News to Note, October 10, 2009

1. Joseph's Cash Stash

Archaeologists may have found evidence for the Joseph of Genesis in Egypt, a news agency has reported.

Researchers in Egypt have discovered a cache of coins “bearing the name and image of the biblical Joseph,” the Jerusalem Post reports. The news was originally reported by Egyptian paper Al-Ahram and translated by MEMRI.

2. Indian Dino Egg Stash

Scientists have turned up dozens and dozens of dinosaur eggs in southern India, BBC News reports.

3. Faking a Fake

An Italian scientist has attempted to replicate the Shroud of Turin using materials and techniques available in the Middle Ages (when some believe the shroud was originally made).

4. Marine Life Survived Dinosaur Extinction

The line in the sand—or sediment, as the case may be—that supposedly marks the end of the dinosaurs did not mark the end of marine life.

5. Evolution Education in Michigan

A supporter sent in a fascinating article that focuses on evolution education in Michigan.

6. And Don’t Miss . . .

• Our coverage of Ardi last week made its way around the web, including the ABC News website quoting Dr. David Menton of our staff and with excerpts also showing up (among other places) in The Christian Post and at Baptist Press. Meanwhile, our comment comparing the hubbub over Ardi to the hubbub over Ida was reinforced after we noticed that the Discovery Channel already has a television show prepared on Ardi, set to air this Sunday (and heavily advertised until then).
• Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created “super-charged stem cells” that promote tissue regeneration by helping grow new blood vessels. Of note is that the stem cells were taken from the bone marrow of mice—and are thus yet another example of a stem cell therapy that doesn’t destroy human life to save it.
• Automaker Nissan has developed robots that can move together without colliding with one another, a design inspired by the behavior of fish. The same team previously developed robots that were inspired by bumblebees.
• In February we reported on the search for “alien” life on earth—not life from outer space, but rather “weird” life unlike anything else. Geomicrobiologist Felisa Wolfe-Simon of NASA Astrobiology Institute is part of the search and is studying what may be arsenic-utilizing microbes from Mono Lake, California. A report explains that if the microbes indeed use arsenic, it would mean “that Mono Lake was home to a form of life biologically distinct from all other known life [and] would strongly suggest that life got started on our planet not once, but at least twice.” While such a discovery would certainly fuel hopes for finding life on other planets, we would consider it just another example of life created for its environment.
• We’ve been covering T. rex-related news the past few weeks in News to Note, so perhaps it’s no surprise that there’s even more news: an eight-horned “cousin” of T. rex named Alioramus altai, originally dug up in the Gobi desert in 2001. And in other dinosaurian news, scientists have confirmed what are thought to be some of the largest dinosaur footprints in the world.
• Wonderful examples of good operational science are the research of the 2009 winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine. While our critics often accuse us of being anti-science, we actually strongly support science rooted in observation and experimentation, as opposed to presupposition-infused origins science that relies on unrepeatable histories and metaphysical speculation. (For more on the difference, see Science or the Bible?)
• National Geographic News shows off some stunning microscopic photography. Several of the photos are prime examples of the color that is infused in God’s creation—outright artwork, we would say.
• BBC News profiles some members of the Quiverfull movement, who embrace the Bible’s praise of children and the godly parents raising them. We are thankful for what they and all godly parents are doing to help raise up the next generation of Bible-believers. Of course, having children isn’t enough (as, we trust, those parents know); all Christian parents are called to raise up their children in the knowledge of the Lord so that they may stand on God’s Word. The book Already Gone documents the dangers of failing to do that, while Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World, Genesis of a Legacy, and other resources teach about biblically based parenting.
• Are Charles Darwin and our own Ken Ham the competing icons in the creation/evolution debate, as the photo selection of a Reuters blog entry suggests? We’re joking, of course (the post itself doesn’t even mention Ham or Answers in Genesis—just his photo [update 10/11/09: it has come to our attention that Ken’s name has recently been added to the caption]), but we are almost always happy for free Creation Museum publicity—in the hopes that more will come to learn the true history of the world and hear the life-changing message of the gospel.

Remember, if you see a news story that might merit some attention, let us know about it! (Note: if the story originates from the Associated Press, Fox News, MSNBC, New York Times or another major national media outlet, we will most likely have already heard about it.) And thanks to all of our readers who have submitted great news tips to us. If you didn’t catch last week’s News to Note, why not take a look at it now? See you next week!

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