Stars, Cells, and God

Neanderthal Engravings and Capturing CO2

Neanderthal Engravings
An international team of collaborators recently discovered “engravings” on the walls of the La Roche-Cotard cave system (in the Loire Valley of central France) that date to be older than 57,000 years. These engravings appear to reflect the intentional activities of Neanderthals, suggesting that these hominins displayed the capacity for symbolic expression—just like modern humans. This discovery raises several questions:
·      Can we no longer consider modern humans as truly exceptional?
·      Were Neanderthals just like us?
·      How do we make sense of this discovery from a Christian perspective?
·      Is there any scientific evidence for the image of God?
In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses this important discovery and addresses these questions and more.
Capturing CO2
With the growing concern over global climate change, scientists are thinking deeply about how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Many of these ideas focus on reducing the amount of CO2 produced, but they also address ways to remove CO2 and store it.
In this episode, we discuss some of the removal techniques while considering the technical and philosophical hurdles researchers face.
Links and Resources: 
The Earliest Unambiguous Neanderthal Engravings on Cave Walls: La Roche-Cotard, Loire Valley, France
Further Review Overturns Neanderthal Art Claim
Did Neanderthals Have the Brains to Make Art?
Timing of Neanderthals’ Disappearance Makes Art Claims Unlikely
Do Neanderthal Cave Structures Challenge Human Exceptionalism?
Carbon Dioxide Removal Is Suddenly Obtaining Credibility and Support

Alien Spacecraft? and Synthetic Embryos

Alien Spacecraft?
Dozens of news stories have come out claiming that the US government has admitted to possessing physical evidence of alien spacecraft. Since we claimed in our book, Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men, that no such evidence exists, we have been asked to respond to these new claims. There are a few reasons we stand by the claims we made two decades ago. First, the US government and military security are not capable of hiding such physical evidence from the public for several decades. Second, no one has ever produced a single physical artifact from an alien craft. The third, and most definitive reason, is that physical spacecraft larger than 10 centimeters across cannot traverse interstellar space. The required travel velocities and the laws of physics guarantee that such spacecraft would be destroyed long before they reach Earth. In this episode, we’ll expound on these and give examples that support our reasoning.
Synthetic Embryos
A research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently reported on the first-ever production of synthetic embryos from monkey embryonic stem cells. This work follows on the heels of other research that demonstrates how (1) synthetic embryos can be produced from human embryonic stem cells, and (2) synthetic mice embryos made from embryonic stem cells can develop in a bioreactor beyond the earliest stage to display the beginning of organ formation.
In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana addresses questions such as:
What is a synthetic embryo?
Why are scientists interested in creating synthetic embryos?
What are the most salient ethical issues to consider with this work?
What should the Christian response be to the production of synthetic embryos?
Links and Resources:
Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFOs and Extraterrestrials
Cynomolgus Monkey Embryo Model Captures Gastrulation and Early Pregnancy
A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 1
A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 2

Homo Naledi Art? and Sandgrouse Feathers

Homo naledi Art?
A team of paleoanthropologists made a splash when they announced that the enigmatic hominin, Homo naledi (who lived about 330,000 to 250,000 years ago), buried its dead, made art, and mastered fire. These claims are shocking because H. naledi had a brain size comparable to a chimpanzee. Most paleoanthropologists have long held the view that a large brain size was necessary for advanced cognition. If these claims stand, they will upend the prevailing thinking about what makes us human and undermine the notion of human exceptionalism, an idea closely linked to the biblical view that human beings uniquely bear God’s image.
In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana, author of Who Was Adam?, will discuss these claims and their impact on RTB’s creation model for humanity’s origin and the biblical view of human nature and identity.
Sandgrouse Feathers
Normally, bird feathers work to repel water so birds stay dry. However, the Namaqua sandgrouse has feathers that capture and retain water. This feature plays a vital role in allowing the sandgrouse to transport water from distant sources (up to 30km) with high efficiency to provide hydration for their chicks. Detailed microscopic studies of the feathers reveal the remarkable characteristics that enable this critical—and bizarre—function for the sandgrouse. Jeff Zweerink explains how these studies add to an impressive body of research showing how the designs of animal bodies often exceed the best human designs.
 Links and Resources:
241,000 to 335,000 Years Old Rock Engravings Made by Homo naledi in the Rising Star Cave System, South Africa
 Evidence for Deliberate Burial of the Dead by Homo naledi
Burials and Engravings in a Small-Brained Hominin, Homo naledi, from the Late Pleistocene: Contexts and Evolutionary Implications
 Who Was Adam? A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Humanity
 Cave Art Tells the Story of Human Exceptionalism
 Further Review Overturns Neanderthal Art Claim
 Rabbit Burrowing Churns Claims about Neanderthal Burials
Structure and Mechanics of Water-Holding Feathers of Namaqua Sandgrouse (Pterocles namaqua)

Lab Meat and Photosynthetic Zone

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:
Environmental Impacts of Cultured Meat: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment
A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 1
A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 2
A New Definition of Exoplanet Habitability: Introducing the Photosynthetic Habitable Zone

AI-Human Collaboration and New H0 Measurement

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
 

Self-Supervised Learning and AI With an Off Switch?

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

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

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?

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

Being Human in the Age of AI

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)