Black squirrels may be evolving due to roadkill in cities

Image courtesy of Doug Wechsler / naturepl.com.

Joel Kontinen

Can squirrels evolve? Now a study in the USA says that black squirrels are going to be extinct and that grey squirrels are less likely to become roadkill as they are more visibly than black squirrels.

Road accidents seem to be behind the natural selection of black squirrels in US cities, as they may be easier than grey ones for motorists to spot and swerve to avoid.

Grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), known as eastern gray squirrels in the US, have been introduced in countries throughout the world, but their native range is eastern North America. Despite their name, also black forms.

Source:

Chris Simms 2025 Black squirrels may be evolving due to roadkill in cities | New Scientist 25 February 

When did life begin on Earth? New evidence reveals a shocking story

 

Image courtesy of Ingo Oeland/Alamy

Joel Kontinen 

When did live appear on Earth?

Earth is some 4.5 billion years old. When it formed from colliding rocks around a dim, young sun, it was presumably lifeless, and geologists long thought that life didn’t emerge for a billion years or more. This idea came from analysis of moon rocks brought back from the Apollo landings, which indicated Earth was pummelled by space rocks between 4 billion and 3.8 billion years ago – appear n event called the Late Heavy Bombardment. The implication was that the origin of life as we know it must have begun after that, since any earlier organisms would have been blitzed.

But science tells that Earth had live at the beginning just as Genesis says.  

Fossils and genetics are starting to point to life emerging surprisingly soon after Earth formed, when the planet was hellishly hot and seemingly uninhabitable.

“There’s two issues with that,” says Philip Donoghue at the University of Bristol, UK. First, models suggest that some life could have survived deep in the oceans. More damningly, it now seems that the Late Heavy Bombardment didn’t actually happen. The Apollo missions only created the impression of a huge bombardment over a brief period because they all collected rocks of a similar age.

We now know that, early in Earth’s history, large impacts occurred sporadically over hundreds of millions of years. However, we also know that a body the size of Mars collided with Earth just after it was formed, vaporising the planet’s surface. “If life originated before then, it would have been wiped out,” says Donoghue.

Life began when inert matter self-organised into living systems, but, despite decades of research, how that happened remains a mystery. Figuring out when it happened is also a big challenge because the fossil record gets worse the further back.

Those all speaks of creation, as Genesis tells us. 

Source:

 Michael Marshall When did life begin on Earth? New evidence reveals a shocking story | New Scientist 19 February 2025

 

 

70 Christians beheaded in church in Republic of Congo

 

Image courtesy of Public Domain

Joel Kontinen

The Jews are not the only ones that are being sacrificed. It is  the Christians who have also been killed, especially in Congo, The culprit is Isis.

”Seventy Christians were beheaded in a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Christians were murdered by terrorists from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – a group with ties to the Islamic State (ISIS). 

According to sources, at around 4 am last Thursday (13 February) suspected militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – a group with ties to the Islamic State (IS) – approached homes in Mayba in the territory of Lubero, saying: “Get out, get out and don’t make any noise.” Twenty Christian men and women came out and were captured. ADF terrorists surrounded the village and captured a further 50 Christians.

The 70 prisoners were taken to a Protestant Church in Kasanga where they were bound, murdered, and beheaded with machetes. Sources report that local Islamist terrorists wouldn’t let Christian leaders bury the dead for some five days.

Following the attack, many Christians fled the region, seeking safety. Muhindo Musunzi, director of the Kombo Primary School, stated that churches, schools, and health centers had already shut down due to the deteriorating Security Situation.”

Hundreds of Christians are being murdered every year.

Source:

Adam Eliyahu Berkowictz 70 Christians beheaded in church in Republic of Congo  - Israel365 News 23 February 2025

Mice seen giving 'first aid' to unconscious companions

 

Image courtesy of Wenjian Sun et al. 2025-02-22

Joel Kontinen

Can mice have mercy to their hurt companions?

This proves that some animals are more conscious of their companions than we usually think. This is not due to evolution but on intelligent design as God also made the animals.

“When they find another mouse unconscious, some mice seemingly try to revive their companion by pawing at them, biting and even pulling their tongue aside to clear their airways. The finding hints that caregiving behaviour might be more common in the animal kingdom than we thought.

There are rare reports of large, social mammals trying to help incapacitated members of their species, such as wild chimpanzees touching and licking wounded peers, dolphins attempting to push a distressed pod mate to the surface so it can breathe and elephants rendering assistance to ailing relatives.

Now, Li Zhang at the University of Southern California (USC) and his colleagues have filmed what happened when they presented laboratory mice with a familiar cage mate that was either active or anaesthetised and unresponsive.”

Source:

 Chris Simms Mice seen giving 'first aid' to unconscious companions | New Scientist 20 February 2025

 

Gigantic star has gone through a rapid transformation and may explode

 

Image courtesy of ESO/L. Calçada

Joel Kontinen

Space is wonderful, but stars can be fickle. Some exoplanets seem to change their composition oddly. This happened to a star that is about to explode as a supernova.

”One of the largest stars in the known universe is undergoing a strangely rapid transformation and may soon explode as a supernova.

First catalogued in 1981, WOH G64 sits some 160,000 light years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It is one of the biggest red supergiants, the largest stars we know of. These are massive, cool stars that have run out of hydrogen fuel in their core and instead burn an envelope of hydrogen gas that surrounds them.”

Source:

Chris Simms WOH G64: Gigantic star has gone through a rapid transformation and may explode | New Scientist 20 February 2025

Ex hostage thanks Israel and Trump for her release

 Image courtesy of  X Screenshot

Joel Kontinen  

Agam Berger was stationed on the Gaza border, where she was taken prisoner for almost 500 days. Now she has just produced two You tube presentations.

Former hostage Agam Berger delivered a public message to the people of Israel for the first time since her release from Hamas captivity, emphasizing the necessity of Jewish unity and “taking on a mitzvah” to overcome the enemy and bring back the rest of the hostages.

“Thank you to the IDF soldiers and members of the security forces who risked and are still risking their lives to protect the country and bring all the kidnapped men and women home safely,” she began in a YouTube video.

Thank you to the Creator of the Universe, by whose grace I am here.

She then recalled that “when we were there [in captivity], and [Hamas] saw our division – it made them happy. They said that when we are together, we are strong. So I ask you, despite all the differences, let’s maintain unity and maintain our strength as the Jewish People.” I am here.

After 15 months in captivity, Agam Berger wants the world to know she believes Donald Trump helped bring her home.

In a heartfelt message on social media on Monday, the former Hamas hostage spoke with urgency about those still trapped in Gaza’s tunnels.

“I want to take this chance to say to you, President Trump: thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Berger shared on social media.

“Thanks to you, we have returned home. But we must remember, there are still people who truly depend on you and are waiting for you to save them.”

Source:

 'Trump, you're my hope' - Freed hostage to US president | World Israel News February 18 2025

Stunning, rainbow-colored object spotted by James Webb telescope could be an alien solar system in the making

 

Image courtesy of ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, Tazaki et al.

Joel Kontinen

 What Is space like? Now, scientist have discovered a young star that is just beginning to  evolve – that is what the news articles says.

But then they say that stars are formed in millions years. ” growing from dense, billowing clouds of turbulent dust and gas to gently glowing protostars, before materializing into gigantic orbs of fusion-powered plasma like our sun.”

”The young star, called HH 30, is a Herbig-Haro object — a bright knot of gas formed when the gas streaming from young protostars collides with nearby matter, producing shockwaves, It is situated 450 light years from us,”

So, how they take so much time to develop into stars? As Genesis says, God made the stars immediately at the beginning of time. It did not take millions of years.

Source:

Ben Turner 2025 Stunning, rainbow-colored object spotted by James Webb telescope could be an alien solar system in the making | Live Science February 7

See the fluorescing tail feathers of a male emperor bird-of-paradise

Birds-of-paradise are known for their bright colours and courtship displays. Now, it turns out that many species also have body parts that fluoresce

Image courtesy of American Museum of Natural History

Joel Kontinen

”This striking plume of yellow is the fluorescing tail feathers of a male emperor bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea guilielmi). Birds-of-paradise are known for their bright colours and courtship displays. Now, it turns out that many species also fluoresce – absorbing light and re-emitting it at lower-energy wavelengths. Fluorescent patches are found in body parts used during courtship, like tail feathers and bills.”

When God  make the birds, He formed some of them beautiful, as can be said in this instance.

Source:

See the fluorescing tail feathers of a male emperor bird-of-paradise | New Scientist

12 February 2025 

How a moth uses an optical illusion to disguise itself as a leaf

 The fruit-sucking moth bears an uncanny resemblance to a leaf

Image courtesy of  Bridgette Gower.

Joel Kontinen

“A moth found in northern Australia and South-East Asia has an astonishing camouflage trick: it creates an optical illusion to look like a three-dimensional leaf, complete with a raised midrib, when it is actually smooth.

“If I gave you a specimen now, you wouldn’t believe it was flat,” says Jennifer Kelley at the University of Western Australia in Perth. “When we showed it to people, they were very confused by it. It really does not look flat.”

The smooth wings of fruit-sucking moths appear to be ridged like a leaf – but the resemblance is created by nanostructures that reflect light in an unusual way.

The fruit-sucking moth (Eudocima aurantia) resembles a leaf to fool predators, especially birds, into thinking it isn’t food. Although it was first described in 1877, until now this likeness was thought to be caused by pigments and the shape of its body.

In fact, the moth uses extremely sophisticated physics to give the impression it is a leaf, says Kelley.

This cannot be the result of evolution. This strategy is the result of intelligence design that God has provided for this species.

Source:

 James Woodford 2025 How a moth uses an optical illusion to disguise itself as a leaf | New Scientist 12 February

 

 

Distant exoplanet may be the most volcanic world ever found

 

Illustration of the volcanic exoplanet L 98-59 b. Image courtesy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Joel Kontinen

The more we know about exoplanets, the mysterious they become.  Now a planet with a large volcanic  world has just ben found.

“An alien world with a seemingly sulphur-filled atmosphere may be the most volcanic planet astronomers have ever spotted.

We have never directly detected volcanic activity outside our solar system, in part because current telescopes aren’t powerful enough to take images of exoplanets’ surfaces. We might be able to spot alien volcanoes by measuring the gases they pump into a planet’s atmosphere, but this is also at the very limit of what current telescopes can do – there have been tantalising hints of atmospheres on rocky surface.”

Source:

 Alex Wilkins  2025 Distant exoplanet may be the most volcanic world ever found | New Scientist 10 February 

Humpback whale songs have patterns that resemble human language

 

Image courtesy of Tony Wu/Nature Picture Library/Alamy

Joel Kontinen 

“Humpbackwhale songs have statistical patterns in their structure that are remarkably similar to those seen in human language. While this doesn’t mean the songs convey complex meanings like our sentences do, it hints that whales may learn their songs in a similar way to how human infants start to understand language.

Only male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sing, and the behaviour is thought to be important for attracting mates. The songs are constantly evolving, with new elements appearing and spreading through the population until the old song is completely replaced with a new one.

“We think it’s a little bit like a standardised test, where everybody’s got to do the same task but you can make changes and embellishments to show that you’re better at the task than everybody else,” says Jenny Allen at Griffith University in Gold Coast, Australia.

Instead of trying to find meaning in the songs, Allen and her colleagues were looking for innate structural patterns that may be similar to those seen in human language. They analysed eight years of whale songs recorded around New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean.”

But humpback whales are not deriving a proto language that people could use. They are animals with created ways to tell their message.

Source:

James Woodford 2025 Humpback whale songs have patterns that resemble human language | New Scientist 6 February

 

 

Spiders can run just as fast after two of their legs drop off

 
 Image courtesy of Didier Descouens - CC BY-SA 3.0.

Joel Kontinen

When spiders self-amputate two of their legs, they quickly adjust their running gait so they can return to full speed

Spiders can run as fast after two of their legs are cut off.

“Spiders can reach their top running speeds again soon after self-amputating a limb – a trick that could inspire robots that can move more effectively when they are damaged.

When threatened by a predator, spiders can detach their legs in a process called autotomy – up to 40 per cent of wild spiders have missing legs as a result. Their legs fully grow back when they moult, which can be e within one to two months for juveniles.“

This is a way of making the spiders regrow their limbs, brought about intelligent design.  

Source:

James Woodford 2025 Spiders can run just as fast after two of their legs drop off | New Scientist 4 February 

 

Omega-3 supplements seem to slow down biological ageing

 

Joel Kontinen

Taking a daily omega-3 supplement appears to slow down the rate of biological ageing by three months – and even more so if you also take vitamin D and exercise.

How can Omega-3 capsules slow down ageing in older people?

Here is what New Scientist says of the formula:

“Daily Omega-3 supplement seems to slow biological ageing in older people, particularly if combined with vitamin D and exercise.

We already knew that Omega-3’s – “good” fats found in seeds, nuts and some fish – can boost our immunity, heart health and brain function.

They have also been linked to changes in “epigenetic” markers, chemical tags on DNA that alter the activity of genes and, in turn, how cells behave. This suggests that omega-3s reduce the pace of biological ageing, often defined as a measure of how quickly someone’s body is deteriorating compared with the general population’s.

To explore this further, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari at the University of Zurich and her colleagues split 777 people in Switzerland, aged 70 to 91, into eight groups. They also wanted to find out how Omega-3 may work alongside vitamin D supplements and exercise.

“Omega-3 plays on multiple pathways of ageing, such as being anti-inflammatory. Similarly, vitamin D and exercise have multiple benefits,” says Bischoff-Ferrari. “We thought, if you play on each of these differential pathways, do you get an additive benefit?”

Some of the participants were already taking these supplements or doing strength training at the supplements, says Bischoff-Ferrari, so they were allowed to continue.

Yes, we know that exercise, the sun (the source of vitamin D) and Omega-3 will slow down our ageing.

Source:

Carissa Wong 2025 Omega-3 supplements seem to slow down biological ageing | New Scientist 3 February

 

 

'Gossiping neighbors': Plants didn't evolve to be kind to each other, study finds

Image courtesy of Loreto Oyarte Galvez

Joel Kontinen

Plants are not friendly to each other, a new study claims.

“Rather than helping each other out when they're attacked, plants may have to eavesdrop on each other to know when to launch their own defences.”

A new study says that” rather than warning each other of impending doom, plants may be better off hiding signs of distress from each other, or even lying about danger that isn't there.”

This might have to do with evolution, in which the species or individuals who has the best genes always wins. It may relate to the plants defence mechanism so that it will not say which is the greatest danger, so that herbivores or insects will find the plant unpalatable.

Source:

Jess Thomson 2025 'Gossiping neighbors': Plants didn't evolve to be kind to each other, study finds | Live Science 31 January