere
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June 10, 2019
Air conditioning and heating of all buildings and vehicles have greatly increased the productivity, health, and comfort of human beings and their domesticated animals. However, in spite of the comfort and convenience, air conditioning and heating both engender plentiful complaints.
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Global Warming
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Biology
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Atmosphere
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June 3, 2019
Two weeks ago, I introduced my blog by describing my issue with how each of the Star Wars movies references civilizations in “a galaxy far, far away.” We astronomers have observed thousands of far, far away galaxies and so far none possess features similar enough to our Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) to be possible candidates to host an advanced civilization. In this post I describe yet another feature, namely that a galaxy’s spiral arms (where most new stars are formed) must be neither too tight nor too loose to harbor life.
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Galaxy Design
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Young-Earth Creationism
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Fine-Tuning
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May 27, 2019
Astrobiology is the scientific discipline dedicated to the search and study of life on other worlds. In spite of decades of research funding and dozens of dedicated spacecraft missions, astrobiology remains a “data-free” scientific discipline. It’s not that we have not learned anything, but that researchers have not found any “data” in the form of life. This continuing lack of data has profound scientific, philosophical, and spiritual implications.
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Exoplanets
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Life on Other Planets
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Meteors
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Panspermia
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Mars
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth Design
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Bacteria
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May 20, 2019
I have a problem with the Star Wars movies. Each saga film opens with the famous words, “In a galaxy far, far away.” We astronomers have observed thousands of far, far away galaxies and, unfortunately for Luke Skywalker and friends, none possess the features that support advanced life. Our Milky Way Galaxy is the only known life-friendly galaxy.
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Fine-Tuning
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Milky Way Galaxy
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Galaxy Design
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Earth Design
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May 13, 2019
Medical doctors tell us that it is not good for our health and wellbeing to possess a pot belly. They warn us, too, that the bigger the pot belly in proportion to our total body weight the greater the impact on our health, wellbeing, and longevity. As it is for human beings, so, too, for galaxies.
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Fine-Tuning
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Milky Way Galaxy
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Galaxy Design
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May 6, 2019
Earth has experienced many tectonic plate collisions throughout its history. By far the most dramatic collision began 50 million years ago and continues to this day between Asia and the Indian subcontinent (see figure 1).1 Currently, the Indian subcontinent moves 5 centimeters per year in a northeasterly direction and, so far, has pushed a little more than 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) into the Eurasian plate.
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Fine-Tuning
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Sun
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Plate Tectonics
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Earth Design
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Atmosphere
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April 29, 2019
Astronomers’ unusual but effective means of detecting helium hydride has generated excitement among researchers by helping to account for the “missing helium hydride” in big bang creation models. This discovery also supports how the Bible describes the universe’s beginning, history, and structure.
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Big Bang Theory
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Origin of the Universe
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Universe Design
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Stars
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April 22, 2019
In last week’s blog about Earth’s magnetic field1 I wrote about recent research by three Australian astronomers that demonstrated the possible existence of life on a planet critically depends on that planet possessing a strong enduring magnetic dipole moment. Now, Harvard University astronomer Manasvi Lingam has published a paper in which he has determined the degree to which variations in the strength of Earth’s magnetic field impact life on Earth. He also shows the degree to which variations in the magnetic field strength of ancient Mars and of planets beyond our solar system impact the habitability of these planets.2
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Life Design
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Stars
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Exoplanets
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Mars
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Sun
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Earth Design
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Early Earth
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Bacteria
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April 15, 2019
We might take it for granted, but our planet’s magnetic field is no sure thing. A just-published research paper by three Australian astronomers shows that a strong, long-lasting magnetic field is essential for the survival of advanced life and that such magnetic fields must be extremely rare among rocky extrasolar planets.1
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Requirements for Life
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Earth Design
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Fine-Tuning
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Exoplanets
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Sun
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Solar System Design
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