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News:
August 31, 2003
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Religion in the News
Do Drink
the Water
Disillusioned missionary, 'Spirit-inspired' invention transform church's
ministry in the Dominican Republic.
Russian
Kangaroo Court Convicts American Missionary
Government keeps $48,000 intended for churches.
Ten Commandments Monument Removed From Ala. Courthouse
Old dream
and new issues 40 years after rights march
As civil rights advocates, old and new, gather this weekend to commemorate
what many consider the high point of the struggle for equal rights, they
are also taking stock of the movement itself — what it is today, how
it got that way, and what it must say, do and become to maintain its relevance
(The New York Times).
Autistic
boy dies at Wis. prayer service
An autistic 8-year-old boy died while wrapped in sheets during a prayer
service held to exorcise the evil spirits that church members blamed for
his condition (Associated Press).
Vatican's
stargazers place faith in science
The priests at the pope's observatory near Rome try to correct a Galileo-
linked perception about the Roman Catholic Church (Associated Press).
J. R.
R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, a Legendary Friendship
A new book reveals how these two famous friends conspired to bring myth
and legend—and Truth—to modern readers. By Chris Armstrong.
The Least
Likely Soil
Where God is more certain than death.
By Philip Yancey.
Science in the News
Wagner Free Institute of Science Fall Courses.
Course change: Ancient Graves and Modern Cemeteries. Starts Tuesday, 9/30/2003 at 7:00 PM at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.
Creation/Evolution
Coming soon! Creation magazine archive: Brand new feature! Years of research and life-changing articles—from Creation magazine—at your fingertips. Every Creation article over the past six years, conveniently organized in a single, powerful database for advanced research or easy reading! (Look for several more issues very soon.) Search by author, type of article, date, etc. It’s easy to use. Check it out at www.answersingenesis.org/creation/. The TJ journal of creation at http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/technical.asp.
The
End of Evolution
Population geneticists, rummaging in DNA's ever-fascinating attic, have
set dates on two important changes in the human form.
Re-evolving
Evolution
Bartel, a researcher at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, pursues
a theory of early evolution called the "RNA-world hypothesis,"
which maintains that, in the beginning, long before DNA or protein existed,
RNA performed both DNA's job of encoding information and protein's job of
catalyzing replication. Because RNA replication is far simpler than protein
replication, and because RNA participates in central cellular functions,
researchers postulate a primitive, yet elegant, system in which RNA made
RNA.
Archaeology/Anthropology
Ancient stone
circle found on remote island
An ancient stone circle which has lain buried for more than 3,000 years
has been found on a remote Scottish island. The circle is the latest to
have been discovered at a site widely considered as second in importance
to Stonehenge.
Astronomy
New
Findings Could Dash Hopes For Past Oceans On Mars
Tempe - Aug 26, 2003 - After a decades-long quest, scientists analyzing
data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have at last found critical
evidence the spacecraft's infrared spectrometer instrument was built to
search for: the presence of water-related carbonate minerals on the surface
of Mars.
Mars movements spark huge rise in German "UFO sightings"
NASA Promises Reform As Columbia Inquiry Lays Blame At Agency's Door.
Biology
Dartmouth
Bioengineers Develop Humanized Yeast
Bioengineers at Dartmouth have genetically engineered yeast to produce humanized
therapeutic proteins to address the manufacturing crunch currently confronting
the biopharmaceutical industry. Reported in this week's issue of Science,
the researchers have re-engineered the yeast P. pastoris to secrete a complex
human glycoprotein--a process offering significant advantages over current
production methods using mammalian cell lines, according to the researchers.
Genetics
(28 Aug)
Increasingly, researchers believe that the mechanisms that govern gene activity
themselves resemble a complicated non-DNA code - an intricate pattern of
activity among the molecules that package and control access to the DNA.
They suspect that the coordinated interplay of a number of specific enzymes
is required to turn on a particular gene.
'MicroRNAs'
Control Plant Shape And Structure
New discoveries about tiny genetic components called microRNAs explain why
plant leaves are flat. The study may be a first step, researchers say, in
revolutionizing our understanding of how plants control their morphology,
or shape.
Earth Science
Methane
Thought To Be Responsible For Mass Extinction
What caused the worst mass extinction in Earth's history 251 million years
ago? An asteroid or comet colliding with Earth? A greenhouse effect? Volcanic
eruptions in Siberia? Or an entirely different culprit? A Northwestern University
chemical engineer believes the culprit may be an enormous explosion of methane
(natural gas) erupting from the ocean depths.
How Lunar Tides
Control The Flows Of Antarctic Ice Streams - Newcastle - Aug 26, 2003
The moon is often accused of causing lunacy, bringing on labor and transforming
werewolves. Now it seems that in reality, the moon, through the tides, is
responsible for the pattern of motion exhibited by ice streams in the Antarctic,
according to a team of geologists from NASA, Penn State and University of
Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England.
Planetary
Tilt Not A Spoiler For Habitation
In B science fiction movies, a terrible force often pushes the Earth off
its axis and spells disaster for all life on Earth. In reality, life would
still be possible on Earth and any Earth-like planets if the axis tilt were
greater than it is now, according to Penn State researchers.
Earth
Has A New Look
A brand new look and understanding of the place we call home. That's what
you'll get in a complete global topographic data set generated by NASA and
the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.
Psychology
Schizophrenia
(29 Aug)
About one in a hundred people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia. Now neuroscientists
may have found a gene variation that predisposes people to this brain disease.
As this ScienCentral News video reports, it could lead to genetically targeted
drugs for schizophrenia.
Depression
(25 Aug)
Evidence is growing that a key mechanism underlying major depression--a
sometimes heritable, often lifetime illness, with repeated remissions and
relapses--involves dysregulation of the signaling proteins called cytokines.
Amphetamine
Or Cocaine Exposure May Limit Brain Cell Changes That Normally Occur With
Life Experiences
Researchers know that certain kinds of experiences, such as those involved
in learning, can physically change brain structure and affect behavior.
Now, new research in rats shows that exposure to stimulant drugs such as
amphetamine or cocaine can impair the ability of specific brain cells to
change as a consequence of experience.