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News:
September 9, 2004
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Religion in the News
'Termites
to National Security'
Nationwide campaign launched against Chinese house churches. By Tony Carnes.
Despite
Catholic Church Support, Prop. 71 Opponents Still $12 Million Behind in
Funding.
Compiled by Rob Moll.
Group
pushes evangelical vote
Focus on Family begins a national registration drive (Rocky Mountain
News).
The
green cardinal
In his new book, The Minding of Planet Earth, Cahal Daly argues that caring
for the Earth is integral to our Christian vocation. He talks to Sean McDonagh
about sustaining the planet, global warming—and population control
(The Tablet, UK).
The search
for the Holy Grail continues
This summer The Holy Grail has been discovered by millions on different
beaches across the globe. This mysterious object has been buried, not under
the flagstones of Rosslyn Chapel, nor at Glastonbury nor even in the vault
of the Valencia Cathedral, but in the pages of The Da Vinci Code,
now recognised as the best-selling novel in American history. (The Scotsman,
UK).
The New York Times gets on the religious schools beat
The New York Times has published two excellent articles on Christian higher
education this week. The first, a Times
Magazine profile of Biola University, is a slice-of-life-ish
examination of how the neoevangelical rejection of fundamentalist isolationism—something
that saw its largest battles in Billy Graham era following World War II—is
playing itself out today. The cover kicker gets it wrong: "Fast Times
at Fundamentalist U."
Shrinking
population threatens an ancient faith
Zoroastrians debate inviting outsiders in (The Boston Globe).
Can
We Believe in Both Science and Religion?
PBS special featuring Michael Shermer, Nancy Murphy, and Muzaffar Iqbal.
Christian
History Corner: Think TV
A PBS special personalizes the questions of God, morality, miracles, and
the afterlife in the lives of C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud. By David Neff.
Exhibit
shows Bibles as signs of the changing times
The Huntington Library collection spans 1,000 years, chronicling the book's
evolution from a tome for the elite to a worldwide bestseller (Los Angeles
Times).
'The
End of Faith': Against toleration
It's not often that I see my florid strain of atheism expressed in any document
this side of the Seine, but ''The End of Faith'' articulates the dangers
and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that
I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated, almost personally understood (Natalie
Angier, The New York Times Book Review).
'Hellhouse!'
pokes fun at fundamentalists' horror shows
Gruesome scenes in real hell houses are intended to shock adolescents into
believing that Jesus is their only escape from the fiery wages of sin. The
folks in Hollywood say they're using the drama to scoff at a literal hell
and at ministers who try to scare the hell out of children.
Science in the News
Archaeology/Anthropology
Turkey denies
Honolulu man’s bid to find Noah’s Ark.
A Honolulu businessman's plan to take an expedition to Mount Ararat
in search of Noah's Ark ended this week when the Turkish government refused
to permit it because of security concerns about the area, which borders
Iran and is 150 miles from Iraq.
Update—Finds
or Fakes?
Did a tongue loosened by alcohol unmask a massive forgery enterprise? Is
the Israel Museum the unwitting home to scores of fake inscriptions? Duke
University professor outs paleographer accused of probably lying.
Dig
renews debate over Dead Sea Scrolls
Researchers in dispute over sect's lifestyle (San Francisco Chronicle).
Did John the Baptist really eat locusts? A survey of the "debate" (Christopher Howse, The Telegraph, London).
Native
Americans Weren't the First. Sept. 6, 2004
DNA analysis of skulls found in Baja California that belonged to an extinct
tribe called the Pericues reveal that the Pericues likely were not related
to Native Americans and that they probably predated Native Americans in
settling the Americas, according to an announcement Monday.
Iceman
Spent Days in Pain Before Death. Sept. 6, 2004
Ötzi the Iceman, the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy, might
have spent at least three days in excruciating pain before he died, according
to new research presented at the 5th World Congress on Mummy Studies in
Turin.
Study:
Gypsies Came From India. Sept. 7, 2004
Legend has it that European Gypsies came from Egypt, but a new genetic study
has shown they came from a small population that emerged from ancestors
in India around 1000 years ago.
Mummy's
Face Revealed with CT Scans
Scientists have reconstructed the face of a mummified Egyptian man without
removing his 3,000-year-old bandages.
Astronomy
Sun
Sample Probe Crashes in Desert. Sept. 8, 2004
A capsule containing particles from the sun crashed into the Utah desert
on Wednesday after its parachute failed to deploy.
Genesis Scientists
Bouncing Back From Hard Landing. Washington DC (SPX) Sep 13, 2004
Scientists who conducted the preliminary assessment of the Genesis canister
are encouraged by what they see. They believe it may be possible to achieve
the most important portions of their science objectives.
Scientists
Discover First Of A New Class Of Extrasolar Planets. Berkeley CA (SPX)
Sep 01, 2004
Astronomers announced today the first discovery of a new class of planets
beyond our solar system about 10 to 20 times the size of Earth - far smaller
than any previously detected. The planets make up a new class of Neptune-sized
extrasolar planets.
Cassini Discovers
Ring And One, Possibly Two, Objects At Saturn. Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep
10, 2004
Scientists examining Saturn's contorted F ring, which has baffled them since
its discovery, have found one small body, possibly two, orbiting in the
F ring region, and a ring of material associated with Saturn's moon Atlas.
Scientists
Glimpse Exotic Matter In A Neutron Star. New Orleans (SPX) Sep 09, 2004
Scientists have obtained their best measurement yet of the size and contents
of a neutron star, an ultra-dense object containing the strangest and rarest
matter in the universe.
Motions In Nearby Galaxy Cluster Reveal Presence Of Hidden Superstructure.
Scientists Follow Doomed Matter On A Ride Around A Black Hole.
Is This
Speck Of Light An Exoplanet? Paranal Observatory, Chile (ESO) Sep 13,
2004
Since 1998, a team of European and American astronomers have been studying
the environment of young, nearby "stellar associations", i.e.,
large conglomerates of mostly young stars and the dust and gas clouds from
which they were recently formed.
Giving Up The
Galactic Ghost. Moffett Field CA (SPX) Sep 08, 2004
A stunning image released by the Gemini Observatory captures the graceful
interactions of a galactic ballet, on a stage some 300 million light years
away, that might better be described as a contortionist's dance.
NASA's Grace
Gravity Mission Weighs In On Earth's Changing Climate. Austin TX (SPX)
Sep 13, 2004
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that precise measurements
of Earth's changing gravity field can effectively monitor changes in the
planet's climate and weather.
Biology
The
Search For A Kinder, Gentler Chemotherapy. Atlanta (September 9, 2004)
Painful and damaging chemotherapy may one day be a thing of the past. Researchers
at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University have developed
nano-sized particles that can target and trick cancer cells into absorbing
them. Once inside, the particles may soon be able to deliver a pharmaceutical
payload, killing the tumor from within, avoiding the destruction of healthy
cells responsible for much of the damage caused by traditional chemotherapy.
The research is published in the August 25 edition of the Journal of the
American Chemical Society.
Researchers:
Atkins Works ... But for How Long? THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDayNews)
Shedding more light on the popular but largely untested Atkins diet, a new
analysis suggests that replacing carbohydrates with fatty foods is safe
-- at least for six months.
GM fish
produce cheap blood-clotting agent
Genetically modified fish are designed to make a cheap blood-clotting factor
- it could help treat haemophiliacs and accident victims.
Proteins
slow the progress of Parkinson's disease.
Two proteins have proved effective in fighting Parkinson's disease in rats
- work towards a human therapy is underway.
Seeds
of a Micro Revolution
Plant studies reveal a slew of miRNAs and some real surprises.
Creation/Evolution
Intelligent
design study appears
Publication of paper in peer-reviewed journal sparks controversy.
The Art
of Debating Darwin
How to intelligently design a winning case for God's role in creation. Reviewed
by Edward J. Larson.
Unintelligent
Debate
It's time to cool the rhetoric in the Intelligent Design dispute. By John
Wilson.
Glowing
Green Protein Proves Darwin's Theory. Sept. 3, 2004
A glowing green protein has provided researchers with the first direct proof
for a Charles Darwin theory that predicts complex structures evolve over
time through an accumulation of small improvements. The findings, published
in the current issue of the journal Science, add to the growing body of
evidence that supports the theories of British naturalist Darwin (1809-1882).
Complex Cells
May Arise From Combination Of Bacterial And Extreme Genomes. Arlington
VA (SPX) Sep 09, 2004
According to a new report, complex cells like those in the human body probably
resulted from the fusion of genomes from an ancient bacterium and a simpler
microbe, Archaea, best known for its ability to withstand extreme temperatures
and hostile environments.
Linnean
naming system faces challengers
Rethinking the names of every organism on the planet is a radical step but
it might be worth the upheaval, say renegade biologists.
Gene controls
beak morphology
Answering a Darwinian question, scientists attribute differences in finches'
beaks to Bmp4.
Battle Between
Bubbles Might Have Started Evolution. Baltimore MD (SPX) Sep 03, 2004
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers are proposing that the first
battle for survival-of-the-fittest might have played out as a simple physical
duel between fatty bubbles stuffed with genetic material.
Central Pennsylvania Forum for Religion and Science.
Earth Science
Dinosaurs
may have been doting parents.
A fossil of one adult Psittacosaurus dinosaur surrounded by 34 juveniles
has provided the most compelling evidence to date that dinosaurs raised
their young after hatching.
North Greenland
Reveals Gradual, Abrupt Climate Swings. Copenhagen (SPX) Sep 09, 2004
A new, undisturbed Greenland ice deep-core record going back 123,000 years
shows the Eemian period prior to the last glacial period was slightly warmer
than the present day before it gradually cooled and sent Earth into an extended
deep freeze. See also North Greenland Ice core Project.
Fossils Reveal
Direct Link Between Global Warming And Genetic Diversity. Stanford CA
(SPX) Sep 08, 2004
For the first time, scientists have found a direct relationship between
global warming and the evolution of contemporary wildlife. A research team
led by Stanford University biologist Elizabeth A. Hadly published its findings
in the Sept. 7 online edition of the journal PloS Biology.
Geobiologists Create Novel Method For Studying Ancient Life Forms.
Ignition Threshold
For Impact-Generated Fires. San Antonio CA (SPX) Sep 01, 2004
Scientists conclude that, 65 million years ago, a 10-kilometer-wide asteroid
or comet slammed into what is now the Yucatan peninsula, excavating the
Chicxulub impact crater and setting into motion a chain of catastrophic
events thought to precipitate the extinction of the dinosaurs and 75 percent
of animal and plant life that existed in the late Cretaceous period.
Physics
Nanotechnology
Leads To Discovery Of Super Superconductors. LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Sept.
9, 2004
University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory
with a researcher from the University of Cambridge have demonstrated a simple
and industrially scaleable method for improving the current densities of
superconducting coated conductors in magnetic field environments. The discovery
has the potential to increase the already impressive carrying capacity of
superconducting wires and tapes by as much as 200 to 500 percent in certain
uses, like motors and generators, where high magnetic fields diminish current
densities.
Psychology
Single
gene removes gender differences in mice brains
Significant structural differences in male and female brains may result
from selective cell death orchestrated by just one gene.