Reflectorites
Here are excerpts from BBC, Electronic Telegraph and CNN from 18 May-6 June
2000, with my comments in square brackets.
Steve
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_778000/778413.stm BBC
... 5 June, 2000 ... Celera ready for genome announcement ... The US
company racing to produce the first "working draft" of the human genome
is understood to have finished its task. Over the past few weeks, powerful
computers at Celera Genomics have been trying to determine the exact
order of the 3bn or so individual chemical building blocks, or bases, that
make up our genetic code. ...this goal was finally achieved at the weekend.
An official announcement is expected any day from the company ... This
would pip the international team of publicly funded researchers who have
also been trying to sequence and order all the DNA contained in human
cells, and who are on schedule to make their own announcement later this
month. However, the mark is a very fuzzy finishing line. None of Celera's
data has been fully open to independent scrutiny. Furthermore, the rough
drafts of both the private and public efforts will require extensive "proof
reading". Further deep analysis will also be necessary to work out the
locations of all the genes written in the DNA. ... This is the real end goal.
The genes are the templates cells use to make the protein molecules that
build and maintain our bodies. Understanding how they all work will take
years - even decades. Some of the workings of genes may never be fully
understood. ... Scientists will eventually be able to compare and contrast
DNA from the mouse, the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and humans,
as well as other animals such as the dog and chicken. Celera finished
mapping Drosophila melanogaster in March and believe as many as 60% of
the fly's genes will be found in human beings. This science, comparative
genomics, is expected to open many new areas of research into the way
genes work and the role they play in disease." [It is interesting that the
closer they get to sequencing the human genome, the more cautious are the
assessments of its immediate usefulness!]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_779000/779707.stm BBC
... 6 June, 2000 ... Black holes blow as well as suck Bubbles of hot gas
shoot from a giant black hole ...Astronomers have seen a giant black hole
blowing huge bubbles of hot gas. The supermassive black hole resides in
what has long been considered a peculiar galaxy because of its unusual
shape. Given the designation NGC 4438, the galaxy is in the Virgo cluster,
50 million light-years from Earth. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images
of the galaxy's central region show a bubble rising from a dark band of
dust. Another bubble comes from below the dust band and is just visible as
dim red blobs in the close-up picture of the galaxy's core. The bubbles are
made of hot gas. They are caused when material, initially drawn towards
the black hole, is blown out again in opposite directions. The twin jets of
matter sweep away all material in their paths. The jets eventually collide
with a wall of dense, slow-moving gas. The collision produces the glowing
material. ... black holes in small galaxies went relatively undernourished,
weighing in at a mere few million solar masses....Black holes in the centres
of giant galaxies however, some over one billion solar masses, were so
engorged with gas they once blazed as quasars, the brightest objects in the
cosmos. "This supports the original theory of how black holes got their
masses. It suggests that the major events that made a galaxy and the ones
that made its black hole shine as a quasar were the same events," ...
Though this secret relationship between a black hole and its host galaxy has
been suspected for the past several years, it is bolstered by the Hubble
discovery of 10 more supermassive black holes in galaxy centres, raising
the total to more than 30 black holes now available for study. "For the first
time we can put strong constraints on the relationship between galaxy
formation and black hole formation and growth,".... [A satisfying tie-up
between black holes and quasars.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=LlLGdNLd&atmo=ttttllSd &pg=/et/00/5/31/nsec31.html
Electronic Telegraph ... 31 May 2000. Poll boost for Section 28 ... THE
government in Scotland suffered a humiliating defeat in Britain's first
privately funded referendum yesterday after more than one million Scots
voted to retain Section 28, the law that bans the promotion of
homosexuality in schools. Ministers dismissed the ballot, funded by Brian
Souter, the multi-millionaire Stagecoach owner, as "a glorified opinion
poll" and "chequebook democracy". But it will increase pressure on Tony
Blair to back down in his fight to abolish the legislation in England. ... With
87 per cent of the poll's respondents opposing repeal, Scottish ministers are
under pressure to offer further concessions, including legally binding
safeguards and a greater emphasis on the importance of marriage. Mr
Souter's referendum, arranged in an attempt to prove to the executive that
it was at odds with public opinion, sent ballot papers to all of Scotland's 3.9
million voters. It asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the repeal of
Section 28. Of the 1,272,202 ballot papers returned, 1,094,000 voted to
retain the clause, while 166,406 voted to abolish it. The response was 32
per cent, higher than the turnout in European elections, local council
elections and the London mayoral election. More people opposed repeal
than voted for Labour at last year's Scottish Parliament elections. ...
Although it has no legal status, the result is a blow to the Prime Minister
following the Government's defeat over Section 28 in the Lords. In March
a cross-party coalition of peers defeated Mr Blair's proposals for replacing
Section 28 in England and Wales with new guidelines for sex education in
schools. The Lords endorsed a Tory amendment that would force the
Government to put a greater emphasis on the importance of marriage. ...
Labour, Liberal Democrat and crossbench peers joined forces with Tories
to block abolition. Mr Blair let it be known that he was no longer willing to
compromise. He plans to use his powers to appoint extra Labour peers to
give the Government the majority it needs to win in the Lords. ... Mr
Souter said he would drop his campaign if the importance of marriage were
stressed in teaching and said the "moderate" demands had already been
conceded by Westminster. He said: "Holyrood is now looking isolated and
extreme." [Probably off-topic, but it does shows that adherence to
traditional `Christian' morality is not yet dead among ordinary people, who
may not have had the `value' of a materialist university education, even if it
may be dead among most politicians and bureaucrats who have!]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_769000/769915.stm BBC
... 30 May, 2000 ...Listen to public, says Dolly scientist ... The leading
genetic scientist involved in the cloning of Dolly the Sheep has called on his
colleagues to take note of public concerns about the progress of genetic
science. Professor Ian Wilmut led a team at the Roslin Institute near
Edinburgh that led to the birth of Dolly, the first cloned mammal, in 1996.
She was revealed to the public following year. Speaking at a seminar on
public confidence in biomedical science at the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
Prof Wilmut warned there was a danger in missing scientific opportunities
because of public fears and misunderstandings. He said research projects
should continue to be innovative and ambitious or there would be a "real
danger" of missed opportunities. But he added: "We must deal with the
public's concerns in order to get their support, not only through charitable
donations but also in Parliament in supporting their MPs. ... "There should
be very ambitious research projects and we should not be at all shy or
embarrassed about that. You are much more likely to find something new
and interesting if you are looking where no one has looked before." "But
decisions on techniques and treatments cannot be left to those directly
involved, such as scientists, doctors, patients and family, because they are
too closely involved. "Rather society, through informed public opinion
should provide a framework for these decisions." Prof Wilmut told the
conference there was a "clear obligation" on the academic and commercial
communities to explain their research objectives, their potential value and
any risks associated with them. ... [A rebuff to the arrogant we-know-best
attitude of Steve Jones (the other) and Dawkins from a *real* scientist!]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_768000/768736.stm BBC
... 29 May, 2000 ... Call for ban on GM humans ... The genetic
modification of human beings should be banned until more is known about
the science, according to a leading genetic scientist. Eric Lander, who is
director of the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, said there was nothing stopping scientists experimenting but
he would be "appalled" if they did. ... During a lecture, sponsored by
Nature magazine, at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival in Powys, mid-Wales,
he said the ban need not necessarily be permanent. But, he said, it should
be kept in place until more is known about what is involved. "At present
there is nothing stopping anyone from doing this type of thing," he said.
"But I would be appalled to wake up and find that someone had produced
the first genetically-modified child. "We should ban the genetic
modification of humans for now, with the understanding that we would still
be able to come back to the issue later." ... Professor Lander - whose
institute has been responsible for 30% of the results in the Human Genome
Project which is studying the genetic makeup of human beings - said the
first draft of the human genome sequence would be published this autumn.
The project, he added, was the biological equivalent of the chemical table
of elements. "Just as the table of elements completely changed our
understanding of chemistry, when you know all the components (of the
human genome) and the complex relationships between them, it changes
everything," he explained. Mr Lander said explained that the "revolution"
in the understanding of biological processes resulting from the project was
already being used in world-wide laboratories every day. ... [Ah. Hay-on-
Wye. The nearest thing to heaven on Earth. The GM story is interesting
too! :-)]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3m38uKmM&atmo=rrrrrr Gq&pg=/et/00/5/25/ecrlab25.html
Electronic Telegraph 25.05.00 ... View from the lab: What Charles can
learn from Darwin Professor Steve Jones on how Charles Darwin can put
Prince Charles straight on GM crops CHARLES DARWIN, that prince
among scientists, spent long hours playing a bassoon to his plants. Charles
Windsor - a prince among, well, princes - would no doubt approve: what
could be more in harmony with nature than to eat organic oatmeal biscuits
to the sound of a wind ensemble, and if one can hug trees, surely one might
with equal profit serenade them? Darwin ("evolution" - quotes our future
ruler - "is a man-made theory to explain the origin and continuance of life
on this planet without reference to a creator") was not searching for his
inner self or that of his leafy friends, but doing an experiment (a pastime
not much appreciated by the heir to the throne). It led, oddly enough,
straight to the world of high-tech agriculture that Prince Charles so
deplores... Plant hormones are today used as weedkillers and the touch
genes themselves may soon be engineered to give fruits that fall from the
tree in a breath of wind as soon as they are ripe. The green movement
would, of course, disapprove; and perhaps all this - to quote our Prince -
just reduces the natural world to nothing more than a mechanical process.
But is there not something magical about these impenetrable layers of
scientific rationalism; about how calmodulins connect bassoons with bonsai
and pattering rain with beating hearts? Why turn to mere romance in the
vain search for a guiding hand? ... Biology cannot answer that question or
others like it: but Shelley filled his Oxford room with crucibles and
chemicals (which hints at why his sister wrote a book so useful to those
who decry Frankenstein foods). He saw no contradiction between the
world of the spirit and that of science and would have been delighted to
learn that cooling passions are indeed linked to falling leaves. And might
the Prince himself be dissuaded from his mystical meanderings by the
discovery that if you hug a tree you stunt its growth? [Did Prince Charles
really say "evolution...is a man-made theory to explain the origin and
continuance of life on this planet without reference to a creator"? Sounds
like he has been reading Phil Johnson! The arrogance of the scientific
materialist spirit shows in Jones' this sarcastic reply. That scientific
materialists have had some success in finding out how the material world
works, is granted. But from a Christian theistic viewpoint they are
*discovering* the laws of the Creator, not making them. Jones and his
Darwinist ilk seem to think that such discovery entitles them as a modern-
day priesthood to ride rough-shod over the values of others who don't
share their materialist philosophy.]
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/05/25/mars.meteorite/index.html
CNN ... Rare Mars meteorite discovered in Middle East ... May 25, 2000
.... (CNN) -- A meteorite hunter combing the deserts of Oman found a
stone thought to have originated on Mars. Of the 20,000 known meteorite
discoveries, the brownish gray stone is only the 15th identified as coming
from the red planet, scientists said this week. ... The rock has chemical
similarities to a Mars meteorite found in Antarctica in 1984, which some
NASA researchers said exhibits fossilized signs of microscopic life. ... "I
understand about 800 grams (28 ounces) of it will on the market soon" ...
Called the Dhofar 019, the 1,056-gram (37-ounce) stone seems to be made
of martian basalt. It was picked up in the Dhofar region of the Sultanate of
Oman, which occupies the eastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Oman's
diverse geography includes beaches and mountains and the type of barren
stretches that attract meteorite hunters. "Desert regions seems to be good
regions because things stand out like a sore thumb..." [I wonder if NASA
will want to study this one for signs of Martian life?]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=fqf033ls&atmo=mmmm mmQR&pg=/et/00/5/18/ecfear18.html
Electronic Telegraph 18.05.00 ... Eyes, ears - and brains A young brain's
ability to adapt is enormous ... WHEN a young animal's brain is "rewired",
so that visual signals are directed to the part dedicated to hearing, it is able
to see with the mind's ear. The discovery provides a striking example of
how the brain is moulded by early influences, demonstrating that, in
principle, a person who has damage to the vision centres of the brain - the
visual cortex - could obtain limited vision by routing nerves from the eye to
new brain centres. In practice, much work remains to be done to
understand the development of brain pathways before even contemplating
this kind of rewiring, which would work only in a very young brain which
is more "plastic". Although the auditory cortex successfully interpreted
information from the eyes of animals in the study, it did not do the job as
well as the visual cortex would have, suggesting that while the brain's
ability to adapt is enormous, it is limited by genetic programming. The
study demonstrates that brain areas will take on new functions if new
inputs are provided early in development. ... Instead, the brain can be
shaped by stimulation. "This is a profound discovery that addresses age-old
questions about whether the brain is genetically programmed or shaped by
the environment," ... "This provides dramatic evidence of the ability of the
developing brain to adapt to changes in the external environment, and
speaks to the enormous potential and plasticity of the cerebral cortex - the
seat of our highest abilities." Research indicates that the visual cortex in
people who are blind from birth is involved in non-visual tasks, such as
touch reading of braille, and congenitally deaf people may use their
"auditory" cortex for vision. "The brain requires the right kind of input to
develop certain types of function," Prof Sur said. "One reason no two
brains are alike is that they do not receive the identical inputs during
development." ...environmental cues apparently play a large role in shaping
those that are already there. However, there is a limit to how much the
character of a brain cell can be changed beyond that laid down in its genetic
programming. Prof Sur's experiments show that "the effect of the
environment can be enormous, but brain connections are not entirely
independent of a basic genetic program. The answer is not entirely genetic
or entirely environmental". When signals are routed from the eye to the
auditory cortex, they alter the circuitry there to resemble circuitry and
connectivity in the visual cortex, yet still retain some auditory features.
"These connections and networks do form, but remain somewhat different
from those in the primary visual cortex," Prof Sur said. "There is less
graceful organisation in the rewired auditory cortex than in the primary
visual cortex." [Fascinating! More evidence of a far-sighted intelligent
Designer creating the prior potential for a more general purpose neural
capacity than a `blind watchmaker' would have done?]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=fqf033ls&atmo=mmmm mmQR&pg=/et/00/5/18/ecnches18.html
Electronic Telegraph 18.05.00 ... Chess masters pit wits and pride to stop
machine becoming champion ... A COMPUTER is contesting a national
chess championship for the first time in Rotterdam. Frisco Nijboer, the
Dutch grand master, slid the white king's pawn forward, took a sip of
water and looked up at his opponent. It was a conditioned reflex. Nijboer
was playing Fritz the computer and Fritz, competing in the Dutch national
championships, was not about to give anything away through body
language. ... The creator of Fritz's program, Frans Morsch, a Dutchman,
input the coordinates of Nijboer's move on a keyboard. Within seconds the
computer delivered its response. Nijboer had barely time to put his glass
down. A black pawn moved forward to block his white adversary. ... Fritz
is the first computer ever allowed to compete in a national championship
and the move has appalled traditionalists and many of the world's leading
players, including Britain's Nigel Short, a former world championship
finalist. They argue that national tournaments are about man versus man,
not man versus machine. And they are horrified by the prospect of a
computer being the chess champion of the Netherlands, one of the stronger
chess-playing nations - by Friday night Fritz was joint second with six
games to play. ... Fritz's presence has altered the mood of the tournament.
Another grand master, Paul van der Sterren, has boycotted it, while
Manuel Bosboom resigned in protest after four moves of his game against
Fritz. "Computers don't belong here," he said. "They are ugly and absurd."
Others are playing on and, despite the complaints, are curious about their
electronic rival. ... The computer terminal is only the top half of Fritz. The
rest is hidden below the stage. The package includes four powerful
processors containing a huge database on all the participants in the
championships, along with a large store of game openings and endgame
strategies. The speed of its responses can be demoralising. The talented
Jeroen Piket, 31, who has twice beaten Garry Kasparov and drew with
Fritz last week, said: "I'd spend 15 minutes deciding on a move, then he'd
reply in a few seconds. It's a bit shocking." The players accept that
computers have an important role to play in helping people learn the game
and prepare for matches. But they say machines have unfair advantages in
top-level tournaments. Fritz has a record of all the moves played by his
opponents in their previous matches, enabling him to work out how they
are likely to respond to his moves. The human players can study opponents'
past strategies before a game but not during it. There are other crucial
factors. Fritz never tires, his mood is never affected by a bad night's sleep
or a row with his wife and he is impervious to psychological warfare. ...
But Nigel Short, a world championship finalist against Garry Kasparov in
1993, said: "The Dutch Chess Federation must have gone completely nuts.
You wouldn't let a power boat compete in a swimming event or a forklift
truck in a weightlifting competition." [I agree with Short. It is not that
computers are more powerful at actually playing chess than the top
grandmasters-I don't believe they are. It is that they have access to online
information during a game that humans don't have. A human would be
disqualified for reading a chess opening or endgame theory book during a
match. Cut out all these unfair advantages and I believe that top human
grandmasters will beat top computer chess programs. The on-topic aspect
of this is that this is a problem for materialist AI theories of mind, since the
machines don't know they are playing chess but the human mind does!]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=fqf033ls&atmo=mmmm mmQR&pg=/et/00/5/18/ecneden18.html
Electronic Telegraph 18.05.00 ... New Eden takes shape under huge glass
spheres .... A NEW Eden was partially opened this week. It even has two
models of a modern day Adam and Eve with not a fig leaf between them. ...
The models are at the "entrance to the GBP79 million Eden Project in
Cornwall. They are undressed before visitors' eyes in a demonstration of
what would happen in a world without plants. The project, which has
received almost half of its funding from the Millennium Commission, will
open fully in May next year, recreating the different environments of the
world inside two enormous glass spheres which cover an area the size of
12 football pitches and are high enough to contain Nelson's Column. ... The
project is designed to educate and inspire, and the message throughout is
one of conservation. Mr Smit said: "This is a spectacular international
showcase for the study of human dependence on plants." That explains the
automated undressing of the models at the entrance. A push of a button
shows what happens without plants - first the food goes from the table,
then the table and the chairs disappear, the clothes are stripped from the
models and finally the family cat dies when its food supply and the oxygen
in the air vanish. ... [Interesting how science has nothing better than the
Biblical Adam and Eve when it needs to get across important basic truths
about mankind to ordinary people.]
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"We conclude-unexpectedly-that there is little evidence for the neo-
Darwinian view: its theoretical foundations and the experimental evidence
supporting it are weak, and there is no doubt that mutations of large effect
are sometimes important in adaptation." (Orr H.A., & Coyne J.A., "The
Genetics of Adaptation: A Reassessment," The American Naturalist, Vol.
140, No. 5, November 1992, p.726)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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