Stars, Cells, and God

Lab Meat and Photosynthetic Zone

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science—discoveries that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.
Lab Meat
Futurists think that lab meat will soon be commercially available as an ethical and environmentally friendly alternative to meat produced from animal stocks. However, a research team from UC Davis has challenged the environmental friendliness of lab meat by arguing that the effects of making such meat from current technology are much worse for the environment than meat produced through agricultural means. In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses the pros and cons of lab meat and offers a Christian perspective on this emerging biotechnology.
Photosynthetic Zone
Four astronomers have demonstrated the necessity of the photosynthetic habitable zone for any planet thought to be a candidate for advanced life. They explain why the range of distances from a host star for a planet to conceivably harbor photosynthetic life must be narrower than the range of distances where a planet could conceivably possess surface liquid water. The team concludes that the parameter space for signs of life is far narrower than the standard HZ (liquid water habitable zone). In this episode, Hugh explains that it takes a lot of design for photosynthetic life to exist on a planet.
Links and Resources: 
A New Definition of Exoplanet Habitability: Introducing the Photosynthetic Habitable Zone
Environmental Impacts of Cultured Meat: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment

AI-Human Collaboration and New Hubble Constant Measurement

Join Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science, discoveries that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.
AI-Human Collaboration
Artificial intelligence (AI) can analyze enormous diverse databases at lightning speeds. But unlike humans, AI can’t reason, produce new databases, or make sense of things it hasn’t seen before. Only humans can determine what’s interesting and worth pursuing and what isn’t. Recognizing these distinctives, a team at Lam Research Corporation conducted experiments to determine how best to manage collaboration between AI and humans to optimize the development of computer chips with target characteristics. The Lam team found that AI works best when human experts operate as “data dieticians,” controlling the amounts, kinds, and timing of data being fed into AI systems.
New Hubble Constant Measurement
The strongest evidence supporting big bang models comes from measurements of the universe’s expansion. Although scientists have compelling evidence for expansion from Cepheid variables and Type 1a supernovae, as well as the cosmic microwave background radiation, astronomers continue to search for data that will confirm or falsify current understanding. Recently, scientists applied a new technique to measure the Hubble constant (which is a simple way to quantify the universe’s expansion) and found results consistent with the best measurements from other techniques. These results add to the already substantial evidence that we live in a big bang universe.
 
Links and Resources:
Human-Machine Collaboration for Improving Semiconductor Process Development
Gravitationally Lensed Supernova Yields Novel Hubble Constant Result
 

AI With an Off Switch? and Self-Supervised Learning

Join Jeff Zweerink and computer scientist Dustin Morley 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.
Self-Supervised Learning
Recent major breakthroughs in public-facing artificial intelligence (AI) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Tesla's self-driving software have achieved success in part due to complex, multi-component deep learning model architectures where each of the components can be trained or fine-tuned while leaving the other components fixed—effectively decoupling different steps or subtasks from each other. A new paper (still in preprint) has demonstrated significant success with self-supervised learning, pushing the envelope on this level of AI versatility even further. What does this mean for the near-term future of AI, and what implications does it have for the age-old comparison between AI and human intelligence?
AI with an Off-Switch?
As we contemplate what a world with true AI (general or super, rather than narrow, artificial intelligence) looks like, the question of how we interact with AI inevitably arises. Specifically, what do we do when AI pursues a path that is harmful to humanity? One scenario put forth is to install an off switch that we control, but would the AI leave the off switch enabled? One study showed that programming uncertainty into the AI about its objective may provide incentives for the AI to leave the off switch functional. However, that uncertainty diminishes the AI’s effectiveness in obtaining its purpose. We discuss some of the apologetic implications of this study.
Links and Resources:
Blockwise Self-Supervised Learning at Scale
The Off-Switch Game

The Image on the Shroud

Join Jeff Zweerink and Joseph Bergeron, 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.
The Image on the Shroud
Was Jesus’s resurrection recorded in the Shroud of Turin? A detailed chemical analysis of the shroud demonstrates that no high-energy processes (like emission of gamma rays or a burst of energy) were responsible for generating the image on the shroud. Instead, careful study reveals key evidence illuminating how the processes surrounding first-century crucifixion and burial readily produce the image seen on the shroud and give further evidence in support of the biblical accounts of Jesus’s death.
Links and Resources:
The Shroud of Turin, Part 2: An Examination of the Cloth[BT1] [DJ2] 
Joseph Bergeron, Reasons to Believe

The Man Behind the Shroud

Join Jeff Zweerink and Joseph Bergeron 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.
The Man Behind the Shroud
The Shroud of Turin remains one of the most hotly debated artifacts related to Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection. Join us as medical specialist Joe Bergeron discusses what an analysis of the shroud’s image reveals about the man behind the shroud. The data provides abundant evidence supporting the accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion given in the Gospels.
Links and Resources: 
The Shroud of Turin, Part 1: An Examination of the Man
Joseph Bergeron, Reasons to Believe

Cheaper Clean Energy and Can Atoms Think?

Join Hugh Ross and Thomas Bieler 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.
Cheaper Clean Energy
Scientists define “clean energy” as electricity for sustaining human civilization and technology that is not derived from the burning of fossil fuels. It is clean in that no particulates or greenhouse gases are injected into the atmosphere. Remarkably, in just twelve years, solar power and battery-based power storage costs have fallen by a factor of eight times. In a few more years, clean energy production will be cheaper than burning fossil fuels to produce electricity. Therefore, economic incentives alone will be adequate to restore climate stability within the time constraints needed to avoid ecological and climatic calamities.
Can Atoms Think?
 What we think about atoms is intimately entwined with what we think about God, matter, energy, life, and chaos. Atoms are at the heart of the epic drama that underlies the tensions between theism, atheism, and science that simultaneously inform how we think about our culture, ourselves, our relationships with others, and our purpose in life.
Links and Resources:
Energy
Building New Renewables Is Cheaper than Burning Fossil Fuels

What Does It Mean to Be Human in the Age of AI?

Join astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink and technology ethicist Jason Thacker 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.
What Does It Mean to Be Human in the Age of AI?
From ChatGPT and generative AI to algorithms and automation, we live in an age of unprecedented technological innovations. Despite the many benefits and conveniences these technologies provide, they are fundamentally challenging what we’ve long assumed it means to be human. How does Christian philosophy and ethics help us to better understand what’s unique about being human in a digital world? And how do we develop wisdom in navigating the challenges before us as a society?
Links and Resources: 
ChatGPT and Christian Ethics: An Interview with Technology Ethicist Jason Thacker
Ethics in the Age of AI: Defining and Pursuing the Good for Our Good and the Good of Our Communities
Jason Thacker, The Age of AI (book)
 

Obstetrics Dilemma and Abortion Pill Reversal

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Chris Cirucci 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.
Obstetrics Dilemma
Many skeptics point to the difficulties and dangers of the human birthing process as a flawed biological design, best explained as the product of human evolutionary history. This problem is exemplified by the obstetrics dilemma—a concept that sees the origin of the human birthing process as a compromise between two evolutionary pressures: (1) the shift of our knuckle-walking ape-like ancestor to a bipedal hominin and (2) the increased size of the human head. These two influences restricted the size of the human birth canal and made the passage of the human neonate with a large head through the birth canal difficult. In this episode, Fuz Rana discusses recent insights from an evolutionary perspective into the origin of the human birthing process (and the obstetrics dilemma) and then offers an explanation for the obstetrics dilemma from a creation model/design perspective.
Abortion Pill Reversal
When a woman decides to undergo a chemical abortion, she takes two medications: mifepristone on the first day, followed 24–48 hours later by misoprostol. What if she changes her mind after taking the first abortion pill? Is there any hope to save her unborn child? Can chemical abortion be reversed? Or is abortion pill reversal “junk science” as some would contend?
Links and Resources:
Dynamic Finite-Element Simulations Reveal Early Origin of Complex Human Birth Pattern
Life’s Twists and Turns Are Designed to Start in the Birth Canal
[The Effect of RU486 and Progesterone on Luteal Function during Pregnancy]
Progesterone Use to Reverse the Effects of Mifepristone
A Case Series Detailing the Successful Reversal of the Effects of Mifepristone Using Progesterone
Abortion "Reversal"—Legislating without Evidence
Mifepristone Antagonization with Progesterone to Prevent Medical Abortion: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Facts Are Important: Medication Abortion “Reversal” Is Not Supported by Science
The Reversal of the Effects of Mifepristone by Progesterone
2019 AAPLOG Position Statement on Abortion Pill Reversal
Medication Abortion Up to 70 Days of Gestation: ACOG Practice Bulletin, Number 225
Abortion Pill Reversal
Steno Institute—Life-Affirming Research

Cellular Replication & Abiogenesis

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Sy Garte 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.
Cellular Replication and Abiogenesis
Living cells are the only things we know of that replicate themselves with very high accuracy. Evolution requires such high replication fidelity to allow for natural selection to operate. Researcher Sy Garte used a statistical simulation model to determine how self-replication fidelity could evolve in early life. The model revealed a phase transition from nonliving chemical complexity to evolving living creatures. This illustrates the necessary noncontinuity of any process, including natural selection, that could lead to the origin of evolving life.
Links and Resources: 
Evidence for Phase Transitions in Replication Fidelity and Survival Probability at the Origin of Life
The Continuity Principle and the Evolution of Replication Fidelity
 

God's Image and Bison & Grass Diversity and Animal Smarts

Join Hugh Ross and Fazale “Fuz” Rana 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.
Bison & Grass Diversity
A three-decade long field study in the Flint Hills ecoregion in Eastern Kansas shows that reintroducing bison to tallgrass prairie increased grassland species diversity by more than 100% compared to ungrazed areas and by more than 50% compared to areas grazed by domesticated cattle. In tallgrass prairie grazed by bison, researchers observed a continual increase in native plant species richness. Unlike domesticated cattle, bison engage in frequent wallowing, which increases habitat heterogeneity. Researchers noted that long-term, year-round grazing by bison resulted in plant communities that were resilient to the two-year severe drought that occurred from 2011–2012. The researchers concluded that “rewilding native megafauna could help to restore grassland biodiversity” worldwide.
Animal Smarts & God’s Image
Animals are intelligent and display remarkable skills that reflect the ability to plan and problem solve. Some life scientists interpret this behavior as evidence that animal intelligence is closer to human intelligence than we might have initially thought. This claim seems to challenge the view that human beings are exceptional. According to Scripture, human beings stand apart from all other creatures because we bear God’s image. But if, in essence, human beings are no different from animals, it’s challenging to maintain that we are the crown of creation, as Scripture teaches. Yet, recent work by biologist Johan Lind from Stockholm University indicates that animals engage in behavior that resembles flexible planning through a different process: associative learning. In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana explores the scientific and theological implications of Lind’s insight.
Links and Resources: 
What Can Associative Learning Do for Planning?
A-Learning: A New Formulation of Associative Learning Theory
Can Associative Learning Be the General Process for Intelligent Behavior in Non-Human Animals?
Does Animal Planning Undermine the Image of God?
Reintroducing Bison Results in Long-Running and Resilient Increases in Grassland Diversity