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December 10, 2018
In last week’s blog1 I described how a careful reconstruction of temperature proxies at sites all over the world revealed that the climate stability humans have enjoyed over the past 9,500 years was about twice as stable as scientists had previously concluded. That is, we are twice as blessed as we had previously thought. Thanks to the extreme climate stability of the past 9,500 years, we have been successful in launching and sustaining global high-technology civilization and in building our population up to seven billion individuals.
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Oceans
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Global Warming
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Earth's History
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Earth Science
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Natural Disasters
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Geophysics
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Asteroids
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December 3, 2018
One of the most outstanding and blessed features of Earth is that it has an ice age cycle where, for the past 9,000 years of that cycle, the planet has experienced extreme climate stability. New analysis of historical temperature measurements garnered from 73 different locations on Earth now reveals that the climate of the past 9,000 years has been far more stable than previously thought. That is, we humans are much more blessed than we previously recognized.
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Fine-Tuning
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Global Warming
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Earth's History
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November 26, 2018
Just a year ago, I had a regular attendee in my Paradoxes Sunday school class1 who was 101 years old. He was mentally sharp and, for his age, physically fit. He lived alone and drove himself to class. He claimed that the secret to his longevity was a disciplined diet and daily physical and mental exercise. However, a few months ago, he caught a flu bug that within a week took his life.
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November 19, 2018
Stymied by attempts to find life-friendly conditions on surfaces of extraterrestrial planets and moons, astrobiologists have turned to increasingly exotic sites. Two such sites are (1) the upper atmospheres of planets and moons with thick atmospheres and (2) possible pools of liquid water below the surfaces of planets and moons. A nearby example of the former are Venus’s high clouds. Nearby examples of the latter are Europa and Enceladus, moons of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively.
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Requirements for Life
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Ocean life
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Origin of Life
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Fine-Tuning
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Water
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Life on Other Planets
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Exoplanets
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Earth Design
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November 12, 2018
During my graduate school days at the University of Toronto I had the privilege of taking a short course from Princeton University astronomer and cosmologist Jeremiah Ostriker. In that course Ostriker spoke about the missing mass of the universe. The mass he was referring to was not the dark matter (aka cold dark matter; exotic dark matter) that is comprised of particles that do not interact or that interact very weakly with photons. Rather, he was concerned about atomic matter, matter comprised of protons, neutrons, and electrons that has the property of interacting strongly with photons. Detection of such matter carries significant implications for the reliability of big bang models for the beginning of the universe.
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Universe Design
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Origin of the Universe
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Big Bang Theory
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November 5, 2018
Astronomers have detected and measured the mass and/or orbital features of 3,869 planets in 2,887 planetary systems beyond the solar system.1 This ranks as a staggering rate of discovery, given that the first confirmed detection of a planet orbiting another hydrogen-fusion-burning star was as recent as 1995.2 What do the characteristics of these systems reveal about potential habitability for advanced life?
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Extrasolar Planets
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Life on Other Planets
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Earth Design
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Solar System Design
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Gas Giant Planets
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Fine-Tuning
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Exoplanets
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October 29, 2018
Our intestinal tracts are amazingly designed to withstand a high degree of stress. However, a new set of experiments establishes that there are limits to how much stress our intestinal tracts can tolerate. In particular, the experiments show that deep space travel will do irreparable, life-threatening damage to our intestines, which creates a severely limiting factor for people who envision a future where humans can travel to other planets and colonize them.
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth Design
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Solar System Design
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Space Weather
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Life Design
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Cells
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Cancer
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October 22, 2018
Extraterrestrial iron dust delivery by means of exquisitely fine-tuned processes has made modern civilization possible. Scientists sought to discern the nature of an unknown part of a phenomenon—bioavailable iron on Earth—and their research led to a major discovery that was published in the October issue of Geology.
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Geophysics
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Fine-Tuning
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Oceans
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Ecosystems
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Earth Design
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Sun
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Solar System Design
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Ocean life
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Meteors
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Atmosphere
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Asteroids
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October 15, 2018
About 800,000 years ago, a miraculous change took place on Earth. The ice age cycle transitioned from happening every 41,000 years to about every 100,000 years, in what is now referred to as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). And without the MPT and its consummate fine-tuning and exact timing in history, we would not presently be able to enjoy today’s high population and advanced civilization.
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth's History
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Sun
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Solar System Design
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Oceans
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Ocean life
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Atmosphere
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October 11, 2018
The experimental and observational evidence that the universe has a beginning in finite time establishes that the universe must have some kind of Beginner. Space-time theorems provide additional evidence that some kind of causal Agent beyond space and time created our universe of matter, energy, space, and time. I describe and document in much detail the experimental, observational, and theoretical evidence for this causal Agent in The Creator and the Cosmos.
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God's Existence
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Life Design
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Particle Physics
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Galaxy Design
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Universe Design
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Sun
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Solar System Design
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Milky Way Galaxy
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Life History
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Laws of Physics
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth
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Creation
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October 8, 2018
In part 1 of this three-part series, I wrote about how 800,000 years ago, a miraculous transition from a 41,000-year to an approximately 100,000-year ice age cycle took place—a change known as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). If not for the exquisite fine-tuning and precise timing of this event, the high population and civilization we presently enjoy would have been impossible.
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Oceans
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Geophysics
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Solar System Design
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Sun
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Comets
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Ocean life
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Earth Design
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Atmosphere
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October 1, 2018
This blog is the first of a three-part series on new scientific discoveries and research that reveal the hitherto unrecognized miraculous nature of a recent event known as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. If not for the exquisite fine-tuning in multiple ways and precise timing of this event, the high population and civilization we presently enjoy would have been impossible.
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Global Warming
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Atmosphere
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Ocean life
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Earth Design
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September 24, 2018
Nature is filled with examples of mutualistic symbiosis—a relationship in which dissimilar species benefit from the association. Obligatory mutualistic symbiosis is where two or more dissimilar organisms depend upon one another for survival. A recently conducted field experiment reveals one of the most complex and multifaceted examples of obligatory mutualistic symbiosis ever discovered. This discovery challenges biological evolution but affirms biblical creation.
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Life Design
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Atmosphere
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Symbiosis
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Bacteria
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Fine-Tuning
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Creation vs. Evolution
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Challenges to Evolution
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September 17, 2018
Many people quickly identify oxygen and ozone as biologically produced molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. For that reason, exoplanet researchers look for oxygen and ozone in the atmosphere of exoplanets in their search for life. Would such a discovery rank as a true signature for life?
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Extrasolar Planets
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Exoplanets
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Water
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Life on Other Planets
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September 10, 2018
It bothers my wife Kathy that I can be sitting in front of a computer and not even notice that the room temperature has dropped or risen by more than ten degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike me, Kathy is extremely sensitive to temperature changes. A temperature change in our home or in one of our offices as small as a half degree is enough for her to declare that she is too cold or too warm. Her temperature sensitivity is even better than any of our thermostats.
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Early Earth
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Earth
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Earth Design
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Design
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Atmosphere
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September 3, 2018
In the past one hundred years astronomers have moved from knowing virtually nothing about the origin and history of the universe to possessing a detailed and abundantly confirmed cosmic creation model. I describe this journey and all the observational successes of what is now known as the big bang creation model in my latest book, The Creator and the Cosmos.
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Inflation
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Universe Design
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Big Bang Theory
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August 27, 2018
The discovery of two ancient ovens in Jordan provides evidence that humans were making bread at a time consistent with the Bible’s account of early human history. In chapter 15 of my book Improbable Planet1, I described an archaeological/scientific discovery2 that established that humans living along the shore of the Sea of Galilee were selectively breeding and cultivating wild grains at least as long ago as 23,000 years before the present. The breeding and cultivation of such grains suggest that humans living 23,000 years ago were using the grains as a food staple that likely may have included the manufacture of bread or bread-like products.
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Human Flourishing
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Genesis
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Anthropology
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Archaeology
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August 20, 2018
In mountain climbing, the death zone refers to altitudes above 26,000 feet (7,900 meters). At that height, the atmospheric pressure is only 35 percent of what it is at sea level. Irrespective of physical conditioning or acclimatization, it is not possible for any human at that altitude to breathe in enough oxygen to prevent widespread cell death in the body’s vital organs, and especially in the brain. Above 26,000 feet it becomes very difficult to sleep and near impossible to digest food. Any climber that spends more than about 12 hours above 26,000 feet without supplemental oxygen will experience permanent brain damage, increasing risk of loss of consciousness, and ultimately death.
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Exoplanets
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Earth Design
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Sun
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Fine-Tuning
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Extinction
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Atmosphere
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August 13, 2018
An experiment performed by one British and three Hungarian biologists provides yet more scientific evidence that certain non-human animals were designed in advance to engage in complex relationships with human beings.
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Genesis
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Life Design
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Origin of Life
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Human Uniqueness
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Creation
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Animals
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August 8, 2018
The way I typically hear this question is, why did God kill every man, woman, and child living in Sodom and Gomorrah? This question is frequently asked by Christians and non-Christians alike, and it’s commonly used as a basis for people to reject the existence of the God of the Bible. Such individuals presume that an all-loving God would never do such a thing.
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Atheism
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Bible Difficulties
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Problem of Evil
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Sin
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Justice
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Cancer
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Bible
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Morality
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