skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Researchers hope to learn from these amphibians how to regrow human limbs.
*********************************************
HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S.A.!
MAY GOD BLESS YOU!
*********************************************
SUMMARY: Ever since Aristotle scientists have been trying to discover how salamanders can regrow lost limbs. Recently they have been surprised to find out that cells near the site of an amputation revert to adult stem cells which can only develop into the type of cell necessary to regenerate the lost body part. In other words, when a salamander loses a tail, it won't regrow a leg in its place. Scientists had thought these cells would be pluripotent, able to form many different cell types.
In the study, published in Nature, scientists explain that when these amphibians lose a body part, the muscle, bone, and skin cells near the amputation site change into a clump of adult stem cells called a blastema. The blastema cells all look alike and scientists do not yet know how they can go on to form the correct tissue type. The researchers learned that cells added to the blastema always became the right kind of cell. Muscle became muscle. Cartilage became cartilage. Only cells just beneath the skin were able to develop into more than one cell type.
Scientists studying salamanders hope to find ways to regenerate human limbs, and this study may help them in their investigations. Instead of trying to generate multipotent or pluripotent cells, they now think they need to try to understand how these cells get the appropriate signals to make a new limb in terms of organizing the different tissue types.
(Photograph of a Fire Salamander from Wikimedia Commons)
To read the entire article click on this DISCOVER link.
COMMENT: According to Wikipedia, amphibians are unique among vertebrates in being able to grow back body parts such as limbs and tails. We must be in awe of this ability. The cells at the site of the lost limb "know" exactly what kind of tissue to become in order to regenerate the lost body part. Even our very intelligent researchers are not yet able to figure out how they can do this. Need I mention that this seems like just one more on an endless list of examples showing that creatures like salamanders must have been intelligently designed?
A second point that seems reasonable to me regards the unique position salamanders have among vertebrates. The ability to regenerate lost limbs is a wonderful and very positive gift every animal should want to possess. Why is it other vertebrates including humans haven't been able to evolve such an amazing talent, which salamanders can use to escape predators?
The fact remains that the Creator has given to each creature the gifts it needs. Humans can compensate somewhat for the inability to regrow lost limbs by having knowledgeable doctors who can reset bones and sometimes reattach limbs. Perhaps God will some day give them the knowledge to help even humans regenerate lost body parts. While we can't yet grow back lost arms, legs or noses, we humans have been given a gift none of the animals has been promised--the gift of eternal life in heaven available through the death of Jesus Christ, a gift we must not reject if we do not want to imperil our souls.
*********************************************
Want to be automatically notified each time there is a new post? Just e-mail your request to [admin@lutheranscience.org].
*********************************************
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What surprising coincidence involved John Adams and Thomas Jefferson?
Both Adams (top) and Jefferson (bottom) died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States' 50th anniversary They were two of the United State's founding fathers and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence to go on to become president.
Source: Wikipedia
*********************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are encouraged including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity will not be published. After posting a comment, please allow several hours for it to appear on the blog.
They engage in risky behavior because they think they have little to lose.
SUMMARY: Nearly 15% of teenagers believe they will die young, a reason according to new research that they may use drugs, attempt suicide, or engage in other unsafe behavior. The study, which appears in the July issue of Pediatrics and which was based on a survey of 20,000 kids, counters conventional thinking that teens engage in risky behavior because they think they're invulnerable to harm. Instead, they may take chances "because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake," according to study author Dr. Iris Borowsky of the University of Minnesota.
Such a fatalistic outlook could cause their behavior to turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Teens who thought they would die early were seven times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than other young people and were more likely to attempt suicide and get into serious fights that could lead to major injuries. Adolescence is "a time of great opportunity and for such a large minority of youth to feel like they don't have a long life ahead of them was surprising," Borowsky said.
Dr. Jonathan Klein of the U. of Rochester suggested that doctors should seek to detect kids suffering from fatalism so that they might potentially prevent unsafe behavior. Native Americans, blacks and low-income teens are more likely to be exposed to violence and hardship and much more likely than whites to believe they will die young. Still, fatalistic teens weren't more likely to die than more optimistic kids; there were just 94 deaths reported from the more than 20,000 teens.
To read the entire article click on this YAHOO NEWS link.
COMMENT: This report should be an eye-opener for anyone who works with our young people. While 15% may not sound like much, what it means is that in an average class of 33 students five of them may be engaging in risky behavior and be fatalistic.
Some observers of religion are reporting it seems more and more difficult to get teens to attend church. Yet, an article like this one makes it imperative that these youth need to find out who they really are (beloved children of God) and why they can be optimistic about the future (Jesus died for them and promises to be a friend who is always by their side).
The challenge then for parents, pastors and youth workers is to get through to these teenagers regarding their spiritual lives and the true hope for the future which we all have through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus never promised that life for everyone would be easy and carefree, but He did promise to be with us to the end of this earthy life all the way to a blessed eternity. Also, I believe it is important to show teens the many ways they can serve Him, a reason He will grant most of them long and prosperous lives.
*********************************************
Want to be automatically notified each time there is a new post? Just e-mail your request to [admin@lutheranscience.org].
*********************************************
QUESTION OF THE DAY
According to the Food and Drug Administration, how many food recalls have there been during the past three years?
There were 214 food recalls in 2006, 247 in 2007, and 310 in 2008. Experts say the increasing number of recalls is due to better detection of potential problems because there has been no increase in food-borne illnesses.
Source: Parade magazine (June 28, 2009)
*********************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are encouraged including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity will not be published. Please allow several hours for a comment to appear on the blog.
Paleontologists have little good to say after touring the museum.
SUMMARY: Six dozen paleontologists visited the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky last week to get a glimpse at marketing tactics being used by the museum. The scientists had been in the area already for a conference.
Although they spend their careers studying evolution, they were visiting a place dedicated to a literal interpretation of the Bible and to disproving the theory. "The real purpose of the museum visit is to give some of my colleagues an opportunity to sense how they're being portrayed," said Arnold Miller, a paleontology professor at the U. of Cincinnati which was hosting the conference. "They're being demonized, I feel, in this museum as people who are responsible for all the ills of society."
The scientists objected to exhibits that portray science as doing more harm than good. They were disturbed at the depiction of the great flood as being a rebuke for questioning God. They didn't like seeing dinosaurs alongside cows, monkeys and other animals in a model of Noah's Ark or in another exhibit, two young girls pictured playing near dinosaurs.
Dr. David Menton, a biology professor with Answers in Genesis, which founded the museum, insisted the museum largely uses the same evidence that other scientists use but with a starting point millions of years later. Scientists can't prove anything beyond a few thousands years anyway, he said. He defended the idea that dinosaurs and man were contemporaries but doubts that they spent much time hobnobbing with each other.
To read the entire article click on this MSNBC link.
COMMENT: Why would so many paleontologists pay a visit to a place that publicly they look at with such deep contempt? Certainly, curiosity might be the reason. However, they might have wanted to tour the museum so that they could freely criticize the place without someone complaining that they shouldn't criticize an institution they haven't seen. We'll see what if anything these scientists have to say in the days and weeks ahead about what they learned at AiG's museum.
If we are allowed to hope, we might hope and pray that at least some of the scientists might be "closet creationists" or at least "closet evolution-doubters" who have had questions about Darwin's theories that may have deepened as a result of their visit. That some of them spoke out against the museum isn't surprising because one could lose his/her standing in the evolutionist fraternity if appearing to be too soft on creationism.
It is interesting that these scientists were paleontologists. Two people creationists most like to quote are paleontologists. In regard to the alleged evidence for evolution in the fossil record, the late Stephen Jay Gould wrote such things as "All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions between major groups are characteristically abrupt." The late Colin Patterson of the British Museum of Natural History wrote in a letter regarding a book on evolution he had authored, "‘I fully agree with your comments on the lack of direct illustration of evolutionary transitions in my book. If I knew of any, fossil or living, I would certainly have included them." Evolutionists may falsely maintain these men were misquoted or their remarks were taken out of context, but even though Gould and Patterson remained evolutionists, their honesty regarding the fossil record can't be ignored.
As for the claim that creationists believe Darwinians are responsible for all the world's ills, that is an overstatement. There were plenty of problems in the world long before anyone ever heard of Charles Darwin. For instance, the Bible makes it clear Noah's Flood was sent because of the serious tide of sin that had overtaken the world at that time. Still, a theory that insists we are descended from animals can't be good for society. Some people may take that as permission to sometimes act like animals. Most important though, evolutionism destroys the need for a Savior and causes people to look at science as their god instead of looking to the only true God in heaven who alone can provide salvation. This He does, of course, through the death of Jesus Christ by which He offers salvation to anyone willing to accept it.
*********************************************
Want to be automatically notified each time there is a new post? Just e-mail your request to [admin@lutheranscience.org].
*********************************************
QUESTION OF THE DAY
According to author Vance Ferrell, what are the evolutionary formulae for the evolution of the first cell and the first human?
Nothing+Time+Chance="Simple" Cell
Cell+Time+Chance=Man
Source: The Evolution Handbook by Vance Ferrell
*********************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are encouraged including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity will not be published. Please allow several hours for a comment to appear on the blog.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S.A.!
SUMMARY: Ever since Aristotle scientists have been trying to discover how salamanders can regrow lost limbs. Recently they have been surprised to find out that cells near the site of an amputation revert to adult stem cells which can only develop into the type of cell necessary to regenerate the lost body part. In other words, when a salamander loses a tail, it won't regrow a leg in its place. Scientists had thought these cells would be pluripotent, able to form many different cell types.
What surprising coincidence involved John Adams and Thomas Jefferson?
