Evolutonists can create Soap Scum, but for Life you need a Creator!

David Deamer is one of the world’s foremost research scientists studying abiogenesis, or how biological life could arise by itself. In 2006, Deamer thought he would improve upon Stanley Miller's famous 1953 experiment, by starting with with an idealized source of chemicals of his own choosing. It is rather humorous that Deamer named his article, “Self-assembly processes in the prebiotic environment.” The only thing assembled in this experiment was soap scum! Indeed, God gives clear testimony of Himself that He alone is the creator of life.

(Selections from Timothy R. Stout, "The Testimony of Soap Scum," published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 17, Number 3, May/June 2012, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2003%20for%20web.pdf)

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)

David Deamer is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is one of the world’s foremost research scientists studying abiogenesis, or how biological life could arise from inorganic matter through natural processes.

In 2006, Deamer decided to go beyond Stanley Miller's famous experiment. In 1953 Miller mixed water vapor, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen in a spark chamber, and actually ended up producing a unusable types of amino acids, tar, fatal molecules, too much hydrogen, and a 50/50 mix of both the useless right-handed amino acids and their left-handed counterparts (see "Primordial Soup" - Actually a Most Toxic Brew)

Deamer thought he would improve upon Miller's results, by starting with with an idealized source of chemicals of his own choosing, at the ratios with each other he believed would be most conducive to achieving positive results, and at concentrations that he hoped might produce reportable results. If any scenario should demonstrate realistic progress towards abiogenesis, it seems that this would be it.



Boiling pools investigated in
(a) Kamchatka and (b) Mt Lassen sites.
Note the depression at the lower edge
of the Kamchatka pool that indicates
one of the clay sampling sites.
Scale bar, 25cm.

His team conducted the experiments in geothermal volcanic aquifers at both the Russian Kamchatka and Mt Lassen in California. They added a defined set of primary molecular constituents of life to the hot springs. This included four amino acids (glycine, L-alanine, Laspartic acid and L-valine, 1 g each), four nucleobases (adenine, cytosine, guanine and uracil, 1 g each) sodium phosphate (3 g), glycerol (2 g) and myristic acid (1.5 g). The idea was that in a natural setting this ideal set of chemicals would automatically react with one another in the direction of life.

Surprising results

Deamer's research team was surprised at the results:

A white scum appeared in the Kamchatka pool within minutes of adding the organic mixture. The precipitate is probably a mixed iron and aluminum soap, which would remove the fatty acid as a potential reactant.

The phosphate and added amino acids were below detectable limits in minutes to hours.

The observation that organic compounds were below detection limits so rapidly was surprising.

The origin of life in a natural setting would have had a variety of possible fates other than those observed in a laboratory setting, where pure compounds react in glass containers.

Deamer is one of the foremost biochemists in the world. Yet, he was still unprepared for how much harsher a natural environment is than a laboratory setting. He effectively acknowledged that there can be all kinds of unexpected glitches that would be capable of thwarting abiogenesis in a natural setting.

Naturally occurring roadblocks have so far thwarted every effort to provide a clear, successful demonstration of an advance in abiogenesis at any stage. This is true even with all of the advantages
of a “laboratory setting, where pure compounds react in glass containers.” How much more in the wild, where Deamer demonstrated even worse results.

Deamer had yet another unexpected result. Many articles have been written proposing clay surfaces as a means of concentrating monomers such as amino acids and nucleotides in order to promote their concatenation into proteins and nucleic acids. The clay served to isolate the molecules attached to it, not force them together. This is not what was supposed to happen!

It is rather humorous that Deamer named his article, “Self-assembly processes in the prebiotic environment.” The only thing assembled in this experiment was soap scum. This does not bode well for those who are staking their eternal destiny on the validity of abiogenesis. Indeed, God gives clear testimony of Himself by His creation. This testimony is so clear that He considers a person who does not receive it to be without excuse.

Reference

Deamer, D., S. Singaram, S. Rajamani, V. Kompanichenko, and S. Guggenheim. 2006. Self-assembly processes in the prebiotic environment. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 361:1809–1818.

Filipino Christians Reaching the Least-Reached

Filipino believers Serena* and Chesa* had been reluctant to minister among the mountain tribes at first. “The people are too resistant,” they explained. Left unspoken were their fears about working in an area of the Philippines where conflict with Muslim rebel tribes has resulted in blood feuds, kidnappings and intimidation. Nevertheless, they and other students at the Life Resources Foundation traveled to these Muslim tribal areas, bringing their newly acquired agricultural and teaching skills and a readiness to share truth as they served the impoverished people.

Since 2002, the Life Resources Foundation (LRF) has been serving the evangelical church in the Philippines by training committed Filipino believers to plant churches cross-culturally among least-reached Muslims in their own country. Its two-year residential training program combines formal Biblical training, mentorships and hands-on ministry experience with vocational training. This unique combination prepares students to meet the practical needs in these Muslim communities through agriculture, literacy and community health.

At the LRF, experienced Christar workers equip the church planters of tomorrow, not only with theological knowledge, but also with practical skills. These skills open doors for them to address spiritual needs among isolated and resistant Muslim tribal areas where men, women and children live with little hope of ever knowing the good news of Jesus.

Instead of the resistance they expected, when Serena and Chesa visited the mountain tribe, the imam (a Muslim religious leader) invited these two students to live long term among his people and teach the children! He was concerned about the lack of education among the children in his community, and Serena and Chesa were able to meet that need. Now LRF graduates, they live, work and share the gospel among this least-reached Muslim tribe.

There are 13 communities of least-reached Muslims on or near the island of Mindanao in the Southern Philippines. All desperately need to hear the good news of Christ. Together these groups number over 5 million individuals who have no gospel witness in their own language and culture. These communities also have significant physical needs: 30 percent fall below the poverty line, and almost 6,000 people die prematurely every year due to water pollution, poor sanitation and poor hygiene. The need for church-planting teams among the least-reached in Mindanao is staggering—far greater than the handful of Christar missionaries there can meet alone. However, though the Life Resources Foundation, Christar partners with the existing evangelical church in the Philippines, training Filipino men and women to plant churches in these difficult areas.

Since 2002, 70 men and women have graduated from the LRF, and we praise God that LRF graduates are currently sharing the good news of Christ with eight of the 13 Muslim people groups on or near the island of Mindanao. The Lord has used the financial support of churches and individuals to prepare Filipino believers for ministry that multiplies, establishing His church in areas where, just a few years ago, no one had heard the good news. Would you prayerfully consider how He could you use you as well, by praying or giving toward the ministry of the LRF?

(Reposted from Christar, for FAQ and more info on LRF, see http://christar.org/life-resource-foundation.html)

Methane lakes on Saturn's moon? Young creation yet again...

Planetary scientists think they have detected a lake filled with methane on Saturn’s moon Titan, as reported in the scientific journal Nature.¹


An artist imagines
methane lakes on Titan.

Nature pointed out that scientists are puzzled how any methane could still remain after the presumed 4.5 billion years of Titan’s existence, given that a methane lake like this must be replenished within a ten-thousand year time scale!

Marko comments: It is much easier to explain if we accept that God created the Earth and the planets of our solar system within the last ten thousand years, as taught in God's own word to us, the Bible.

(excerted from David Copperedge, "Titan Lake News: Throwing Caution to the Wind", Creation Evolution Headlines, June 15, 2012. Also published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 17, Number 3, May/June 2012, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2003%20for%20web.pdf)

Let's consider these scientists' conclusion in the Nature article:

General circulation models demonstrate that long-lasting tropical lakes several metres deep must be replenished, depending on the ethane content, within a ten-thousand-year timescale. Taken together, tropical lakes and studies of Titan’s lakes suggest that, currently, subterranean liquid supplies methane to Titan’s surface and atmosphere. A supply of on average 6 × 10⁻⁴ kg m⁻² yr⁻¹ is needed to explain the composition of Titan’s atmosphere, because methane, the progenitor of the moon’s organic species, is destroyed in 10–100 million years through solar ultraviolet photolysis. More observations are needed to determine whether this 4.5-billion-year-old moon is undergoing a specific recent flourish of geological activity, because it is freezing and its orbit decaying.

What that last sentence implies is that scientists are being forced by the evidence to consider special conditions – “a specific recent flourish of geological activity” – to account for the presence of methane on Titan at all. At most, the methane on this bizarre moon would all be gone in 100 million years, one fortieth the assumed age of Titan, unless it were constantly being supplied from somewhere. Underground reservoirs might provide a convenient (unobservable) hiding place for the stockpile, but that solution arouses geological puzzles about how deep the methane would need to be, how it would form, and how it could erupt onto the surface. Added to that are indications that since Titan is freezing and its orbit is decaying, there should be less geological activity, not more.

Secular scientists are generally reluctant to invoke any “specific recent flourish” of activity occurring right at the time humans are around to observe it. Why now, and not throughout Titan’s lifetime?

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)

References

1. Caitlin A. Griffith et al, Possible tropical lakes on Titan from observations of dark terrain, Nature 486, 14 June 2012, pp. 237–239, doi:10.1038/nature11165.

Attacked for good works by a Muslim mob

Narsbek was invited by the school principle and several village leaders to distribute Samaritan’s Purse shoe boxes in his home village of Ak-Kyia in Kyrgyzstan.

As his team they greeted the principal and other leaders, the village mullah (mosque leader) appeared with his students in tow. He ordered the group to stop the distribution immediately. Instead, the principal directed the team to move their vehicles on to the school yard, and the mullah left.

Narsbek.

But a few moments later, he reappeared, this time with a group of about 20 young zealots with him. The mob shouted “Allahu Akbar” and rushed in to pummel the visiting Christians, flinging rocks through the air. They grabbed Narsbek and his brother-in-law, Marazat, pinning them to the ground to beat them. Narsbek was hit in the back of the head with a rock, and another attacker clenched his hands around his throat.

“At that moment, I remembered how I used to encourage the young in faith to persevere even when it hurts. This was my test,” Narsbek said. As he felt himself about to lose consciousness, he prepared himself to meet Jesus.

Unexpectedly, the grip on his neck loosened. His slight wife had fought through the mêlée to reach her husband and her brother and surprised them into releasing their holds. Narsbek and his wife scrambled through the crowd to reach their minivan. They slammed the vehicle into gear and drove out in a shower of rocks that damaged all but the minivan’s windshield. Marazat and the other two team members also fled in the second vehicle, though the attackers pursued them for several kilometers.

The remaining zealots collected the Samaritan’s Purse shoe boxes and burned them in the school yard in front of the students and school staff.

The distribution team notified local authorities of the incident, which occurred on April 11, 2012, but police took no action. Narsbek and Marazat were both treated at the hospital, but Narsbek still has remaining damage to his right eye, as well as reoccurring headaches. His wife has been under constant stress since the incident.

The man who attacked them was same person who managed to put Narsbek in prison 14 years ago after he became a believer. He claimed Narsbek was injecting people with a special drug, then “programming” them to become Christians. He even produced a false witness, and Narsbek spent a year in prison. For his zeal in the fight against infidels, the mullah was promoted.

Narsbek decided to file a case against the mullah to prompt authorities to act, but even that didn’t get results until Narsbek and his family got a lawyer from another city to come speak to the local state attorney, police and village leaders. The lawyer reminded the local officials that Kyrgystan’s new president had stated it was important not to have conflict over ethnic or religious issues and that the country’s laws must be followed.

The case is of crucial importance for all Christians in Kyrgyzstan, who risk beatings or even death by local extremists even though they are officially protected by the law.

Kyrgyzstan’s laws do promise to uphold religious freedom, but in practice these laws are not always followed. Believers face property destruction, intimidation and physical harm regularly. The 2009 Religion Law requires churches to seek registration, which is often denied. A proposed amendment to the law would further limit and censor any religious literature imported, stored or distributed in the country.

It appears that Narsbek’s case will go all the way to the country’s Supreme Court. Narsbek wrote, “We are pushing this case not for our own benefit, but so that everyone will feel safe and not afraid of being beaten or killed because of their religion. People… are very afraid to think about following Jesus. … Please pray that justice would reign and that there would be freedom, and not fear, in following Jesus.”

The team has not been able to continue their work for the last three weeks because they have to be available to the prosecutor’s office. They are thankful for their bold lawyer, as well as others who are supporting them in prayer. “Without your prayers and encouragement and letters, we would not have had the strength to continue,” said Narsbek.

(reposted from Kyrgyzstan: Team Attacked, Voice of the Martyrs, July 9, 2012)

Helium atoms in Zircon minerals point to a young creation

Yes, zircon minerals have lots of lead produced by Uranium decay that by today's rates occurs extremely slowly, over billions of years. But zircons also have a lot of helium atoms, that are lightweight, fast-moving, and not chemically sticky. They remain in microscopic zircons for only thousands of years before escaping. So these "ancient" rocks must be only thousands of years old! Here is a yet another sign that our world is young, and supports what the Bible says: "in six days God made the heavens an the earth" (Exodus 20:11)

(reposted from D. Russell Humphreys, "Zircons: God’s Tiny Nuclear Laboratories,"  published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 17, Number 3, May/June 2012, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2012/CM17%2003%20for%20web.pdf)

(To receive new uMarko posts via a daily email, please click Subscribe)

This looks like a good time to re-tell the story of zircons and radioactivity since, after seven years of publicity about the RATE project [see reference], there are still some people who haven’t yet appreciated this marvelous evidence for creation. I say “marvelous” because it seems as if God esigned zircons as microscopic nuclear laboratories specifically to show some of the amazing things He did with radioactivity.

How did lead get inside zircon crystals? Evolutionists claim that there was no lead present during the creation of the crystals, and that the lead which is present is a result of radioactive decay of Uranium 238, which has a half-life of 4.46 billion years. They argue that if the earth were only 6,000 years old, there would not be as much lead present in the zircon crystals as is currently found.

Retelling the story

When zircons form, they chemically attract
uranium atoms and chemically reject lead
atoms. Afterward, the uranium decays,
depositing both lead and helium within the
crystal.

First, in molten granitic rock today, there are lots of silicon and oxygen ions (electrically charged atoms), and some zirconium, uranium, and lead ions (as well as many other types of ion). As the melt cools, the first crystals to start forming are zirconium silicate, or zircon (ZrSiO4), because zircon has the highest melting point of all the minerals common in granite. Each zirconium ion has a +4 electric charge, giving it four chemical “hooks” with which it grabs onto the silicon and oxygen ions surrounding it, to start laying down a crystal lattice.

However, the uranium ions in the molten rock also have a +4 electric charge and four chemical hooks, and they are only about 20% larger than the zirconium ions. So, as a uranium ion floats by a zircon lattice that is forming, the lattice will often reach out (electrostatically), grab the uranium ion, and stick it into the place where a zirconium ion would normally go. As the crystal forms, it will have uranium ions distributed throughout it, often in up to 4% of the normally-zirconium sites. In fact, most of the uranium in crustal granites is concentrated in zircons.

Getting the lead out

But what about the lead ions in the molten rock? It turns out that the most common type of lead ion has only +2 electric charge (only two chemical hooks) and is more than 40% larger than a zirconium ion. (There is another type of lead ion that has +4 charge and is about the same size as a zirconium ion, but at the temperature of the molten rock it is much less common than the first type.) This makes it difficult for the lead +2 ion to fit into the lattice, so the lattice rejects it. Laboratory experiments with zircons forming in lead-enriched molten rock show that the zircons absorb very little of the lead.

Thus, zircons forming naturally will start out containing a lot of uranium and very little lead. Most of the uranium is the most common uranium isotope, uranium 238.

However, it turns out that zircons in pre-Cambrian granites have quite a bit of lead, almost all of it being lead 206, the isotope descended from uranium 238 decay. Relatively little of the lead isotope that is not descended from nuclear decay, lead 204, is in the zircons. (If there are significant
amounts of thorium 232 in the zircon, then significant amounts of its descendant, lead 208, will be there also. Lead 207, the descendant of the relatively scarce uranium 235, is also in zircons in small amounts.)

Zircon is also a very hard crystal with a tight lattice, so once it has solidified, very little uranium and lead can enter or leave it.

Helium for the ages

Lastly, of course, there is the helium produced by uranium decay. It is there in the zircons, in large mounts — consistent with the amount one would expect from the amount of lead 206 in the zircon if it were produced by nuclear decay. Helium atoms, being lightweight, fast-moving, and not chemically sticky, would depart from microscopic zircons in only thousands of years. The fact that helium is STILL THERE is the conundrum for long-agers upon which the RATE project team seized.

It follows that the only answer to the original question (how does lead get into the crystals?) which I can imagine is this: most of the lead — on the order of a billion years’ worth at today's decay rates — got into the zircons by nuclear decay of the uranium 238 that was in the zircons from their beginning. Yet we know from Scripture that there were only thousands of years available for the decay to take place. So billions of years worth of decay took place within thousands of years ... accelerated
nuclear decay! The young helium diffusion ages we got for RATE’s zircons confirm that.

Marko comments: The Bible says that "scoffers will come, and will say, 'everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.'" (2 Peter 3:4) Mainstream scientists would say that radioactivity is included here - that the half life decay time of atoms like Uranium 238 has always been 4.46 billion years. This helium evidence from the RATE project shows the contrary, the decay time was much much faster only a few thousand years ago. Wow, this is when the Bible indicates God created the heavens and the earth!

Reference

Humphreys, D.R. 2005. Young helium diffusion age of zircons supports accelerated nuclear decay,
ch. 2 of Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, Volume II, Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, L. Vardiman, A. A. Snelling, and E. F. Chaffin, editors, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, AZ, pp. 25-100. Archived at:
www.icr.org/i/pdf/technical/Young-Helium-Diffusion-Age-of-Zircons.pdf.