Reflectorites
Here are excerpts from CNN, BBC and Electronic Telegraph articles from
8-27 June 2000, with my comments in square brackets.
Steve
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_802000/802009.stm ... 22
June, 2000 ... Earliest feathers fan controversy The features look like
feathers A small, lizard-like creature that lived 220 million years ago has re-
ignited the debate about the evolution of birds by seriously questioning
whether they evolved from dinosaurs. Researchers studying the fossil
remains say the animal, Longisquama insignis, had elongated structures on
its back and arms that look very much like the feathers of modern birds.
This suggests an evolutionary link between the two. But Longisquama, the
scientists say, was not a dinosaur, and in any case was around when the
great reptiles had only just begun to walk the Earth. And they argue that it
is unlikely that features as complex and specialised as feathers evolved
more than once. ... "These are some amazing fossils, and at the very least
they prove that feathers did not evolve in dinosaurs," said Professor John
Ruben.... "The supposed link between dinosaurs and birds is pretty
entrenched in palaeontology, but it's not as solid as the public has been led
to believe." Longisquama insignis appeared 75 million years before
Archeopteryx He added: "Feathers are a very complicated structure. The
odds of them evolving first in Longisquama and then separately at some
later point in dinosaurs or any other group of animals would have been
astronomically small." ... The Longisquama specimen was actually
discovered three decades ago in central Asia by a Russian palaeontologist
[Sharov] who specialised in insects. When the scientist published the first
report of the fossil in 1970, he described a row of long narrow appendages
down the animal's back, interpreting them as a frill of extremely long scales.
The feathers would have evolved for flight rather than insulation The ...
authors, who have pored over every detail of the fossils, which include
most of the skeleton except for the hind part, have now challenged this
view. They think the appendages show some of the most recognisable
features of a modern-day feather. ... They have identified a long, thin tube
called a "shaft" running down the centre of each appendage. A short
distance from the base, a dense row of fine strands called "pinnae" project
from either side. Neither the shaft nor the pinnae are typically thought to be
features of reptilian scales. The shaft also comes to a point at the base and
appears to poke into a follicle in the skin. These and other clues point
feathers as the only logical explanation for the features, the scientists say.
The pinnae of modern feathers first develop inside a tube called a feather
sheath and then unfurl as the feather grows. The Longisquama fossil shows
a new feather that seems to be developing in just the same manner. ... "We
can identify certain structures in these fossils that you only find in feathers
and just don't see anywhere else," ... "So we're quite sure we're looking at
the earliest feather. But beyond that, this animal looks like an ancestral bird
even if you ignore the feathers. The teeth, pectoral structure, neck, and
skull are just like those of birds." The researchers think the feathers
evolved for flight rather than insulation. Providing warmth is the more
likely function of the downy feathers sported by some much later
dinosaurs. Longisquama probably glided, rather than flew, using its long
aerodynamic forelimbs for steering. Dr Alan Feduccia ... said: "These are
the earliest structures in the fossil record that can be called feathers. "They
pre-date the so-called 'fuzzy dinosaurs' from China by at least 100 million
years. Here we show unequivocally that the earliest known feathers
evolved in the context of flight and not thermo-regulation." ... [There are
some good photos of Longisquama, but they may be enhanced. I have no
problem if this is a feather but I am still sceptical. Reptile and fish scales
have an amazing variety. But I am happy with the `design' arguments that
rule out feathers evolving naturalistically twice and that feathers are for
flight, not insulation!]
http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/children/06/27/teaching.biology.ap/index.html
CNN ... Biology textbooks don't make the grade, scientists say June 27,
2000 ... WASHINGTON (AP) -- Splashy color drawings of cells and word
quizzes are staples of U.S. high school biology textbooks, but they do little
to help students understand scientific advances that are changing people's
lives, according to scientists who reviewed 10 top biology texts. Students
kept busy naming the parts of cells might miss learning how cells work
and how that might affect the latest cancer research, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science contended ... as it gave all 10
textbooks unsatisfactory ratings. The reviewers looked at how biology
texts explained four key concepts in the discipline: cell structure and
function, matter and energy transformations, molecular basis of heredity,
and natural selection and evolution. ... Although publishers depend on
local school boards to buy their materials, they have not shied away from
politically sensitive topics such as evolution, dismissed by creationists,
who favor a Bible-based view of the Earth's formation... Due to
misinformation from peers, families or even a poor teacher, a child might
think giraffes developed longer necks from reaching for branches. Good
biology lessons, Nelson said, would help that student deduce that animals
are randomly born with traits, such as longer necks to reach for high
branches, that make them more likely to survive and have offspring ... [It
is interesting that "natural selection and evolution" is becoming less
prominent in Biology texts as more facts are discovered. My own two
Biology texts mention "natural selection" in 6 pages out of a total of 1,175
= 0.51% and 3 pages out of 1,019 = 0.29%! The child might ask if
"animals are randomly born with traits, such as longer necks to reach for
high branches, that make them more likely to survive and have offspring"
why all animals don't have such longer necks, instead of only *one*-the
giraffe? Or, how do we know the giraffe's long neck did not happen first
and then it adapted to feeding on high branches second? Or, what happens
to the young giraffes while they are growing and cannot reach the high
branches?]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_805000/805803.stm ... 26
June, 2000 ... Leaders hail scientific revolution The "code of life" is
hidden in our DNA The US president and the UK prime minister have
hailed the rough draft of the entire human genetic code as "the most
wondrous map ever produced by human kind". This is the outstanding
achievement not only of our lifetime but in terms of human history ...
Their words followed news conferences around the world on Monday at
which scientists jointly announced that they had obtained a near-complete
set of the biochemical instructions for human life. The achievement is
being called one of the most significant scientific landmarks of all time,
comparable with the invention of the wheel or the splitting of the atom.
The genetic information will revolutionise medicine over the coming
decades, giving us new tests and drugs for previously untreatable diseases
... To decipher the first draft, scientists had to read the three billion
chemical "letters" strung out along the DNA spirals at the heart of nearly
all our cells. ... 97% of the human genome had now been mapped, with
85% of the code accurately sequenced. Efforts would continue to fill in the
gaps, they said, with a fully finished genome available within three years.
Only 24% of the genome was currently in this "gold standard" format.
Researchers still have to search the finished data for the genes, the
templates that cells use to make proteins. ... Scientists hope that by
knowing this information they will be able to develop a revolutionary new
approach to medicine in which faulty genes can be corrected ... Mr
Clinton and Mr Blair saluted the efforts of the scientists Mr Clinton was
flanked at the White House by two of the major players in the race to
unravel the "code of life": Dr Francis Collins, leader of the publicly
funded Human Genome Project (HGP), and Dr Craig Venter, head of the
private company Celera Genomics... Mr Clinton heralded the end of these
arguments by announcing a programme of co-operation between the two
parties. ... Continuing the big theme, Dr Collins told the White House
conference: "It is humbling for me and awe inspiring to realise that we
have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book, previously
known only to God." .. [A great achievement, but it remains to be seen
how easily realisable are the benefits of knowing the `wiring diagram' of
the `computer'. The head of HUGO, Francis Collins is an evangelical
Christian so his words about "our own instruction book, previously known
only to God" are not mere rhetoric but are in a long tradition of Christians
in science seeking to think God's thoughts after Him.]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000623/sc/health_genome_dc_3.html
Yahoo! ... June 23 ... Groups to Announce Genome Map in Washington
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Celera Genomics Inc. and the publicly funded Human Genome
Project said on Friday they had finished making arrangements for a joint
announcement on mapping the human genome. The two groups, which
have sped to make a rough draft of the human DNA map, said they would
make a joint announcement on Monday in Washington. ... Although all
scientists involved stress that the map is only a very initial first step -- they
still do not know where the genes are and what they all do -- they also
point out that mapping out the "sequences" that make up DNA is a huge
landmark. At first most genetics experts cast doubt on Venter's "whole
shotgun" sequencing method, which involved busting up the human
genome into small bits, sequencing each piece, and then fitting it all back
together somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle. But when it started to work, the
skeptics were quick to confess admiration and speeded up their own, more
painstaking, mapping methods. The result is that they have both raced to
the first step in the genome mapping effort -- finding the order in which
the four "bases" that make up human DNA, known by their initials A,C, T
and G, are laid out on the human chromosomes. The next step, which will
take years, will be sorting out which bits in this code constitute the genes
and which parts are so-called "junk" DNA. ... [That Venter's method
worked is testimony to the specified complexity of the genome. My ID
prediction is that they will find that they need to take into account the so-
called "junk" DNA in fully understanding how the genome functions
within its cellular context. IOW the adjective "junk" will be seen to be a
misnomer, and in future will be looked back as another example of how
adopting an anti-ID philosophy hindered scientific understanding of the
natural world.]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_803000/803236.stm ... 23
June, 2000 ... Chicago learns from crocodile rock A face only its mother
could love ... Crocodiles are fierce, irritable and eat meat, okay? Well, no.
Fossil remains of a 70-million-year-old ancestor of modern crocs, found
on the island of Madagascar, show this reptile was in fact a plant-eater.
Simosuchus clarki .. is only the second known vegetarian crocodile to be
discovered. "This is the weirdest crocodile ever found," said Dr Greg
Buckley ... who discovered the specimen in 1998. It dates from the Late
Cretaceous, near the end of the age of the dinosaurs. It measured 1.2
metres (4ft) long and weighed between 90-136kg (200-300 lbs). It also
had a face only its mother could love. Its strong neck, blunt snout, and the
position of its eyes and nostrils indicate it lived mostly on land and not in
the water. Dr Buckley said that fierce competition for resources may
explain why Simosuchus turned to a vegetarian diet. "Simosuchus went to
the extreme, taking advantage of one food source that other crocodiles
weren't after. That is, plants,"... [Leaving aside the `just-so' story, it is
astonishing that a crocodile could be a vegetarian. Maybe some YECs will
seize on this as evidence for their thesis that vegetarianism is original and
carnivory is degenerate?]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_801000/801086.stm ... 23
June, 2000 ... Water may flow on Mars Groundwater seepage could have
cut the channels ... Water could still be flowing on Mars, Nasa scientists
believe. The announcement follows two days of speculation that evidence
exists that recent running water has cut channels into the flanks of craters,
something previously considered impossible. The lack of small craters
superimposed on the channels and apron deposits indicates that the features
are geologically young. Images of steep-sided gullies, sinuous channels,
and deltas of debris have been captured by Mars Global Surveyor, the
satellite currently in orbit around the Red Planet. These suggest that liquid
water may be lurking just below the Martian surface, say researchers ...
Malin and ... Edgett ... It is a discovery that will change the direction of
Mars exploration and boost demands for a lander to be sent to investigate
the water and look for signs of life. "If it is true that there is water on Mars
near the surface, it has profound implications for the prospect of life on
Mars," said Ed Wieler ... at Nasa. ... The Science paper does not say that
water itself has been detected - only structures that, if found on Earth,
would have been formed by water seeping up from underground ... The
images are stunning and convincing: banked, winding, and often branching
channel paths, with final fans of debris. They suggest that the water could
exist in a porous layer of rock buried a few hundred meters below the
Martian surface, kept liquid by the pressure exerted by overlying rock. ....
More than 90% of them occur in the planet's southern hemisphere, almost
all of them are found on the pole side of 30 degrees latitude. ... Some
scientists will find this discovery unsettling ... Liquid water is the key
ingredient for life so finding it on the surface represents a significant boost
for those who think there may be micro-organisms still living on the Red
Planet. This discovery will set the direction for the exploration of Mars in
the future. ... See also:
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/06/22/mars.water.03/index.html
CNN ... Visual evidence suggests water springs on Mars June 22, 2000 ...
[Some good pictures. It will be a problem for the current `just add water'
origin-of-life theories if there is liquid water but it shows no signs of life.
Of course life may have originally started on Mars and been transported to
Earth, or vice-versa, as Hugh Ross maintains. Only if there is life on Mars
and it is *totally different* from life on Earth (e.g. using different amino
acids, etc), would naturalistic OoL theories be supported.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=QxpHkmHR&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/6/22/ecnfly22.html
Electronic Telegraph 22.06.00 ... How a fly's eyes tell its brain what's swat
A TEAM of neuroscientists is to demonstrate that insight into how a fly
sees the world may help in the development of robot vision. ... Led by Prof
Simon Laughlin in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge,
the scientists will display "flyvision" tomorrow in London, at the Royal
Society, to help show how our eyes and brains evolved vision, and discover
how tiny devices can process pictures quickly and efficiently. Flies use
compound eyes that build up a picture of the world though 3,000 individual
lenses, under each of which are eight receptors that detect different light
levels and colours. .... Despite these differences, the underlying design
problem the fly faces is the same as ours: how to process visual information
with maximum efficiency, given that speed and energy supply are critical to
the brain and survival. Electrical engineers are interested in how the fly
simplifies visual information so they can communicate data more efficiently
and simplify robot vision. Prof Laughlin, the head of the Cambridge Insect
Vision Group, is devoted to the fly because it is much simpler to study, a
million times so: while our brain uses 100,000 million nerve cells, the fly
relies on 100,000. Information gathered by each receptor in a compound
eye is turned into electrical signals and passed to the fly's little brain. The
Insect Vision Group records these signals to show how much energy an
insect uses to extract useful visual details, such as the edge of a rolled up
newspaper. ... The neural circuitry within the fly's brain processes signals
from its eyes very quickly and relays it to nerve circuits in the thorax,
where flight is controlled. Thanks to the housefly's remarkable flying skills,
it is usually unlikely that you would achieve a direct hit with a rolled up
newspaper, even one that is as unerringly accurate as The Daily Telegraph,
since the insect can change course in as little as 30 thousandths of a
second. ... [I like the bit about "the underlying design problem the fly
faces". This shows yet again that science cannot get away from the ID
paradigm, but their naturalistic philosophy prevents them from
acknowledging it.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=QxpHkmHR&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/6/22/ecnmice22.html
Electronic Telegraph 22.06.00 Gene switch 'makes mighty Mensa mice' ...
MICE that have been genetically modified to make more of a brain growth
protein are significantly smarter, ... The development of what one of the
team calls "mighty Mensa mice" shows how society may be affected by
knowledge of the human genetic code, the first draft of which is about to
be published, and will stimulate ethical debate about whether to enhance
people. Prof Aryeh Routtenberg ... said that it took a change in a single
genetic "letter" to cause "a very strong determinant effect". However, he
added that the work also underlines the importance of the environment
because feeding rodents with corn oil can "turn on" the same memory
protein in the brain by a process called phosphorylation. Prof Rottenberg
said that mice had been altered to produce unusually large amounts of
GAP43, a protein associated with the growth of fibres that transmit nerve
impulses. He said: "These animals perform in tests as if they are smarter."
... [It does not follow genetically engineering humans to make them smarter
would necessarily be a good thing, in our present-day world. But it would
be interesting to see if people originally were a lot smarter, but some of
their genes had become turned off?]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=pISMeQBe&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/6/8/ecnclon.html
Electronic Telegraph 08.06.00 ... Study queries the need for therapeutic
cloning ...GOVERNMENT plans to allow research on the cloning of
embryos to make cells and tissues for transplants was thrown into turmoil
last week by a study that suggests that it could soon be unnecessary. ... A
Swedish team have evidence that a vast range of tissues to repair an ailing
body can be created from "stem" cells taken from a living patient, rather
than a dead cloned embryo. Earlier this year ... the Government's Chief
Medical Officer, agreed to recommend changes to the law to enable
scientists to research the use of cloned embryos to make tissues to treat the
sick. The proposal has been bitterly opposed by pro-life groups, which
regard a cloned embryo consisting of around 200 undifferentiated cells as a
person, and the prospect of dismantling it to grow tissue for a transplant as
abhorrent. The Government is thought to have been swayed by arguments
by scientists who say that it would be unethical not to use these cloned
embryonic cells which have vast potential in medicine for a range of
treatments [for] degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and
diabetes, as well as heart, liver and kidney conditions. However, a team led
by Dr Jonas Frisen...reports...that cloning may be unnecessary: stem cells
can be taken from an adult and generate a cornucopia of cell types, from
heart, liver, muscle, intestine to other tissues. ... The Swedish research
overturns the results of decades of study of one of life's greatest mysteries:
how a fertilised egg develops into an embryo. It had been thought that, as a
single fertilised egg divides to form the 100 trillion cells in the human body,
cells get more and more specialised and more restricted in what they can
do. It was thought that only the early embryo cells were the "blank slates"
of an organism, capable of developing into any type and providing a
universal source of tissue for transplant. The more specialised adult stem
cells, found in areas of the adult body such as the skin, nervous system and
blood and lymph systems, were thought only to give rise to their own kind.
...The work by Dr Frisen's colleague, Dr Diana Clarke, shows that when
adult neural stem cells are removed from mice and grown with embryonic
cells or within an embryo, the adult stem cells can revert to an
unspecialised state and give rise to a range of cell lineages....This has
political implications and will fuel the efforts by pro-life groups to halt
proposals to use cloned embryos to grow a patient's tissue... [This is
*great* news for those concerned about materialism's view of man as just a
machine, and therefore further dehumanising him by growing human
embryos for spare parts.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=pISMeQBe&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/6/8/ecfpla08.html
The sexiest weed in the world Electronic Telegraph 08.06.00 ... The
unveiling of the entire genetic code of a human being and a scruffy plant
will have important ramifications ... IMAGINE being able to see the
proteins within living plant cells so clearly that it is possible to witness the
complex choreography of molecules that enables a seed to take root, a leaf
to bud or a rose to blossom. In the past week, scientists have unveiled a
plan to realise this dream. They want to build a "virtual plant" in a
computer, one that will revolutionise plant science and lead to the
development of designer blooms. Their confidence that it is possible to
encode the mechanisms of life in a computer rest on a humble relative of
the cabbage, a scruffy little weed that grows in sandy soils in many
temperate countries. The Thale cress stands a few inches high and sports
somewhat unremarkable white blooms. But for scientists this member of
the mustard family is a giant, the most glamorous weed in the world: it lies
at the focus of an international effort to understand the secret design of
plants that, by one estimate, costs around GBP50 million each a year. ...
Arabidopsis thaliana, as scientists call it, is the laboratory mouse of the
plant kingdom because it grows with indecent haste, produces copious
seeds and is blessed with a particularly small and simple genetic blueprint.
This makes it the ideal subject for a project to decode the entire genetic
recipe of a plant. The full code consisting of its 25,000 genes - the first of a
flowering plant - will be available in a few weeks. The recipe, or genome,
consists of five pairs of chromosomes, "volumes" of its genetic
encyclopaedia. On these chromosomes are the genes. Written in a
fourletter code, they are the blueprints of enzymes and proteins in the plant
that determine characteristics ranging from how efficiently it soaks up
sunlight to how it tolerates herbicides. Most Arabidopsis genes feature in
every other plant, so the work is of relevance to the crops that feed the
world, plants to fight disease, and flowers that decorate our gardens. As
with the effort to understand the entire human genetic code, knowing the
genetic sequence marks the beginning, not the end of the effort. The next
step, and the major challenge, is to find out what the genes are doing,
where they are turned on and how they act on each other. Plant scientists
hope to achieve this goal within a decade. ... The aim is to create a
complete "wiring diagram" of all the weed's biological pathways in a
computer. "We hope to create a "clickable plant".... "We want to be able to
go to our computers and click on a cell type and understand all the protein-
protein interactions." "We'd love, for instance, to see a four-dimensional
view of a plant that covers all the details from when the seed germinates to
when the next generation seeds fall off the mother plant. And we'd like to
be able to stop the process at any phase in the plant's life-cycle and see
which proteins are active and how they interact. This is the only way we
are going to understand what makes a plant a plant."... The team found that
when they mutated three near-identical genes, Arabidopsis grew a double
flower, actually a flower within a flower within a flower, a repetitive
process that continues indefinitely - or at least until the smallest organs of
the flower cannot be detected. ... Normal flowers consist of a series of four
rings or "whorls". The outermost is made up of sepals, the green leaf-like
organ that normally surrounds the flower bud before it opens. Inside the
sepals lies a ring of petals, then a ring of stamens, the male reproductive
structures, and at the centre are the carpels, the female reproductive
structures. In mutant Arabidopsis plants lacking the three genes, flowers
take on the appearance of tiny artichokes: petals, stamens and carpels are
replaced by sepals while the centre of the flower is replaced by a new
flower, again made exclusively of sepals. ... Almost a decade ago, scientists
discovered one of the genes that plays a role in flowering, called agamous,
and showed that it had a striking resemblance to control genes in humans,
emphasising how vastly different creatures share similar molecular
machinery when it comes to important housekeeping operations in cells.
Last year, in studies of Arabidopsis, Dr Weigel found that agamous is
turned on by another gene called "Leafy", the first genetic master switch
that could alone trigger flower development. "Knowing all the cues that
lend a flower its size and shape should permit the deliberate design of
flowers through genetic manipulations," .... "For example, the selective
removal of stamens would eliminate pollen, a common allergen." ...
[Personally I think that a small number of master gene for plants which can
grow all the parts of flowers by varying them slightly, but such that they
can then be used down the track in animals, including humans, shows the
virtuosity of the Designer.]
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"It is said that there is no place for an argument from authority from science.
The community of science is constantly self-critical ... It is certainly true that
within each narrowly defined scientific field there is constant challenge to
new technical claims and to old wisdom. ... But when scientists transgress the
bounds of their own specialty they have no choice but to accept the claims of
authority, even though they do not know how solid the grounds of those
claims may be. Who am I to believe that quantum physics if not Steven
Weinberg, or about the solar system if not Carl Sagan? What worries me is
that they may believe what Dawkins and Wilson tell them about evolution."
(Lewontin, Richard., "Billions and Billions of Demons", review of "The
Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark", by Carl Sagan,
New York Review, January 9, 1997, pp.30-31
http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/WWWarchdisplay.cgi?19970109028R@p6)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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