Reasons To Believe Podcast

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 Shap

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 th

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 tole

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.   CRISPR Update In December of 2023, the FDA approved two revolutionary new treatments for the blood disorders sickle cell anemia and ß-thalassemia, both based on gene-editing technology. This approval represents an important milestone for gene therapy and the treatment of thousands of genetic disorders. It also serves as a stepping stone for human enhancements and adds to the legitimacy of transhumanism.   In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana describes these new gene therapies and discusses the ethical issues connected to them. He also offers a Christian response to the prospects of human enhancements and transhumanism.   Two Noteworthy AI Finds As the field of artificial intelligence (AI) advances, research continues to show both the promise and peril of using AI. For example, most AIs work well withi

In this special episode, we replay a recorded conversation between prominent astronomer Dr. David Block (professor emeritus of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Witwatersrand and the director of RTB Africa) and world-renowned astronomer Giovanni Fazio (senior physicist at the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian and a lecturer in the department of astronomy at Harvard University). This wide-ranging conversation between two friends includes their collaboration studying the Andromeda galaxy, their perspectives on God’s handiwork in creation, and Dr. Fazio’s groundbreaking contributions to infrared astronomy.                               References:   PODCAST LINK:   Professor David Block’s YouTube Channel   YOUTUBE LINKS:   Professor David Block’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@professordavidblock5038

Join Jeff Zweerink and Steve Baertschi, president of Baertschi Consulting, 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.   Perils of Space Travel Although science fiction makes space travel seem almost inevitable, current research demonstrates numerous challenges to humans residing in space for long periods of time. Along with the well-known detrimental effects on muscle mass and density, research shows that prolonged periods in space expose the human body to far more radiation than encountered here on Earth. That radiation dramatically decreases our bodies’ capacity to fight off cancer and to keep past viral exposure in check. Additionally, radiation impacts the function of our gastrointestinal system and its ability to absorb nutrients and oral medications. These results highlight Earth’s amazing capacity to host a diverse and abundant array of life. Drug Stability for Mars Mission Drug

God’s Hand in Creation In this special episode, we replay a recorded conversation between prominent astronomer Dr. David Block (professor emeritus of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Witwatersrand and the director of RTB Africa) and world-renowned astronomer Giovanni Fazio (senior physicist at the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian and a lecturer in the department of astronomy at Harvard University). This wide-ranging conversation between two friends includes their collaboration studying the Andromeda galaxy, their perspectives on God’s handiwork in creation, and Dr. Fazio’s groundbreaking contributions to infrared astronomy.                               References: PODCAST LINK: Professor David Block’s YouTube Channel   YOUTUBE LINKS: Professor David Block’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@professordavidblock5038

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. Crust Thickness and Life A team of five geophysicists demonstrated that the level of oxides in basalt primary melts are a good proxy for the thickness of Earth’s crust. They then supervised a machine-learning algorithm to analyze global geodatabases (e.g., EarthChem and GEOROC) of basalts to determine the variation of the thickness of Earth’s crust spanning the past 3.8 billion years. Their analysis revealed five features of Earth’s crust that led to supercontinent cycles and plate tectonics that are highly fine-tuned for complex life on Earth. Antimatter Feels Gravity When Einstein first published his general theory of relativity, scientists did not even know about antimatter—which was discovered almost 15 years later. Since then, scientists have speculated about how antimatter behaves in gravitational fields.

Join Fazale 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. Chimp Tactical Behavior Researchers from the Tai Chimpanzee Project operating out of the Ivory Coast recently reported that chimpanzees make use of high ground to gain tactical information about rival groups. This is the first time that this human-like behavior has been observed in other animals. According to these researchers this behavior requires advanced cognitive skills and provides insight into humanity’s evolutionary origins. What do these observations say about human uniqueness and human exceptionalism? Do human beings only differ in degree, not kind, from the Great Apes? In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses this impressive study and engages these challenging questions. New Big Bang Test Astronomers used the SIBELIUS DARK computer simulation to test the predictions of the standard LCDM big bang

Ken discusses the background and influence of his early apologetics books | Help us to reveal God in science by supporting Reasons to Believe at: support.reasons.org?source=OLPDCSTAP

Join Fazale 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.   Origin of Composite Genes A team of investigators from the University of Nottingham in the UK has demonstrated that composite genes make up about 5 percent of the gene groups in animal genomes. When viewed from an evolutionary framework, these composite genes don’t appear to have accrued gradually in animal genomes but instead arose in bursts at times that correlate with evolutionary innovation. As it turns out, about 40 percent of composite genes appear to have had multiple independent evolutionary origins.   In this episode, biochemist Fazale Rana discusses this remarkable study and explores what this new insight means for evolutionary and creation models.   RESOURCES:  Bursts of Novel Composite Gene Families at Major Nodes in Animal Evolution Additional Resource: Fazale Rana, What If . . . ? Convergence