Here are some brief summaries in descending date order of web
articles for the period 29 November-2 December 1999.
Some of these links might require free registration and long
ones might need rejoining after word-wrapping.
My comments are in square brackets.
Steve
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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991202/sc/science_chromosome_2.html
"Yahoo! Thursday December 2 ... Momentous Gene Breakthrough
Heralded As Milestone ... (Reuters) - A team of international scientists has
deciphered the genetic code of a human chromosome in a scientific
milestone that could herald new treatments for diseases ...researchers said
Wednesday. Researchers from Britain, the United States and Japan have
mapped the entire sequence of the protein-coding genes of chromosome
22, the second smallest of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes. They said
they identified 545 genes, 298 of which were unknown, giving new insights
into how genes are arranged on DNA and how they can be used to prevent,
diagnose and treat diseases. ... " (106/1090) Also at:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/120299sci-genome.html
"...If there is a pattern in the types of genes nature has chosen to store on
Chromosome 22, it has escaped the researchers. The genes appear to be a
random assortment...";
http://cnn.com/1999/HEALTH/12/01/chromosome.22/index.html "For the
first time we can see the entire landscape of a human chromosome, the
basic unit of human inheritance, how the genes are organized, how they're
laid out on the chromosome," said Dr. Francis Collins, chair of the National
Human Genome Research Institute. "I think this is probably the most
important scientific effort that mankind has ever mounted," he said. "That
includes splitting the atom and going to the moon.";
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3w8qqrrM&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/99/12/2/ecngen02.html
"Chromosome 22 is the smallest of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in human
cells and its complete analysis is an epoch-making achievement. If it was
ever published in print, its 47 million characters would fill more than 50
volumes" ; and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_545000/545008.stm
"...The achievement has been hailed as having the same long-lasting impact
as the invention of the wheel. ...Are you scared of the genetic revolution?...
[A truly great achievement, even if not quite in the same league as "the
invention of the wheel"! Let us hope that knowing the layout of the
genome will translate into knowing how it works and being able to do
something about genetic diseases. In view of the comment in the NYT, it
may be that the whole genome is interrelated and the whole will have to be
understood before the parts are understood, like a humanly designed
integrated circuit board or chip? This may be a *big* problem for purely
naturalistic explanations. But as for being "scared of the genetic
revolution", let us also hope it won't lead eventualy to creating artificial
chromosomes and new, genetically distinct, perfect super-species of Homo
sapiens. But IMHO inevitably someone will and the rest will follow. And if
Materialism is true and man is just a complex machine with broken and
substandard parts, why not?].
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3w8qqrrM&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/99/12/2/ecnevo02.html
Electronic Telegraph ... [2 December 1999] ...HUMAN beings are in the
slow lane of evolution, according to a study that suggests that changes to
our species will be more to do with culture than biology....published today
in Nature in a study that compares the genetic code of mice, humans and
chickens. Surprisingly, people may have more in common with chickens
than with mice.... " (62 / 633). [There is something fishy going on here.
The explanation that the genome - the large-scale organisation of genes -
can be affected by humans wearing less clothing (the article waffles on
about airconditioning!) seems absurd. This is more evidence that the
phenotypic phylogeny is not supported by genotypic phylogeny. More
evidence of polyphyly? Less evidence for Darwinism?]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3w8qqrrM&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/99/12/2/ecnbug02.html
Electronic Telegraph ... [2 December 1999] ... [xenos peckii] ... gazes
through two raspberry-like structures, each made up of 50 individual ...
eyelets ... suggests that strepsipteran evolution has diverged significantly
from other insects...the ancient trilobites may have used a similar
mechanism 590 million years ago..." (40 / 406). [More evidence of
polyphyly? Less evidence for Darwinism?]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3w8qqrrM&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/99/12/2/ecnbat02.html
Electronic Telegraph ... [2 December 1999] ... scientists have discovered a
species that can out-squeak the rest... DNA testing has proved for the first
time that there are two types of pipistrelle, the common bat...There seem to
be many places where they live happily side by side....The existence of
cryptic species, which look like each other but operate as separate species,
is well known to ornithologists... (62 / 688 ). [Apparently it is impossible to
tell that two animals are the same species, without checking their DNA.
This presumably means that it is impossible to tell that two fossil species
are the same? Also, the Darwinist Law of Competitive Exclusion is
supposed to stop two very similar different species from co-existing?
Finally, if two species of bats can look very similar, live side by side, but
not interbreed, then why can't another two less similar looking species of
mammals, Homo neandertalensis and Homo sapiens, do the same?]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3w8qqrrM&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/99/12/2/ecnvol02.html
Electronic Telegraph ... [2 December 1999] ... THE gravitational pull of
the sun and moon can trigger volcanic activity, linked with the formation of
continents, mass extinctions of creatures and blips in the Earth's magnetic
field. .... (33 / 356) [Yet another cause of mass extinction. And another
thing to worry about. :-) But the article does add that "fortunately, the next
"resonance" was due in about 700 million years"!]
http://www.cnn.com/1999/TECH/computing/12/02/creatures3.idg/index.html
"CNN ... These Creatures aren't just cute, they've got AI December 2,
1999 ... Creatures has acquired a set of goals... The impetus for the
Creatures series was to create a computer game that used genuine artificial
intelligence (AI). In most games, AI is a misnomer. They imitate human
behavior by imposing a complex series of rules on their worlds' inhabitants
...the Creatures series really does use artificial intelligence. Its [creatures]
learn behavior patterns through sensory input ...and synthesize these to
create an ever-expanding repertoire of realistic responses. When the AI for
most computer games are compared to Creatures, it's Pinky vs. the Brain. "
(106 / 1077) [The issue is not is whether this is "genuine artificial
intelligence" but whether it is genuine intelligence? That Creatures 3 is
following a more sophisticated set of rules than its predecessors does not
change the fact that it *is* following a set of rules. ]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_547000/547318.stm BBC
... Thursday, 2 December, 1999 .. Predicting the flu of the future ...
Evolution experts have come up with a way of successfully predicting
which strain of influenza will strike the next year... This is the first time that
an evolutionary study has been used to identify which strains are the
fittest." ... Professor Hillis [said] ... "School boards and science educators
need to understand this simple fact: if students don't learn about evolution,
they can't possibly understand modern biology or medicine." ... (84 / 844)
[Prof. Hillis obviously hasn't heard that the Kansas science standards allow
the teaching of microevolution, which this is. Indeed it may not even be
microevolution if a cladistic tree was used, which relates organisms by
shared characteristics, not necessarily in order of how they appeared on
Earth. Indeed, how could evolutionists possibly know in what order
influenza viruses appeared on Earth? Still, even if its not true, it makes for
good Darwinist propaganda!]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3w8qqrrM&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/99/12/2/ecnspac02.html
Electronic Telegraph ... [2 December 1999] Giant mirror in space to reflect
young universe ... THE world's most powerful telescope is to blast away
from Earth next Friday after 15 years of work by British and European
scientists ...With a mirror the size of a tennis court, it will gaze back more
than 13 thousand million years to when the universe was 10 per cent of its
present age .... (64 / 660) [One wonders how far back in time astronomers
can see? Presumably they can't actually see the Big Bang? Do they see the
universe as being smaller, i.e. more compact? This would be strong
evidence for some sort of Big Bang.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3w8qqrrM&atmo=HHHHHH8L&pg=/et/99/12/2/ecnsmel02.html
Electronic Telegraph ... [2 December 1999] ...the difference in air flow
causes each nostril to convey to the brain a different image of the olfactory
world and thus a richer "stereo" picture. (28 / 298)... [Stereo smelling! I
suppose we are to imagine random mutation and natural selection
favouring those animals whose left and right notrils were out of kilter?]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_545000/545089.stm BBC
... Wednesday, 1 December, 1999 ... Baby T. rex discovered ... A gangly,
500 kilogram baby with massive bone-crushing teeth has been discovered
in South Dakota, the first almost complete fossil skeleton of a juvenile
Tyrannosaurus rex. ... Mr Bakker [said] "the jaws are 100% adult," armed
with "massive bone-crushing teeth."... " (62 / 646) [Not much evolutionary
significance, but a cute little baby dino story to read to the kids before
bedtime! :-) ]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/113099sci-evolution-yeast.html
New York Times November 30, 1999 ... By MALCOLM W. BROWNE...
Pondering Next Rung on the Evolutionary Ladder ... If evolution is still
unfolding... how complex an organism could the evolutionary process
create, before hitting some fundamental limit? ... Is it possible that one day
we might subordinate impulses toward individual behavior and merge into
an organic community, a kind of human superbeing with its own sense of
self? ... Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel, "Brave New World," envisions a
human society in which individuals are programmed before birth
...predestining everyone to specific occupations in a rigidly structured
society... might a day come when we ...are forced to evolve toward a
eusocial superbeing? (113 / 1135) [This is just man becoming effectively
the materialist version of God. And the Supreme Court says that evolution
is not religious!]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/113099sci-qa.html New
York Times November 30, 1999 ... How many living species are
there?...The latest estimate ... is 10 million to 13 million living species... A
big problem is defining a species...some biologists discern 200 kinds of
British blackberry; others might list 20, or 2 or 3." (47 / 496) [If under
evolutionary theory a species cannot be defined, then how meaningful is it
to talk of how many species there are?]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_542000/542201.stm BBC
... Monday, 29 November, 1999... Ancient inhabitants of the Andean
mountains were infected with the same virus as modernday Japanese
people, suggesting travellers from Asia colonised South America ... 20,000
years ago, long before the Spanish invaders brought a variety of different
infectious diseases to the region. ... (50 / 572) [More evidence that the
ancient world was far more complex than previously thought. If confirmed,
this would have significance for Biblical theories of the date of Adam and
the spread of civilisation]
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Stephen E. (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ Email: sejones@iinet.net.au
3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ Web: http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
Warwick 6024 -> *_,--\_/ Phone: +61 8 9448 7439
Perth, Western Australia v "Test everything." (1 Thess. 5:21)
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