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There are reviews of Michael Behe's new book at Books and Culture and Discerning Reader. I haven't read The Edge of Evolution yet, but apparently Behe emphasizes his acceptance of common descent in it, and explores the questions of what Darwinian evolution can or can't account for in the biological world.

Like Behe, I'm also interested in the limits of evolution, since like most creationists I agree that evolution (that is, variation by natural selection) has played a role in natural history. But of course I think life was created by kinds, not by common descent. Read my concerns about Behe's position in this post. Perhaps his new book provides some answers.

Salvador at Young Cosmos claims he may have discovered confirmation of a specific young earth creationist light decay theory. If you have any knowledge in that area, he's looking for comments and second opinions at the young cosmos discussion forum.

Yesterday was a record day for attendance at the Creation Museum; at just under 4000, it was largest number of people seen at the museum since its opening day. Answers magazine now has an area at the bottom of their website for their  "Journal of Biblical and Scientific Studies," a free online collection of technical articles related to creation research. The most recent is Jean Lightner's brief article, "The Highly Efficient Genome" (not for the fainthearted. Remember these are technical). There is also a critique of the framework hypothesis of the creation account (in two parts), and an assessment of modern theories that put gaps in biblical genealogies.

There is a YEC geology conference going on this weekend at Cedarville University, which I sadly was unable to attend. But the next best thing has been posted at C & B Research News, a summary from someone who is attending--namely, Ian Juby. Here's an excerpt:

There was roughly 50 people who showed up for this event; the first ever of it's kind, and a long time coming. It is being hosted at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio.

The purpose of the conference is for Creation Geologists to bounce ideas off of other professionals; this is intended to be the place for model proposal and building where experts can critique your work and ideas.

Andrew Snelling drew the long straw and got to go first, giving us an update on his work cataloging and tabulating Radiohalo populations in various rock types, including various metamorphic rocks. This is a continuation of research from multiple researchers being carried out for literally decades, starting with Dr. Robert Gentry

Lee Spencer then presented a model for fossil distribution during a global flood related to biomes; that is, biological zonation and its possible relationship to why we find fossils where we do in the fossil record.

John Whitmore then attempted to address some of the claims made by old-earthers regarding reef formation and the possibility (as well as the methods) for rapid reef formation in a post-flood world.

I then gave my first paper which basically showed the research that was carried out in Glen Rose on two flumes at the Creation Evidence museum. . .

Read the rest here.

(For more about the presentations, read the abstract book [pdf])

Much as I hate to admit it, the thought of a mouse in the house gives me the creeps. I don't think I'd have a problem letting one of the furry little guys scamper over me in the woods, say while I was camping, but in another situation--my bed, it's quiet, lights are out--I'd be dancing. Something about the unbidden invasion of my private space induces just a very small bit of fear. (Once a critter up in my drop ceiling literally carried off the mousetrap I set for it. Eek.)

Myomorphs freak some of us out, but it's worth reminding ourselves that they're just as anxious. Some scientists have made it their goal to study "mouse fear" in an effort to better understand what causes moments of terror in people. In the process they scared a lot of mice half to death.

A mouse that has learned that a certain cue, for example a tone, is always followed by an electrical shock comes to associate the two and freezes with fear whenever it hears the tone even if the shock is not delivered. But in real life the situation is not always so clear; a stimulus will only sometimes be followed by a threat while other times nothing might happen. Normal mice show less fear towards such ambiguous cues than to clearly threatening stimuli.  (from this June report)

As they've done their joyous work, researchers have found that mice are less afraid of some situations than of others. In normal mice, the more serious the threat, the greater the fear. But some mice, lacking a certain serotonin receptor in their brains (serotonin being a chemical involved in neurotransmission) display extreme fear even in situations that are only slightly threatening. Other "mouse shock" experiments indicate that genes help determine which mice are the most chicken.

Fear experiments have been done on people, too, albeit without the shocks. In 2005 a study reported that the hormone oxytocin helps us forget our fears--or at least not think about them too much. Most recently (July 15), MIT researchers said a kinase enzyme called Cdk5 helps us remember our fears in certain situations.

You can imagine what the implications are here: By understanding the chemical processes that cause fear in our brains, we can develop drugs to squelch the unpleasant feeling whenever we want. That's what many researchers are looking for, as indicated by comments like the ones below:

"Remarkably, inhibiting Cdk5 facilitated extinction of learned fear in mice. This data points to a promising therapeutic avenue to treat emotional disorders and raises hope for patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or phobia."  From here.

"The discovery of a distinct molecular process in overcoming fear bodes well for development of new drugs that can make psychotherapy, or talk therapy, easier and more effective in treating anxiety disorders. More broadly, the findings also suggest that distinct molecular processes may be involved in the expression and treatment of other psychiatric disorders."  From here.

 Along this line of thinking, if I could swallow a pill to address my chemicals, I could lie without budging in bed all night with mice crawling on me. I have too much Cdk5 on the brain.

There is something legitimate here; after all we are sometimes bolder when we feel better, when we've had a good night's sleep or our morning cup of coffee. Why not drink something for worry and anxiety as well? The problem, as I see it, is that some kinds of fear are good for us.

For instance, take this report from last Friday about predator-prey fear in animals. The report focuses on whether animals like moose and elk instinctively fear their predators or not, but my point is that their fear is good for them. If a moose wasn't afraid of a pack of wolves, you know what would happen. In the same way, fear sometimes tells us when we're in a situation that could result in harm, even if the harm is only emotional. Humans--I don't know about mice or moose--can fear situations they've never encountered, say a mugging or an alien attack. In this way, fear can inform us that we're spending too much time thinking about unlikely events, and not enough time focusing on productive matters.

Let's take a few examples from the Bible, where fear is usually (but not always) cast in a negative light: King Saul was rejected by God because of disobedience, which Saul attributed to his personal "fear of the people." The men of Israel, when they heard Goliath's challenge, "fled from him and were much afraid." Even the milder form of fear, worry, was condemned by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount. These kinds of fear we are told to avoid.

Other types of fear, though, are positive. "Why weren't you afraid to bring an accusation against my servant Moses?" God asked Aaron and Miriam, in my own paraphrase. Both the Old Testament and New Testament tell us many times to fear God, and the proverbs and psalms tell us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Don't be afraid of those who can destroy the body, but of Him who can destroy the soul.

To get to the point, it's this. Fear, like other emotions, is normally the result of what we believe and think about. And like other emotions, it's God-given. It's an accurate indicator of what we value and think will make us happy. When we face fear in life, the Bible's directions are certainly not to get drunk, pursue pleasure, or take a pill. Instead, we should love (I John 4:18), trust in God (Psalm 56:3), and ensure that we are "sons" (Romans 8:15). Fear becomes a gauge, and let's us know when our thinking needs to be corrected. Admittedly, that's not always easy, and sometimes we have to get out and do something to help our brains along--like face the situation we fear.

That's also not to say that fear doesn't have a biological component, or that some people struggle with fear more than others. Everyone has his own weaknesses. But it is to say that the solution is not necessarily to eradicate the Cdk5 in our heads. If you're a Christian, you should fight fear the ways God tells you to.

Hmm. Does this mean I'm wrong to worry about mice under my sheets? Maybe some fears are here just to entertain us. 

Mouse image from Wikipedia. Used under the GNU Free Documentation License. 

To the constant amusement of us creationists, scientists continue to find evidence that the world's geologic features were formed by floodwater. The latest announcement is that the island of Britain was cut off from the continent by "perhaps the biggest flood on Earth we have evidence for," in the words of one researcher. By mapping the ocean floor around the English Channel, a team of scientists found characteristic gouging patterns that indicated a massive water flow. The megaflood theory of Britain has apparently been around for awhile, with some criticism, but now it appears that even the skeptics are convinced. I'm rooting for the day when a few non-creationist geologists piece together all these local floods around the world and suggest a single, global deluge. Think it'll ever happen? Maybe, and hopefully the research of creation geologists like those gathering for this conference next week will play a part in convincing them.

An Assyriologist is excited after discovering a Babylonian cuneiform tablet inscribed with the name of a person mentioned--only in passing--in the Bible. Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, aka Nebo-Sarsekim, was King Nebuchadnezzar's "chief eunuch" or "chief officer," and is mentioned in Jeremiah 39 (verse 3, from what I can tell). The discovery shows the historical validity of the Bible, even in the details. (HT to Young Cosmos)

 While the New York Times speculates whether the mass death of honeybees is a crisis or just a temporary problem, a scientist from Spain says he's solved the riddle of their demise. He attributes honeybee death to a an Asian parasite called Nosema ceranae.

Don't bother taking vitamin C to stave off a cold: A study shows that in most cases the vitamin neither wards off or decreases the symptoms of the common cold--at least not to any substantial effect.

Meanwhile, a Muslim who is an old earth creationist has joined the fight against evolution by mailing his 800-page, 12-pound "Atlas of Creation" to professors and scientists in the U.S. and Europe. He says evolution contradicts the Koran.

The grand finale of our week in Virginia was the Friday and Saturday at Fort Pocahontas, spent watching revolutionary war era reenactors, listening to highly skilled musicians and singers (like Charlie Zahm and Charles Billingsley), enjoying poetry and drama, fraternizing with kids and adults dressed in 17th century garb, and hearing powerful speakers (like Jonathan Falwell, the late Jerry Falwell's son) talk about God's providence in history, and our place in it.

Fort Pocahontas was the site of a Civil War land-naval battle (involving the James River, seen below) that occurred on May 24, 1864, known as "Action at Wilson's Wharf." In the battle 2500 Confederate cavalry were defeated by two regiments of the United States Colored Troops, plus two U.S gunboats.

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During our vacation we spent an afternoon touring the original Jamestown settlement, founded four hundred years ago this year. The man below is Dr. Marshall Foster, who served as our capable guide and historian.  He's holding a copy of the restored 1599 Geneva Bible (published 2006 by Tolle Lege Press), which he had a part in producing.

Above: The monument the United States erected on the tercentenary, or 300th anniversary, of Jamestown in 1907.

Clink the link below for photos of Jamestown.

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The 17-year cicada adults appear to have all died out, at least where I live. (The picture is from a few weeks ago).

Their eggs have been safely deposited inside millions of tree twigs. It should be interesting to see them come out, this time to dig into, not out of, the ground.

{The rest of those vacation pictures are coming soon--I promise!} 

The Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are in a bit of trouble. A 7 million square mile dust storm is churning across Mars, blocking sunlight from reaching the solar-powered machines. If the storm keeps at it, the rovers' electronics may fail and be permanently damaged by extreme cold. That would be too bad--although they've already lasted far beyond their expected mission duration.

In relation to the finding of plant and insect DNA beneath Greenland's ice sheet, here's an interesting report from 1897 about two Smithsonian scientists who discovered a fossilized "tropical forest" on the island. In spite of a fascinating description of Greenland's fauna and flora, geography, and native history, the report takes pains to interpret the fossil findings as evidence of long ages. The scientists deduce:

All the evidence seems to point to the conclusion that climates all over the world in that ancient epoch were pretty much the same. The same plants grew contemporaneously in Greenland and in California, in Spitzbergen and in Virginia. There was a uniformity of vegetation in all parts of the earth. Nobody can say just why this was, although several theories have been advanced to account for it. One theory is that the atmosphere in those days was heavily charged with watery vapor, so that warmth was readily distributed through it, and the sun's rays did not have a chance to strike the earth uninterrupted, making differences in climate by the degree of their slant. In the course of time the atmosphere thinned gradually, and then there [came] to be climatic variations marking a series of zones around the globe.

Uniformitarianism. Not much has changed in a century, eh?