Stars, Cells, and God

Neanderthal Brains and First Exoplanet

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, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
Neanderthal Brains
Are human beings unique and exceptional? A large collaborative team from Germany recently explored this question by examining the behavior of three proteins that play a role in cell division and are expressed at high levels in the developing cells of the brain’s neocortex. As it turns out, the modern human versions of these proteins have small but significant differences in their amino acid sequences compared to the mouse, Neanderthal, and Denisovan versions. The research team determined that, because of these differences, the cell division process in human brain cells occurs much more reliably than in the corresponding cells in mice, Neanderthals, and Denisovans. This discovery points to differences in brain development in modern humans and Neanderthals, suggesting cognitive differences between the two.
First Exoplanet
The James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged its first exoplanet, and researchers found that the telescope was ten times more sensitive than expected. What have we learned about this exoplanet, and how will those learnings inform the search for extraterrestrial life?
Fuz and Jeff discuss these important topics in this episode of Stars, Cells, and God.
Links and Resources: 
Longer Metaphase and Fewer Chromosome Segregation Errors in Modern Human than Neanderthal Brain Development
Brain Organoids Cultivate the Case for Human Exceptionalism
The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems I: High Contrast Imaging of the Exoplanet HIP 65426 b from 2-16 μm

How Mars Lost Its Water and Adaptation & Providence

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, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
How Mars Lost Its Water
Of all the solar system bodies, Mars is the place most likely to have hosted life in the past. However, compared to Earth, Mars now has a small atmosphere and minimal water. The reasons Mars lost its water and atmosphere highlight the seemingly unique capacity of Earth to support life.
Adaptation & Providence
Recently, a large team of collaborators headed up by researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz highlighted another mechanism that they think contributes to organisms’ ability to adapt: introgression—the introduction of genetic material into the gene pool of another species through interbreeding or hybridization. Insights such as this latest one are often viewed as prima facie evidence for life’s evolutionary history. Can discoveries such as this be viewed as legitimate from a creation model standpoint?
Fuz and Jeff discuss these important topics in this episode of Stars, Cells, and God.
Links and Resources:
How Did Mars Lose Its Atmosphere and Water?
A Polar Bear Paleogenome Reveals Extensive Ancient Gene Flow from Polar Bears into Brown Bears
Scientists Sequence Genome of 100,000-Year-Old Polar Bear

RNA Assembly on Glass and AI for Scientific Research

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, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
AI for Scientific Research
Scientists have sought to utilize machine learning techniques—those that undergird most AI advances—for decades. While many interesting possibilities surface, they never seem to materialize examples of machine learning working better than human driven algorithms. Will humans always outperform AI options in scientific research, or have we just not found the right approach to AI yet?
RNA Assembly on Glass
Recently, a research team from the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (FAME), led by origin-of-life researcher Steve Benner, demonstrated that ribonucleotide building blocks could be assembled into RNA polymers (around 90 to 300 subunits in size) by glass catalysts. The research team maintains that their findings add fresh support for the RNA world hypothesis, making it that much more reasonable to think that life arose on Earth via chemical evolution. Is their conclusion valid?
In this episode of Stars, Cells, and God, Fuz and Jeff discuss these important topics.
Links and Resources:
Catalytic Synthesis of Polyribonucleic Acid on Prebiotic Rock Glasses
Scientists Announce a Breakthrough in Determining Life’s Origin on Earth—and Maybe Mars
Prebiotic Chemistry and the Hand of God
DeepLSS: Breaking Parameter Degeneracies in Large-Scale Structure with Deep-Learning Analysis of Combined Probes

Aquatic Dinosaurs and Fasting & Brain Metabolism

Join professor of nutrition Dr. Jim Painter and Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
Fasting & Brain Metabolism
Fasting is beneficial for many reasons. As would be expected, eating less is associated with weight loss. Fasting has also been utilized in treating cancer, reducing heart disease risk, and treating irritable bowel disease. For many years it was thought that once a brain cell is lost, it could never be regrown. But recent research has shown that fasting improves brain function and is involved in neuroplasticity, the growth of new brain cells. Fasting upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is the compound responsible for the brain's ability to regrow damaged tissues. 
Aquatic Dinosaurs
A creation principle proclaimed throughout the longest of the creation psalms (Psalm 104) is that God packed Earth with the maximum biomass and maximum biodiversity. Such maximal creation activity ensured that humans had all the biodeposit resources they needed to launch and sustain global civilization. A new research study shows that large carnivorous dinosaurs prowled the shallow seas that covered much of the continental landmasses 230–66 million years ago. Only when extensive shallow seas existed on Earth was it possible for land animals as massive as the largest dinosaurs to live and thrive. 
Jim and Hugh discuss these important topics in this episode of Stars, Cells, and God.
Links and Resources:
Subaqueous Foraging among Carnivorous Dinosaurs

Mass Extinction & Enduring Life and Biochem Finite State Machines

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, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
Mass Extinction & Enduring Life
The Chicxulub impact event occurred when an asteroid at least 10 kilometers in diameter struck the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico 66,038,000 years ago. The impact energy, equivalent to three billion times the combined energies of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, immediately ignited massive volcanic eruptions around the world. A new study shows that the impact resulted in huge amounts of sulfur aerosols ejected into and above the stratosphere. This ejection caused severe global cooling lasting for several years, which amplified the mass extinction of life. There is now no doubt that the Chicxulub impact event drove at least 75 percent of Earth’s species to extinction. This mass extinction and the mass speciation event that quickly followed compensated for the Sun’s increasing brightness. This paved the way for the introduction of the advanced plants and animals that would make global human civilization possible, and provided an example of God’s creation activities described in Psalm 104:29–30.
Biochemical Finite State Machines
In June of 2021, a team of life scientists reported the discovery of the first-ever biochemical finite-state machine (FSM) when they characterized the gait of the single-celled ciliate Euplotes. This discovery makes it possible to present a revitalized Watchmaker argument for God’s existence and fulfills the Watchmaker prediction. It also leads to a new way to view biochemical systems that has profound theological implications.
In this episode Hugh and Fuz discuss these important topics.
Links and Resources:
Massive Perturbations to Atmospheric Sulfur in the Aftermath of the Chicxulub Impact
A Unicellular Walker Controlled by a Microtubule-Based Finite State Machine
Single-Celled Organism Has Evolved a Natural Mechanical Computer
Biochemical Finite State Machines Point to an Infinite Creator

Human Flourishing: Energy, CO2, and Food

Join Pat McGuire and Hugh Ross as they discuss the science behind human flourishing, energy, CO2, and food and the theological and philosophical implications.
Genesis 1:28 tells us to subdue the earth and rule over every living thing. How do we balance energy and food needs in light of CO2 emissions? What does the climate change data show? What actions should we take, or not take, to be good stewards of planet Earth? How do these issues point to the reality of God’s existence?
Pat and Hugh discuss these important questions in this episode of Stars, Cells, and God.
Links and Resources
 U.S. Inflation Hits Food Staples Hardest
Empirical Evidence of Declining Global Vulnerability to Climate-Related Hazards
Global Disasters: A Remarkable Story of Science and Policy Success
US Annual Tornado Death Tolls, 1875–Present
Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis
Global Troposphere Temperatures
Hooray! Some Scientists Honestly Reporting That Climate Models Run “Too Hot”
Global Warming–So What?
The Countries Reliant on Nuclear Power
Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less, Alex Epstein

Human Genome Sequence and The Science of Diversity

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, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
The year 2000 marked one of the most significant scientific accomplishments of all time: a “working draft” of the human genome sequence. Yet, at that time, about 8 percent of the human genome remained unsequenced. These unsequenced regions consist of highly repetitive sequences. Recently, the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium made use of advances in DNA sequencing technology to sequence most of the remaining 8 percent of the human genome. What does this advance mean for the RTB creation model?
Some scientists are embarking on a massive project to collect racial, ethnic, and gender information from scientists submitting papers to journals, the peer reviewers of the papers, and the editors of the journals. This data can be of great value in investigating biases in scientific publishing, but without careful thought it can run afoul of the scientific process at the same time. Can scientists investigate bias in publishing without collecting data that might jeopardize the safety of certain groups? Can we pursue efforts to discourage discrimination without allowing explanations that might offend some people?
In this episode Fuz and Jeff discuss these important topics.
Links and Resources:
The Complete Sequence of a Human GenomeThe Science of Diversity
A Post-Genomic Era: Ludicrous with an Incomplete Human Genome
The Giant Plan to Track Diversity in Research Journals

Lensed Supernovae Creation Data and Milky Way's Massive Black Hole

Join Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
Large galaxies and galaxy clusters, acting as gravitational lenses, allow astronomers to observe supernova eruption events occurring in much more distant galaxies. Such observations provide astronomers with the opportunity to determine cosmic creation parameters during that part of the early history of the universe where previously they could make only ballpark determinations. It’s now within astronomers’ grasp to obtain high precision measurements of the entire history of the universe. These measurements promise to provide a more detailed and comprehensive confirmation of the biblical cosmic creation model and for Jesus Christ as the Creator of the universe and everything that it contains.
Using the Event Horizon Telescope, astronomers have now imaged a second supermassive black hole—the one at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. The technology required for these observations is remarkable, and the data will give us important insight into how this black hole affects our galaxy. Will this data help us gain tools to probe quantum gravity? What do these insights tell us about the habitability of the Milky Way?
In this episode Hugh and Jeff discuss these important topics.
Links and Resources:
The Hubble Constant from Strongly Lensed Supernovae with Standardizable Magnifications                                                                                                
The Creator and the Cosmos, 4th edition (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2018), by Hugh Ross
A Matter of Days, 2nd edition (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2015), by Hugh Ross
Resolving the Cosmic Expansion Rate Anomaly
Resolving Hubble Constant and Creation Tensio
First Image of the Milky Way’s Black Hole

Our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole and ERV Design

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, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
The Milky Way Galaxy’s supermassive black hole is exceptionally small, about 35 times less massive than spiral galaxies of a similar size. The first-achieved image of its event horizon by the Event Horizon Telescope reveals an exceptionally quiet radiation level. What is the intensity and variability of our galaxy’s supermassive black hole’s radiation just outside its event horizon? What do this intensity and variability imply for advanced civilization on Earth? How much longer can we count on our galaxy’s supermassive black hole being quiet enough for civilization on Earth?   
For many people, the shared ERV 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 of ERVs in the human genome. 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?”
In this episode Hugh and Fuz discuss these important topics.
Links and Resources :
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. III. Imaging of the Galactic Center Supermassive Black Hole
First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Testing Astrophysical Models of the Galactic Center Black Hole
Black Holes as Evidence of God’s Care
Designed to the Core (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2022), by Hugh Ross (book)
Movements of Ancient Endogenous Retroviruses Detected in SOX2-Expressing Cells
Endogenous Retroviruses Help Fight Tumors
Endogenous Retroviruses (ERVs) Protect Early-Stage Human Embryos

Deadly Superflares and Life Building Blocks from Space?

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, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.
An improved particle acceleration and transport model has produced the best determinations yet of superflare rates and intensities for the Sun, known solar-like stars, and stars less massive than the Sun throughout their nuclear burning histories. A recent study shows that the Sun’s present luminosity variability is five times less than that of stars most closely resembling the Sun. What does the Sun’s extreme luminosity stability say about advanced life on Earth? What do the superflare determinations say about the origin of life on Earth, the Sun’s features relative to known solar-like stars, and the habitability of planets orbiting stars smaller than the Sun?
Origin-of-life investigators have discovered hundreds of organic compounds in carbon-rich meteorites, including amino acids and nucleobases, key molecular building blocks for life. These findings suggest to some scientists that the inventory of prebiotic materials needed for life could have been delivered through impactors striking the early Earth. Fuz looks at the latest claims for extraterrestrial delivery of life’s building blocks and explores the question “How did life originate?”
In this episode Hugh and Fuz discuss these important topics.
Links and Resources:
Extreme Energetic Particle Events by Superflare-Associated CMEs from Solar-Like Stars
The Sun Is Less Active Than Other Solar-Like Stars
Designed to the Core (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2022), by Hugh Ross (book
Identifying the Wide Diversity of Extraterrestrial Purine and Pyrimidine Nucleobases in Carbonaceous Meteorites
Meteorite Protein Discovery: Does It Validate Chemical Evolution?