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News:
December 21, 2003
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New Products
Rosetta Stone replicas (7.5 inches), ancient Egyptian plaque replicas, small Egyptian canopic jars. Don't forget our coins of the Bible, Roman emperors, and Greece. Free shipping now for those in the USA until Christmas. See our products page.
Religion in the News
Iraqi
Christians Celebrate Saddam's Capture
Chaldean Christian communities in the U.S. call arrest a Christmas present.
Complied by Rob Moll.
Doing
Tolkien Justice
The Christian virtues of humility and sacrifice filter through a tarnished
triumph. By Jeffrey Overstreet.
Where
to Go for All Things Tolkien
The best sites on the Internet about the man, his faith, his books, the
Inklings and the movies. Compiled by Rob Moll.
The Lure
of the Obvious in Peter Jackson's The Return of the King
The film adaptations of a 1,200-page novel required making significant changes
to the story. But at what cost? By Ralph C. Wood.
Hanukkah
celebration will begin Friday
According to the tradition, after ousting the Greek-Syrian occupiers, the
Maccabees cleaned the temple and re-dedicated it. They found only a small
amount of oil with which to light the holy lamps. But it miraculously lasted
eight days. (Indianapolis Star)
Science in the News
Science News of
the Year 2003.
A review of important scientific achievements reported in Science News during
the year 2003.
Science's
Breakthrough Of The Year: Illumination Of The Dark, Expanding Universe
In 2003, new evidence cemented the bizarre idea that the universe is made
mostly of mysterious "dark matter," being stretched apart by an
unknown force called "dark energy." This set of discoveries claims
top honors as the Breakthrough of the Year, named by Science and its publisher,
AAAS, the nonprofit science society.
Creation/Evolution
Genome scan
shows human-chimp differences
Variations hint at how our lifestyle is reflected in our genes.
Chimp genome
draft completed
Closest relative's code will highlight human qualities.
The American Society of Human Genetics has instituted a series of articles on evolution in the "educational resources" portion of its web site. The first two articles are "Tinkered Masterpieces or Master Tinkerer" by Charles R. Scrivner and "Genetic Variation and Human Evolution" by Lynn B. Jorde.
Dr. Phillip Johnson is World Magazine's "Daniel of the Year"
Oldest
evidence of photosynthesis.
Scientists claim to have found the oldest evidence of photosynthesis - the
most important chemical reaction on Earth - in 3.7-billion-year-old rocks.
Intelligent Design: Key Organizations
- Access Research Network
- The Discovery Institute
- International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design
Young Earth Creationists: Key Organizations
Old Earth Creationists: Key Organizations
Theistic Evolution: Key Organizations
- American Scientific Affiliation (also includes Old-earthers and others)
- Affiliation of Christian Geologists (also includes Old-earthers)
Evolution: Key Organizations
Archaeology/Anthropology
Oldest sculptures
unearthed.
A set of ivory figurines found in southwestern Germany add to a growing
cache of the oldest art known. The 30,000-year-old carvings underline the
remarkable creativity of our earliest European ancestors.
A
Big Inca Discovery, or Not?
There's no need for Indiana Jones with stories like the rediscovery of Llactapata
near Machu Picchu.
Bookish Math: Statistical
tests are unraveling knotty literary mysteries.
Statistical tests and computation can help solve literary mysteries surrounding
the authorship of well-known works.
Astronomy
Saturn To
Ring In The New Year. Huntsville - Dec 14, 2003
When the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31st, heralding the start of 2004,
dash outside and look up. Directly overhead you'll see a yellow star outshining
the others around it. That star is a planet: Saturn, having its closest
encounter with Earth for the next 29 years.
Recycling keeps
planets' rings going
Give and take with moons means debris halos can last forever.
UK Scientists All
Set For New Year Encounter With A Comet. London - Dec 17, 2003
On January 2nd 2004 the NASA space mission, Stardust, will fly through comet
Wild 2, capturing interstellar particles and dust and returning them to
Earth in 2006. Space scientists from the Open University and University
of Kent have developed one of the instruments which will help tell us more
about comets and the evolution of our own solar system and, critical for
Stardust, its survival in the close fly-by of the comet.
Dust explains
shooting stars' twin streaks
Rise and fall makes some meteors leave two trails in night sky.
Beagle
2 Landing Site In 3D. London - Dec 17, 2003
As the time for Beagle 2 separation approaches a 3D representation of the
landing site is available for download. Keyhole is a revolutionary software
product that enables computer users to interact with a 3D model of a planet
directly on the own PC.
Has ESA's
Xmm-Newton Cast Doubt Over Dark Energy? Paris - Dec 17, 2003
ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, has returned tantalising new data about
the nature of the Universe. In a survey of distant clusters of galaxies,
XMM-Newton has found puzzling differences between today's clusters of galaxies
and those present in the Universe around seven thousand million years ago.
Some scientists claim that this can be interpreted to mean that the 'dark
energy' which most astronomers now believe dominates the Universe simply
does not exist?
An
Odyssey Of Mars Science: Part 1. Sacramento - Dec 18, 2003
This year's meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences -- the Solar System-related
branch of the American Astronomical Society provided the most detailed reports
yet on Martian science using data from the Odyssey and Surveyor missions.
SpaceDaily's Bruce Moomaw attended the 2004 DPS meeting and in a series
of reports over coming weeks Moomaw will provide readers with an overview
of the latest science from Mars.
Spitzer's
IRAC Camera Snaps Spectacular First Images. Washington - Dec 18, 2003
NASA released Thursday the first spectacular images from the Infrared Array
Camera (IRAC) instrument on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The pictures,
taken at infrared wavelengths of light, revealed remarkable details in objects
ranging from nearby star formation regions to distant spiral galaxies. The
images are but a taste of what will come from IRAC, which was developed
for NASA by a team led by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO),
with Giovanni Fazio as the Principal Investigator.
Spitzer Detects Organic Chemistry In Highly Luminous Galaxy.
Biology
Mutant worms
withstand boozy bender
Single gene linked to alcohol tolerance.
The
Common Cold As Cancer Fighter? ST. LOUIS
Can the common cold ever be a good thing? It is if you've figured out a
way to genetically engineer the virus so that it fights and kills cancerous
cells - while leaving healthy cells intact.
Earth Science
Man has been
changing climate for 8,000 years
Agriculture may have released huge amounts of greenhouse gases into atmosphere.
Radioactive Potassium
May Be Major Heat Source In Earth's Core. Berkeley - Dec 17, 2003
Radioactive potassium, common enough on Earth to make potassium-rich bananas
one of the "hottest" foods around, appears also to be a substantial
source of heat in the Earth's core, according to recent experiments by University
of California, Berkeley, geophysicists.
Physics
Einstein Makes
Extra Dimensions Toe The Line In Time. Greenbelt - Dec 17, 2003
Scientists say Albert Einstein's principle of the constancy of the speed
of light holds up under extremely tight scrutiny, a finding that rules out
certain theories predicting extra dimensions and a "frothy" fabric
of space.
Technology
Secret
of 'strained silicon' chips revealed
Intel has taken the wraps off a secret technique it is using to increase
the speed of its Pentium and Centrino chips.