Blue Giants – Stars That Should No Longer Shine

Blue stars can be huge. Image courtesy of Answers magazine.



Joel Kontinen

“Among the kaleidoscope of stars, brilliant blue stars are of special interest. They shine so brightly that they should burn up their fuel in just a few million years. But they’re still everywhere, as if recently created,” astronomy professor Danny Faulkner writes in Answers magazine.

Blue giants are huge – and they are a huge problem for those who believe in a multi-billion year old universe. They should not exist, but they do.

Professor Faulkner says that believers in long ages have attempted to find a solution to this dilemma:

“Astronomers have found huge amounts of gas within the arms of spiral galaxies (called the interstellar medium, or ISM). This gas has the same main ingredient as stars—hydrogen. The gas (and dust) clouds are very clumpy, with a wide range in density. Given the similar chemical composition of gas clouds and stars, astronomers assume that the more dense clumps of gas contract under their own gravity to form new stars.”

However, he says that this scenario is unlikely, as “gas particles don’t naturally collapse into small, burning balls”. Moreover, there are theoretical limits to a collapsible gas cloud and appealing to unknown mechanisms is hardly a scientific method.

In other words, the best answer is that blue giants are much younger than most astronomers assume.


Source:

Faulkner, Danny. 2011. Blue Stars—Unexpected Brilliance. Answers 6 (1), 50–53. (Jan-March 2011.)

Answers in Genesis' Christmas Billboard in New York City

Joel Kontinen

In recent years, atheists have been campaigning for a Christ-less Christmas. They have set up many billboards in major US cities, urging people to be merry without the real reason for the Christmas season.

To counter this tendency, Answers in Genesis-US just set up a new billboard in Times Square in New York. It has an exclusively Christmas message, pointing out that Jesus wants to reach out to even those who reject Him and refuse to believe in Him.

Source:

Ham, Ken. 2013. AiG’s Striking New Christmas Billboard Now in Times Square! Answers in Genesis (27 November).

New Darwinian Speculation: Early Life Built Continents

One of the discarded suggestions for a naturalistic origin of life. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

For Darwinians, the origin and early development of life on Earth are difficult nuts to crack. However, one cannot blame them for not trying to figure out more or less – and usually less – plausible scenarios.

Like the one published recently in New Scientist:

“Biological weathering of land, by which organisms eat up rocks and create sediments that wash into the oceans and pile up several metres thick. ‘Just think about lichens that cover bare rocks and provide continuous contact of water with the rock. Or bacteria that produce acids and dissolve rock,´ [Tilman] Spohn says.”

The Darwinian story continues:

“Algae, bacteria and more complex life colonise the new land, erode it and dump masses of sediment into the ocean. The sediment – 40 per cent water by weight – is eventually pulled down more than 100 kilometres beneath the surface by early subducting tectonic plates, where piping hot temperatures release the trapped water. The hydrated mantle is viscous and more buoyant, so it rises and bursts through the surface in volcanic eruptions that add to the continental plate.”

This scenario is based on the assumption that Darwinian evolution is capable of producing and fostering life. While it is interesting, it is storytelling that relies on a computer simulation of what could have happened.

It has nothing to do with science but everything with science fiction.


Source:

Slezak, Michael. 2013. Early life built Earth's continents. New Scientist 2944 (25 November).

Space Rock Challenges Planet-Formation Theories

2002 UX25 challenges planet-formation theories. Image courtesy of M. Brown/NASA.




Joel Kontinen

A recent Nature news article recounts the standard explanation of planet formation:

“Small dust particles in the swirling disk that surrounded the infant Sun gradually collided and coalesced to form bigger particles. This process ultimately built dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, such as Pluto, as well as Earth and the other rocky planets in the inner Solar System.”

However, it discloses that this scenario might very well be very wrong. The reason for this is a 650-kilometre wide space rock that is less dense than water. The Kuiper-belt object, dubbed 2002 UX25, challenges current planet-formation theories.

The articles explains why 2002 UX25 matters: “Objects in the Kuiper belt are believed to have changed relatively little since the early years of the Solar System.”

There is no shortage of evidence that confirms that the solar system was designed very intelligently in order to make life on Earth possible.

Source:

Coven, Ron. 2013. Astronomers surprised by large space rock less dense than water. Kuiper belt object challenges planet-formation theories. Nature news (13 November).

C. S. Lewis: From Angry Atheist to Christian Apologist

A new book explores C. S. Lewis’ view of scientism.




Joel Kontinen

John F. Kennedy was not the only famous person to die on November 22, 1963. Half a century ago, the famed professor and author C. S. Lewis also passed away.

Lewis, who in his youth was an angry atheist, became one of the best-known Christian apologists. While the horror of the First World War led to his early atheism, he later realised that the godless ideology that he had embraced could not explain reality.

For Lewis, natural beauty, morality, reason and functional complexity pointed to design in nature and this for him led to the Christian God, the Creator of everything.

This brief video explains why Lewis changed his mind and turned to Christianity.

Who Was Cain’s Wife?

Cain killed his brother Abel at the dawn of human history.




Joel Kontinen

The identity of Cain’s wife is an issue that keeps on coming up. Recently, a brief article in Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) addressed this question.

Traditionally, scholars have concluded that Cain must have married his own sister, as Genesis records that Adam and Eve had several children, including daughters.

At that time, the number of harmful mutations in the human genome was probably very small, so marrying a close relative would not have been as disastrous as it would be in our time.

After all, Cain and his sister’s parents were once perfect, without any defects. There was no time for disease-bringing mutations to accumulate in their genome.

Actually, God forbade marriages between close relatives at the time of Moses.

However, the BAR article opts for a very different kind of solution. Disregarding the biblical statement that Eve was the mother of all humans, Ms. Leith suggests that in Cain’s days there must have been other people in addition to Adam’s family, but as they were not of “us”, i.e. the group that gave rise to the Hebrews, they were not counted.

She believes that Cain married one of these outsiders.

There is absolutely no scriptural support for this conjecture. The Bible says unambiguously that all people are the descendants of the first human parents (Gen. 3:20; Acts 17:26).

Source:

Leith, Mary Joan Winn. 2013. Who Did Cain Marry? Biblical Archaeology Review 39 (6), 22, 82, 84.

Intelligent Design: "Octopus Is an Eight-Legged Marvel"

The common octopus (Octopus vulgaris). Image courtesy of Albert Kok, Wikipedia.



Joel Kontinen

The more we get to know about the animal kingdom, the more amazing it turns out to be. A recent article in Nature news described the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) as a marvel:

“To researchers who study how living things move, the octopus is an eight-legged marvel, managing its array of undulating appendages by means of a relatively simple nervous system. Some studies have suggested that each of the octopus’s tentacles has a 'mind' of its own, without rigid central coordination by the animal’s brain.”

There’s more:

“Now neuroscientist Guy Levy and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem report that the animals can rotate their bodies independently of their direction of movement, reorienting them while continuing to crawl in a straight line. And, unlike species that use their limbs to move forward or sideways relative to their body's orientation, octopuses tend to slither around in all directions.”

The researchers were surprised. So was the article writer. The octopus’ co-ordination is amazing, and so is animal intelligence in general.

It might be good to remember that intelligence is an immaterial trait and cannot be explained away by Darwinian storytelling. Intelligent solutions require an intelligent designer.

Source:

Shen, Helen. 2013. Worm-like movements propel octopus ballet. Nature news (15 November).

More Caveman Inventions: Neanderthal String

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal girl. Image courtesy of Christopher P.E. Zollikofer, Anthropological Institute, University of Zurich via Wikipedia.


Joel Kontinen

We have all heard that cavemen were primitive. It might not be easy to think of them as inventors. However, recent research suggests that Neanderthals, once dismissed as grunting, stooped cavemen, were much more sophisticated than scientists previously assumed. In recent years, they have evolved – in science publications, that is – from dim-witted ape-like creatures to human inventors.

A new discovery suggests that Neanderthals were the first to use string. According to New Scientist:

“Perishable materials usually rot away, so the oldest string on record only dates back 30,000 years. But perforations in small stone and tooth artefacts from Neanderthal sites in France suggest the pieces were threaded on string and worn as pendants. ‘The wear patterns provide circumstantial evidence of early use of string, but the evidence is not definitive,’ says Bruce Hardy at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Similar circumstantial evidence has been found in perforated shells.

Now, Hardy and his colleagues have found slender, 0.7-millimetre-long plant fibres that are twisted together near some stone artefacts at a site in south-east France that was occupied by Neanderthals 90,000 years ago. Such fibres are not twisted together in nature, says the team, suggesting that the Neanderthals were responsible (Quaternary Science Reviews, doi.org/pzx).”

Once upon a time, some 150 years ago, Neanderthals were “proof” that humans had evolved from ape-men. But it seems that the times they are a-changing.

The model based on Genesis has regarded Neanderthals as fully human from the beginning.

(You can read more about Neanderthals here and here.)


Source:

Barras, Colin. 2013. World's oldest string found at French Neanderthal site. New Scientist 2943 (13 November).

”3.5- Billion -Year- Old” Ecosystems Are Complex

Stromatolities.





Joel Kontinen

A recent article in Science Daily begins with the words, “Reconstructing the rise of life during the period of Earth's history when it first evolved is challenging.”

It certainly is, as it is a well-established fact that life only comes from life.

Now, research published in Astrobiology on “the well-preserved remnants of a complex ecosystem in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old sedimentary rock sequence in Australia” pushes back the emergence of complex ecosystems by 300 million years.

According to the Darwinian paradigm, early life was not supposed to be complex and it was not supposed to emerge too early.

The article continues:

“The Pilbara district of Western Australia constitutes one of the famous geological regions that allow insight into the early evolution of life. Mound-like deposits created by ancient photosynthetic bacteria, called stromatolites, and microfossils of bacteria have been described by scientists in detail. However, a phenomenon called microbially induced sedimentary structures, or MISS, had not previously been seen in this region. These structures are formed from mats of microbial material, much like mats seen today on stagnant waters or in coastal flats.”

The article also speculates on life on Mars. However, the take away message is that if life emerged very early, evolutionists will soon find that there was no time for it to evolve.

And if it did not evolve, it was created.


Source:

Evidence of 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Bacterial Ecosystems Found in Australia. Science Daily November 12, 2013.

Dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?

Dinosaurs on the ark? Yes.




Joel Kontinen

Were there dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark? If we take the Bible seriously, we’ll believe that there were.

Dinosaurs were land animals, and God told Noah to take two animals of each kind on the ark.

A brief That’s a Fact video produced by the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) features dinosaurs and Noah’s ark.

Watch the video here.

8.8 Billion Earth-Sized Planets Found?

An artist's impression of Kepler-69c. Image courtesy of NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech.





Joel Kontinen

Science headlines in the popular press are often interesting. Recently, Fox news entertained us with this “fact”: At least 8.8 billion Earth-size, just-right planets found, study says.

This reminds one of the buzz that occurs each time a new fossil is found. The headlines almost always get it wrong – very wrong.

So what did astronomers actually find?

Nothing.

According to Fox news, “Astronomers using NASA data have calculated for the first time that in our galaxy alone, there are at least 8.8 billion stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable temperature zone. The study was published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.”

The number (i.e., 8.8 billion) is merely an assumption, however. Later on the article states: “Kepler has identified only 10 planets that are about Earth's size circling sun-like stars and are in the habitable zone, including one called Kepler 69-c.”

There’s still no place like home.

Source:

At least 8.8 billion Earth-size, just-right planets found, study says. Fox news. 5 November 2013.

The Death of Early Man Theories

Dmanisi skull 5. Image courtesy of Guram Bumbiashvili, Georgian National Museum.





Joel Kontinen

The recent discovery of a skull in Dmanisi in Georgia by anthropologists from the University of Zurich has demolished Darwinian thinking on our ancestors. Previously, researchers “knew” that the genus Homo consisted of Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo rudolfensis and Homo ergaster.

This thinking was mostly based on a few isolated fragmentary skulls and bone parts, each displaying a different trait. It has turned out to be very problematic. Dr. Marcia Ponce de León acknowledges, “At present there are as many subdivisions between species as there are researchers examining this problem.”

Researchers dated the Dmanisi skull as 1.85 million years old and categorised it as H. erectus.

Professor Christoph P.E. Zollikofer’s statement says a lot about how researchers invent species: “Had the braincase and the face of the Dmanisi sample been found as separate fossils, they very probably would have been attributed to two different species.”

Now, researchers are suggesting that the genus Homo only includes a single species.

When a single skull brings down an entire tree one might be justified in concluding that the evolutionary story is anything but robust.

Source:

Unique skull find rebuts theories on species diversity in early humans. EurekAlert! 17 October, 2013.

The Bee Waggle Dance Points to Creation

European honey bee (Apis mellifera). Image courtesy of John Severns.





Joel Kontinen


Honeybees are clever creatures. They have an intricate method of telling other bees where they can find food. The method is so complicated that it took Austrian researcher Karl von Frisch 20 years to figure it out.

The bee waggle dance, as the method is called, suggests that these tiny creatures were created to be intelligent, as this brief video clip produced by Creation Ministries International shows.

100 Million Persecuted Christians - International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on Sunday, 3rd November

Joel Kontinen

Did you know that over 100 million Christians are persecuted right now, as you read these lines?

Following Jesus is not always easy, but in some cultures it is very dangerous. The world hates the true light (Jesus) and those who identify with Him.

Tomorrow, 3rd November, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Don’t forget to pray for those who are being persecuted for their faith.

Earth’s Twin Is Scorching Hot

An artist’s impression of Kepler-78. Image courtesy of David A. Aguilar (CfA).




Joel Kontinen

The more exoplanets we find, the more obvious it becomes that Earth is a very special place.

Recently, researchers reported on the discovery of Kepler-78b, an Earth-sized planet orbiting its star some 400 light years from us in the constellation Cygnus.

According to an article in Nature news, “Kepler-78b travels in orbit about 40 times closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun; its year lasts just 8.5 hours; and its surface is thought to reach a scorching 2,300–3,100 Kelvin.”

Earth’s twin reminds us of something that Dante could have written. It hardly resembles the bluish planet where we live.

It seems that there’s no place like home in the universe. While this is difficult if not impossible to explain by a worldview based on Darwinism, the Bible tells us that God made the good earth to be habitable.


Source:

Gibney, Elizabeth. 2013. Exoplanet is built like Earth but much, much hotter. Nature news (30 October).