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28:19 - Black Carbon and Climate Change

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*Unfortunately we encountered audio problems at the time this episode was recorded*
Join Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.
 
Xenotransplant Success
Worldwide, millions of people need organ transplants and many die while waiting. It is impossible to scale up human organ donation rates to meet the demand. However, recent success in xenotransplantation may solve the shortfall. Surgical transplants of pig hearts, livers, and kidneys all show promise of (at least temporary) function and no signs of organ rejection. Xenotransplantation provides yet more evidence that God designed the higher animals to enhance human health and well-being.    
 
References:
 
PODCAST LINKS:
 
First Pig Kidney Transplant in a Person: What It Means for the Future
First Pig Liver Transplanted into a Person Lasts for 10 Days
First Pig-to-Human Heart Transplant: What Can Scientists Learn?
Monkey Survives for Two Years after Gene-Edited Pig-Kidney Transplant
 
YOUTUBE LINKS:
 
Smriti Mallapaty and Max Kozlov, “First Pig Kidney Transplant in a Person: What It Means for the Future,” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00879-y
Smriti Mallapaty, “First Pig Liver Transplanted into a Person Lasts for 10 Days,” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00853-8
 
Sara Reardon, “First Pig-to-Human Heart Transplant: What Can Scientists Learn?,” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00111-9
Max Kozlov, “Monkey Survives for Two Years after Gene-Edited Pig-Kidney Transplant,” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03176-2
 
 
 
 
“Big Ring” of Galaxies Found
Astronomers recently announced the discovery of a “Big Ring” of galaxy clusters. According to calculations based on scientists’ best understanding of the universe, the size of this ring exceeds the largest size structure that could possibly form, and it joins a class of about 10 structures that are “too big.” While some people might take this find as evidence that our current understanding of the universe (size, age, composition, etc.) is wrong, the discovery highlights how well we comprehend the universe and provides insight that will direct us into a deeper understanding. It also affirms the biblical prediction that we live in an orderly, reliable, and understandable creation.
 
References:
 
PODCAST LINKS:
 
An Impossibly Huge Ring of Galaxies Might Lead Us to New Physics. Here’s How
Giant Ring? Giant Arc? These “Structures” May Not Even Be Real
 
YOUTUBE LINKS:
 
Keith Cooper, “An Impossibly Huge Ring of Galaxies Might Lead Us to New Physics. Here’s How,” https://www.space.com/big-ring-galactic-superstructure-celestial-anomaly
 
Ethan Siegel, “Giant Ring? Giant Arc? These “Structures” May Not Even Be Real,” https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/giant-ring-arc-structures-not-real/

Stars, Cells, and God | Xenotransplant Success and “Big Ring” of Galaxies Found

Clear Thinking | 8 Aspirational Qualities of the Christian Mind, Part 2

Episode Description:
Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.
 
ERVs and Embryo Development
For many people, the shared ERV (endogenous retrovirus) sequences in the human and great ape genomes evince common ancestry and an evolutionary origin for humanity. Yet, new discoveries about the physiological role of ERVs suggest another interpretation for why they appear in the human genome. In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses the latest insight into ERV molecular biology and explores the question, “Can a creation model explain the occurrence of ERV sequences in the human genome?”
References:
 
PODCAST LINK:
 
Endogenous Retroviruses Shape Pluripotency Specification in Mouse Embryos
 
Additional Resource:
Insights about Suppressyn Support Creation Model View of ERVs
 
 
YOUTUBE LINK:
 
Sergio de la Rosa et al., “Endogenous Retroviruses Shape Pluripotency Specification in Mouse Embryos,” https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk9394
 
Fazale Rana, “Insights about Suppressyn Support Creation Model View of ERVs,” https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design/insights-about-suppressyn-support-creation-model-view-of-ervs
 
 
Just the Right Amount of Water
Most people know that life depends on Earth’s oceans, but the continents play an equally critical role in Earth’s capacity to support life. However, a planet’s ability to have land relies on having just the right amount of water. Too little and there are no oceans at all but too much and the continents never rise above the ocean’s surface. One factor that influences the amount of surface water is the planet’s capacity to store water in its interior. Recent studies indicate that the ancient earth could store much less water than today. Therefore, doubling the amount of water on Earth would have prevented the formation of continents that rise above the oceans and stymied Earth’s capacity to support life.
 
References:
 
PODCAST LINK:
 
Constraining the Volume of Earth’s Early Oceans with a Temperature-Dependent Mantle Water Storage Capacity Model
 
YOUTUBE LINK:
 
Junjie Dong et al., “Constraining the Volume of Earth’s Early Oceans with a Temperature-Dependent Mantle Water Storage Capacity Model,” https://doi.org/10.1029/2020AV000323

Stars, Cells, and God | ERVs and Embryo Development and Just the Right Amount of Water

Clear Thinking | 8 Aspirational Qualities of the Christian Mind, Part 1

Join Jeff Zweerink and Josh Swamidass as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.
 
AI Abilities Emerging or Not?
One concern regarding the development of artificial intelligence (AI) relates to the emergence of unpredictable features that arise as the systems grow in scale. Researchers consider an “emergent ability” as something that the AI has routinely failed to accomplish but suddenly performs well as the system grows in size (either from hardware or software growth). A number of papers claiming emergent abilities populate scientific literature. However, a recent study shows that these “emergent” abilities often reflect poorly designed measurement metrics or insufficient statistics. Better metrics and statistics remove the indicators of emergence. In this episode, computational biologist and physician Josh Swamidass and astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink discuss the details surrounding this issue and offer some insights from a Christian perspective.
 
 
PODCAST LINK:
 
Are Emergent Abilities of Large Language Models a Mirage?
 
YOUTUBE LINK:
 
Rylan Schaeffer, Brando Miranda, and Sanmi Koyejo, “Are Emergent Abilities of Large Language Models a Mirage?,” https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.15004

28:19 - Black Carbon and Climate Change

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