Oh deer, mice!

A classic example of evolution in action has just been identified.

Deer mice living on the sand hills of Nabraska have gone for a new colour in their hair. The sand hills have a distinctive colouration compared to the soil around them and these mice have evolved to blend in. Seeing as the sand hills are relatively recent – possibly only 8000 years old – this adaptation to evade predators has occurred reasonably quickly.

What’s really clever about this research is that it has worked out the genetic mechanism that has brought it about. The light colour is all due to the amount of pheomelanin in the hair. The gene largely responsible for pheomelanin is called Agouti. The researchers noticed in the laboratory that in the pale mice there were 7 differences in the coding area of the gene when compared with the darker mice. These changes lead to 2 differences in the amino acids that are produced (genes are codes that programme sequences of amino acids that in turn are built together into proteins). On closer examination in the wild it was found that one of these changes (a serine deletion) was responsible for the paler colour.

The beauty of this is that it demonstrates the whole process of evolution so neatly. We have a random genetic mutation producing a real survival benefit. Natural selection has seen to it that this change has been able to sweep through the whole population of mice in those sand hils.

Aluminium Clocks

Isotopes are one of the main methods of dating materials. Just one example is Aluminium - which exists in the 2 isotopes of Al-27 and Al-26.

The idea is quite simple. In the beginning you start off with Al-27 but gradually over time this becomes Al-26. The rate at which this happens is constant, so if you measure the relative amounts of the 2 isotopes then you have a good idea of how old the sample is.

Aluminium is more complicated because Al-26 actually then decays to Mg-26 (with a half life of 0.73 million years), but evidence from chondrites (the most common form of meteorite) suggests that Aluminium was found consistently around our solar system in its early days (at a ratio of 10%). This is important because it confirms that it is useful as a chronometer.

In turn we can again be confident that our universe is indeed very, very old.

Biblical contradictions

The website of the American Atheists has a list of contradictions that it claims show how the Bible is not the inspired word of God. Here's an example:

ON CIRCUMCISION

"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised." -- Genesis 17:10

"...if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." -- Galatians 5:2

This is a classic example of someone who simply doesn't understand the message and most likely hasn't even tried to understand the message.

In the Law of Moses Jewish boys were required to be circumcised in keeping with the promises made with Abraham (as quoted above). In the New Testament believers are told that there is no need to be circumcised NOT because circumcision is wrong, but because the teaching of Christ goes beyond it.

In Galatians Paul is talking to people who were rejecting the teachings of Christ and going backwards. That's why he said what he said. Th fact is that Jesus said that he didn't come to destroy the Law of Moses - but to fulfil it, and that Paul in some circumstances actually went and carried out circumcision! So the contradiction is not a real one.

Harmonising those two passages is very straight-forward but only if you're actually interested in doing so. Seek and you will find. Close your eyes and all you'll find is the inside of your eyelids.

In spite of all this...

Tempting though it is to look at animal behaviour and make it human, the comparison may not always be accurate. The problem is, for example, how can we really know what’s going on behind those big dark eyes of man’s best friend?

Having said that some examples nicely illustrate how human morality is so different to anything else in the animal kingdom. A recent study of Chimpanzees highlights this.

The idea of ‘punishment’ is important in social groups because it is an aid to cooperation. If bad behaviour is punished then good behaviour, that helps the group, is encouraged. This might look like morality but at root it’s just a sophisticated form of selfish protectionism.

‘Spite’ is something different. Spite is just punishment for the sake of it i.e. without any positive outcome attached to it.

In this study one chimpanzee was given access to food whilst another chimpanzee had no access to it but instead was able to reach a rope that knocked over the table of food and took it away from both of them. After setting up some suitable controls the researchers found that the chimps didn’t knock the food over out of spite. They then did a second study where the second chimp was allowed to have some of the food before it was given to the first. When the chimp perceived there being a theft they were quick to pull the rope and punish the bad behaviour.

The conclusion? Whilst chimps can be vengeful and punish anti-social behaviour they are not spiteful. This is a peculiarly human behaviour.

Humans are alone in having the freedom to think about and choose our behaviours. We use this freedom for better and for worse, for good and for evil. We are quite willing to act spitefully – even at a cost to ourselves – but thankfully we are also willing to give at a cost too. The choice is ours. The inspiration is Christ.

He also made the stars...

Okay, so this is astrophysics and I understand little but it sounds awesome!

This picture is of an area of space where stars are being formed. The shell in the white box has been expanding for something less than one million years. Around it hydrogen is condensed to a density great enough to create new stars - in fact, where it is densest scientists have located 'two young stellar objects in early evolutionary stages'.

It's the expansion of the shell region that triggers the formation of the stars. The Bible tells us that God made the stars - and not in a way that implies he just 'got the ball rolling' either:

'He also made the stars.'
Genesis 1 v 16

He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power
his understanding has no limit.
Psalm 147 v 4, 5

So we must conclude that God is working through these natural processes. He is not separate from them and doesn't rely on supernatural actions to intervene. That's the kind of creationism I believe in.

All a big Hox

‘Water striders’ don’t hit the headlines very often, but a recent paper about them grabbed my attention. These semi-aquatic insects have adapted to their skating lifestyle with an increase in the size of their middle legs so they can be used as oars, whilst the hind legs have become shorter to act like rudders.

During their development one of the key players in determining all this is the Hox gene Ultrabithorax. A recent study showed that it is the slightly different ways that this gene is expressed during development (both in the timing and also the site of expression) that brings about these changes.

It is often surprising how significant structural differences can be brought about by tinkering with this type of gene.

Through one man...

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
V 12

So death is a result of sin and in particularly the sin of Adam. Yet one thing that the fossil record shows clearly is that the act of dying had been going on for a long time before Adam was around, so how should we understand this?

In this passage Adam is being used in a representational way. We know this because, well, for one thing Adam wasn’t the first person to sin - Eve nipped in there before him (as Paul highlights in 1 Tim 2 v 14).

So Adam is the representational ‘one man’ through whom sin came into the world. It’s worth recognising here that sin is the choice to do the wrong thing. As Adam and Eve where the first creatures to have a relationship with God, to know him and to know his will, it makes sense that they were the first to be able to choose to go a different way - sin.

The passage in Romans goes on to elaborate how Adam was a ‘type’ of the one who was to come. This is why he is again paired up with Jesus (see also here). The thinking moves on as follows:

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
V 17

Paul is using Adam to help us understand the significance of Christ. All who are saved are saved through the Lord Jesus. What’s interesting is that this must therefore include those who were born before Jesus existed. Other passages reveal this to be true.

This then helps us understand how death could have existed before Adam. God creates things in anticipation. He created a world where death is the only certainty of life in anticipation of Adam’s sin. He also brought salvation to men in anticipation of the work of Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous… so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
V 18 - 21

Before the Cambrian...

It is well known that during the Cambrian period (starting around 540 million years ago) there was an 'explosion' of different forms of life, traits of which can still be seen in the world today. But what came before?

The answer is the creatures of the Ediacara era. Simple multicellular organisms without mouth (or anus!), sponges and the like.

In Radio 4's In Our Time a panel of experts discuss the biota, the climate that influenced it and many other factors. It's a fascinating program and well worth giving a listen if you've got a spare 45 minutes.

The secret place...

My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Psalm 139 v 15

This verse from one of David's most famous Psalms is another example of how the idea of being created from the dust can be a metaphor for the natural process. The 'earth' described here is the same word used in the opening chapter of Genesis where we read that 'God called the dry land Earth'.

So is David saying that he came into being in some mysterious location near earth's molten core? Of course not:

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
V 13

It's a picture, and part of the wider view that describes our mortal, material existence. This is relevant to one of the scenarios by which we can understand Adam and Eve (discussed here).

On the up

Last week there was some excitement about this little fellow, Suminia getmanovi.

First some background. This creature lived around 260 million years ago and is from the synapsid group - particularly relevant for us because mammals are thought to have evolved from here. The synapsids are one of the three great groups that make up the class Reptilia and are defined by a hole in the temple area of the skull.

A small graveyard of these animals was discovered in Russia containing over a dozen individuals. The most striking revelations were features that make it likely that Suminia was arboreal – it climbed trees. As such it is the earliest example of a vertebrate that could climb.

One of the key developments surrounds the 1st digit (thumb). The ability to cling on to something like a branch requires the thumb to be flexible enough to be opposable to the other fingers. Suminia has this together with longer limbs and potentially a prehensile tail.

The paper is here.