Biblical Genetics

Biblical Genetics

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Biblical Genetics episodes

  • Ending Fetal Tissue Research Using Politics and the Potential Loss of Privacy

    Location: Creation Research Society HQ at Arizona Christian University

    Links and notes:

    • Creation Research Society membership page
    • Common Rule of 1981
    • Moore v Regents of University of California
    • Dickey-Wicker Amendment
    • Fetal Tissue Research, part 3: Ethics
    • Fetal Tissue Research, part 2: The early years
    • Fetal Tissue Research, part 1: Human cloning
    • Tanne. 2004. US universities get round regulations on stem cell research. BMJ 328:1094.
    • NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry
    • Historic population size of The Netherlands
    • The Netherlands population pyramid
    • Maylarchuk, et al. 2010. Phylogeography of the Y-chromosome haplogroup C in northern Eurasia. Ann Hum Genet 74:539–546. See Table S4 for the frequencies mitochondrial haplogroups.
    • HEK-293 SNP data: Lin et al. 2014. Genome dynamics of the human embryonic kidney 293 lineage in response to cell biology manipulations. Nat Commun 5:4764.
    • Servick, Biden administration scraps human fetal tissue research restrictions, Sciencemag.org, 16 April 2021.
    • Heipel, Federal government caught buying ‘fresh’ flesh of aborted babies who could have survived as preemies, TheFederalist.com, 15 April 2021.
    • GEDMatch.com
    • 25 min
    • The Troubling Ethics of Fetal Tissue Research

      Morality is not always an easy thing to deal with, and the moral implications of using cell lines from aborted babies is one of the more difficult subjects. Dr Rob gets into the meat of the argument, using simple illustrations to help out sort out the problems. Can we, with a good conscience, use medicines that were developed using fetal cells?

      Location: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

      Links and notes:

      • CMI, vaccines, and vaccination
      • RNA Vaccines: harnessing God’s design to help prevent sickness, but will the new vaccine technology alter our DNA?
      • Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development
      • The Trail of Tears
      • 12 things less remote cooperation in evil than covid vaccines
      • If any drug tested on HEK-293 is immoral, goodbye modern medicine
      • Vaccines and the Christian worldview: principles for Christian thinking in the context of COVID
      • 28 min
      • The Early Years of Fetal Tissue Research Were Extremely Disturbing

        Are you pro-life? Then this video is a must-watch for you. Are you pro-abortion? Then consider this application of the Christian worldview to a very difficult situation as a direct challenge to you. This is a discussion of the five main strains of human cells, starting in the 1950s, that that were used to develop many different medicines and life-saving vaccines. Questions of ethics, privacy, paperwork (or not), and other things make for a tangled web of information. Dr Rob untangles everything for you.

        Notes and links:

        • Fetal Tissue Research Part 1: Human cloning
        • Recommended reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
        • HeLa cells
        • WI-38
        • MRC-5
        • HEK-293
        • Per.C6
        • Alex van der Eb
        • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, News & Views: Why Were Fetal Cells Used to Make Certain Vaccines? 25 Apr 2017; chop.edu/news/news-views-why-were-fetal-cells-used-make-certain-vaccines.
        • Graham, F.L. Cell line transformation. Curr Contents 8:8, 1992; garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1992/A1992HC31200001.pdf
        • Shaw, G., Morse, S., Ararat, M., and Graham, F.L. Preferential transformation of human neuronal cells by human adenoviruses and the origin of HEK 293 cells. The FASEB Journal 16(8):869–871, 2002; doi: 10.1096/fj.01-0995fje.
        • Funk, W.D. et al. Evaluating the genomic and sequence integrity of human ES cell lines; comparison to normal genomes. Stem Cell Res 8(2):154–164, 2012; doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2011.10.001.
        • van der Eb’s testimony: US-FDA Meeting report FDA-CBER Vaccines and Related Products Advisory Committee, fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/transcripts/3750t1_01.pdf. See pages pages 77 through 90 plus the Q&A section at the end of the document.
        • 28 min
        • Fetal Tissue Research is Leading Straight Toward Human Cloning

          The use of fetal cells in modern medicine and technology is an obscure field. Yet, there are profound moral, theological, and societal issues inherent in their use. Dr Rob starts off this series with a discussion of several new studies, one that took human skin cells and turned them into embryo-like structures, another that used sequencing data to recreate the development of the embryo, and a third where scientists grew mouse embryos in a test tube. He also outlines the biblical issues, clearly documenting the differences between human and non-human life.

          Links and show notes

          • Privacy is Dead (Biblical Genetics, July 15, 2020)
          • Bizzotto et al. 2021 Landmarks of human embryonic development inscribed in somatic mutations. Science 371(6535):1249–1253; DOI: 10.1126/science.abe1544.
          • Fasching et al. 2021 Early developmental asymmetries in cell lineage trees in living individuals. Science 371(6535):1245–1248; DOI: 10.1126/science.abe0981.
          • Aguilera-Castrejon, A. et al. 2021. Ex utero mouse embryogenesis from pre-gastrulation to late organogenesis, Nature; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03416-3.
          • Winter, L. 2021. Lab-grown mouse embryos form limbs and organs; the-scientist.com/news-opinion/lab-grown-mouse-embryos-form-limbs-and-organs-68565.
          • Mannix, L. 2021. Scientists create model embryos in lab, raising major ethical questions, smh.com.au/national/scientists-create-model-embryos-in-lab-raising-major-ethical-questions-20210317-p57bkc.html.
          • Genetic Engineering of Humans? (Biblical Genetics May 12, 2020)
          • 28 min
          • Mutations are not as random as you think

            The idea that mutations are random is an important concept for evolutionary theory. Yet, multiple areas of research are telling us that mutation placement and type are not at all random. There is also no reason to believe that mutation rates have remained constant over history. Join Dr Rob and he wades into the deep waters of mutation theory.

            Links:

            • Guiblet WM, et al. 2021. Non-B DNA: a major contributor to small- and large-scale variation in nucleotide substitution frequencies across the genome, Nuc Ac Res 49(3):1497–1516.
            • Sholtis S, Unusual DNA folding increases the rates of mutations, ScienceDaily.com, 9 Feb 2021.
            • Pyne ALB, et al. 2021 Base-pair resolution analysis of the effect of supercoiling on DNA flexibility and major groove recognition by triplex-forming oligonucleotides. Nat Commun 12:1053.
            • Thumbnail image: Lucas Santos via Unsplash.com

              22 min
            • Was Africa the cradle of humanity?

              The idea that Africa was where humans originated has been drilled into our heads for decades, but cracks are beginning to appear, and they are being published by well-known scientists in top-level journals. If it is not true, how can we explain the data from a biblical perspective? To do that, we can turn to any number of ideas, including patriarchal drive, inbreeding, differential mutation rates, selective sweeps, differences in starting population sizes among the modern world populations, higher rates of recombination in the sub-Saharan population, and massive waves of migration into Africa (several of which can be documented) later in history. The biblical account fits the data beautifully.

              Links:

              • Carter R, Patriarchal Drive. BiblicalGenetics.com, 8 Jul 2020. BiblicalGenetics.com/patriarchal-drive.
              • Carter RW. 2019. Patriarchal drive in the early post-Flood population, Journal of Creation 33(1):110–118. Creation.com/patriarchal-drive.
              • Carter R, Twisting tales with ancient DNA. BiblicalGenetics.com, 4 Apr 2020. BiblicalGenetics.com/twisting-tales-with-ancient-dna.
              • Wieland C, Carter R. Not the Flintstones—it’s the Denisovans. Creation.com, 25 Jan 2011. Creation.com/denisovan.
              • Early man outside of Africa: Bechly G.  Fossil Footprints from Crete Deepen Controversy on Human Origins. Evolution News, 6 Sep 2017. EvolutionNews.org/2017/09/fossil-footprints-from-crete-deepen-controversy-on-human-origins.
              • Bergström A, Stringer C, Hajdinjak M, Scerri EML, Skoglund P. 2021. Origins of modern human ancestry. Nature 590 (7845):229. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5.
              • Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. On the origin of our species. ScienceDaily, 10 Feb 2021. Sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210210133410.htm.
              • Pavid, K. Modern human origins cannot be traced back to a single point in time. Natural History Museum, 10 Feb 2021. nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/february/modern-human-origins-cannot-be-traced-back-to-a-single-point.html.
              • Hinch AG, et al. 2011. The landscape of recombination in African Americans. Nature 476(7359):170–5. doi: 10.1038/nature10336.
              • 24 min
              • Genetic diversity on the Ark

                Should there be a genetic difference between clean and unclean animals after the Flood? The answer will surprise you! Can you trace modern humans back to each of the three sons of Noah? Again, the answer is probably not what you expect! Dr C addresses these frequently asked questions, while delving into a little military history and a discussion of chromosomal recombination.

                Filming location: Orphan Brigade Battlefield Park, Dallas, GA

                Notes and links:

                • Genetic Diversity on Noah’s Ark (article on Creation.com)
                • The Orphan Brigade
                • The Tollense River Battle
                • 20 min
                • Genetic Entropy vs Simple Organisms. Was Darwin right?

                  Genetic entropy is controversial. Creationists say it is real. Evolutionists say it is poppycock. But the theory was developed with long-lived, multicellular species with small population sizes and long generation times in mind (e.g., humans). What about the other end of the spectrum? Can bacteria withstand genetic entropy? Dr Rob says yes, maybe. If there are any species that can survive it, it is bacteria. This does not mean bacteria can evolve, only that they can survive long-term, and survival in an an environment that is so hostile to all life forms is a miracle in itself.

                  Location: High Shoals Falls, Dallas, GA

                  Links and notes:

                  • Original article: Genetic Entropy and Simple Organisms on Creation.com
                  • Natural Selection in Paradise (posted to Biblical Genetics 15 Sep 2020)
                  • What on earth is a gene? Splicing and dicing the human genome (posted to Biblical Genetics 31 Mar 2020)
                  • 21 min
                  • RNA Vaccines Pros and Cons

                    Dr Rob does his best to explain how the new Covid-19 vaccines work, how they’re made, and the pros and cons (mostly pro) of the new technology.

                    Location: Orphan Brigade Battlefield Park, Dallas, GA

                    Links and notes:

                    • RNA Vaccines: Harnessing God’s design to help prevent sickness, but will the new vaccine technology alter our DNA? (Creation.com/rna-vaccines)
                    • CMI, vaccines, and vaccination (Creation.com/cmi-vaccination)
                    • How Covid-19 Testing Works (BiblicalGenetics.com/how-covid-19-testing-works)
                    • 31 min
                    • The Improbable DNA Corkscrew

                      Location: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trail, near Estero, Florida, USA

                      We can only understand the size of DNA by comparing it to something else. If you, for example, scaled it up to the length of a major highway, how wide would it be? If you took all the DNA in your body, could you use it to lasso the solar system? Could you wrap it around the sun? How many times? When couched in math like this, the only rational response for the Christian is to praise the Creator of life and the Programmer of that wonderful computer operating system found in all of our cells.

                      14 min

                    About Biblical Genetics

                    From the publisher's feed

                    Biblical Genetics is a vlog/podcast by Dr. Robert Carter. His posts explore modern genetics through the lens of biblical history, and vice versa.