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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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April 8, 2019
Zones where advanced life can exist in the universe just became stricter. Astronomical researchers have discovered that livable neighborhoods must include not only favorable planet-to-star conditions but also galactic and supergalactic features.
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Solar System Design
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Galaxy Design
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Universe Design
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Milky Way Galaxy
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Fine-Tuning
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April 1, 2019
For several decades, astronomers have known that Earth’s atmosphere possesses a nitrogen abundance that is exquisitely fine-tuned for advanced life. Now, a team of four astronomers has discovered the origin of Earth’s atmospheric nitrogen.
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Solar System Design
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Earth Design
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Comets
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Atmosphere
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Moon & Its Formation
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March 25, 2019
In August 2017, Reasons to Believe organized a conference on the fine-tuned design of the Sun and Moon that makes advanced human civilization possible. We held the conference on a site and at the time of a total solar eclipse. We not only witnessed a spectacular solar eclipse but also learned in several different ways how the Sun and Moon are exquisitely designed to enable the existence of human beings on Earth.
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Ocean life
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Solar System Design
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Oceans
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Sun
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Moon & Its Formation
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth Design
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Animals
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March 18, 2019
Seventy-one percent may seem like average, but when it comes to Earth’s surface water percentage, that number appears to be ideal for advanced civilization. A scientific agency like NASA recognizes that life cannot exist without liquid water—thus, their long-held astrobiology mantra is to “follow the water.”1 That pursuit leads astrobiology researchers to look for evidence of life or life’s remains on astronomical bodies where there is at least a possibility of surface liquid water.
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Life History
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Human Origins
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Oceans
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Ocean life
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Earth's History
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Earth Design
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Animals
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Fine-Tuning
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Exoplanets
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March 11, 2019
Considerable political and scientific discussion today concerns the possible effects of global warming. Not much attention, however, has been given to potential future water loss—in other words, death by drying out. A major reason why Earth’s water loss has not been publicized is due to large uncertainties in water loss models. A recent paper in the Astrophysical Journal has now brought a measure of certainty to Earth’s inevitable future water loss.1 Is there reason to worry?
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Solar System Design
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Sun
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth Design
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Atmosphere
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March 4, 2019
Scientists’ quest to find a habitable planet like Earth continues to drive extraterrestrial research. However, new studies show that planets capable of sustaining complex life must be extremely rare. Astronomers have discovered eleven different planetary habitability zones—locations relative to the distance from the host star where life could conceivably exist. See table 1 for a list of these habitability zones.
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Fine-Tuning
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Requirements for Life
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Solar System Design
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Life on Other Planets
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Stars
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Exoplanets
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Earth Design
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Atmosphere
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February 25, 2019
One of the most popular blogs I wrote in 2010 discussed how the recovery of the sperm whale population from near extinction to 12,000 individuals in the Southern Ocean had greatly increased that ocean’s biomass and had helped to mitigate global warming.1 Now, studies on blue whales, fin whales, and humpback whales establish that they, too, are making an enormous contribution to increasing the marine biomass and in helping to mitigate global warming.
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Ocean life
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Life Design
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Global Warming
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Animals
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February 18, 2019
Theater aficionados know that noise and commotion behind the curtain during intermission of a theatrical performance intensifies expectation. Then, when the curtain rises after intermission, the audience sees that the scene has been radically altered and their “wow” factor is heightened. Earth’s scene (or ‘cene) has also changed dramatically in history to bring about surprising changes for humanity’s benefit.
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Fine-Tuning
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Earth Design
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Oceans
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Atmosphere
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Geophysics
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Asteroids
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February 11, 2019
Years ago, in a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss referred to dark energy as presenting “the most extreme fine-tuning problem known in physics.” Dark energy is energy embedded in the universe’s space surface that makes up about 70 percent of all the stuff of the universe (see figure 1). Krauss determined that the fine-tuning level is more extreme than one part in 10120! He has been joined by several other theoretical physicists who conclude that the required fine-tuning of dark energy is “the most difficult problem in physics.” The obvious question is does this most difficult problem point to a causal agent with the capacity to fine-tune to a degree far, far beyond anything we humans are capable of manifesting?
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Earth Design
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Stars
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Universe Design
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Dark Energy & Dark Matter
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Anthropic Principle
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Animals
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