Stars, Cells, and God

Xenotransplant Success and "Big Ring" of Galaxies found

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.    
“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.
Links and Resources:
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
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

ERVs and Embryo Development and Just the Right Amount of Water

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?”
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.
Links and Resources:
Endogenous Retroviruses Shape Pluripotency Specification in Mouse Embryos
Insights about Suppressyn Support Creation Model View of ERVs
Constraining the Volume of Earth’s Early Oceans with a Temperature-Dependent Mantle Water Storage Capacity Model

NOTD-001

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana in this breaking News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God. Fuz offers a critical assessment of a recent article addressing the origin-of-life topic.
 
Do Cracks in Rocks Explain Life’s Origin?
A team of German researchers recently published results of a prebiotic simulation study in which they claim that thermal gradients could drive the generation of biopolymers (chains of molecules) on early Earth. These thermal gradients would have created convection currents in water-infused cracks in rocks and the convection currents would have, in turn, purified and concentrated prebiotic materials, facilitating the production of biopolymers. The researchers claim that this work provides key insight into a chemical evolutionary origin of life and solves the problem of unwarranted researcher involvement. In fact, these claims inspired a piece by Carolyn Y. Johnson in The Washington Post.
In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana describes this work and its significance to the origin-of-life problem. He also offers a critical assessment of the study, demonstrating how this work, along with previous studies in prebiotic chemistry, evince a Creator’s necessary role in the origin of life.
Links and Resources:
How Did Life on Earth Begin? Cracks May Have Been the Key
Heat Flows Enrich Prebiotic Building Blocks and Enhance Their Reactivity
Prebiotic Chemistry and the Hand of God

Emerging AI Abilities or Not?

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.
Links and Resources:
Are Emergent Abilities of Large Language Models a Mirage?

Growing Human Organs in Pigs and Mitigating Air Pollution

Growing Human Organs in Pigs
In the fall of 2023, a team of researchers from China published the results of a proof-of-principle study that demonstrated for the first time that it’s possible to grow humanized kidneys in a fetal pig. This work provides the means to study the process of organogenesis that may also alleviate the shortage of organs available for human transplant procedures. However, this research raises all sorts of questions that could be summarized with a single question: “Should we play God?”
In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana describes the work of the Chinese researchers and offers a Christian perspective on the creation of human-animal chimeras.
Mitigating Air Pollution
Air pollution level in India’s capital territory of Delhi is more than 25 times greater than the maximum human tolerable level set by the World Health Organization (WHO). This pollution is called PM2.5 (inhalable particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometers or less) and is almost entirely composed of black carbon soot, mineral dust, sulfates, nitrates, ammonia, and sodium chloride. Scientists at WHO have determined that the average Indian living in Delhi would live 11.9 years longer if the PM2.5 level there were reduced to WHO’s maximum limit. Nearly all of India’s PM2.5 air pollution comes from the burning of coal, wood, biomass, diesel, gasoline, and oil, in that order. Replacing these fuel sources with natural gas would eliminate all of India’s PM2.5 except for the small contribution from road and construction dust. This replacement would also immediately reduce carbon greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half.   
Links and Resources: 
Generation of a Humanized Mesonephros in Pigs from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via Embryo Complementation
A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 1
A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 2
Air Quality Life Index 2023: Annual Update (August 2023)
Air Quality Life Index, India Fact Sheet (2023)
The Relationship between Fine Particle Matter (PM2.5) Exposure and Upper Respiratory Tract Diseases

CRISPR Update and Two Noteworthy AI Finds

CRISPR Update
In December of 2023, the FDA approved two revolutionary new treatments for the blood disorders sickle cell anemia and ß-thalassemia, both based on gene-editing technology. This approval represents an important milestone for gene therapy and the treatment of thousands of genetic disorders. It also serves as a stepping stone for human enhancements and adds to the legitimacy of transhumanism.
In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana describes these new gene therapies and discusses the ethical issues connected to them. He also offers a Christian response to the prospects of human enhancements and transhumanism.
Two Noteworthy AI Finds
As the field of artificial intelligence (AI) advances, research continues to show both the promise and peril of using AI. For example, most AIs work well within a single domain (e.g., classifying signs, responding to language, playing a game). Recent work in game play resulted in an AI capable of mastering multiple games that in the past required different approaches. However, the AI (called Student of Games) mastered multiple different games using a single algorithm. This development represents a significant step (the promise) on the journey to make an artificial general intelligence. Yet, other research demonstrates that a wide variety of AIs are highly vulnerable to malicious attacks. Specifically, the algorithms AIs use to recognize images are easily exploited and manipulated (the peril). 
In this episode, astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink explains the breakthrough and why a Christian perspective is needed when considering such advances.
Links and Resources:
FDA Approves First CRISPR Editing Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle Cell CRISPR ‘Cure’ Is the Start of a Revolution in Medicine
Fazale Rana, Humans 2.0
Student of Games: A Unified Learning Algorithm for Both Perfect and Imperfect Information Games
AI Networks Are More Vulnerable to Malicious Attacks Than Previously Thought
QuadAttack: A Quadratic Programming Approach to Ordered Top-K Attacks

God's Hand in Creation

God’s Hand in Creation
In this special episode, we replay a recorded conversation between prominent astronomer Dr. David Block (professor emeritus of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Witwatersrand and the director of RTB Africa) and world-renowned astronomer Giovanni Fazio (senior physicist at the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian and a lecturer in the department of astronomy at Harvard University). This wide-ranging conversation between two friends includes their collaboration studying the Andromeda galaxy, their perspectives on God’s handiwork in creation, and Dr. Fazio’s groundbreaking contributions to infrared astronomy.                            
Links and Resources:
Professor David Block’s YouTube Channel

Perils of Space Travel and Drug Stability for Mars Mission

Perils of Space Travel
Although science fiction makes space travel seem almost inevitable, current research demonstrates numerous challenges to humans residing in space for long periods of time. Along with the well-known detrimental effects on muscle mass and density, research shows that prolonged periods in space expose the human body to far more radiation than encountered here on Earth. That radiation dramatically decreases our bodies’ capacity to fight off cancer and to keep past viral exposure in check. Additionally, radiation impacts the function of our gastrointestinal system and its ability to absorb nutrients and oral medications. These results highlight Earth’s amazing capacity to host a diverse and abundant array of life.
Drug Stability for Mars Mission
Drug stability is a function of the storage environment. Shelf-lives of 2–3 years (from refrigerated to room temperature storage) are common. NASA is planning for a roundtrip mission to Mars, expected to last 2–3 years. Little is known about the stability of drugs in deep space (outside of Earth’s protective magnetosphere). Limited studies of drugs on the International Space Station raise significant questions that have identified critical parameters: microgravity, vibration, humidity, ionizing radiation, carbon dioxide levels, and repackaging. Can we ensure a safe, stable drug formulatory that will meet all of the health needs for a round-trip journey to Mars in the deep space environment?
 Links and Resources:
Space Radiation Triggers Persistent Stress Response, Increases Senescent Signaling, and Decreases Cell Migration in Mouse Intestine
NK Cell Function Is Impaired during Long-Duration Spaceflight
Negative Effects of Long-Duration Spaceflight on Paraspinal Muscle Morphology

A Distilled Doxology

A Distilled Doxology
In this special episode, Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Sy Garte discuss Garte’s new book, Science and Faith in Harmony. Garte’s approach to science and faith inspires a sense of wonder. He demonstrates the many ways that science—the study of God’s spoken word—harmonizes with Scripture—God’s written word—in profoundly beautiful and meaningful ways.
Links and Resources:
The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith
Science and Faith in Harmony: Contemplations on a Distilled Doxology
Sy Garte

Crust Thickness and Life and Antimatter Feels Gravity

Crust Thickness and Life
A team of five geophysicists demonstrated that the level of oxides in basalt primary melts are a good proxy for the thickness of Earth’s crust. They then supervised a machine-learning algorithm to analyze global geodatabases (e.g., EarthChem and GEOROC) of basalts to determine the variation of the thickness of Earth’s crust spanning the past 3.8 billion years. Their analysis revealed five features of Earth’s crust that led to supercontinent cycles and plate tectonics that are highly fine-tuned for complex life on Earth
Antimatter Feels Gravity
When Einstein first published his general theory of relativity, scientists did not even know about antimatter—which was discovered almost 15 years later. Since then, scientists have speculated about how antimatter behaves in gravitational fields. Most think that it behaves just like normal matter. However, gravity’s weakness compared to electromagnetic forces has prevented any direct test to see if antimatter falls like normal matter. Recently, the ALPHA collaboration was able to isolate enough atoms of antihydrogen (antimatter counterpart of hydrogen) to demonstrate that the atoms behave like normal hydrogen atoms in a gravitational field. This result demonstrates two things. First, it provides even more evidence for the constancy of the laws of physics. Second, it shows that scientists are willing, able, and driven to test fundamental parts of theories rather than simply accept them without data.
Links and Resources:
Lithospheric Thickness Records Tectonic Evolution by Controlling Metamorphic Conditions
Argon Constraints on the Early Growth of Felsic Continental Crust
Observation of the Effect of Gravity on the Motion of Antimatter