Clear Thinking | Chemistry & Origin of Life: Interview with Steve Baertschi

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.   Before the First Stars A team of astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) “to boldly go where no man has gone before”: to observe and measure the composition of gas clouds before any stars formed. The JWST’s primary mission is to explore the cosmic dawn—the first billion years of cosmic history. Astronomers took a high-resolution spectrum of a giant gas cloud in the halo of GN-z11, a bright galaxy 13.38 billion light-years away, corresponding to only 410 million years after the big bang creation event. The only elements found in the gas cloud’s spectrum were hydrogen and helium. This is the first time astronomers detected an object in the universe where no elements heavier than helium exist. This discovery affirms a major prediction of the biblically predicted big bang creation model: that before stars formed, the elemental composition of the universe, by mass, will be 75.33% hydrogen, 24.67% helium, and a trace amount of lithium. The level of ionization in the gas cloud revealed that the stars in GN-z11’s core must all be in the range of 50–1,000 times the Sun’s mass. This mass range explains why astronomers observe many bright galaxies and several supermassive black holes in the cosmic dawn. All these discoveries provide yet more evidence that the more we learn about the universe, the more evidence we accumulate that a God beyond space and time created and exquisitely designed the universe so that at the just-right time and location, humans could live and thrive.  The Universe: 28 GYr Old?   Recent images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) found galaxies that, given their age, appeared far larger and more complex than expected. In more lay-level arenas, this discovery was used to cast doubt on the standard big bang cosmological model. However, this discovery generated quite a bit of excitement in the scientific community because it revealed a fun problem to investigate. Consequently, astronomers have invested much effort trying to understand how to explain these large, complex galaxies. An author of a recent paper attempts to understand these galaxies by modifying how light propagates through the universe and by having some fundamental constants change over time. A careful analysis of this latter approach shows how standard big bang cosmology (with dark energy and dark matter) can give a robust explanation of the universe—and provide evidence for the God of the Bible.     References: PODCAST LINKS: JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Lyman-a Emission and Possible Enhanced Nitrogen Abundance in a z = 10.60 Luminous Galaxy   JWST-JADES. Possible Population III Signatures at z = 10.6 in the Halo of GN-z11   YOUTUBE LINKS: Andrew J. Bunker et al., “JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Lyman-a Emission and Possible Enhanced Nitrogen Abundance in a z = 10.60 Luminous Galaxy,” https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202346159 Roberto Maiolino et al., “JWST-JADES. Possible Population III Signatures at z = 10.6 in the Halo of GN-z11,” https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2306.00953   References:  PODCAST LINK: Testing CCC + TL Cosmology with Observed Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Features   YOUTUBE LINK: Rajendra P. Gupta, “Testing CCC + TL Cosmology with Observed Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Features,” https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad1bc6

*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/  

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

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

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross 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.   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.         PODCAST LINKS:   Generation of a Humanized Mesonephros in Pigs from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via Embryo Complementation   Additional Resources:   A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 1   A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 2   YOUTUBE LINKS:   Jiaowei Wang et al., “Generation of a Humanized Mesonephros in Pigs from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via Embryo Complementation,” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37683604/   Additional Resources:   Fazale Rana, “A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 1,” https://reasons.org/explore/publications/articles/a-theology-for-synthetic-biology-part-1-of-2   Fazale Rana, “A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 2,” https://reasons.org/explore/publications/articles/a-theology-for-synthetic-biology-part-2-of-2   PODCAST LINKS:   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   YOUTUBE LINKS:   Michael Greenstone and Christa Hasenkopf, Air Quality Life Index 2023: Annual Update (August 2023),https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AQLI_2023_Report-Global.pdf Air Quality Life Index, India Fact Sheet (2023), https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/India-FactSheet-2023_Final.pdf Łukasz Zaręba et al., “The Relationship between Fine Particle Matter (PM2.5) Exposure and Upper Respiratory Tract Diseases,” https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4426/14/1/98