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Globular Cluster Origins: Where Do We Go From Here?
January 1, 2004
The simple explanation of globular clusters as bundles of ancient stars seems to be in a state of crisis, though the authors of a paper in the Jan. 1 issue of Nature1 try to keep a stiff upper lip. They begin, “Nearly a century after the true nature of galaxies as distant ‘island universes’ was […]
Your Accelerated Eyes
December 30, 2003
When a beam of light hits your eye, a chain of events is set off that is really quite amazing. Kendall J. Blumer (Washington University School of Medicine) describes a little of it in the Jan. 1 issue of Nature.1 You don’t have to understand the following description; just be glad you don’t have to […]
In the Beginning Was the Bit
December 30, 2003
Is intelligent design theory making an inroad into secular science? One might think so, based on a book review published in the Jan. 1 issue of Nature,1 entitled, “The bits that make up the Universe.” Michael A. Nielsen reviews a new book by Hans Christian van Baeyer, Information: The New Language of Science (Weidenfeld & […]
Must Life Drink Water?
December 30, 2003
Star Trek used to portray aliens made up of different stuff than the carbon and water chemistry which comprises Earth-based life. For years, most scientists who considered the possibility of life in space, including Carl Sagan and Stanley Miller, admitted, somewhat reluctantly, that the periodic table of the elements admits no practical alternatives to water […]
Line Between Neanderthals and Modern Humans Blurs
December 23, 2003
There seems to have been an intergradation between big-boned Neanderthals and modern humans, according to the BBC News. “Newly identified remains from Vindija in Croatia, which date to between 42,000 and 28,000 years ago, are more delicate than ‘classic’ Neanderthals,” writes Paul Rincon. Not only that, stone tools found nearby look like those of modern […]
Life Runs on Waterwheels
December 22, 2003
The cells of every living thing are filled with molecular machines, and one of the most fascinating is a rotary motor called ATP synthase (see April 2002 back issue, opening paragraph). This is a true mechanical/electrical motor, found in every living thing from bacteria to elephants and palm trees. It is really two motors in […]
How Darwinism Produces Job Security
December 22, 2003
One thing Darwinism has going for it: it provides endless opportunities to research stories that are nearly impossible to prove. A case in point was provided in the Dec. 18 issue of Nature.1 John R. Hutchinson (Royal Veterinary College, UK), in a News and Views article on bird evolution, reviewed the new angle […]
Tired of Old Gaia? Try This: New Gaia
December 18, 2003
James Lovelock gets the stage without flying fruit (yet) in the December 18 issue of Nature.1 His 1970-ish “living earth” view of evolution, the Gaia hypothesis, in which life and the earth co-evolve together as one big living system, gets a new screening as what might be called neo-Gaia in an unrefuted Concepts piece in […]
Art Evolution Is Backwards
December 18, 2003
Early art has again been shown to be the work of advanced intellect and culture (see Apr. 22 headline and embedded links). Carved animal figurines found in Germany1 estimated to be 30,000 to 33,000 years old, display a level of craftsmanship not expected among primitive humans. In the Dec. 18 issue of Nature2, Anthony Sinclair […]
Darwin Plagiarized Paley?
December 18, 2003
Natural selection didn’t begin with Darwin, William L. Abler (Geologist, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) claims in a letter to the editor of Nature1 Dec. 18th. According to Abler, Darwin probably got the idea from a theologian he once admired, only later to ridicule: Darwin was educated not as a biologist, but as a […]
Creator Lord Jesus Praised at 100th Anniversary of Flight
December 17, 2003
When the NASA master of ceremonies told the crowd he was very honored to introduce Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham, to give the invocation at today’s 100th Anniversary of Flight celebration at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, he apparently did not know what he was in for. Mrs. Lotz gave a forceful, impassioned, politically-incorrect […]
Photosynthesis Began a Billion Years Earlier Than Thought
December 17, 2003
According to the BBC News, some scientists have pushed back the evolution of photosynthesis a billion years earlier than previously believed, to 3.9 billion years ago. This is based on uranium-thorium ratios of rocks in Greenland that led Danish researchers to conclude that they were deposited under oxidizing conditions. Others are not sure the data […]
Dark Energy Doubted
December 17, 2003
We’ve been told recently that two thirds of the universe consists of a mysterious phenomenon called dark energy. Now, some scientists at ESA say it doesn’t exist. Observations by the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory of clusters of galaxies 10 billion light years distant show remarkable differences from nearby clusters in the […]
The Magnetic Sky Is Falling
December 15, 2003
Space.Com reports that the strength of Earth’s magnetic field has dropped 10% over the last 150 years. At that rate of decline, it could vanish in 1500 to 2000 years. Scientists gathered recently at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union pondered whether a reversal is occurring, but a Harvard scientist claimed that would be […]