THE DRAKE EQUATION
Ephesians 6:10-11
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
How many times have you seen headlines proclaiming that "Sixty billion planets in the Milky Way could support life" or "One hundred billion planets in our galaxy may harbor complex life"? It seems that the numbers change with each new announcement. Where did those numbers come from in the first place?
It all started when astronomer Frank Drake, a firm believer in extraterrestrial life, hosted the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute's very first meeting back in 1961. He wanted to inspire the other scientists in attendance, so he developed an equation which has been described as a "probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy."
The Drake Equation, as it has come to be called, sounds mathematical and scientific, but when you examine the equation, you will see that it is based on conjecture after conjecture, guess after guess. In fact, most scientists today totally reject it, calling it a guesstimate or meaningless. Nevertheless, we keep seeing headlines about the fifty or sixty or one hundred billion planets out there which are capable - or even likely - of having life. After all, if life evolved on Earth, surely it evolved on any planet capable of supporting life.
But as scientist Donald DeYoung points out in his book Astronomy and the Bible, the first variable in the Drake Equation actually turns out to be zero. So when you multiply all the variables together, you end up with not billions but a big fat zero!
Heavenly Father, I pray that You will help me develop critical thinking skills and spiritual wisdom so that I will be fully equipped to detect error when false teachers seek to deceive me. Amen.
Astronomy and the Bible, D. DeYoung, pp. 117-118, (BMH Books, 2010). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation. Photo: Dr. Frank Drake. Courtesy of Raphael Perrino. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Ephesians 6:10-11
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
How many times have you seen headlines proclaiming that "Sixty billion planets in the Milky Way could support life" or "One hundred billion planets in our galaxy may harbor complex life"? It seems that the numbers change with each new announcement. Where did those numbers come from in the first place?
It all started when astronomer Frank Drake, a firm believer in extraterrestrial life, hosted the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute's very first meeting back in 1961. He wanted to inspire the other scientists in attendance, so he developed an equation which has been described as a "probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy."
The Drake Equation, as it has come to be called, sounds mathematical and scientific, but when you examine the equation, you will see that it is based on conjecture after conjecture, guess after guess. In fact, most scientists today totally reject it, calling it a guesstimate or meaningless. Nevertheless, we keep seeing headlines about the fifty or sixty or one hundred billion planets out there which are capable - or even likely - of having life. After all, if life evolved on Earth, surely it evolved on any planet capable of supporting life.
But as scientist Donald DeYoung points out in his book Astronomy and the Bible, the first variable in the Drake Equation actually turns out to be zero. So when you multiply all the variables together, you end up with not billions but a big fat zero!
Heavenly Father, I pray that You will help me develop critical thinking skills and spiritual wisdom so that I will be fully equipped to detect error when false teachers seek to deceive me. Amen.
Astronomy and the Bible, D. DeYoung, pp. 117-118, (BMH Books, 2010). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation. Photo: Dr. Frank Drake. Courtesy of Raphael Perrino. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
ANCIENT ROMANS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Hebrews 2:6b-7
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:"
One of the most interesting artifacts at the British Museum is the Lycurgus Cup, a beautiful goblet made by the Romans sixteen hundred years ago. The cup depicts the story of King Lycurgus, entangled in grapevines for his treachery against Dionysus, the god of wine in Greek mythology.
But it's not the design that makes the cup of such great interest to scientists. When viewing the cup in normal lighting, the glass is jade green. But when the cup is lit from behind, the glass changes to a bright ruby red. What is this ancient sorcery that gives the cup its color-changing properties? It's the precise amount of silver and gold nanoparticles dispersed throughout the glass material.
New research has discovered that the cup even changes colors when liquid is poured into it. Scientists replicated the makeup of the cup and then filled it with various liquids. Their results suggest the cup might have displayed many different colors depending on what sort of beverage was poured into to it.
As one science website puts it, "researchers are just now, all these years later, learning about such color changing properties of materials with embedded nanoparticles. The hope is that these properties can be exploited to perform chemistry or medical tests cheaply and quickly by displaying different colors under different conditions."
Creationists need not wonder how the ancient Romans knew about nanotechnology. However far back you go in history, the ingenuity of man points to the even greater ingenuity of his Creator!
Heavenly Father, thank you for the discovery of ancient artifacts revealing that You gave early mankind more abilities and technologies than evolutionary scientists would ever expect. Amen.
http://phys.org/news/2013-08-goblet-ancient-romans-nanotechnology.html#jCp. Photo credit: The Trustees of the British Museum.
Hebrews 2:6b-7
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:"
One of the most interesting artifacts at the British Museum is the Lycurgus Cup, a beautiful goblet made by the Romans sixteen hundred years ago. The cup depicts the story of King Lycurgus, entangled in grapevines for his treachery against Dionysus, the god of wine in Greek mythology.
But it's not the design that makes the cup of such great interest to scientists. When viewing the cup in normal lighting, the glass is jade green. But when the cup is lit from behind, the glass changes to a bright ruby red. What is this ancient sorcery that gives the cup its color-changing properties? It's the precise amount of silver and gold nanoparticles dispersed throughout the glass material.
New research has discovered that the cup even changes colors when liquid is poured into it. Scientists replicated the makeup of the cup and then filled it with various liquids. Their results suggest the cup might have displayed many different colors depending on what sort of beverage was poured into to it.
As one science website puts it, "researchers are just now, all these years later, learning about such color changing properties of materials with embedded nanoparticles. The hope is that these properties can be exploited to perform chemistry or medical tests cheaply and quickly by displaying different colors under different conditions."
Creationists need not wonder how the ancient Romans knew about nanotechnology. However far back you go in history, the ingenuity of man points to the even greater ingenuity of his Creator!
Heavenly Father, thank you for the discovery of ancient artifacts revealing that You gave early mankind more abilities and technologies than evolutionary scientists would ever expect. Amen.
http://phys.org/news/2013-08-goblet-ancient-romans-nanotechnology.html#jCp. Photo credit: The Trustees of the British Museum.
THE FISH THAT PREDICTS EARTHQUAKES
Revelation 16:18
"And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great."
Behold the giant oarfish - a creature of which legends are made. With its snake-like body that can grow up to fifty-six feet in length, the longest bony fish in existence has inspired countless legends about sea serpents.
Strangely enough, one of these legends just happens to be true. Japanese folklore relates that oarfish were the messengers from the sea god's palace that were able to predict a tremendous catch of fish or a disastrous earthquake. While we can't say they are good luck for fishermen, their earthquake-forecasting ability is a verifiable fact.
Numerous sources cited at the CreationWiki website relate that unusual numbers of dead oarfish have been observed to wash up on shore shortly before an earthquake. In Japan, for instance, whenever an earthquake followed by a tsunami is about to hit, several oarfish wash up on shore dead, indicating the disaster is imminent.
Many of you listening to me now will remember the devastating earthquake that hit Japan in 2011 and the tsunami that caused the catastrophic Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown. You probably don't know, however, that many oarfish washed up on shores just before the earthquake struck. Scientists believe that this happens because the oarfish's large body makes it vulnerable to underwater shock waves or because poison gases are released during seismic activity.
Whatever the cause, the oarfish is not a sea serpent we should fear. The oarfish is one of God's creatures we should pay attention to!
Heavenly Father, You have made everything for a purpose. While that purpose is often not clear to us, help us to trust You no matter what the circumstances. Amen.
http://creationwiki.org/Oarfish. Photo: Giant oarfish that was found off Catalina Island in October 2013. Courtesy of CIMI.
Revelation 16:18
"And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great."
Behold the giant oarfish - a creature of which legends are made. With its snake-like body that can grow up to fifty-six feet in length, the longest bony fish in existence has inspired countless legends about sea serpents.
Strangely enough, one of these legends just happens to be true. Japanese folklore relates that oarfish were the messengers from the sea god's palace that were able to predict a tremendous catch of fish or a disastrous earthquake. While we can't say they are good luck for fishermen, their earthquake-forecasting ability is a verifiable fact.
Numerous sources cited at the CreationWiki website relate that unusual numbers of dead oarfish have been observed to wash up on shore shortly before an earthquake. In Japan, for instance, whenever an earthquake followed by a tsunami is about to hit, several oarfish wash up on shore dead, indicating the disaster is imminent.
Many of you listening to me now will remember the devastating earthquake that hit Japan in 2011 and the tsunami that caused the catastrophic Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown. You probably don't know, however, that many oarfish washed up on shores just before the earthquake struck. Scientists believe that this happens because the oarfish's large body makes it vulnerable to underwater shock waves or because poison gases are released during seismic activity.
Whatever the cause, the oarfish is not a sea serpent we should fear. The oarfish is one of God's creatures we should pay attention to!
Heavenly Father, You have made everything for a purpose. While that purpose is often not clear to us, help us to trust You no matter what the circumstances. Amen.
http://creationwiki.org/Oarfish. Photo: Giant oarfish that was found off Catalina Island in October 2013. Courtesy of CIMI.
DINOSAUR-TO-BIRD EVOLUTION CHALLENGED
Psalm 1:6
"For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Most evolutionists today hold to the belief that modern-day birds evolved from dinosaurs. In fact, they now feel that large, carnivorous theropods like T. Rex rapidly shrank over a period of 50 million years until they evolved into our fine feathered friends.
But not all evolutionists agree with this belief. Some, in fact, claim that birds evolved into dinosaurs. A study published in PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides evidence that birds did not descend from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs.
According to Oregon State University zoology professor John Ruben, the research was well done and consistent with a string of studies in recent years that pose an increasing challenge to the birds-from-dinosaurs theory. The weight of the evidence, he added, is now suggesting that not only did birds not descend from dinosaurs, but that some species now believed to be dinosaurs may have descended from birds.
Professor Ruben's most revealing comment, however, was that the old dinosaurs-to-birds theories, instead of carefully interpreting the data, had public appeal, and that "many people saw what they wanted to see."
How true for scientists on both sides of this issue! When scientists start with the assumption that evolution is true, then every bit of evidence they uncover will support evolution. They don't even consider a third option - that God made the birds on the fifth day of Creation Week and the land-dwelling dinosaurs on the sixth day.
Heavenly Father, while people say that the Bible is not a science textbook, Your book does provide factual information that scientists would be wise to take into consideration. Open their eyes, I pray. Amen.
"Bird-from-dinosaur theory of evolution challenged: Was it the other way around?", ScienceDaily, Source: Oregon State University, 2-10-10. Illustration: An image drawn in 1915 by naturalist William Beebe suggests a hypothetical view of what early birds may have looked like.
Psalm 1:6
"For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
Most evolutionists today hold to the belief that modern-day birds evolved from dinosaurs. In fact, they now feel that large, carnivorous theropods like T. Rex rapidly shrank over a period of 50 million years until they evolved into our fine feathered friends.
But not all evolutionists agree with this belief. Some, in fact, claim that birds evolved into dinosaurs. A study published in PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides evidence that birds did not descend from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs.
According to Oregon State University zoology professor John Ruben, the research was well done and consistent with a string of studies in recent years that pose an increasing challenge to the birds-from-dinosaurs theory. The weight of the evidence, he added, is now suggesting that not only did birds not descend from dinosaurs, but that some species now believed to be dinosaurs may have descended from birds.
Professor Ruben's most revealing comment, however, was that the old dinosaurs-to-birds theories, instead of carefully interpreting the data, had public appeal, and that "many people saw what they wanted to see."
How true for scientists on both sides of this issue! When scientists start with the assumption that evolution is true, then every bit of evidence they uncover will support evolution. They don't even consider a third option - that God made the birds on the fifth day of Creation Week and the land-dwelling dinosaurs on the sixth day.
Heavenly Father, while people say that the Bible is not a science textbook, Your book does provide factual information that scientists would be wise to take into consideration. Open their eyes, I pray. Amen.
"Bird-from-dinosaur theory of evolution challenged: Was it the other way around?", ScienceDaily, Source: Oregon State University, 2-10-10. Illustration: An image drawn in 1915 by naturalist William Beebe suggests a hypothetical view of what early birds may have looked like.
SEVEN FLAGELLAR MOTORS IN ONE
Psalm 141:1
"LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee."
Try as they might, evolutionists are powerless to account for the microscopic rotary motor that propels bacteria through fluid just like a powerboat skims along the surface of a lake. But if the bacterium's flagellar motor troubles evolutionists, they must really be puzzled by the fast-moving MO-1 bacterium. After all, its hair-like flagellum isn't powered by just one motor. It uses seven motors all hooked up in parallel!
If the MO-1 bacterium were the size of a small speedboat, its proportional speed would be ten times the speed of sound. You'll need a microscope to actually see one. The bacterium measures only about 225 nanometres wide, so you'd need forty-four of them side by side to amount to the width of a single grain of talcum powder.
According to a team of researchers working in France and Japan, the flagellar apparatus of marine bacterium MO-1 is a tight bundle of seven flagellar filaments enveloped in a sheath. The motors are arranged in an intertwined hexagonal array similar to the thick and thin filaments of vertebrate skeletal muscles. There are also twenty-four fibrils in the sheath that are thought to counter-rotate between the flagella to minimize the friction of high-speed rotation.
From the Scriptures we see that God moves quickly when we call upon Him in prayer. God is never far from us, of course. But He is never nearer than when we draw near to Him in prayer.
Heavenly Father, how often I have failed to call upon You when troubled by life's circumstances. Forgive me, Lord. Let me think of You as the first rather than the last resort! Amen.
"Architecture of a flagellar apparatus in the fast-swimming magnetotactic bacterium MO-1," PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), Ruan et al, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1215274109. "The Multiple flagellar Motor, evidence of evolution, or design?" 8-2-14, http://elshamah.heavenforum.org/t1850-multiple-flagellar-motors#3091. Diagram: Representation of the seven motors and counter-rotating fibrils inside the sheath of the MO-1 bacterium. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
Psalm 141:1
"LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee."
Try as they might, evolutionists are powerless to account for the microscopic rotary motor that propels bacteria through fluid just like a powerboat skims along the surface of a lake. But if the bacterium's flagellar motor troubles evolutionists, they must really be puzzled by the fast-moving MO-1 bacterium. After all, its hair-like flagellum isn't powered by just one motor. It uses seven motors all hooked up in parallel!
If the MO-1 bacterium were the size of a small speedboat, its proportional speed would be ten times the speed of sound. You'll need a microscope to actually see one. The bacterium measures only about 225 nanometres wide, so you'd need forty-four of them side by side to amount to the width of a single grain of talcum powder.
According to a team of researchers working in France and Japan, the flagellar apparatus of marine bacterium MO-1 is a tight bundle of seven flagellar filaments enveloped in a sheath. The motors are arranged in an intertwined hexagonal array similar to the thick and thin filaments of vertebrate skeletal muscles. There are also twenty-four fibrils in the sheath that are thought to counter-rotate between the flagella to minimize the friction of high-speed rotation.
From the Scriptures we see that God moves quickly when we call upon Him in prayer. God is never far from us, of course. But He is never nearer than when we draw near to Him in prayer.
Heavenly Father, how often I have failed to call upon You when troubled by life's circumstances. Forgive me, Lord. Let me think of You as the first rather than the last resort! Amen.
"Architecture of a flagellar apparatus in the fast-swimming magnetotactic bacterium MO-1," PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), Ruan et al, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1215274109. "The Multiple flagellar Motor, evidence of evolution, or design?" 8-2-14, http://elshamah.heavenforum.org/t1850-multiple-flagellar-motors#3091. Diagram: Representation of the seven motors and counter-rotating fibrils inside the sheath of the MO-1 bacterium. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
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