skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Lying is done either to benefit the parents or to protect the children.
SUMMARY: Parents often lie to their children, a new study published in the September issue of the Journal of Moral Education reveals. "Our findings showed that even the parents who most strongly promoted the importance of honesty with their children engaged in parenting by lying," said study researcher Kang Lee of the U. of Toronto.
Lee and colleagues say their work is preliminary and aren't sure of the implications of parental lying, but they think parents telling "tall tales" to their children give mixed messages at a crucial time in the development of their offspring. According to another researcher, lies can harm parent-child bonds, and they could prevent children from learning certain rules.
The scientists acknowledge being less than truthful with a child may seem okay in certain situations such as praising a young child's scribbles. However, alternatives to "telling a fib" should always be considered.
The research involved two studies in which parents and students commented on hypothetical scenarios in which parents lied to children either to shape behavior or to make the child happy. Parents were found to often lie in order to prevent tantrums or excessive talking. Lies were told to get children to go to bed or to eat certain foods. Sometimes the untruths were either to benefit the parent (such as to avoid embarrassment over a crying child while dining in a restaurant) or to protect the child (for instance, when considering news about a murder).
To read the entire article click on this link to LIVE SCIENCE.
COMMENT: Being a parent isn’t easy these days. Bad influences upon children coming from the media and from peers make it a real challenge for parents to raise their children to be not just their children, but even more important, children of God.
Yet, Christian parents are obligated to follow Proverbs 22:6 (“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”). The way a child should go means keeping God’s commandments including the 8th commandment (“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”) which includes being truthful in all things. If children catch on that a parent is lying, the parent is being a poor role model.
As I see it, there are situations where children do not need to be told the whole truth. Parents may need to be creative in formulating responses that do not involve lying but yet will not inflame a situation. Some situations can indeed become very tricky. May God bless parents when they face such instances so that the Holy Spirit might put the right words into their mouths.
*********************************************
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
Why aren't older people a priority for the H1N1 swine flu vaccine?
Younger people who get swine flu tend to get sicker than older people because older people probably already have some immunity due to exposure to H1N1 viruses that circulated between 1918 and 1957.
Source: Bottom Line Personal (October 1, 2009)
*********************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are encouraged including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity or advertisements will not be published. After posting a comment, please allow several hours for it to appear on the blog.
Scientists admit the water (H2O) may actually be hydroxyl (OH).
SUMMARY: Much of the surface of the moon is saturated with water--or at least the ingredients needed to make water, some new studies suggest. While mapping the moon, a trio of satellites including India's Chandrayaan-1 picked up signs of water (H2O) or hydroxyl (OH) or both. NASA's Cassini and Deep Impact were other space probes that allegedly found moon water.
The water or hydroxyl molecules are bound to other molecules and exist only in trace amounts. Still, scientists estimate there is about a quart of water and/or hydroxyl for every cubic yard of lunar soil.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently found large amounts of hydrogen, a possible marker for water, at the moon's south pole. But Larry Taylor, a planetary geologist at the U. of Tennessee, thinks it might actually be water that was found. Taylor and associates believe lunar water and/or hydroxyl are created when hydrogen in the form of protons from the sun's solar wind strike oxygen-rich minerals and glasses on the moon's surface.
It's unclear whether the satellites detected water or hydroxyl, but both substances could prove useful on future missions to the moon. Even if the lunar soil contains only hydroxyl, it could be combined with lunar hydrogen to form freshwater. That would mean scientists could reduce payloads for spaceflights intended to maintain a future lunar outpost.
To read the entire article click on this link to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
COMMENT: Secular scientists are desperate to find water on some body other than earth. In their minds, if water could be discovered elsewhere in space, the odds that life might also exist in outer space would significantly increase, because life, as we know it, could not exist without water.
Their wishful thinking is reflected in the misleading title of this National Geographic article--"There's Water on the Moon, Probes Confirm." It soon becomes apparent in reading the article that the existence of real, wet H2O on the moon is still far from a sure thing. Hydroxyl is not water.
We do know that the astronauts who visited the moon brought back samples of the lunar soil, and there never have been reports of water or life found in these samples. Just because the ingredients for water--hydrogen and oxygen--may be there doesn't mean water is there any more than having the ingredients for a cake on hand automatically makes a chocolate fudge cake.
What if some future space mission does discover water? That only means water was found and not life. All attempts to make life in the laboratory from nonliving substances so far have failed. Life requires a spark that nonliving materials cannot provide (the law of biogenesis: life can only come from life).
Life began with the original source of all life-our living Creator God. He got the process going during the creation week by designing all living organism to reproduce according to their kinds, thereby passing the spark of life from parents to offspring down to the present day. God is also the source of eternal life which He is offering to any and all who will accept the free gift of salvation available through faith in Jesus Christ.
*********************************************
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
As of the year 2007, what was the percent of plastics being recycled in the United States?
Only 6.8%, which includes about 37% of plastic soda bottles and 28% of plastic milk and water jugs. Making products using recycled materials takes 50% less energy than starting from scratch.
Source: Discover (October, 2008)
They must determine ideal times for getting other birds to incubate their eggs.
SUMMARY: Several species of animals are known to have simple counting abilities including some primates, birds, and dogs. However, there has been little research on how these animals use these abilities in the wild.
David J. White of the U. of Pennsylvania and some colleagues now have discovered how one bird species, the brown-headed cowbird (picture from Wikimedia Commons), uses some fairly exacting arithmetic skills when it comes to incubating its eggs.
The cowbirds trick other birds into doing the incubating. Usually, the host birds they target are ones which will lay an egg every day for several days, then stop after three to six eggs are in the nest. The cowbirds look for a chance to sneak one of their own eggs into the host birds' nests, but usually wait until at least three eggs have been laid.
For this trick to work, the cowbirds need to know that incubation hasn't begun. As it flies by a target nest periodically, a cowbird has to be able to count the eggs so that it knows the host bird is still laying an egg a day and hasn't yet started incubation. If it waits too long, it will be too late to deposit its own egg or, as it sometimes does, remove one of the host bird's eggs.
White's team did tests using artificial nests in which they added fake eggs at different rates. They discovered that the cowbirds would avoid nests if the number of eggs was less than the number of days that had elapsed. "The ability of females to remember egg number and compare changes in egg number across days allows them to select nests most suitable for parasitism," the researchers concluded.
To read the entire article click on this link to WORLD SCIENCE.
COMMENT: It is becoming quite obvious that to call someone a "bird brain" should no longer be considered an insult. Like all of God's creatures, birds have been given some amazing abilities including this gift of simple arithmetic. (For a previous post that examined in more detail the intelligence of some bird species, click on this link to our May 11 post, Bird Brains Amaze Researchers.)
The reader can decide what is more reasonable, to believe the cowbirds developed this talent as the result of natural processes or to believe they were given this ability by their Creator. Hardly a day goes by that we don't learn something new and remarkable about the world and its living inhabitants. Praise the Lord for his earthly treasures and also for the heavenly treasures He offers free to all who accept them through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin.
*********************************************
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
Is it possible to be sued for what one writes on the Internet?
Yes. A blogger was ordered to pay $1.8 million for defaming a lawyer. Also, a tenant was sued for $50,000 for criticizing her apartment online. And someone wrote a negative review online about a chiropractor who filed a suit and settled out of court. Generally, free speech is protected on the Internet, but defamation of character could cause a problem.
Source: Parade (September 20, 2009)
New book explains how the gap between the two species is growing as more knowledge is gained.
SUMMARY: When a pet chimpanzee named Travis last February severely mauled a Connecticut woman he knew well, police wanted to know why. They couldn't believe a species who shares "98.4 percent of his DNA" with humans would attack a human so savagely.
Author Jeremy Taylor in a new book, Not a Chimp: The hunt to find the genes that make us human, knocks down the idea that chimps and humans are so similar. The former BBC producer considers recent genetic, behavioral, and neuroscientific research and argues that far more than a handful of genes divides humans from simians.
The 98.4% figure has been used to argue for human rights for chimps, but Taylor points out that humans and mice share almost as much similarity. As the complete genomes of both chimpanzees and humans are becoming known, the chasm separating the two species is growing. For instance, a gene called FOXP2 linked to speech and language disorders is quite different. Also, one recently discovered RNA-coding sequence that may be involved in cerebral cortex development was found to be very similar in chimps and chickens, but there are 18 unique differences when compared to that of humans.
Nowhere is the gulf between humans and chimps wider than in their mental abilities. The ability to be able to infer mental states of others may underlie language and culture. Children gain this capacity gradually, but there is no evidence chimpanzees do.
Most primatologists and psychologists are conservative in assessing chimp abilities, and geneticists already admit how little they know about the two species and how they differ. It is the journalists who most need to read Not a Chimp because they often reinforce the idea that chimps are practically human.
(Picture from Wikimedia Commons)
To read the entire book review (written from an evolutionist viewpoint), click on this link to NEW SCIENTIST.
COMMENT: It is good to see secular scientists coming around to the truth that there are significant differences between humans and apes. Despite the fact this book review was written from an evolutionist viewpoint, it does hold some important lessons for the general public including some people in the animal rights movement. I would guess even many scientists who do not work in the fields involved in this research may accept the 98.4 figure and also need to be enlightened about the real situation.
Whereas pieces like this one support the fact that scientific "truth" is fluid and can vary from one moment to the next, Christians are fortunate in having a source of truth that has stood the test of time.
The Bible tells us that all land creatures including simians and humans were created on the 6th day. However, humans were created in a unique way in that God fashioned Adam out of the ground and breathed the breath of life into him. Only humans were created in the image of God. Only humans can sin. Only humans have been given eternal souls. Jesus came down to earth to die for and offer salvation only to humans. May we not turn down this free gift of salvation which is offered only through faith in Christ, but may we gladly accept it and willingly serve the Lord out of gratitude until death opens heaven's door to us.
*********************************************
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
Where are the lengths of daylight and nighttime always 12 hours each no matter what time of the year it is?
Yesterday was the Autumnal Equinox, the beginning of autumn and the day when the lengths of daylight and nighttime both reached exactly 12 hours. In the northern hemisphere, the length of the daylight portion of each day will continue to decrease for the next three months. However, any place on the equator no matter what time of year always experiences 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night every day.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (September 22, 2009)
*********************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are encouraged including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity or advertisements will not be published. After posting a comment, please allow several hours for it to appear on the blog.
New converter may turn tree power into useful products.
SUMMARY: There is enough electrical power in trees to power an electronic circuit, U. of Washington researchers have discovered. Their report will be published in an upcoming issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Transactions on Nanotechnology. "As far as we know this is the first peer-reviewed paper of someone powering something entirely by sticking electrodes into a tree." said co-author Babak Parviz.
A study last year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that plants can generate a voltage of up to 200 millivolts. Those researchers now are working with a company to exploit this new power source. The UW team took the next step by building circuits to run off of this energy and were successful in running a custom circuit solely off tree power.
Co-author Carlton Himes, a UW undergraduate student stuck nails into trees and connected a voltmeter. He found that bigleaf maples, common on the UW campus, could generate steady voltage up to a few hundred millivolts. The UW team then developed a boost converter, a device that takes the power of a low incoming voltage and stores it to increase its output. The device works with input voltages of as little as 20 millivolts (20 one-thousandths of a volt). Though very small, the output voltage can run low-power sensors.
Unlike the well-known potato and lemon experiment which uses two different metals to create a current, in the tree experiment the same metal was used for both electrodes. While unlikely to replace solar power for most applications, tree power, according to Parviz, might provide a low-cost option for powering tree sensors to detect environmental conditions or forest fires or to gauge a tree's health.
(Picture of bigleaf maple tree leaves from Wikimedia Commons)
To read the entire article, click on this link to US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT.
COMMENT: The more we learn about nature, the more amazed we are at how marvelous it all is. Is tree power the result of random processes or is it even more reason for accepting the existence of an intelligent Creator?
To be sure, the discovery of electricity in trees may turn out to be not be all that important. Still I can't help but speculate if it could indeed lead to bigger things. Currently many people are worrying about what the use of fossil fuels may be doing to our environment or whether we may some day run out of nonrenewable resources such as coal or petroleum. If God so desires, we conceivably soon might be able to add tree power to solar power and wind power as an endless, natural way to meet our need for energy.
God is the One who provides for all our needs and cares just as He does the lilies of the field and the birds of the air (Matthew 26:25-29). He holds us in His hand, and whatever He plans for us in the future, it will be for our good. Surely His plans for our eternity, everlasting life in heaven for believers in Jesus, are as firm as anything could ever be. It is interesting to note that apparently God will directly supply all our energy needs in heaven. (Revelations 21:23)
*********************************************
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
Where is Denali National Park?
Denali National Park is located in Alaska and is also known as Mount McKinley (picture from Wikimedia), the tallest mountain on the continent of North America. Denali is a native word meaning "the great one."
Sources: USA Weekend (September 18-20, 2009) and Wikimedia
*********************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are encouraged including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity or advertisements will not be published. After posting a comment, please allow several hours for it to appear on the blog.
More opposition to contraception and more teen marriages may be causes.
SUMMARY: States with more conservative religious beliefs appear to have higher rates of teen births, according to a new study. Mississippi headed the lists for both conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates. Data from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was used in the study.
Study researcher Joseph Strayhom of Drexel U. and the U. of Pittsburgh could only speculate on the reasons for this link because the results of the study don't say anything about cause and effect. "We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself," Strayhom said.
The researchers say they accounted for abortion rates in their study, even though the results showed more abortions among teenagers in less religious states. Other factors that could affect the results include income levels, ethnic backgrounds, and earlier marriages. In the south where people tend to be more religious, there is a higher rate of marriage among teenagers.
(Picture from Wikimedia Commons)
To read the entire article, click on this link to LIVE SCIENCE.
COMMENT: At first glance, the relationship between more conservative religious beliefs and higher teen birth rates may seem an embarrassment for Bible-based Christianity. But the possible reasons for this relationship--more resistance to abortions and contraception as well as earlier marriages--puts it into a different light.
Still, births to unmarried women are never a good thing. In regard to teens, the temptations that come to young girls are powerful. Peers, television shows and movies, the internet, even cell phones offer plenty of bad advice and avenues to indecent behavior.
Parents, teachers, counselors and even society as a whole have their work cut out for them. Certainly churches should not be sitting on the sidelines. I believe the creation account as well as the Ten Commandments should be stressed so that young people can see that God intends that a marriage between a man and a woman should precede sexual activity. I believe the church should also consider teaching creation science so that every young man and woman can understand he/she is not some slightly more advanced animal who has the freedom to act like one.
May God bless our young people and those who work with them, especially in showing them the road to heaven which comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior.
*********************************************
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 percent of the Earth’s water is fresh water?
About 3%.
Source: Live Science
*********************************************
NOTE ON VISITOR COMMENTS: Visitor comments are encouraged including those containing alternate views. However, comments containing profanity or advertisements will not be published. After posting a comment, please allow several hours for it to appear on the blog.
Secular scientists no longer think the process took "20 to 30 million" years.
SUMMARY: Secular scientists had thought it took between "20 and 30 million years" for reptiles to "evolve" the ability to walk. Now new research shows reptiles began walking with legs tucked underneath their bodies much earlier.
Professor Mike Benton of the UK's Bristol U. said, "Dinosaurs, and later the mammals, owe their success to being upright. An upright animal, like an elephant or a diplodocus, can be very large because its weight passes directly through the pillar-like legs to the ground. Another advantage is that other upright animals, such as monkeys, can use their arms for climbing or gathering food."
Newly-found footprints suggest to these scientists that upright-walking reptiles quickly replaced sprawling reptiles of earlier epochs rather than the two groups competing to cohabit the earth.
(Picture of green iguana from Wikipedia)
To read the entire article, click on this link to BBC NEWS.
COMMENT: This is not by any means the first time paleontologists have looked at the "evolution" of some feature in some creature and moved it back much earlier into time. Discoveries like this one may surprise evolutionary scientists, but it certainly is no surprise to Bible-believers. Of course reptiles who today walk upright on legs walked upright on legs far earlier than scientists have assumed. In fact, these reptiles walked upright on legs from the very first day they appeared on earth.
Where is there any suggestion in nature that lizards like Komodo dragons or iguanas or any other lizard ever did not walk on legs? Where is there a series of fossils showing the evolution of the walking ability of any lizard from a relative who could only crawl?
God knows what is best for each creature. Whether they crawl, swim, fly or walk, all animals get along just fine with the features and abilities they have been given.
God knows what is best for humans too. He hasn't given us the strength of an elephant or the speed of a cheetah. But He has given us creative minds that have placed us above all animals. And He has given only us, among all His creatures, eternal souls. May we care for our souls by washing them clean of sin in the blood of Jesus Christ, Who gave up His life so that we could enjoy eternity in heaven.
*********************************************
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
How dangerous is it for a patient to leave a hospital against the doctor's advice?
The Mayo Clinic in March reported 20% of patients who left a hospital against medical advice were readmitted within 15 days, compared to 3% who were discharged through normal procedures. Heart attack patients in the first group had a 60% higher risk of dying or being readmitted within two years.
Source: Consumer Reports OnHealth (October, 2009)
The independent movements of a detached tail can distract predators.
SUMMARY: It is well known that a gecko when in danger can detach its tail, which will flip and flop around on the ground to confuse the predator. Now a study published in the journal Biology Letters has reported some amazing new revelations.
Using high speed video, researchers have studied what happens to the left-behind tail. The tail will not only do acrobatic flips, it can change direction and speed depending upon what it bumps into. This is the first study to show that a gecko tail can respond independently to its environment.
"That tail is buying the animal that shed it some time to get away," says lead researcher Anthony Russell. "If the tail simply moved rhythmically back and forth, predators would quickly recognize a pattern and realize they'd been duped." At least in the leopard geckos (picture from Wikipedia) which Russell studied, fat is stored in the tail, and if the tail itself is able to get away, the gecko can come back later to eat it for nourishment.
The researchers don't understand what's controlling the gecko tail's movements but think networks of neurons called central pattern generators, which program motions like walking and chewing, may be involved. This study could help researchers who work on human spinal cord injuries. Paralyzed muscles often exhibit spontaneous uncontrolled bursts of activity like gecko tails.
To read the entire article, click on this link to DISCOVER.
COMMENT: Here we have more examples of intelligent design. First, the ability of a gecko to shed its tail in order to escape an enemy. Then the ability of the tail to act on its own to further distract a predator. The reader will have to ask himself/herself if these are just cases of happy accidents or whether it is far more reasonable to believe the plans for a gecko were formed in the mind of an Intelligent Designer.
Hopefully, this study will indeed lead to some breakthroughs when it comes to the treatment of spinal cord injuries. Even more important, we pray that studies like this one might lead to more skeptics eventually becoming believers. Open-minded people impressed by the gecko's abilities ought to search for the One who created geckos. They will discover Him and His plan of salvation clearly described in His Holy Word. Believers in Jesus as our Savior are privileged to be able to look forward to the ultimate in design, a heavenly home designed and prepared just for us.
*********************************************
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 foods may reduce wrinkles?
According to the book, The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods, isoflavones in soybeans (picture) may combat wrinkles. Soybeans can be eaten or added to one's facial routine. Other foods thought to be wrinkle-fighters include most other beans, tofu, dark chocolate, fish, green tea, carrots, and pineapples.
Source: USA Weekend (August 28-30, 2009)
NASA releases spectacular images taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope.
SUMMARY: Astronomers this week released some new and spectacular pictures taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. A crew of astronauts spent 13 days in orbit in May replacing and rebuilding vital components of the telescope. "This is truly Hubble's new beginning," Edward Weiler, an administrator for science at NASA said.
"I'm in awe of the human ingenuity that could conceive of such a thing and then make it happen," said K. Megan McArthur, an astronaut who flew on the repair mission. Among the images taken was one of gas flying from a dying star that look like a butterfly (picture from the Hubble Web site) and another of a galaxy 10 billion light-years away which had been stretched into a "dragon" shape. Astronomers believe the pictures can provide them with details of galaxies that existed "before the Milky Way was born."
Dr. Weiler believes the telescope is now in the best shape of its 19-year life in orbit and has surpassed the ambitions of its founder. It could last at least another five years. After being launched from a space shuttle in 1990, the telescope became a national joke when it was discovered that its primary mirror had been polished to the wrong shape. This defect was repaired in 1993 when an astronaut crew installed corrective optics. Four more visits by astronauts have made the telescope increasingly more powerful.
Astronauts who had been on the May repair mission were awed by the new pictures. Michael J. Masimino, who made two spacewalks, said "Thank God we didn't break it."
To view more of the images, click on this link to THE HUBBLE WEB SITE.
To read the entire article, click on this link to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
COMMENT: The astronauts who risked their lives and the other specialists who designed and directed the repair missions are to be commended for making these pictures possible. Yet, I find it somewhat ironic, though not surprising, that astronaut McArthur would compliment humans for their work but had nary a word to say about the Designer who put the galaxies and other space objects into the nighttime sky in the first place. On the other hand, a Hubble senior scientist was quoted in the Associated Press report in the local newspaper as saying, "What I see is the grandeur of creation, however it got there."
When we study these amazing pictures we can think of many more examples of God's love of beauty--flowers, butterflies, snowflakes, etc. As fantastic as these beautiful creatures are, they are just a taste of the beauty that awaits us in the heavenly world He has prepared for all believers. Stars collapse, flowers wilt, snowflakes melt, but the beauties we will experience in heaven will last forever. If you have not confessed your sins to the Creator and come to faith in Jesus Christ as your one and only Savior, what's stopping you?
*********************************************
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
Where can people find information on how to observe the International Space Station in the sky?
A NASA Web site, http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html, explains when people in various parts of the world and the nation should look skyward to see the ISS flying by overhead. The ISS will appear as a very bright star moving fairly rapidly across the sky.
Source: NASA
Organized societies and economic exchanges were common in ancient times.
SUMMARY: Ancient civilizations in Europe and the Near East, when metalworking was first developed, were not simple societies who had to struggle with new technologies, famine and sickness, new findings reveal.
A study by archaeologist Magnus Artursson from Sweden found that inhabitants of "Bronze Age" Scandinavia in 2000 B.C. were already organized into hierarchical chiefdoms, 800 years earlier then such social structures were previously thought to have emerged. These ancient people had been thought to have lived in scattered farms with little cooperation between the settlements.
A temple in Turkey, built around 800 B.C. and being excavated by U. of Toronto archaeologist Timothy Harrison and colleagues, is showing "Iron Age" societies were also more advanced than formerly thought. Discoveries of ivory carvings, metal foils, and pottery indicate there were cultural and economic exchanges between cultures such as Hittites, Aegeans, and Semites. It wasn't a period of very little trade as had been assumed.
To read the entire short article, click on this link to DISCOVER.
COMMENT: The discoveries that ancient men were more advanced than they had been pictured are coming as a surprise to secular scientists. But Bible believers know from the Word of God that humans have been intelligent beings right from the beginning, and ancient peoples were anything but brutish cavemen.
Genesis, chapter 4, tells us about several of our early ancestors. Jabal "was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock;" Jubal "was the father of all who play the harp and flute;" Tubal-Cain "forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron." Noah, of course, built a magnificent ark. Not long after the Flood, people were making bricks and building cities. Genesis 11 tells us of the great but infamous Tower of Babel.
This is by no means the first article recently published that has shown there really is no evidence of any "evolution" in mankind's intellect or sophistication from early times to the present. Today in fact we do have plenty of backward-thinking people, for instance those who can look at our marvelously fine-tuned universe and our amazingly well-designed world of living things and think it is all just a happy accident.
Romans 1:18-20 provides a warning to those who continue in their ungodly and wicked ways despite the evidence of God's existence which we find in nature. We can't discover God's plan of salvation in nature, however. To discover all we need to know about how salvation can be ours, we need turn to the Holy Bible. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (NIV)
*********************************************
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 is a sea star?
It is what most people call a starfish but which is not really a fish. There are over 1,800 species of sea stars which belong to a group of invertebrate animals called echinoderms, a word meaning "spiny skinned."
Source: The Complete Aquarium Adventure, by Merilee and Bill Clifton
The classic Miller-Urey explanation for life's origin is losing favor.
SUMMARY: The classic idea as to how life originated on earth was the Miller-Urey experiment conducted in 1953 by chemists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey. They proposed a vision of the early atmosphere that they thought was capable of producing the amino acids which are the building blocks of life.
Now, more than 55 years later, two scientists have come up with a new hypothesis. Armen Mulkidjanian from Germany and Michael Galperin from the U.S. in two papers published on the Web site Biology Direct are suggesting that life originated in porous structures made of zinc sulfide (phosphor). Under the pressure of a carbon-dioxide-dominated atmosphere, zinc sulfide structures on the surface of continents would have access to sunlight and UV radiation which these scientists think could actually have helped life to develop.
In their experiment, Miller and Urey assumed the early Earth had a reducing atmosphere (having large amounts of hydrogen and almost no oxygen) and lightning capable of creating amino acids. Many scientists now have abandoned that notion and have suggested the early atmosphere instead had a neutral atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide with smaller amounts of nitrogen and hydrogen, an atmosphere similar to that of Mars and Venus.
However, researchers who have repeated the Miller-Urey experiment including Miller have shown that using the new atmospheric assumptions, amino acids cannot be produced. In an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, Mulkidjanian says "there was no physically or chemically plausible hypothesis of the origin of life." Living organisms need some form of energy flow--solar radiation or chemical reactions, for example. An atmosphere of carbon dioxide would need a source of electrons to reduce the carbon dioxide in order to make complex compounds.
In Mulkidjanian's "Zn world" hypothesis, zinc sulfide plays a major role. Zinc sulfide particles have the ability to store light energy which makes zinc sulfide popular in modern devices such as television displays. Illuminated by UV light, zinc sulfide can efficiently reduce carbon dioxide, just as plants do. The two researchers found high levels of zinc in proteins with DNA and RNA molecules, evidence, they say, that the first life forms evolved in a zinc-rich environment.
NASA astrobiologist Max Bernstein though urges caution. He says he cannot say whether or not the new model will be adopted and expects that many will want to see experimental evidence.
To read the entire article, click on this link to LIVE SCIENCE.
COMMENT: As I see it, there are two relevant lessons in this story. First, we again see how shaky are hypotheses that try to explain what may have happened in nature supposedly billions of years ago when nobody was around. The original Miller-Urey experiment has been touted as practically unassailable proof that life could evolve without any divine assistance. Now that hypothesis is being discarded. (For a more-detailed creationist view of the Miller-Urey experiment click on this link to ICR.) Even the new theory about a zinc sulfide atmosphere is obviously not getting universal support.
The second lesson one can learn from this story is that secular scientists are really still a long way away from explaining the origin of life. For a cell to be considered a living cell, it must be able to replicate or reproduce, and information has to be able to be passed from mother cell to daughter cell. There wasn't even a hint in this story that scientists really have any idea how evolution can account for the origin of the first living cell.
The law of biogenesis (life can only come from life) still is very much of a valid theory. God, of course, is the source of life. We appreciate the fact that He gave life to all the living organisms during the week of creation and provided each with the ability to reproduce after their respective kinds so that life could be passed on down from generation to generation
A more important consideration is that only our God can give eternal life. Believers in Jesus as their Savior from sin are assured of eternal life in heaven. This has nothing to do with science. It has everything to do with the inerrant Word of our Creator God.
*********************************************
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 is the top wind speed ever recorded?
A May, 1999 tornado in Oklahoma produced a wind speed of 318 mph. On April 12, 1934, Mount Washington, New Hampshire experienced what probably was the fastest straight wind speed ever recorded, 231 mph. For the sake of comparison, the planet Neptune's winds can reach 900 mph.
Source: www.livescience.com
Skin cells from patients are used instead of embryonic stem cells.
SUMMARY: Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists are reporting success in generating insulin-producing cells using skin cells from Type 1 diabetes patients. The achievement marked the first step toward finding a way of replacing a patient's faulty insulin-making cells with healthy ones. The experiment also provided a model - in a petri dish - of how Type 1 diabetes develops. Knowing this information might lead to new stem-cell-based treatments and novel drug therapies that might improve the symptoms of the disease.
Douglas Melton, co-director of HSCI, and his team took skin cells from two Type 1 diabetes patients and converted the cells back to an embryonic state. These newly reborn cells are referred to as pluripotent stem cells. The scientists then instructed these cells to grow into beta cells, the cells in the pancreas that secrete insulin. In Type 1 diabetics such beta cells are unable to break down glucose in the body that can lead to blood-sugar spikes and damage to the kidneys and heart. When exposed to glucose in a dish, the lab-made cells were able to produce more of a protein that beta cells release in order to break down sugar.
Researchers still need to learn how diabetes begins. They think some type of immune reaction has gone awry. Immune cells are "trained" in the thymus gland to recognize and protect a body's own cells from destruction, but in Type 1 diabetes patients, such instruction doesn't seem to properly take place. Melton's team is now trying to generate thymus cells from diabetic patients in the same way they created beta cells so that all the "players" are together in a lab dish. They hope to learn whether diabetes begins in the thymus or in the pancreas where beta cells somehow change and no longer are recognized or protected by the immune system.
As methods of making beta cells become more established, patients with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes could be helped. Before that will happen though, Melton says the newly formed beta cells will be a valuable resource for better understanding Type 1 diabetes.
(Picture of diabetes patient injecting insulin, from Wikimedia Commons)
To read the entire article, click on this link to YAHOO NEWS/TIME.
COMMENT: From time to time the LSI Blog has reported on successes for pluripotent or adult stem cell research or failures using embryonic stem cells. Here are some of these posts:
The Making of Pluripotent Cells Becomes Even Safer (6/03/09)
Repairing Damaged Bones Without Surgery (4/08/09)
New Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells are Virus-Free (3/09/09)
Boy Gets Tumors from Fetal Stem Cell Treatment (2/20/09)
Adult Stem Cells Reverse Paralysis in Rats (1/30/09)
Woman Doing Well With Transplanted Windpipe (11/21/08)
During the same period I have not noticed any claims for major successes by researchers specializing in embryonic stem cells. So, I ask it again. Why are so many people still talking about and why is the government planning to fund a type of research that appears to produce so little? I know the Lord is more pleased with medical research that does not destroy living human embryos or fetuses. He is the creator of life and the only One who can give us eternal life which He does through our Savior, Jesus Christ.
*********************************************
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
How many baseballs does a major league team use in a year?
Over 7,000. A big league ball lasts just 3 or 4 pitches. On average, a team will use up to 8 dozen balls a game. The 30 teams together will use more than 220,000 in a season.
Source: Parade magazine (August 9, 2009)
The latest pregnancy was not planned but is welcomed.
SUMMARY: Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark. have announced that they are expecting. The baby, due to arrive in spring, will be their 19th child. "We are so thrilled," says Michelle, 42. Like all the other Duggar children, the new child will be given a name beginning with the letter J.
Her husband, 44, says, "This never gets old. We are so grateful for each child." And the couple are also looking forward to the birth of their first grandchild. Their oldest son Joshua, 21, and his wife Anna, 21, are expecting a daughter to arrive next month, which would make the girl older than her new aunt or uncle. Michelle adds that her mother and her sister were pregnant at the same time, so that she and a nephew are only three months apart.
Michelle says the pregnancy came as a shock despite her developing a craving for pickles. When she found she couldn't lose weight, she became suspicious. A test she had at home confirmed she was again pregnant.
Although told by her doctor about the increased risk for health problems in babies born to older mothers, Michelle says she isn't worried and doesn't take the prenatal tests her doctor gave her. "We know what could happen," she says. "We read through the information. If the Lord chooses to give us challenges along the way, we know His grace will be there, so we don't opt to do the testing."
The Duggars recently renewed their wedding vows-they were married 25 years and one month ago at the ages of 19 and 17, respectively. They live debt-free in a house they built themselves. Their lives are featured on TLC's 18 Kids and Counting which airs on Tuesday nights.
(Picture from Wikimedia Commons)
To read the entire article and see a video, click on this link to PEOPLE.
COMMENT: It takes a Christian couple to accomplish, with the Lord's help of course, what this couple has done. It is difficult to believe that a husband and wife without the faith the Duggars apparently possess would even think about trying to do what they have done. At least I think that is true in this time and age where cries of "over-population" are still being heard. I wouldn't be surprised if they do at times experience some negativism over their large family. The Duggar children must also be living lives expected of Christian children. Can you imagine what 18 children constantly fighting and fussing and refusing to share could do to peace in a household?
The Bible makes it clear right from the opening chapter that God wants parents to have children and that children are a blessing. In Genesis 1:28 God tells Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and increase in number." Psalm 127:3 (NIV) says, "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him." Jesus showed His love for children when he warned His disciples with the words, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14)
To be sure, the Word of God nowhere commands His people to have as many children as humanly possible. And in His wisdom, God even prevents some couples from having children and some individuals from finding a suitable Christian spouse with whom to bear a child. Still we have no scriptural basis for condemning the Duggards for wishing to have a large family.
The cries about "over-population" are not valid, at least in regard to the Western world. Populations of many European countries are dropping. Immigration appears to be the main reason our own population is increasing, and many are worried about the pressures on our social security system caused by the decreasing proportion of workers compared to retirees. If population is to increase, wouldn't it be wonderful if it is caused by the birth of more babies in solidly Christian homes?
In the end, Christian couples will want to use their best judgment in regard to how many children they wish to bring into the world, but their decisions should not be based on greed. Christian parents would do well to follow the example of Joshua in Joshua 24:15 who said, "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." After all, Jesus has served us so well by taking our sins upon His back so that we could enjoy life in the heavenly home He is preparing for us.
*********************************************
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
Is bison (buffalo) meat healthier than beef?
Bison meat has a similar flavor to beef although many people find it slightly sweeter. Nutritionists like bison meat because it is low in total fat, saturated fat, sodium and dietary cholesterol. It also has a high proportion of protein and minerals relative to calories. In fact, the American Heart Association has included lean cuts of bison as part of a heart healthy diet.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/7/09)
SUMMARY: Parents often lie to their children, a new study published in the September issue of the Journal of Moral Education reveals. "Our findings showed that even the parents who most strongly promoted the importance of honesty with their children engaged in parenting by lying," said study researcher Kang Lee of the U. of Toronto.
Why aren't older people a priority for the H1N1 swine flu vaccine?
