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News:
March 28, 2004
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Religion in the News
One nation,
enriched by biblical wisdom
Understanding what the phrase "one nation under God" might mean
is not proselytizing; it's citizenship (David Brooks, The New York Times).
Atheist
Dad in 'Under God' Case Literally Applauded, But Likely to Lose
Supreme Court justices will probably overturn ruling, but maybe without
addressing Pledge issues. Compiled by Ted Olsen.
Pope
declares feeding tube removal immoral
Pope John Paul II said Saturday the removal of feeding tubes from people
in vegetative states was immoral, and that no judgment on their quality
of life could justify such "euthanasia by omission" (Associated
Press).
Court
case poses challenge to Scientology tax break
A trial is to begin in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning to determine whether
a Jewish couple can deduct the cost of religious education for their five
children, a tax benefit they say the federal government has granted to members
of just one religion, the Church of Scientology (The New York Times).
Suit
pits church, former member
Scientology seeks $10 million for breach of contract (San Francisco Chronicle).
Lost in
America
Arab Christians in the U.S. have a rich heritage and a shaky future. By
Elesha Coffman.
A Copt
at College
An Egyptian Christian talks about college and church in America.
Muslims
reject Carey's 'anti-Islam' speech
In a speech at the Gregorian University in Rome last night, Lord Carey of
Clifton said that Islam was inflexible and authoritarian, and Islamic countries
were backward and underachieving (The Times, London).
An
inspired strategy
Is religion a tonic for kids? You better believe it, say teens and scholars
(The Washington Post).
Students'
tale of cult 'evil'
The fuming families of three Bay State students are considering legal action
against Wheaton College, claiming the school failed to protect their children
from an ``evil'' cult leader who they say lured them into an isolated vortex
of ritualistic torture (Boston Herald).
New
Testament translated to sign language
After 23 years of work by some 60 people, a ministry group for the deaf
has finished translating the entire New Testament into American Sign Language
(Associated Press).
The
smart money is on God, says odds-maker
In The Probability of God: A Simple Calculation That Proves the Ultimate
Truth, Stephen Unwin uses an actual mathematical theorem to determine the
probability that there is a God (The Salt Lake Tribune).
Dr.
Seuss — theologian?
James Kemp's favorite theological work? Horton Hatches the Egg. (Religion
News Service).
The Dick
Staub Interview: Steve Wilkens Loves Bad Christians and Pagans
The author of Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans
believes Christians can learn a lot from skeptics and non-Christians.
Books
& Culture's Books of the Week: Mistakes Were Made
Four of the Seven Deadly Sins, as seen from a contemporary vantage point.
Reviewed by Abram Van Engen.
Science in the News
American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) spring 2004 meeting is at Eastern University on April 17th. Prof. David Unander will be speaking on the genetics of race and our Christian responsibility to bring peace and reconciliation to our world. RSVP by April 16th to admeam@aol.com.
Web debate: Access to the scientific literature
The Internet is profoundly changing how scientists work and publish. Click
here
for our free focus on the issues that are shaping the publishing horizon,
updated weekly. This weeks debate includes articles by co-founder of the
Public Library of Science, and Sciences Editor-in-Chief Donald Kennedy.
Archaeology/Anthropology
IT'S A FAKE!
An ivory
pomegranate inscribed with the words "Belonging to the Temple of
Yahweh, holy to the priests" and displayed at the Israel Museum is
a fake according to information received by Israel Antiquities Authority
investigators. The investigation into suspected forged antiquities began
following the discovery of the item known as the "Yehoash Inscription."
Subsequently dozens of forged items have been discovered. The investigators
maintain that at the center of the ring is the collector Oded Golan, the
owner of the "James Ossuary" and the "Yehoash Inscription."
Golan rejects all accusations, but the investigators say that they have
many items that originated with the suspect and were sold through intermediaries.
7,400-year-old
jar gives clue to phoenix-worshipping history.
A 7,400-year-old pottery jar stamped with the design of two flying phoenixes
has been excavated recently in central China's Hunan
Province, helping archaeologists unveil the secret of the "birth"
of the sacred bird.
Bones hint
at first use of fire.
Tests show that 1.5-million-year-old bones from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa,
had been heated to high temperatures, possibly making them the first evidence
of fire use by humans.
Astronomy
Opportunity
Finds Evidence Of Ocean Shoreline. Pasadena - Mar 23, 2004
NASA today released details on news findings on Mars that point to the first
strong evidence that a sea once covered part of Mars in the Meridiani Planum
area where Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is currently exploring. See
also March 23 news conference, Major Mars Finding Via Real Player at http://www.space.tv/ram/mars-pb-mar23.ram
- (60 mins)
Martian
Spiral Mystery At Poles Explained. Tucson AZ - Mar 26, 2004
The spiral troughs of Mars' polar ice caps have been called the most enigmatic
landforms in the solar system. The deep canyons spiraling out from the Red
Planet's North and South poles cover hundreds of miles. No other planet
has such structures.
A Star
Is Born: Celestial Beacon Sheds New Light On Stellar Nursery. Mauna
Kea HI - Mar 25, 2004
A timely discovery by American amateur astronomer Jay McNeil, followed immediately
by observations at the Gemini Observatory, has provided a rare glimpse into
the slow, yet violent birth of a star about 1,500 light-years away. The
resulting findings reveal some of the strongest stellar winds ever detected
around an embryonic Sun-like star.
Io's Lava
Lakes Like Early Earth? Buffalo - Mar 22, 2004
Investigations into lava lakes on the surface of Io, the intensely volcanic
moon that orbits Jupiter, may provide clues to what Earth looked like in
its earliest phases, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo
and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Spaceguard
Redux, Put to Test. Moffett Field - Mar 22, 2004
A small near-Earth asteroid (NEA), discovered Monday night by the NASA-funded
LINEAR asteroid survey, made the closest approach to Earth ever recorded.
There was no danger of a collision with the Earth during this encounter.
Largely as a result of a Congressional mandate, NASA established a "Spaceguard"
program with a goal of finding 90 percent of all the near-Earth asteroids
(NEAs) larger than 1 kilometer in diameter by the end of 2008.
Galactic Highway
Of WIMPs May Solve Cosmic Mystery Yet. Salt Lake City - Mar 23, 2004
Debris from a gobbled-up galaxy could be 'smoking gun' for dark matter WIMPs
speeding at 670,000 mph on a "highway" in space may be raining
onto Earth – a phenomenon that might prove the existence of "dark
matter" that makes up most our galaxy and one-fourth of the universe,
says a study co-authored by a University of Utah physicist. See also
Dark matter could be light.
Lunar Mountain
With Permanent Sun Good Site For Base. Houston (UPI) March 19, 2004
Scientists have discovered a mountain on the moon where the sun never sets,
which might become the site of a U.S. moonbase.
Living Off
The "Land" Critical To Long Term Moon, Mars Habitation. Huntsville
AL - Mar 24, 2004
Sludge. That's what most people think of when they envision the gray, powdery
soil — called regolith — covering the airless surface of the Moon.
Not Dr. Mike Duke. He sees gold.
Moon And
Planets Gather Round. Huntsville - Mar 22, 2004
Every few years or so, something wonderful happens: all five naked-eye planets
appear in the evening sky at the same time. You can walk outside after dinner,
and without any kind of telescope, see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and
Jupiter.
Biology
Building
The Whole Cell From Pieces: Researchers Tackle The Cell Jigsaw Puzzle
Scientists have taken a significant leap forward in understanding the complex
ways that molecules work together in cells.
Scientists
Crack Genome Sequence Of A Major Parasitic Pathogen
University of Minnesota researchers have completed sequencing the genome
of an intestinal parasite that affects healthy humans and animals and that
can be fatal to those with compromised immune systems, such as AIDS patients.
St.
Jude shows how disorderliness in some proteins lets them interact with a
diversity of molecules.
Discovery of the sequence of events in the binding of p27 to a protein complex
is a model for explaining how 30 to 40 percent of the body’s proteins
exploit their flexibility in order to do different tasks in the cell.
Early
Vitamin E Supplements Stem Development Of Hallmark Alzheimer's Symptoms
In Mice
Vitamin E, a well-known antioxidant, has been used to treat Alzheimer's
disease, but with mixed results, especially in patients with advanced symptoms.
A risk factor for Alzheimer's is oxidative stress, a clinical condition
characterized by an excessive production of reactive chemicals in the brain,
which can damage important regions of this organ.
Liquid lens
mimics human eye
Fluid device could find its way into pocket-sized gadgets. 19 March 2004.
Creation/Evolution
Bite
makes way for brain.
A pile of evidence from disparate disciplines indicates that a single change
in a single gene—MYH16—may be responsible for significant
morphologic differences between humans and other primates, including possibly
the three-fold increase in brain size that set the earliest species of Homo
apart from their kin. This is the first protein disparity between humans
and chimps that can be correlated to drastic anatomical changes seen in
the fossil record, according to a group of University of Pennsylvania researchers
who published a letter in the March 25
issue of Nature. See http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040324/04
Original summary article: Myosin gene mutation correlates with anatomical
changes in the human lineage: Nature 428 p. 415 HANSELL H. STEDMAN
et al.
NIST-led Research
De-Mystifies Origins Of 'Junk' DNA. Washington - Mar 26, 2004
A debate over the origins of what is sometimes called "junk" DNA
has been settled by research involving scientists at the Center for Advanced
Research in Biotechnology (CARB) and a collaborator, who developed rigorous
proof that these mysterious sections were added to DNA "late"
in the evolution of life on earth--after the formation of modern-sized genes,
which contain instructions for making proteins.
Bird
flu vaccination could lead to new strains
Asian countries will be carrying out an uncontrolled experiment in viral
evolution that could ultimately lead to a human pandemic.
THE PANDA'S THUMB.
The Panda's Thumb is a new, collectively authored blog (short for "web
log") devoted, in its words, "to explaining the theory of evolution,
critiquing the claims of the anti-evolution movement, and defending the
integrity of science and science education in America and around the world."
Skeptic vs creationist: ‘The Great Genesis Debate’ of 2003.
Earth Science
Patagonian Ice
Dam Studied From Space Cracks Open. Paris - Mar 22, 2004
A spectacle unseen for 16 years occurred in Patagonia this week: a natural
dam of blue ice gave way to crushing lake waters trapped behind it, finally
breaking apart.
A World
Ruled By Fungi.
The catastrophe that extinguished the dinosaurs and other animal species,
65 million years ago also brought dramatic changes to the vegetation. In
a study presented in latest issue of the journal Science, the paleontologists
Vivi Vajda from the University of Lund, Sweden and Stephen McLoughlin from
the Queensland University of Technology, Australia have described what happened
to the vegetation month by month. They depict a world in darkness where
the fungi had taken over.
Psychology
BAD
OR MAD?
The Christian philosopher Saint Augustine described two types of evil. "Natural
evil" is what happens when a volcano erupts or a storm strikes, while
"moral evil" includes all the dreadful things that humans knowingly
do to each other. Over the past decade, neuroscientists have found that
the brains of impulsive murderers and psychopaths are fundamentally different
from those of "normal" people. Those differences extend even to
their ability to make choices--to exercise free will. Sean Spence, a British
psychologist, asks how we should deal with these findings. For some people,
should we move the boundary between what is moral and natural evil?
Parental
Support Has Lifelong Benefits MONDAY, March 22 (HealthDayNews)
Abundant parental support during childhood leads to better mental and physical
health throughout adulthood, a new study finds. Conversely, a lack of love
is associated with depression and chronic health problems, says Benjamin
A. Shaw.
Zoology
Envisat Fishes Up
Facts Behind Chilean Giant Squid Invasion. Paris (ESA) Mar 23, 2004
Masses of large ocean-going squid have inundated the shores of Southern
Chile, alarming local fishermen who fear these carnivorous invaders could
threaten fish stocks. Envisat has helped account for their otherwise mysterious
arrival.
There Be Dragons: New Deep-sea Predator Species Discovered. FT. PIERCE,
Fla.
Dr. Tracey Sutton, a fish ecologist at the HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution
in Ft. Pierce, Fla., has discovered a new species in a bizarre and elusive
family of deep-sea predatory fish known collectively as dragonfish. The
find, reported in the current issue of the journal Copeia, is the first
new dragonfish species discovered in more than a decade.