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May 28, 2013
In part 3 of this series on water, guest authors John Millam, Ken Klos, and Iain D. Sommerville explain how ice stays afloat and what this remarkable feature of water means for life on Earth.
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May 24, 2013
Guest writers John Millam, Ken Klos, and Iain D. Sommerville continue their exploration of water with a look at how intermolecular forces influence water’s boiling and melting points.
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May 20, 2013
Throughout May and June, we will be presenting an article series from guest writers John Millam, Ken Klos, and Iain D. Sommerville on the amazing properties of water. In part 1, the authors discuss the nature of water’s solvation ability and its importance for sustaining life on Earth.
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May 16, 2013
General relativity represents the best description known to humanity of how the universe behaves. It explicitly incorporates the idea of constant (in both space and time) physical laws. It also generically predicts a dynamic nature to spacetime such that space expands and the whole universe begins to exist.
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May 13, 2013
In light of the belief that the human genome is largely a genetic junkyard, the ENCODE Project’s phase two report that 80 percent of the human genome consists of functional DNA elements is an astounding announcement—and it is not without detractors. In part 1 of this series, I collated the criticisms published by ENCODE “skeptics.” In part 2, I responded to two of the most significant challenges. In this final installment, I respond to four other objections.
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May 9, 2013
Several recently published scientific papers strongly critique the results of the ENCODE Project’s second phase—which reveal that at least 80 percent of the human genome is functional. In this installment of a three-part response to those critiques, I examine two of the most significant challenges: (1) The ENCODE project used a faulty definition of function; and (2) The results of the ENCODE project are absurd in light of
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May 6, 2013
When the ENCODE Project reported that at least 80 percent of the human genome consists of functional sequences, they forced a radical revision of scientists’ understanding of human genetics. But recent scientific papers have called this conclusion into question. In this three-part series, I collate and describe the criticisms published by ENCODE “skeptics” and then offer my response, demonstrating that their disapproval of the ENCODE Project has more to do with philosophy than science.
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May 2, 2013
Recent studies of ion channels have dramatic implications for Christian apologetics. The fine-tuning, complexity, and convergence revealed in these remarkable structures support the superiority of intelligent design as an explanation for their origin.
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April 29, 2013
If evolutionary theory is true, scientists should not expect to see biological systems and features “repeated” in supposedly unrelated organisms—yet nature is replete with occurrences of such convergence. For example, recent studies of ion channels found similarities between mammalian brains and potatoes.
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April 22, 2013
Often, the most divisive climate change issues have more to do with climate policy rather than with the changing climate itself. This article attempts to address the question of how we can and should respond to this important environmental topic.
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April 18, 2013
So how did the last of the “terrible lizards” meet their end 65 million years ago? One theory—promoted in the film Jurassic Park—postulates that dinosaurs evolved into birds. However, evidence indicates that a catastrophic asteroid impact on Earth led to the dinosaurs’ doom, bringing to mind the words of the psalmist, “when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.”
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April 15, 2013
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s prehistoric blockbuster, Jurassic Park. Although the idea of coming face-to-teeth with dinosaurs thrills (and terrifies) many people, ancient DNA studies reveal that human-dinosaur interaction was and is limited to the realm of fantasy and science fiction.
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Scientific Evidence for an Old Earth
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Dinosaurs
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April 11, 2013
Scientists realize that the existence of certain elements depends on a delicate balance in how the physical laws manifest themselves. Three of those elements (oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen) also figure prominently in how life operates and develops.
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April 8, 2013
Astronomer Fred Hoyle postulated the existence of an excited state of carbon, called the “Hoyle state,” in order to explain how stars could produce the amount of carbon seen in the universe. Recent theoretical work demonstrated how scientists could calculate the Hoyle state from first principles.
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April 4, 2013
Using mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomal DNA to characterize genetic variability of people around the world, recent studies suggest that humanity’s origin was much earlier than thought (250,000 to 350,000 years ago, rather than less than 100,000 years ago). These results pose a possible challenge to the biblical account of human origins. However...
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April 1, 2013
New work by a team of physical anthropologists from the UK indicates that Neanderthal brains were organized differently than those of modern humans. The brains of these hominids were structured to support vision and the animal’s relatively large body mass, leaving a smaller proportion of brain tissue available for other cognitive functions. Based on this research, it appears that Neanderthals possessed limited capacity to enter into complex social networks.
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March 28, 2013
Recent storms, such as Hurricane Sandy, have raised questions about the nature of hurricanes and their impact on humanity. In part 1 of this series, we addressed the issue of global warming’s influence on tropical cyclones, as well as the role of human behavior in the increase in economic damage caused by hurricanes. Now we consider if it is possible for good to come out of such natural disasters.
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Problem of Evil
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Natural Disasters
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March 25, 2013
Disasters such as Hurricane Sandy raise many questions about the relationship between severe weather and human civilization. For example, could global warming cause changes in hurricane frequency and intensity? What can be done to minimize storm damage? And perhaps most poignant: do hurricanes, despite their destructiveness, serve a good purpose?
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Natural Disasters
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Global Warming
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March 21, 2013
Though numerous observations point to the existence of dark matter, scientists still lack ...
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March 18, 2013
I work on a dark matter balloon experiment called GAPS (General Antiparticle Spectrometer). The detector looks for antideuterons, cosmically rare particles that can result when dark matter particles collide and annihilate. A great number of factors influence whether GAPS will detect any dark matter, including the detector design and the nature of the dark matter. However, as with many other searches for dark matter, a GAPS detection requires that dark matter exists around the Sun.
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