Stars, Cells, and God

Himalayan Snow Warming Three physicists used data collected from 165 stations in the Himalayan-Tibetan region and a regional climate model to determine the effect of black carbon aerosols (BCAs) on the climate of South Asia. Their analysis revealed warming at high elevations due to BCAs. Such atmospheric heating reduces the global mean precipitation, which impacts the summer monsoons in South Asia. Thus, all of South Asia is facing a climate change crisis with both dire economic and health consequences. In this episode, astrophysicist Hugh Ross explains that replacing coal and biofuels with natural gas as an energy source is the quickest and most economical solution to South Asia’s climate crisis.    Stabilizing Continents Continents play a critical role in Earth’s capacity to support a thriving and diverse array of life. Scientific studies show that some present-day continents formed at least 3 billion years ago. Those studies have assumed that the same process responsible for how our continents look today also ensured their stability. However, a recent paper highlights some important processes needed for large pieces of continents to stick around for billions of years. In this episode, astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink discusses how those processes reveal more fine-tuning of Earth to support life. Links and Resources: Subaerial Weathering Drove Stabilization of Continents Elevation-Dependence of Warming Due to Aerosol-Induced Snow Darkening over the Himalayan-Tibetan Region Climate-Relevant Properties of Black Carbon Aerosols Revealed by In Situ Measurements: A Review

Discover the latest breakthroughs in astronomy, including the stunning imaging of black holes. Explore the mysteries of cosmic expansion rates and how they may challenge current physics. Delve into gravitational lensing's role in uncovering type 1a supernovae and the implications for our understanding of the universe's age. The relationship between supermassive black holes and quantum gravity is examined, alongside the challenges of funding cosmic exploration. Finally, learn about the quiet power of Sagittarius A* and its cosmic influence.

Nature-Inspired Designs One of the most exciting areas of science and engineering is biomimetics and bioinspiration. Scientists and engineers working in this field develop new technology and solve engineering problems by studying and copying biological designs. In this episode biochemist Fuz Rana and special guest Casey Luskin, associate director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, discuss recent findings in biomimetics and bioinspiration and explore the implications of this work for the design argument. Links and Resources: Effect of Schooling on Flow Generated Sounds from Carangiform Swimmers Bioinspired Multiscale Adaptive Suction on Complex Dry Surfaces Enhanced by Regulated Water Secretion Geometric Design of Antireflective Leafhopper Brochosomes Spider Silk Inspires New Technology and the Case for a Creator

A New Organelle? A team of life scientists has claimed to discover a new organelle (called a nitroplast) that fixes nitrogen. It looks like this organelle evolved from an endosymbiont that assumed permanent residence in a eukaryotic cell. If so, this discovery provides support for the endosymbiont hypothesis, challenging the notion that a Creator is responsible for life’s origin and design. In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana describes this work and its significance to life’s history, and offers a critical assessment of the study’s conclusion. Atmospheric Oxygenation An international team of 17 scientists has proposed that a dramatic weakening of Earth’s magnetic field caused an oxygen level jump 575 million years ago. They showed that a much weaker magnetic field would cause solar particles to split apart water molecules in Earth’s atmosphere into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen would escape to interplanetary space, leaving the oxygen to accumulate in Earth’s atmosphere. They demonstrated that that the magnetic field decline is sufficient to explain most of the rapid oxygen rise (from 2% to 8%) that occurred at the time of the Avalon explosion, which marked the first appearance of macroscopic animals. In this episode, Hugh Ross explains that the transition of Earth’s core from being 100% liquid to where a solid inner core begins to form would explain the dramatic weakening of Earth’s magnetic field—and the minimum oxygen level needed for complex life—that occurred 0.6 million years ago. Links and Resources: Near-Collapse of the Geomagnetic Field May Have Contributed to Atmospheric Oxygenation and Animal Radiation in the Ediacaran Period Designed to the Core, 183–197 Nitrogen-Fixing Organelle in a Marine Alga Mitochondrial Protein Import Advances the Case for Creation

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana in this breaking News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God. Fuz reports on the work by a research team from Tianjin University in China, who, recently stole headlines when they announced that they developed a chip that used human brain tissue to control a robotics system. This remarkable breakthrough (called organoid intelligence) generates excitement and also raises some profound ethical and theological questions. In this episode Fuz explains: How this technology works Why researchers are pursuing the development of biocomputing and organoid intelligence Ethical concerns associated with this work Christian perspective on organoid intelligence Links and Resources: Lab-Grown Human Brain Tissue Used to Control Robot Organoid Intelligence (OI): The New Frontier in Biocomputing and Intelligence-in-a Dish A Christian Perspective on Living Electrodes Brain Organoids Cultivate the Case for Human Exceptionalism

Join Hugh Ross in this breaking News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God. Hugh describes the discovery of four fully-formed supermassive black holes that existed just 410–760 million years after the cosmic creation event. Do Early Supermassive Black Holes Refute the Big Bang? Quasar J1120+0641, seen 760 million years after the cosmic beginning, has a supermassive black hole (SMBH) weighing 1.52 billion solar masses. Quasar J1342+0928, seen 700 million years after the beginning, has a SMBH weighing 0.78 billion solar masses. Quasar J0313-1806, seen 690 million years after the beginning, has a SMBH of 1.6 billion solar masses. The most distantly detected SMBH belongs to GN-z11. Just 410 million after the beginning, its SMBH weighs 0.002 billion solar masses. There are three ways such SMBHs can form so early in a big bang universe: through 1) very aggressive early gas accretion by the BHs; 2) mergers of the BHs arising from many 500+ solar-mass first generation stars; and 3) mergers of 10,000+ solar-mass gas clouds that collapse into black holes without forming stars. The discovery of many more cosmic dawn SMBHs will determine which one, of more, of the three ways explains the SMBHs.   Links and Resources: A Mature Quasar at Cosmic Dawn Revealed by JWST Rest-Frame Infrared Spectroscopy Black Holes as Evidence of God’s Care

Smart Dams More than 58,000 dams that are built higher than 15 meters (50 feet) exist on nearly all the world’s rivers. Consequently, migratory fish stocks have declined by 76% since 1970 and populations of “megafish” have declined by 94%. Two water resource engineers combined fish migratory taxonomy data with migratory fish life cycle and dam impact models to determine the best fish rescue strategies for five flagship fish species residing in the 12 large dams on the Yangtze River in China. They identified six major misjudgments in China’s fish rescue programs and concluded that large, effective fishways are essential for maintaining robust fish stocks. Malicious AIs The quest for more powerful and capable AIs inevitably involves making more sophisticated training algorithms and models with a larger number of parameters. While pursuing this quest, AI developers are also investigating how to align AIs with the values and behaviors we want. Recent research demonstrated that those two goals currently stand in opposition to one another. Specifically, making larger, more sophisticated models results in AIs that effectively resist training to eliminate malicious behavior—regardless of whether the malicious behavior was intentionally programmed or an unintended consequence. Such results provide additional evidence that we humans need to build godly character in ourselves so that we can wisely and responsibly develop and use these powerful AI tools. Links and Resources: Dams Trigger Exponential Population Declines of Migratory Fish The Evaluation of a Definite Integral by the Method of Brackets Illustrating Its Flexibility

Join Hugh Ross in this breaking News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God. Hugh describes the discovery of microspherules and meltglass at three North American sites, consistent with low-altitude airbursts from a disintegrating comet, that explain the Younger Dryas cooling onset 12,800 years ago. Bolide Airbursts Trigger Recent Global Cooling Event During the younger Dryas (12,800–11,700 years ago), global mean temperatures plummeted by 10–15°C. This cooling event, in part, explains the unprecedented climate stability that persisted from 9,500 to 75 years ago. Geologists had cited the Hiawatha Impact Crater in northwestern Greenland as evidence for an asteroid impact that caused the younger Dryas cooling event. Recently, physicists disputed the claimed 12,800 years ago date for the Hiawatha Crater, citing argon-argon and uranium-lead dating of zircon crystals that yielded a melt date of 57.99±0.54 million years ago. 26 scientists report their discovery of microspherules, meltglass, nanodiamonds, and combustion aerosols, consistent with them being caused by low-altitude airbursts, at sites in New Jersey, Maryland, and South Carolina. The microspherules, meltglass, and nanodiamonds all have radiocarbon dates of 12,835—12,735 years ago. The implied melt temperatures range from 1,250°C to 3,053°C. The high-temperature, high-pressure shock waves generated by low-altitude airbursts from a disintegrating comet would explain the Younger Dryas Cooling Event and the accompanying multi-continent megafaunal extinctions but would not necessarily leave behind any discoverable impact craters. Links and Resources: Platinum, Shock-Fractured Quartz, Microspherules, and Meltglass Widely Distributed in Eastern USA at the Younger Dryas Onset (12.8 ka) Hugh Ross, Weathering Climate Change (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2020): 149–161, 187–191.

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana in this breaking News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God. Fuz discusses work by a team of anthropologists from Spain who maintain that analysis of a partial skull fossil indicates that Neanderthals provided compassionate care for a Neanderthal child with Down syndrome. Neanderthal with Down Syndrome Does this discovery mean that Neanderthals were just like us? In light of this find, can humans be regarded as exceptional and unique? If Neanderthals were like us, can the biblical claim that humans solely bear God’s image remain valid?

Join Hugh Ross in this breaking News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God. Hugh describes stars at our galaxy’s center showing their luminosities are augmented by the annihilation of dark matter particles in their cores. This could be the first direct discovery of dark matter particles.   Dark Matter Particles? Dark matter makes up 24.5% of the universe. Neutrinos are the only dark matter particles detected so far and comprise <1% of dark matter. Three astronomers produced a mock stellar population that evolves both with and without energy from dark matter particle annihilation. High-mass stars that gain much of their luminosities from dark matter particle annihilation can shine brightly for >10 billion years rather than <100 million years. They shine as brightly as young stars, spectroscopically measure to be old, and have lower temperatures. Density of dark matter in our galaxy is extremely high within one light-year of its supermassive black hole (SMBH). Stars within one light-year of our galaxy’s SMBH have the distinct properties of stars whose luminosities are augmented by dark matter particle annihilation. Observations by 30-meter telescopes will find enough stars within a light-year of our galaxy’s SMBH to make possible an indisputable detection of dark matter particles. Links and Resources: Dark Branches of Immortal Stars at the Galactic Center Black Holes as Evidence of God’s Care