News to Note, December 18, 2010

1. Does Math Prove Evolution?

A new mathematical model “has offered even more evidence of the correctness of evolutionary theory.” So how does math “prove” evolution?

2. Evolutionists: Life Evolved Somewhere Else in the Universe

Evolutionists “know” life evolved on earth, and since earth “can’t be” unique (they say), life must have evolved elsewhere in the universe. So where is ET hiding?

3. Aliens in Other Universes

So what if we can’t find alien life in our own universe (see item )? Maybe aliens exist in the next universe over.

4. Magi from China?

Might the Magi have said, “您好, baby Jesus”? Popular retellings sometimes conflate artistic flourishes with the actual scriptural account.

5. Scientist “Expelled” for Religious Views

It’s the latest case of a scientist “expelled”—or, in this case, never let in—because of his religious views.

And Don’t Miss . . .

• New evidence of water underneath the Martian surface has encouraged scientists’ thinking about how human explorers or colonizers might survive. Unsurprisingly, it has also fueled more speculation about possible underground life on Mars.
• A sad reminder of the status of the unborn child in modern society: a couple has (thankfully) decided not to have an abortion only after taking an online poll. Although there is some controversy over whether the couple genuinely intended to let the poll results determine their decision, the very notion—and the fact that someone tried to influence the vote in favor of abortion—is sickening.
• More inter-species hybrids are expected as Arctic ice melts, report PhysOrg and National Geographic News. Such hybrids as “pizzly” bears (a hybrid grizzly–polar bear) remind us of the original created kinds modern species descend from.
• Not only is the origin of life a near mystery for evolutionists, but how it could have survived the so-called “snowball earth” ice age has puzzled researchers. A new study suggests that some microbes may have survived the cold inside ice-free ocean pockets.
• Was the Flood account inspired by the “sinking” of a great floodplain into the Persian Gulf? That’s the latest hypothesis, but like other “explanations” of Noah’s Flood as local, it fails to comport with the biblical account.
• Critics of Answers in Genesis continue to misrepresent its involvement in the building of a full-size Noah’s Ark in northern Kentucky, owned by the Ark Encounter LLC (AiG will operate the attraction, the Ark Encounter). No money will be taken out of the state budget to fund its construction (see “Taxpayers Will Not Be Paying to Build the Ark Encounter”), yet certain outlets continue to make that false charge (see, for example, http://www.bipps.org/tax-breaks-to-build-an-ark-noah-way-brother/). When the Ark opens, the people who will pay any taxes related to the project will be the Ark Encounter visitors, who will pay sales tax at the attraction, and the state will rebate a portion of the sales tax back to the Ark Encounter LLC (based on meeting performance standards). Ultimately, the Ark Encounter, projected to attract 1.6 million visitors in the first year, will add millions of dollars to state coffers each year, not take away as is often misreported, and will see 14,000 people employed in jobs in the region that are generated by the Ark project (who are taxpayers themselves).