Join astrophysicists Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss discoveries with theological and philosophical implications pointing to the reality of God’s existence.

A team of biologists and geneticists collected over 500 samples from the leaves, roots, and bark of a single quaking aspen tree in Utah called Pando. This tree consists of 47,000 stems that cover 106 acres and it’s the world’s largest known organism. The team identified 4,000 genetic variations. They found that Pando’s triploid nature enhanced somatic mutations (noninherited DNA changes) gave Pando the just-right genetic diversity and resilience to thrive in a changing environment while maintaining genetic integrity. The team estimated that Pando is at least 16,000 years old and could be as old as 81,000 years old. The tree’s genetic designs enabled aspens and animals dependent on them to survive the radical climate changes that occurred during the last ice age. For almost three decades, astronomers have recognized that the amount of dark energy in our universe falls exceedingly short of the amount expected in our best models of the universe (for example, the big bang). One possible explanation for this enormous discrepancy is that human existence demands that we see the observed level because any larger amount would preclude human life. Although initial research showed promise for this explanation, a recent paper using more realistic models of star formation reveals some significant challenges.

Links and Resources:

Mosaic of Somatic Mutations in Earth’s Oldest Living Organism, Pando Many Physicists Argue the Universe Is Fine-Tuned for Life. Our Findings Question This Idea. The Impact of the Cosmological Constant on Past and Future Star Formation

Join biochemists Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Robert DiSilvestro as they discuss discoveries with theological and philosophical implications pointing to the reality of God’s existence.

Did life originate through evolutionary processes on the primordial Earth or through the handiwork of a Creator? In this episode Fuz and Robert critique one of the latest proposals from origin-of-life researchers for how proteins originated in the prebiotic world. In their analysis, Fuz and Robert show that a creation model best explains life’s origin.

Links and Resources:

Origins of Life: The Protein Folding Problem All Over Again?

Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross

Join biochemist Fazale “Fuz” Rana and astrophysicist Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries with theological and philosophical implications pointing to the reality of God’s existence.

Young-earth creationists argue that the buildup of mutations quickly causes genomes to deteriorate, driving organisms to extinction. This process of genetic entropy occurs on a timescale of 6,000–10,000 years, indicating that Earth and life on Earth cannot be billions of years old. Drawing from recent work in genetics, biochemist Fuz Rana explains why this young-earth argument fails.

Little Red Dots (LRDs) are compact objects that are the emerging cores of large galaxies seen during the cosmic dawn (early stages of the universe). They were thought to challenge several big bang creation models because they were too bright. This challenge was based on the assumption that all their light came from stars. Spectra of LRDs show much of the light comes from gas spiraling into growing supermassive black holes at LRDs’ centers. This conclusion well fits big bang models where many first-to-form stars are hundreds of times the Sun’s mass.

Links and Resources:

Estimating the Proportion of Beneficial Mutations That Are Not Adaptive in Mammals

The Rise of Faint, Red AGN at z > 4: A Sample of Little Red Dots in the JWST Extragalactic Legacy Fields

Is the Big Bang Theory in Trouble?

A Matter of Days

Dinosaur Blood and the Age of the Earth