"Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top."
Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Thursday, 22 October 2015
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Psalm29-35 New American Bible
29)A psalm of David.
I
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,*
give to the LORD glory and might;
2
Give to the LORD the glory due his name.
Bow down before the LORD’s holy splendor!a
II
3
The voice of the LORD* is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over the mighty waters.
4
The voice of the LORD is power;
the voice of the LORD is splendor.b
5
The voice of the LORD cracks the cedars;
the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon,
6
Makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
and Sirion* like a young bull.
7
The voice of the LORD strikes with fiery flame;
8
the voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the desert of Kadesh.
9
*The voice of the LORD makes the deer dance
and strips the forests bare.
All in his Temple say, “Glory!”
III
10
The LORD sits enthroned above the flood!*c
The LORD reigns as king forever!
11
May the LORD give might to his people;*
may the LORD bless his people with peace!
30)A psalm. A song for the dedication of the Temple.* Of David.
I
2
I praise you, LORD, for you raised me up
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
3
O LORD, my God,
I cried out to you for help and you healed* me.
4
LORD, you brought my soul up from Sheol;
you let me live, from going down to the pit.*a
II
5
Sing praise to the LORD, you faithful;
give thanks to his holy memory.
6
For his anger lasts but a moment;
his favor a lifetime.
At dusk weeping comes for the night;
but at dawn there is rejoicing.
III
7
Complacent,* I once said,
“I shall never be shaken.”
8
LORD, you showed me favor,
established for me mountains of virtue.
But when you hid your face
I was struck with terror.b
9
To you, LORD, I cried out;
with the Lord I pleaded for mercy:
10
*“What gain is there from my lifeblood,
from my going down to the grave?
Does dust give you thanks
or declare your faithfulness?
11
Hear, O LORD, have mercy on me;
LORD, be my helper.”
IV
12
You changed my mourning into dancing;
you took off my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness.c
13
So that my glory may praise you
and not be silent.
O LORD, my God,
forever will I give you thanks.
31)For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2
In you, LORD, I take refuge;a
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me;
3
incline your ear to me;
make haste to rescue me!
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to save me.
4
For you are my rock and my fortress;b
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
5
Free me from the net they have set for me,
for you are my refuge.
6
*Into your hands I commend my spirit;c
you will redeem me, LORD, God of truth.
7
You hate those who serve worthless idols,
but I trust in the LORD.
8
I will rejoice and be glad in your mercy,
once you have seen my misery,
[and] gotten to know the distress of my soul.d
9
You will not abandon me into enemy hands,
but will set my feet in a free and open space.
II
10
Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
affliction is wearing down my eyes,
my throat and my insides.
11
My life is worn out by sorrow,
and my years by sighing.
My strength fails in my affliction;
my bones are wearing down.e
12
To all my foes I am a thing of scorn,
and especially to my neighbors
a horror to my friends.
When they see me in public,
they quickly shy away.f
13
I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead;
I am like a worn-out tool.*
14
I hear the whispers of the crowd;
terrors are all around me.*
They conspire together against me;
they plot to take my life.
15
But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”g
16
My destiny is in your hands;
rescue me from my enemies,
from the hands of my pursuers.
17
Let your face shine on your servant;h
save me in your mercy.
18
Do not let me be put to shame,
for I have called to you, LORD.
Put the wicked to shame;
reduce them to silence in Sheol.
19
Strike dumb their lying lips,
which speak arrogantly against the righteous
in contempt and scorn.i
III
20
How great is your goodness, Lord,
stored up for those who fear you.
You display it for those who trust you,
in the sight of the children of Adam.
21
You hide them in the shelter of your presence,
safe from scheming enemies.
You conceal them in your tent,
away from the strife of tongues.j
22
Blessed be the LORD,
marvelously he showed to me
his mercy in a fortified city.
23
Though I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from your eyes.”k
Yet you heard my voice, my cry for mercy,
when I pleaded with you for help.
24
Love the LORD, all you who are faithful to him.
The LORD protects the loyal,
but repays the arrogant in full.
25
Be strong and take heart,
all who hope in the LORD.
32)Of David. A maskil.
I
Blessed is the one whose fault is removed,
whose sin is forgiven.
2
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit.
II
3
Because I kept silent,* my bones wasted away;
I groaned all day long.b
4
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength withered as in dry summer heat.
Selah
5
Then I declared my sin to you;
my guilt I did not hide.c
I said, “I confess my transgression to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
Selah
6
Therefore every loyal person should pray to you
in time of distress.
Though flood waters* threaten,
they will never reach him.d
7
You are my shelter; you guard me from distress;
with joyful shouts of deliverance you surround me.
Selah
III
8
I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk,
give you counsel with my eye upon you.
9
Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding;
with bit and bridle their temper is curbed,
else they will not come to you.
IV
10
Many are the sorrows of the wicked one,
but mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
11
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous;
exult, all you upright of heart.
33)I
1
Rejoice, you righteous, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.a
2
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
on the ten-stringed lyre offer praise.b
3
Sing to him a new song;
skillfully play with joyful chant.
4
For the LORD’s word is upright;
all his works are trustworthy.
5
He loves justice and right.
The earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.c
II
6
By the LORD’s word the heavens were made;
by the breath of his mouth all their host.*d
7
*He gathered the waters of the sea as a mound;
he sets the deep into storage vaults.e
III
8
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all who dwell in the world show him reverence.
9
For he spoke, and it came to be,
commanded, and it stood in place.f
10
The LORD foils the plan of nations,
frustrates the designs of peoples.
11
But the plan of the LORD stands forever,
the designs of his heart through all generations.g
12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people chosen as his inheritance.h
IV
13
From heaven the LORD looks down
and observes the children of Adam,i
14
From his dwelling place he surveys
all who dwell on earth.
15
The One who fashioned together their hearts
is the One who knows all their works.
V
16
A king is not saved by a great army,
nor a warrior delivered by great strength.
17
Useless is the horse for safety;
despite its great strength, it cannot be saved.
18
Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those who fear him,
upon those who count on his mercy,
19
To deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive through famine.
VI
20
Our soul waits for the LORD,
he is our help and shield.j
21
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
22
May your mercy, LORD, be upon us;
as we put our hope in you.
34)Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech,* who drove him out and he went away.
I
2
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be always in my mouth.a
3
My soul will glory in the LORD;
let the poor hear and be glad.
4
Magnify the LORD with me;
and let us exalt his name together.
II
5
I sought the LORD, and he answered me,
delivered me from all my fears.
6
Look to him and be radiant,
and your faces may not blush for shame.
7
This poor one cried out and the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
8
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and he saves them.b
9
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the stalwart one who takes refuge in him.c
10
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones;
nothing is lacking to those who fear him.d
11
The rich grow poor and go hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
III
12
Come, children,* listen to me;e
I will teach you fear of the LORD.
13
Who is the man who delights in life,f
who loves to see the good days?
14
Keep your tongue from evil,
your lips from speaking lies.
15
Turn from evil and do good;g
seek peace and pursue it.
16
The eyes of the LORD are directed toward the righteoush
and his ears toward their cry.
17
The LORD’s face is against evildoers
to wipe out their memory from the earth.
18
The righteous cry out, the LORD hears
and he rescues them from all their afflictions.
19
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted,
saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20
Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him from them all.
21
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.i
22
Evil will slay the wicked;
those who hate the righteous are condemned.
23
The LORD is the redeemer of the souls of his servants;
and none are condemned who take refuge in him.
35)Of David.
I
*Oppose, O LORD, those who oppose me;
war upon those who make war upon me.
2
Take up the shield and buckler;
rise up in my defense.
3
Brandish lance and battle-ax
against my pursuers.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
4
Let those who seek my life
be put to shame and disgrace.
Let those who plot evil against mea
be turned back and confounded.
5
Make them like chaff before the wind,b
with the angel of the LORD driving them on.
6
Make their way slippery and dark,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
II
7
Without cause they set their snare for me;
without cause they dug a pit for me.
8
Let ruin overtake them unawares;
let the snare they have set catch them;
let them fall into the pit they have dug.c
9
Then I will rejoice in the LORD,
exult in God’s salvation.
10
My very bones shall say,
“O LORD, who is like you,d
Who rescue the afflicted from the powerful,
the afflicted and needy from the despoiler?”
III
11
Malicious witnesses rise up,
accuse me of things I do not know.
12
They repay me evil for good;
my soul is desolate.e
13
*Yet I, when they were ill, put on sackcloth,
afflicted myself with fasting,
sobbed my prayers upon my bosom.
14
I went about in grief as for my brother,
bent in mourning as for my mother.
15
Yet when I stumbled they gathered with glee,
gathered against me and I did not know it.
They slandered me without ceasing;
16
without respect they mocked me,
gnashed their teeth against me.
IV
17
O Lord, how long will you look on?
Restore my soul from their destruction,
my very life from lions!f
18
Then I will thank you in the great assembly;
I will praise you before the mighty throng.g
19
Do not let lying foes rejoice over me,
my undeserved enemies wink knowingly.h
20
They speak no words of peace,
but against the quiet in the land
they fashion deceitful speech.i
21
They open wide their mouths against me.
They say, “Aha! Good!
Our eyes have seen it!”j
22
You see this, LORD; do not be silent;k
Lord, do not withdraw from me.
23
Awake, be vigilant in my defense,
in my cause, my God and my Lord.
24
Defend me because you are just, LORD;
my God, do not let them rejoice over me.
25
Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Our soul!”*
Do not let them say,
“We have devoured that one!”
26
Put to shame and confound
all who relish my misfortune.
Clothe with shame and disgrace
those who lord it over me.
27
But let those who favor my just cause
shout for joy and be glad.
May they ever say, “Exalted be the LORD
who delights in the peace of his loyal servant.”
28
Then my tongue shall recount your justice,
declare your praise, all the day long.l
I
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,*
give to the LORD glory and might;
2
Give to the LORD the glory due his name.
Bow down before the LORD’s holy splendor!a
II
3
The voice of the LORD* is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over the mighty waters.
4
The voice of the LORD is power;
the voice of the LORD is splendor.b
5
The voice of the LORD cracks the cedars;
the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon,
6
Makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
and Sirion* like a young bull.
7
The voice of the LORD strikes with fiery flame;
8
the voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the desert of Kadesh.
9
*The voice of the LORD makes the deer dance
and strips the forests bare.
All in his Temple say, “Glory!”
III
10
The LORD sits enthroned above the flood!*c
The LORD reigns as king forever!
11
May the LORD give might to his people;*
may the LORD bless his people with peace!
30)A psalm. A song for the dedication of the Temple.* Of David.
I
2
I praise you, LORD, for you raised me up
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
3
O LORD, my God,
I cried out to you for help and you healed* me.
4
LORD, you brought my soul up from Sheol;
you let me live, from going down to the pit.*a
II
5
Sing praise to the LORD, you faithful;
give thanks to his holy memory.
6
For his anger lasts but a moment;
his favor a lifetime.
At dusk weeping comes for the night;
but at dawn there is rejoicing.
III
7
Complacent,* I once said,
“I shall never be shaken.”
8
LORD, you showed me favor,
established for me mountains of virtue.
But when you hid your face
I was struck with terror.b
9
To you, LORD, I cried out;
with the Lord I pleaded for mercy:
10
*“What gain is there from my lifeblood,
from my going down to the grave?
Does dust give you thanks
or declare your faithfulness?
11
Hear, O LORD, have mercy on me;
LORD, be my helper.”
IV
12
You changed my mourning into dancing;
you took off my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness.c
13
So that my glory may praise you
and not be silent.
O LORD, my God,
forever will I give you thanks.
31)For the leader. A psalm of David.
I
2
In you, LORD, I take refuge;a
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me;
3
incline your ear to me;
make haste to rescue me!
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to save me.
4
For you are my rock and my fortress;b
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
5
Free me from the net they have set for me,
for you are my refuge.
6
*Into your hands I commend my spirit;c
you will redeem me, LORD, God of truth.
7
You hate those who serve worthless idols,
but I trust in the LORD.
8
I will rejoice and be glad in your mercy,
once you have seen my misery,
[and] gotten to know the distress of my soul.d
9
You will not abandon me into enemy hands,
but will set my feet in a free and open space.
II
10
Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
affliction is wearing down my eyes,
my throat and my insides.
11
My life is worn out by sorrow,
and my years by sighing.
My strength fails in my affliction;
my bones are wearing down.e
12
To all my foes I am a thing of scorn,
and especially to my neighbors
a horror to my friends.
When they see me in public,
they quickly shy away.f
13
I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead;
I am like a worn-out tool.*
14
I hear the whispers of the crowd;
terrors are all around me.*
They conspire together against me;
they plot to take my life.
15
But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”g
16
My destiny is in your hands;
rescue me from my enemies,
from the hands of my pursuers.
17
Let your face shine on your servant;h
save me in your mercy.
18
Do not let me be put to shame,
for I have called to you, LORD.
Put the wicked to shame;
reduce them to silence in Sheol.
19
Strike dumb their lying lips,
which speak arrogantly against the righteous
in contempt and scorn.i
III
20
How great is your goodness, Lord,
stored up for those who fear you.
You display it for those who trust you,
in the sight of the children of Adam.
21
You hide them in the shelter of your presence,
safe from scheming enemies.
You conceal them in your tent,
away from the strife of tongues.j
22
Blessed be the LORD,
marvelously he showed to me
his mercy in a fortified city.
23
Though I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from your eyes.”k
Yet you heard my voice, my cry for mercy,
when I pleaded with you for help.
24
Love the LORD, all you who are faithful to him.
The LORD protects the loyal,
but repays the arrogant in full.
25
Be strong and take heart,
all who hope in the LORD.
32)Of David. A maskil.
I
Blessed is the one whose fault is removed,
whose sin is forgiven.
2
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit.
II
3
Because I kept silent,* my bones wasted away;
I groaned all day long.b
4
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength withered as in dry summer heat.
Selah
5
Then I declared my sin to you;
my guilt I did not hide.c
I said, “I confess my transgression to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
Selah
6
Therefore every loyal person should pray to you
in time of distress.
Though flood waters* threaten,
they will never reach him.d
7
You are my shelter; you guard me from distress;
with joyful shouts of deliverance you surround me.
Selah
III
8
I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk,
give you counsel with my eye upon you.
9
Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding;
with bit and bridle their temper is curbed,
else they will not come to you.
IV
10
Many are the sorrows of the wicked one,
but mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
11
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous;
exult, all you upright of heart.
33)I
1
Rejoice, you righteous, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.a
2
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
on the ten-stringed lyre offer praise.b
3
Sing to him a new song;
skillfully play with joyful chant.
4
For the LORD’s word is upright;
all his works are trustworthy.
5
He loves justice and right.
The earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.c
II
6
By the LORD’s word the heavens were made;
by the breath of his mouth all their host.*d
7
*He gathered the waters of the sea as a mound;
he sets the deep into storage vaults.e
III
8
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all who dwell in the world show him reverence.
9
For he spoke, and it came to be,
commanded, and it stood in place.f
10
The LORD foils the plan of nations,
frustrates the designs of peoples.
11
But the plan of the LORD stands forever,
the designs of his heart through all generations.g
12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people chosen as his inheritance.h
IV
13
From heaven the LORD looks down
and observes the children of Adam,i
14
From his dwelling place he surveys
all who dwell on earth.
15
The One who fashioned together their hearts
is the One who knows all their works.
V
16
A king is not saved by a great army,
nor a warrior delivered by great strength.
17
Useless is the horse for safety;
despite its great strength, it cannot be saved.
18
Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those who fear him,
upon those who count on his mercy,
19
To deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive through famine.
VI
20
Our soul waits for the LORD,
he is our help and shield.j
21
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
22
May your mercy, LORD, be upon us;
as we put our hope in you.
34)Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech,* who drove him out and he went away.
I
2
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be always in my mouth.a
3
My soul will glory in the LORD;
let the poor hear and be glad.
4
Magnify the LORD with me;
and let us exalt his name together.
II
5
I sought the LORD, and he answered me,
delivered me from all my fears.
6
Look to him and be radiant,
and your faces may not blush for shame.
7
This poor one cried out and the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
8
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and he saves them.b
9
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the stalwart one who takes refuge in him.c
10
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones;
nothing is lacking to those who fear him.d
11
The rich grow poor and go hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
III
12
Come, children,* listen to me;e
I will teach you fear of the LORD.
13
Who is the man who delights in life,f
who loves to see the good days?
14
Keep your tongue from evil,
your lips from speaking lies.
15
Turn from evil and do good;g
seek peace and pursue it.
16
The eyes of the LORD are directed toward the righteoush
and his ears toward their cry.
17
The LORD’s face is against evildoers
to wipe out their memory from the earth.
18
The righteous cry out, the LORD hears
and he rescues them from all their afflictions.
19
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted,
saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20
Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him from them all.
21
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.i
22
Evil will slay the wicked;
those who hate the righteous are condemned.
23
The LORD is the redeemer of the souls of his servants;
and none are condemned who take refuge in him.
35)Of David.
I
*Oppose, O LORD, those who oppose me;
war upon those who make war upon me.
2
Take up the shield and buckler;
rise up in my defense.
3
Brandish lance and battle-ax
against my pursuers.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
4
Let those who seek my life
be put to shame and disgrace.
Let those who plot evil against mea
be turned back and confounded.
5
Make them like chaff before the wind,b
with the angel of the LORD driving them on.
6
Make their way slippery and dark,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
II
7
Without cause they set their snare for me;
without cause they dug a pit for me.
8
Let ruin overtake them unawares;
let the snare they have set catch them;
let them fall into the pit they have dug.c
9
Then I will rejoice in the LORD,
exult in God’s salvation.
10
My very bones shall say,
“O LORD, who is like you,d
Who rescue the afflicted from the powerful,
the afflicted and needy from the despoiler?”
III
11
Malicious witnesses rise up,
accuse me of things I do not know.
12
They repay me evil for good;
my soul is desolate.e
13
*Yet I, when they were ill, put on sackcloth,
afflicted myself with fasting,
sobbed my prayers upon my bosom.
14
I went about in grief as for my brother,
bent in mourning as for my mother.
15
Yet when I stumbled they gathered with glee,
gathered against me and I did not know it.
They slandered me without ceasing;
16
without respect they mocked me,
gnashed their teeth against me.
IV
17
O Lord, how long will you look on?
Restore my soul from their destruction,
my very life from lions!f
18
Then I will thank you in the great assembly;
I will praise you before the mighty throng.g
19
Do not let lying foes rejoice over me,
my undeserved enemies wink knowingly.h
20
They speak no words of peace,
but against the quiet in the land
they fashion deceitful speech.i
21
They open wide their mouths against me.
They say, “Aha! Good!
Our eyes have seen it!”j
22
You see this, LORD; do not be silent;k
Lord, do not withdraw from me.
23
Awake, be vigilant in my defense,
in my cause, my God and my Lord.
24
Defend me because you are just, LORD;
my God, do not let them rejoice over me.
25
Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Our soul!”*
Do not let them say,
“We have devoured that one!”
26
Put to shame and confound
all who relish my misfortune.
Clothe with shame and disgrace
those who lord it over me.
27
But let those who favor my just cause
shout for joy and be glad.
May they ever say, “Exalted be the LORD
who delights in the peace of his loyal servant.”
28
Then my tongue shall recount your justice,
declare your praise, all the day long.l
Russia continues to fall short re:religious liberty.
Experts Object to Russia’s Banning of JW.ORG:
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—On July 21, 2015, the Russian Federation banned jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, making it a criminal offense to promote it from within the federation. Russia is the only country in the world to ban jw.org.
Religious studies specialist and professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations in Moscow, Yekaterina Elbakyan, comments on jw.org: “I think the website is necessary because it contains objective information directly from Jehovah’s Witnesses about their organization rather than third-party opinions. . . . Not only are its members interested in the website, but also those who are simply interested in various religions. And I’m not only speaking about professional religious scholars like myself but also journalists and publicists who write about religion.”
“I think the website is necessary because it contains objective information directly from Jehovah’s Witnesses”—Yekaterina Elbakyan, Professor, Academy of Labor and Social Relations, Moscow
A legal expert at the Human Rights Institute in Moscow, Lev Levinson, puts this action by the government in historical context: “Twenty-first century Russia has a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion and equality of religious associations before the law. However, as in the 19th century, Russia is again restricting the freedom of sharing one’s religious views by confiscating literature and banning websites. And this is all being done by judges and experts who apply unlawful regulations under the guise of counteracting extremism.”
The ban is the latest development in a legal battle stretching back to 2013. On August 7 of that year, a Russian district court declared the website “extremist” during a secret trial, but that decision was reversed by a regional court on January 22, 2014. However, a Deputy of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to reinstate the trial decision. On December 2, 2014, the Supreme Court heard the prosecution’s appeal without the Witnesses present to defend themselves, as they were not properly notified of the hearing. The Supreme Court reinstated the trial decision, declaring the entire website “extremist” although the court conceded that the website no longer contained any religious material prohibited by the Russian authorities. The Witnesses contested the decision and appealed to the chairman of the Supreme Court, but without success. As a result of that decision, on July 21, 2015, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation added the website to the Federal List of Extremist Materials, banning the website throughout Russia.
Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, comments on the impact of the ban: “We are disappointed that the Russian authorities have taken this unwarranted action. This ban curtails the worship of over 170,000 in this country who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. But when you consider that some 285,000 people in Russia accessed the website every day, it is clear that even those who are not members of our faith have been deprived of an excellent resource for Bible study.”
Speaking from the Witnesses’ world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, J. R. Brown, an international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, states: “Our official website, jw.org, hosts award-winning videos, publications for Bible study in hundreds of languages, and the two most widely distributed magazines in the world, The Watchtower and Awake! It has been featured in some of the largest international book fairs and has even been used extensively in schools. It has benefited many communities around the world and was widely used in Russia. Really, this is a website that should be promoted.”
Media Contact(s):
International: J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel. +1 718 560 5000
Russia: Yaroslav Sivulskiy, tel. +7 812 702 2691
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—On July 21, 2015, the Russian Federation banned jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, making it a criminal offense to promote it from within the federation. Russia is the only country in the world to ban jw.org.
Religious studies specialist and professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations in Moscow, Yekaterina Elbakyan, comments on jw.org: “I think the website is necessary because it contains objective information directly from Jehovah’s Witnesses about their organization rather than third-party opinions. . . . Not only are its members interested in the website, but also those who are simply interested in various religions. And I’m not only speaking about professional religious scholars like myself but also journalists and publicists who write about religion.”
“I think the website is necessary because it contains objective information directly from Jehovah’s Witnesses”—Yekaterina Elbakyan, Professor, Academy of Labor and Social Relations, Moscow
A legal expert at the Human Rights Institute in Moscow, Lev Levinson, puts this action by the government in historical context: “Twenty-first century Russia has a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion and equality of religious associations before the law. However, as in the 19th century, Russia is again restricting the freedom of sharing one’s religious views by confiscating literature and banning websites. And this is all being done by judges and experts who apply unlawful regulations under the guise of counteracting extremism.”
The ban is the latest development in a legal battle stretching back to 2013. On August 7 of that year, a Russian district court declared the website “extremist” during a secret trial, but that decision was reversed by a regional court on January 22, 2014. However, a Deputy of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to reinstate the trial decision. On December 2, 2014, the Supreme Court heard the prosecution’s appeal without the Witnesses present to defend themselves, as they were not properly notified of the hearing. The Supreme Court reinstated the trial decision, declaring the entire website “extremist” although the court conceded that the website no longer contained any religious material prohibited by the Russian authorities. The Witnesses contested the decision and appealed to the chairman of the Supreme Court, but without success. As a result of that decision, on July 21, 2015, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation added the website to the Federal List of Extremist Materials, banning the website throughout Russia.
Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, comments on the impact of the ban: “We are disappointed that the Russian authorities have taken this unwarranted action. This ban curtails the worship of over 170,000 in this country who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. But when you consider that some 285,000 people in Russia accessed the website every day, it is clear that even those who are not members of our faith have been deprived of an excellent resource for Bible study.”
Speaking from the Witnesses’ world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, J. R. Brown, an international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, states: “Our official website, jw.org, hosts award-winning videos, publications for Bible study in hundreds of languages, and the two most widely distributed magazines in the world, The Watchtower and Awake! It has been featured in some of the largest international book fairs and has even been used extensively in schools. It has benefited many communities around the world and was widely used in Russia. Really, this is a website that should be promoted.”
Media Contact(s):
International: J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel. +1 718 560 5000
Russia: Yaroslav Sivulskiy, tel. +7 812 702 2691
Methodological naturalists raid design advocates' tool kit again.
Chemistry Nobel Prize Based on Design Inference
Evolution News & Views October 21, 2015 3:58 AM
This month's announcement of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry should cause design advocates to celebrate. We have just seen the biggest prize for science go to three biologists who made a design inference about genetic information. Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar shared the prestigious honor for their work on DNA repair mechanisms.
Of course, intelligent design was never mentioned in the Nobel Committee's announcement, either the popular version or the scientific version. We know also that the committee assumes that the repair mechanisms came about by a Darwinian process. In all likelihood, the winners are evolutionists, too. But think about it; their work was about information quality control -- a subject related to our new video that came out the very next day after the news. The Information Enigma asks three questions: (1) What is information? (2) How do we detect it? and (3) Where does it come from? The Nobel announcement suggests a fourth question: (4) How is information maintained?
The 1970s and 80s were a heady time for molecular biology, when the prizewinners were doing their research. The realization that life is based on digital information encoded in DNA was only a couple of decades old. DNA's structure had been revealed by Watson and Crick in 1953. Further work by Crick revealed the molecular basis of the genetic code in the "letters" of DNA bases (see Nature Scitable Education Library). Watson, Crick, and Wilkins won the Nobel Prize in 1962 "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material" (emphasis added.) Their work relied on findings by many other scientists, Nature Scitable reminds us, that were converging on the fundamental discovery that life is information-based.
This month's announcement is not the first time the design inference led to a Nobel Prize. The NIH Record, for instance, honors Marshall Warren Nirenberg as "discoverer of the genetic code" for his work on "the genetic code used by virtually all living organisms to translate the information in DNA molecules into protein structure." Nirenberg shared the Nobel Prize in 1968 with Robert W. Holley and H. Gobind Khorana.
The discovery of the genetic code and the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 are generally considered the two transformational events in making biology a molecular science and are the fundamental basis of the subsequent sequencing of the billions of nucleotides in human DNA molecules, as part of the Human Genome Project, and the sequencing of the DNA of hundreds of other living organisms.
Sequencing would make no sense, obviously, if the order of the DNA bases were meaningless. Genome sequencing relies on the principle that the precise order of the bases is critical for function.
Another principle was becoming known around that time, too: information can be degraded. Erik Stokstad, writing in Science, describes how these two forces in conflict with each other -- information creation and degradation -- led Tomas Lindahl to think that something unnatural must be going on in the cell nucleus:
Biologists have long known that DNA wasn't rock solid. Blasts of xrays, for example, could cause mutations in cells. Yet most researchers believed that the molecule was inherently stable. After all, cancer and other genetic malfunctions are the exception, not the rule.
As a postdoc in the late 1960s, however, Lindahl began to have doubts. Samples of RNA in his experiments rapidly degraded when heated. Further experiments showed that even under normal conditions, DNA quickly suffered enough damage to make life impossible. A light bulb went on. "Lindahl had the critical insight," says biochemist Bruce Alberts of the University of California, San Francisco.
Lindahl began to search for enzymes that might repair this unseen damage.
Stokstad goes on to tell about the mechanism Lindahl found and published in 1974. Then he tells about the work of Modrich and Sancar, who independently "felt the light bulb go on" when thinking about this "hugely important topic" of information repair. Stokstad begins his article on that theme:
Considering how much depends on the messages it bears, DNA is an alarmingly fragile molecule. It's vulnerable to UV light and mutagenic chemicals, as well as spontaneous decay. Life has survived through the ages because enzymes inside every cell ensure that DNA remains in proper working order. This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry, announced 7 October, recognizes three scientists who discovered key mechanisms for fixing the damage.
We suggested that DNA repair is in some way "unnatural" -- why is that? Well, look what happens under natural conditions. The Nobel Committee tells us what would happen without "systems" to maintain the genetic information:
Each day our DNA is damaged by UV radiation, free radicals and other carcinogenic substances, but even without such external attacks, a DNA molecule is inherently unstable. Thousands of spontaneous changes to a cell's genome occur on a daily basis. Furthermore, defects can also arise when DNA is copied during cell division, a process that occurs several million times every day in the human body.
The reason our genetic material does not disintegrate into complete chemical chaos is that a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and repair DNA. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 awards three pioneering scientists who have mapped how several of these repair systems function at a detailed molecular level.
What's "natural" is for DNA to degrade, and thus, the information that rides on it. Mutations lead to cancer and other life-threatening diseases. We humans know all about the necessity of tools to fix things. So do cells; the cell keeps a "toolbox for DNA repair," the Nobel headline quips. The New York Times uses similar concepts, in its own words, to describe how the cell "fights" the natural tendency toward chemical chaos:
The human body is made up of trillions of living cells, each containing a coiled mass of DNA that if straightened out would extend about six feet. In turn, each strand carries the thousands of genetic instructions needed to run the body.
But the DNA molecule is unstable. The genome of each cell undergoes thousands of spontaneous changes each day. And DNA copying for cell division and multiplication, which happens in the body millions of times daily, also introduces defects. Finally, DNA is damaged by ultraviolet light from the sun as well as by industrial pollutants and natural toxins -- those in cigarette smoke, for example. What fights pandemonium are DNA repair mechanisms.
Notice that what they found was not simply mechanisms that "repair DNA" as if any order of base pairs would do. No; they found systems and mechanisms that worked to maintain the genetic instructions needed to run the body (i.e., functional information).
So it's fair to say that what is "natural" is the spontaneous degradation of information. Mechanisms designed by a mind, by contrast, can overcome the natural tendency toward "pandemonium." We know from experience that it takes the guidance of goal-directed intelligence to proofread and correct errors in digital code. The BBC News aptly calls this process debugging. Ever see an unguided debugger of computer code?
To address those defects, a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and de-bug our genetic information. The three new laureates mapped in detail how some of these mechanisms worked.
It's not necessary to use the phrase "intelligent design" to recognize it in action. Nor is it necessary to know the personal beliefs of the Nobel laureates. They made a design inference; that's what counts. Quality control, information monitoring, error correction systems -- these are phrases rich with design concepts.
We're glad that three intelligent scientists, Lindahl, Modrich and Sancar, received the world's highest scientific honors for uncovering "a molecular system that constantly counteracts DNA collapse" by what can fairly be called intelligent design. Whether or not anyone in fact calls it ID, the 2015 Nobel Prize for Chemistry reflects the validity and fruitfulness of the design inference for top-flight scientific research.
Evolution News & Views October 21, 2015 3:58 AM
This month's announcement of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry should cause design advocates to celebrate. We have just seen the biggest prize for science go to three biologists who made a design inference about genetic information. Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar shared the prestigious honor for their work on DNA repair mechanisms.
Of course, intelligent design was never mentioned in the Nobel Committee's announcement, either the popular version or the scientific version. We know also that the committee assumes that the repair mechanisms came about by a Darwinian process. In all likelihood, the winners are evolutionists, too. But think about it; their work was about information quality control -- a subject related to our new video that came out the very next day after the news. The Information Enigma asks three questions: (1) What is information? (2) How do we detect it? and (3) Where does it come from? The Nobel announcement suggests a fourth question: (4) How is information maintained?
The 1970s and 80s were a heady time for molecular biology, when the prizewinners were doing their research. The realization that life is based on digital information encoded in DNA was only a couple of decades old. DNA's structure had been revealed by Watson and Crick in 1953. Further work by Crick revealed the molecular basis of the genetic code in the "letters" of DNA bases (see Nature Scitable Education Library). Watson, Crick, and Wilkins won the Nobel Prize in 1962 "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material" (emphasis added.) Their work relied on findings by many other scientists, Nature Scitable reminds us, that were converging on the fundamental discovery that life is information-based.
This month's announcement is not the first time the design inference led to a Nobel Prize. The NIH Record, for instance, honors Marshall Warren Nirenberg as "discoverer of the genetic code" for his work on "the genetic code used by virtually all living organisms to translate the information in DNA molecules into protein structure." Nirenberg shared the Nobel Prize in 1968 with Robert W. Holley and H. Gobind Khorana.
The discovery of the genetic code and the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 are generally considered the two transformational events in making biology a molecular science and are the fundamental basis of the subsequent sequencing of the billions of nucleotides in human DNA molecules, as part of the Human Genome Project, and the sequencing of the DNA of hundreds of other living organisms.
Sequencing would make no sense, obviously, if the order of the DNA bases were meaningless. Genome sequencing relies on the principle that the precise order of the bases is critical for function.
Another principle was becoming known around that time, too: information can be degraded. Erik Stokstad, writing in Science, describes how these two forces in conflict with each other -- information creation and degradation -- led Tomas Lindahl to think that something unnatural must be going on in the cell nucleus:
Biologists have long known that DNA wasn't rock solid. Blasts of xrays, for example, could cause mutations in cells. Yet most researchers believed that the molecule was inherently stable. After all, cancer and other genetic malfunctions are the exception, not the rule.
As a postdoc in the late 1960s, however, Lindahl began to have doubts. Samples of RNA in his experiments rapidly degraded when heated. Further experiments showed that even under normal conditions, DNA quickly suffered enough damage to make life impossible. A light bulb went on. "Lindahl had the critical insight," says biochemist Bruce Alberts of the University of California, San Francisco.
Lindahl began to search for enzymes that might repair this unseen damage.
Stokstad goes on to tell about the mechanism Lindahl found and published in 1974. Then he tells about the work of Modrich and Sancar, who independently "felt the light bulb go on" when thinking about this "hugely important topic" of information repair. Stokstad begins his article on that theme:
Considering how much depends on the messages it bears, DNA is an alarmingly fragile molecule. It's vulnerable to UV light and mutagenic chemicals, as well as spontaneous decay. Life has survived through the ages because enzymes inside every cell ensure that DNA remains in proper working order. This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry, announced 7 October, recognizes three scientists who discovered key mechanisms for fixing the damage.
We suggested that DNA repair is in some way "unnatural" -- why is that? Well, look what happens under natural conditions. The Nobel Committee tells us what would happen without "systems" to maintain the genetic information:
Each day our DNA is damaged by UV radiation, free radicals and other carcinogenic substances, but even without such external attacks, a DNA molecule is inherently unstable. Thousands of spontaneous changes to a cell's genome occur on a daily basis. Furthermore, defects can also arise when DNA is copied during cell division, a process that occurs several million times every day in the human body.
The reason our genetic material does not disintegrate into complete chemical chaos is that a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and repair DNA. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 awards three pioneering scientists who have mapped how several of these repair systems function at a detailed molecular level.
What's "natural" is for DNA to degrade, and thus, the information that rides on it. Mutations lead to cancer and other life-threatening diseases. We humans know all about the necessity of tools to fix things. So do cells; the cell keeps a "toolbox for DNA repair," the Nobel headline quips. The New York Times uses similar concepts, in its own words, to describe how the cell "fights" the natural tendency toward chemical chaos:
The human body is made up of trillions of living cells, each containing a coiled mass of DNA that if straightened out would extend about six feet. In turn, each strand carries the thousands of genetic instructions needed to run the body.
But the DNA molecule is unstable. The genome of each cell undergoes thousands of spontaneous changes each day. And DNA copying for cell division and multiplication, which happens in the body millions of times daily, also introduces defects. Finally, DNA is damaged by ultraviolet light from the sun as well as by industrial pollutants and natural toxins -- those in cigarette smoke, for example. What fights pandemonium are DNA repair mechanisms.
Notice that what they found was not simply mechanisms that "repair DNA" as if any order of base pairs would do. No; they found systems and mechanisms that worked to maintain the genetic instructions needed to run the body (i.e., functional information).
So it's fair to say that what is "natural" is the spontaneous degradation of information. Mechanisms designed by a mind, by contrast, can overcome the natural tendency toward "pandemonium." We know from experience that it takes the guidance of goal-directed intelligence to proofread and correct errors in digital code. The BBC News aptly calls this process debugging. Ever see an unguided debugger of computer code?
To address those defects, a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and de-bug our genetic information. The three new laureates mapped in detail how some of these mechanisms worked.
It's not necessary to use the phrase "intelligent design" to recognize it in action. Nor is it necessary to know the personal beliefs of the Nobel laureates. They made a design inference; that's what counts. Quality control, information monitoring, error correction systems -- these are phrases rich with design concepts.
We're glad that three intelligent scientists, Lindahl, Modrich and Sancar, received the world's highest scientific honors for uncovering "a molecular system that constantly counteracts DNA collapse" by what can fairly be called intelligent design. Whether or not anyone in fact calls it ID, the 2015 Nobel Prize for Chemistry reflects the validity and fruitfulness of the design inference for top-flight scientific research.
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
Darwinism Vs. the real world XVII
Blood Flow Requires a Complex, Well-Designed System
Howard Glicksman October 20, 2015 9:55 AM
Editor's note: Physicians have a special place among the thinkers who have elaborated the argument for intelligent design. Perhaps that's because, more than evolutionary biologists, they are familiar with the challenges of maintaining a functioning complex system, the human body. With that in mind, Evolution News & Views is delighted to present this series, "The Designed Body." For the complete series, see here. Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.
The cells that make up the organs and tissues of the body require the blood in the circulation to give them what they need so they can do what they need to do. The heart must pump enough blood with enough pressure behind it to maintain sufficient blood flow. Blood flow can be defined as the volume of blood that passes a given point in the circulation system within a given amount of time, and is usually measured in "milliliters per minute" (mL/min).
As I've shown in prior articles in this series, the laws of nature state that blood flow (Q) to a given organ is directly related to the pressure (P) of the blood as it enters its capillaries and inversely related to the vascular resistance (R) applied by its arterioles. This natural relationship can be expressed as Q = P/R. The higher the pressure, the more blood flow and the lower the pressure, the less blood flow. And the higher the vascular resistance, the less blood flow, and the lower the vascular resistance, the more blood flow.
Common sense tells us that the wider the passageway the easier the flow. Just consider rush hour traffic moving along a highway. The more lanes there are available, the more cars can move through in a given amount of time. Now think about what happens when the cars leave the highway. Compared to a single-lane exit ramp, a double-lane one provides much less resistance and allows easier flow off the highway. The blood hurtling through the smaller arteries, trying to enter the arterioles on the way to the tissues, is like cars in a crush of rush hour traffic trying to enter the various exit ramps to reach their destinations. The wider the opening in the arterioles, the more blood can flow through, and the narrower the opening, the less blood can flow through.
The arterioles can increase or decrease the amount of resistance they apply to the blood trying to enter an organ by increasing or decreasing the contraction of the muscle surrounding them. An increase in muscle contraction closes down the opening in the arteriole, making the passageway (lumen) smaller. This increases the resistance and lowers the blood flow. And a decrease in muscle contraction opens up the lumen, decreasing the resistance and increasing the blood flow. In fact, the laws of nature state that the change in blood flow is directly related to the fourth power of the change in the luminal diameter. This means that if the luminal diameter of the blood vessel doubles, the blood flow increases by a factor of sixteen, and if it halves it decreases by a factor of sixteen.
At rest, total blood flow within the systemic circulation (cardiac output) is about 5,000 mL/min (5 L/min). With high levels of activity, something our earliest ancestors would have had to do often, it rises to about 25L/min. However, just because the body can generate enough cardiac output to meet its metabolic needs doesn't mean that the increase in blood flow will automatically go to the organs and tissues that really need it. This requires the body to take control in order to follow the rules that nature throws at it. Real numbers have real consequences, and if with increased activity the body can't get enough blood flow to the heart and skeletal muscle while preserving it to the brain, the body cannot function. This is what the body of our earliest ancestors would have had to have been able to do to survive within the laws of nature, something that evolutionary biology has yet to even mention, never mind explain.
The blood flow to a given organ or tissue is dependent, not only on its mass, but also its energy needs, in other words, what it's doing. The brain of a 70 Kg man has a mass of only 1500 gm, about 2 percent of his total mass. But at rest, the brain receives 750 mL/min, or 15 percent of the cardiac output. The brain needs a high amount of blood flow, over and above what one would expect for its size, because even though the body may be at rest, the brain is always working hard. In fact, no matter how little or how much the body exerts itself, the amount of blood flow to the brain must stay at 750 mL/min for it to work properly. The heart, with a mass of only about 300 gm, less than 1 percent of the body's total, is another organ that must constantly work, even when the body is at rest. At rest, the heart receives about 250 mL/min of the cardiac output, or about 5 percent of the total blood flow.
In contrast, the skeletal muscle, with a mass of about 30 Kg, or 40 percent of the body's total, at rest receives only 15 percent of the cardiac output, or 750 mL/min. At rest, the remaining blood flow mostly goes to the liver and gastrointestinal system (25 percent), the kidneys (20 percent), the fat (5 percent), the bones (5 percent), the skin (5 percent), and the lungs (2.5 percent).
The muscles surrounding the arterioles respond to several different factors. Some of these are intrinsic to what is going on inside and around the arterioles. This includes the pressure the blood applies as it enters and stretches the arteriolar wall and the presence of certain chemicals related to the metabolism of the tissues. Other factors are extrinsic to the arterioles, which include various hormones released by glands and neurohormones released by nerve cells. At rest, the main extrinsic factor that affects local blood flow is the sympathetic nervous system.
Except for in the brain, the sympathetic neurohormone, norepinephrine, attaches to specific receptors on the muscles surrounding most of the arterioles in the body and tells them to stay contracted. The resulting vasoconstriction causes limited blood flow through most of the organs and tissues. At rest, particularly in the brain and the heart, the main intrinsic factor that affects blood flow is autoregulation, in which the arteriolar resistance is constantly adjusted to match the pressure of the entering blood to maintain a relatively constant blood flow.
When the body is very active, such as when our ancient ancestors were running to find food or trying to avoid becoming food, the cardiac output is about 25L/min. The majority of this quintupling of blood flow must go to the skeletal and heart muscle so the body can do what it needs to do to survive. In fact, compared to what it receives at rest, during extreme physical exertion, the amount of blood flow to the skeletal muscle increases 28-fold to about 21 L/min and the blood flow to the heart muscle more than quadruples, going from 250 mL/min at rest, to over 1,000 mL/min. The brain is able to maintain its usual blood flow of 750 mL/min, but most of the other organs and tissues of the body see a decrease in blood flow.
For example, the blood flow to the liver and gastrointestinal system drops about 60 percent, from 1.25 L/min to 500 mL/min and the blood flow to the kidneys drops 75 percent, from 1,000 mL/min to only 250 mL/min. Since the change in blood flow is directly related to the fourth power of the change in the luminal diameter this means that the luminal diameter of the arterioles supplying blood to the skeletal muscle must increase by 130 percent and those to the heart muscle by 40 percent. Those to the liver, the gastrointestinal system and the kidneys decrease by about 10 percent. So, how does the body know when to make these changes?
When the body becomes active the main intrinsic factor that affects local blood flow is something called metabolic or functional hyperemia. Increased muscle activity causes the local buildup of several different chemicals that make the muscles surrounding the local arterioles relax. This vasodilation reduces the vascular resistance and increases local blood flow. This is one of the main reasons why the blood flow to the skeletal and heart muscle increases with activity.
In addition, the main extrinsic factor that affects local blood flow with increased activity is an increase in the sympathetic response as well, but with an added twist. Except for the brain, an increase in norepinephrine usually makes the muscles surrounding the arterioles everywhere else in the body contract. This causes an increased vascular resistance and less blood flow. This explains why, with increased physical activity, the blood flow to most of the other organs and tissues is reduced. But with increased activity, more epinephrine is released as well. The muscles surrounding the arterioles that supply blood to the skeletal and heart muscle are unique in that they have specific receptors for epinephrine. Epinephrine stimulates these muscles to relax, reversing the effects of norepinephrine, which reduces the vascular resistance and increases the blood flow to the skeletal and heart muscle.
We have seen that to survive under the laws of nature, the body must follow the rules and take control by making sure that, when it comes to blood flow to specific organs and tissues, the numbers follow the Goldilocks principle and be "just right." Having all the parts in place to maintain this type of control requires, not only that the system be irreducibly complex, but also have a natural survival capacity to be able to do exactly what has to be done and at the right time. In fact, to do all of this the body must inherently know that Q = P/R and the change in Q is directly related to the fourth power of the change in the luminal diameter.
This completes our discussion of cardiovascular function and how the body makes sure that its trillions of cells get what they need to live, grow, and work properly. However, life is a dynamic process and our earliest ancestors would have had to have remained very active to win the battle for survival. The body does not live within the imaginations of evolutionary biologists but within the laws of nature in which battles involves injuries. Injury to blood vessels leads to bleeding, which if serious enough can be fatal. That's what we'll start to look at next time.
Howard Glicksman October 20, 2015 9:55 AM
Editor's note: Physicians have a special place among the thinkers who have elaborated the argument for intelligent design. Perhaps that's because, more than evolutionary biologists, they are familiar with the challenges of maintaining a functioning complex system, the human body. With that in mind, Evolution News & Views is delighted to present this series, "The Designed Body." For the complete series, see here. Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.
The cells that make up the organs and tissues of the body require the blood in the circulation to give them what they need so they can do what they need to do. The heart must pump enough blood with enough pressure behind it to maintain sufficient blood flow. Blood flow can be defined as the volume of blood that passes a given point in the circulation system within a given amount of time, and is usually measured in "milliliters per minute" (mL/min).
As I've shown in prior articles in this series, the laws of nature state that blood flow (Q) to a given organ is directly related to the pressure (P) of the blood as it enters its capillaries and inversely related to the vascular resistance (R) applied by its arterioles. This natural relationship can be expressed as Q = P/R. The higher the pressure, the more blood flow and the lower the pressure, the less blood flow. And the higher the vascular resistance, the less blood flow, and the lower the vascular resistance, the more blood flow.
Common sense tells us that the wider the passageway the easier the flow. Just consider rush hour traffic moving along a highway. The more lanes there are available, the more cars can move through in a given amount of time. Now think about what happens when the cars leave the highway. Compared to a single-lane exit ramp, a double-lane one provides much less resistance and allows easier flow off the highway. The blood hurtling through the smaller arteries, trying to enter the arterioles on the way to the tissues, is like cars in a crush of rush hour traffic trying to enter the various exit ramps to reach their destinations. The wider the opening in the arterioles, the more blood can flow through, and the narrower the opening, the less blood can flow through.
The arterioles can increase or decrease the amount of resistance they apply to the blood trying to enter an organ by increasing or decreasing the contraction of the muscle surrounding them. An increase in muscle contraction closes down the opening in the arteriole, making the passageway (lumen) smaller. This increases the resistance and lowers the blood flow. And a decrease in muscle contraction opens up the lumen, decreasing the resistance and increasing the blood flow. In fact, the laws of nature state that the change in blood flow is directly related to the fourth power of the change in the luminal diameter. This means that if the luminal diameter of the blood vessel doubles, the blood flow increases by a factor of sixteen, and if it halves it decreases by a factor of sixteen.
At rest, total blood flow within the systemic circulation (cardiac output) is about 5,000 mL/min (5 L/min). With high levels of activity, something our earliest ancestors would have had to do often, it rises to about 25L/min. However, just because the body can generate enough cardiac output to meet its metabolic needs doesn't mean that the increase in blood flow will automatically go to the organs and tissues that really need it. This requires the body to take control in order to follow the rules that nature throws at it. Real numbers have real consequences, and if with increased activity the body can't get enough blood flow to the heart and skeletal muscle while preserving it to the brain, the body cannot function. This is what the body of our earliest ancestors would have had to have been able to do to survive within the laws of nature, something that evolutionary biology has yet to even mention, never mind explain.
The blood flow to a given organ or tissue is dependent, not only on its mass, but also its energy needs, in other words, what it's doing. The brain of a 70 Kg man has a mass of only 1500 gm, about 2 percent of his total mass. But at rest, the brain receives 750 mL/min, or 15 percent of the cardiac output. The brain needs a high amount of blood flow, over and above what one would expect for its size, because even though the body may be at rest, the brain is always working hard. In fact, no matter how little or how much the body exerts itself, the amount of blood flow to the brain must stay at 750 mL/min for it to work properly. The heart, with a mass of only about 300 gm, less than 1 percent of the body's total, is another organ that must constantly work, even when the body is at rest. At rest, the heart receives about 250 mL/min of the cardiac output, or about 5 percent of the total blood flow.
In contrast, the skeletal muscle, with a mass of about 30 Kg, or 40 percent of the body's total, at rest receives only 15 percent of the cardiac output, or 750 mL/min. At rest, the remaining blood flow mostly goes to the liver and gastrointestinal system (25 percent), the kidneys (20 percent), the fat (5 percent), the bones (5 percent), the skin (5 percent), and the lungs (2.5 percent).
The muscles surrounding the arterioles respond to several different factors. Some of these are intrinsic to what is going on inside and around the arterioles. This includes the pressure the blood applies as it enters and stretches the arteriolar wall and the presence of certain chemicals related to the metabolism of the tissues. Other factors are extrinsic to the arterioles, which include various hormones released by glands and neurohormones released by nerve cells. At rest, the main extrinsic factor that affects local blood flow is the sympathetic nervous system.
Except for in the brain, the sympathetic neurohormone, norepinephrine, attaches to specific receptors on the muscles surrounding most of the arterioles in the body and tells them to stay contracted. The resulting vasoconstriction causes limited blood flow through most of the organs and tissues. At rest, particularly in the brain and the heart, the main intrinsic factor that affects blood flow is autoregulation, in which the arteriolar resistance is constantly adjusted to match the pressure of the entering blood to maintain a relatively constant blood flow.
When the body is very active, such as when our ancient ancestors were running to find food or trying to avoid becoming food, the cardiac output is about 25L/min. The majority of this quintupling of blood flow must go to the skeletal and heart muscle so the body can do what it needs to do to survive. In fact, compared to what it receives at rest, during extreme physical exertion, the amount of blood flow to the skeletal muscle increases 28-fold to about 21 L/min and the blood flow to the heart muscle more than quadruples, going from 250 mL/min at rest, to over 1,000 mL/min. The brain is able to maintain its usual blood flow of 750 mL/min, but most of the other organs and tissues of the body see a decrease in blood flow.
For example, the blood flow to the liver and gastrointestinal system drops about 60 percent, from 1.25 L/min to 500 mL/min and the blood flow to the kidneys drops 75 percent, from 1,000 mL/min to only 250 mL/min. Since the change in blood flow is directly related to the fourth power of the change in the luminal diameter this means that the luminal diameter of the arterioles supplying blood to the skeletal muscle must increase by 130 percent and those to the heart muscle by 40 percent. Those to the liver, the gastrointestinal system and the kidneys decrease by about 10 percent. So, how does the body know when to make these changes?
When the body becomes active the main intrinsic factor that affects local blood flow is something called metabolic or functional hyperemia. Increased muscle activity causes the local buildup of several different chemicals that make the muscles surrounding the local arterioles relax. This vasodilation reduces the vascular resistance and increases local blood flow. This is one of the main reasons why the blood flow to the skeletal and heart muscle increases with activity.
In addition, the main extrinsic factor that affects local blood flow with increased activity is an increase in the sympathetic response as well, but with an added twist. Except for the brain, an increase in norepinephrine usually makes the muscles surrounding the arterioles everywhere else in the body contract. This causes an increased vascular resistance and less blood flow. This explains why, with increased physical activity, the blood flow to most of the other organs and tissues is reduced. But with increased activity, more epinephrine is released as well. The muscles surrounding the arterioles that supply blood to the skeletal and heart muscle are unique in that they have specific receptors for epinephrine. Epinephrine stimulates these muscles to relax, reversing the effects of norepinephrine, which reduces the vascular resistance and increases the blood flow to the skeletal and heart muscle.
We have seen that to survive under the laws of nature, the body must follow the rules and take control by making sure that, when it comes to blood flow to specific organs and tissues, the numbers follow the Goldilocks principle and be "just right." Having all the parts in place to maintain this type of control requires, not only that the system be irreducibly complex, but also have a natural survival capacity to be able to do exactly what has to be done and at the right time. In fact, to do all of this the body must inherently know that Q = P/R and the change in Q is directly related to the fourth power of the change in the luminal diameter.
This completes our discussion of cardiovascular function and how the body makes sure that its trillions of cells get what they need to live, grow, and work properly. However, life is a dynamic process and our earliest ancestors would have had to have remained very active to win the battle for survival. The body does not live within the imaginations of evolutionary biologists but within the laws of nature in which battles involves injuries. Injury to blood vessels leads to bleeding, which if serious enough can be fatal. That's what we'll start to look at next time.
The Tartarus of the bible:The Watchtower Society's commentary.
TARTARUS:
A prisonlike, abased condition into which God cast disobedient angels in Noah’s day.
This word is found but once in the inspired Scriptures, at 2 Peter 2:4. The apostle writes: “God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.” The expression “throwing them into Tartarus” is from the Greek verb tar·ta·roʹo and so includes within itself the word “Tartarus.”
A parallel text is found at Jude 6: “And the angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day.” Showing when it was that these angels “forsook their own proper dwelling place,” Peter speaks of “the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient when the patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed.” (1Pe 3:19, 20) This directly links the matter to the account at Genesis 6:1-4 concerning “the sons of the true God” who abandoned their heavenly abode to cohabit with women in pre-Flood times and produced children by them, such offspring being designated as Nephilim.—See NEPHILIM; SON(S) OF GOD.
From these texts it is evident that Tartarus is a condition rather than a particular location, inasmuch as Peter, on the one hand, speaks of these disobedient spirits as being in “pits of dense darkness,” while Paul speaks of them as being in “heavenly places” from which they exercise a rule of darkness as wicked spirit forces. (2Pe 2:4; Eph 6:10-12) The dense darkness similarly is not literally a lack of light but results from their being cut off from illumination by God as renegades and outcasts from his family, with only a dark outlook as to their eternal destiny.
Tartarus is, therefore, not the same as the Hebrew Sheol or the Greek Hades, both of which refer to the common earthly grave of mankind. This is evident from the fact that, while the apostle Peter shows that Jesus Christ preached to these “spirits in prison,” he also shows that Jesus did so, not during the three days while buried in Hades (Sheol), but after his resurrection out of Hades.—1Pe 3:18-20.
Likewise the abased condition represented by Tartarus should not be confused with “the abyss” into which Satan and his demons are eventually to be cast for the thousand years of Christ’s rule. (Re 20:1-3) Apparently the disobedient angels were cast into Tartarus in “Noah’s days” (1Pe 3:20), but some 2,000 years later we find them entreating Jesus “not to order them to go away into the abyss.”—Lu 8:26-31; see ABYSS.
The word “Tartarus” is also used in pre-Christian heathen mythologies. In Homer’s Iliad this mythological Tartarus is represented as an underground prison ‘as far below Hades as earth is below heaven.’ In it were imprisoned the lesser gods, Cronus and the other Titan spirits. As we have seen, the Tartarus of the Bible is not a place but a condition and, therefore, is not the same as this Tartarus of Greek mythology. However, it is worth noting that the mythological Tartarus was presented not as a place for humans but as a place for superhuman creatures. So, in that regard there is a similarity, since the Scriptural Tartarus is clearly not for the detention of human souls (compare Mt 11:23) but is only for wicked superhuman spirits who are rebels against God.
The condition of utter debasement represented by Tartarus is a precursor of the abyssing that Satan and his demons are to experience prior to the start of the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. This, in turn, is to be followed after the end of the thousand years by their utter destruction in “the second death.”—Mt 25:41; Re 20:1-3, 7-10, 14.
A prisonlike, abased condition into which God cast disobedient angels in Noah’s day.
This word is found but once in the inspired Scriptures, at 2 Peter 2:4. The apostle writes: “God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.” The expression “throwing them into Tartarus” is from the Greek verb tar·ta·roʹo and so includes within itself the word “Tartarus.”
A parallel text is found at Jude 6: “And the angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day.” Showing when it was that these angels “forsook their own proper dwelling place,” Peter speaks of “the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient when the patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed.” (1Pe 3:19, 20) This directly links the matter to the account at Genesis 6:1-4 concerning “the sons of the true God” who abandoned their heavenly abode to cohabit with women in pre-Flood times and produced children by them, such offspring being designated as Nephilim.—See NEPHILIM; SON(S) OF GOD.
From these texts it is evident that Tartarus is a condition rather than a particular location, inasmuch as Peter, on the one hand, speaks of these disobedient spirits as being in “pits of dense darkness,” while Paul speaks of them as being in “heavenly places” from which they exercise a rule of darkness as wicked spirit forces. (2Pe 2:4; Eph 6:10-12) The dense darkness similarly is not literally a lack of light but results from their being cut off from illumination by God as renegades and outcasts from his family, with only a dark outlook as to their eternal destiny.
Tartarus is, therefore, not the same as the Hebrew Sheol or the Greek Hades, both of which refer to the common earthly grave of mankind. This is evident from the fact that, while the apostle Peter shows that Jesus Christ preached to these “spirits in prison,” he also shows that Jesus did so, not during the three days while buried in Hades (Sheol), but after his resurrection out of Hades.—1Pe 3:18-20.
Likewise the abased condition represented by Tartarus should not be confused with “the abyss” into which Satan and his demons are eventually to be cast for the thousand years of Christ’s rule. (Re 20:1-3) Apparently the disobedient angels were cast into Tartarus in “Noah’s days” (1Pe 3:20), but some 2,000 years later we find them entreating Jesus “not to order them to go away into the abyss.”—Lu 8:26-31; see ABYSS.
The word “Tartarus” is also used in pre-Christian heathen mythologies. In Homer’s Iliad this mythological Tartarus is represented as an underground prison ‘as far below Hades as earth is below heaven.’ In it were imprisoned the lesser gods, Cronus and the other Titan spirits. As we have seen, the Tartarus of the Bible is not a place but a condition and, therefore, is not the same as this Tartarus of Greek mythology. However, it is worth noting that the mythological Tartarus was presented not as a place for humans but as a place for superhuman creatures. So, in that regard there is a similarity, since the Scriptural Tartarus is clearly not for the detention of human souls (compare Mt 11:23) but is only for wicked superhuman spirits who are rebels against God.
The condition of utter debasement represented by Tartarus is a precursor of the abyssing that Satan and his demons are to experience prior to the start of the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. This, in turn, is to be followed after the end of the thousand years by their utter destruction in “the second death.”—Mt 25:41; Re 20:1-3, 7-10, 14.
It's design all the way Down VI
Please bear in mind that we are talking about proto life here the very oldest lifeforms on the planet.
Biologists discover electric bacteria that eat pure electrons rather than sugar, redefining the tenacity of life
By Sebastian Anthony on July 18, 2014 at 8:51 am
Some intrepid biologists at the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered bacteria that survives on nothing but electricity — rather than food, they eat and excrete pure electrons. These bacteria yet again prove the almost miraculous tenacity of life — but, from a technology standpoint, they might also prove to be useful in enabling the creation of self-powered nanoscale devices that clean up pollution. Some of these bacteria also have the curious ability to form into ‘biocables,’ microbial nanowires that are centimeters long and conduct electricity as well as copper wires — a capability that might one day be tapped to build long, self-assembling subsurface networks for human use.
As you may recall from high school biology, almost every living organism consumes sugar to survive. When it gets right down to it, everything you eat is ultimately converted or digested into single molecules of glucose. Without going into the complexities of respiration and metabolism (ATP!), these sugars have excess electrons — and the oxygen you breathe in really wants those electrons. By ferrying electrons from sugar to oxygen, a flow of electrons — i.e. energy — is created, which is then used to carry out various vital tasks around your body (triggering electrons, beating your heart, etc.)These special bacteria, however, don’t need no poxy sugars — instead, they cut out the middleman and feed directly on electrons. To discover these bacteria, and to cultivate them in the lab, the USC biologists quite simply scooped up some sediment from the ocean, took it back to the lab, stuck some electrodes into it, and then turned on the power. When higher voltages are pumped into the water, the bacteria “eats” electrons from the electrode; when a lower voltage is present, the bacteria “exhales” electrons onto the electrode, creating an electrical current (which could be used to power a device, if you were so inclined). The USC study very carefully controlled for other sources of nutrition — these bacteria were definitely eating electrons directly.
All told, various researchers around the world have now discovered upwards of 10 different kinds of bacteria that feed on electricity — and, interestingly, they’re all pretty different (they’re not from the same family), and none of them are like Shewanella or Geobacter, two well-known bacteria that have interesting electrical properties. Kenneth Nealson of USC, speaking to New Scientist about his team’s discovery, said: “This is huge. What it means is that there’s a whole part of the microbial world that we don’t know about.”
As for the repercussions of finding bacteria that eat and excrete electrons, the most obvious use is in the growing fields of molecular motors and nanomachines. These bacteria, at their most basic, are machines that consume raw electricity — and so, with some clever (genetic?) engineering, it stands to reason that we might one day use them to power tiny machines that can perform tasks that are currently carried out by expensive, human-operated machines (cleaning up chemical spills, for example). These bacteria might also allow us to find out exactly how much energy a living cell needs to survive; put them in a test tube, and then slowly dial back the electrode voltage until they die. A cruel experiment, but one that would yield very informative results.
In a separate study a few years ago, researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark found that some electric bacteria also have the ability to form microbial nanowires — long chains of bacteria that can span several centimeters. These nanowires ferry nutrients to bacteria further down the chain, which might be stuck underneath some mud. Curiously, these nanowires are about as conductive as standard copper wires, which leads us to wonder if electric bacteria might one day be coerced into building subsurface networks for human use. It would be a little more efficient than spending billions of dollars on laying submarine cables…
Biologists discover electric bacteria that eat pure electrons rather than sugar, redefining the tenacity of life
By Sebastian Anthony on July 18, 2014 at 8:51 am
Some intrepid biologists at the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered bacteria that survives on nothing but electricity — rather than food, they eat and excrete pure electrons. These bacteria yet again prove the almost miraculous tenacity of life — but, from a technology standpoint, they might also prove to be useful in enabling the creation of self-powered nanoscale devices that clean up pollution. Some of these bacteria also have the curious ability to form into ‘biocables,’ microbial nanowires that are centimeters long and conduct electricity as well as copper wires — a capability that might one day be tapped to build long, self-assembling subsurface networks for human use.
As you may recall from high school biology, almost every living organism consumes sugar to survive. When it gets right down to it, everything you eat is ultimately converted or digested into single molecules of glucose. Without going into the complexities of respiration and metabolism (ATP!), these sugars have excess electrons — and the oxygen you breathe in really wants those electrons. By ferrying electrons from sugar to oxygen, a flow of electrons — i.e. energy — is created, which is then used to carry out various vital tasks around your body (triggering electrons, beating your heart, etc.)These special bacteria, however, don’t need no poxy sugars — instead, they cut out the middleman and feed directly on electrons. To discover these bacteria, and to cultivate them in the lab, the USC biologists quite simply scooped up some sediment from the ocean, took it back to the lab, stuck some electrodes into it, and then turned on the power. When higher voltages are pumped into the water, the bacteria “eats” electrons from the electrode; when a lower voltage is present, the bacteria “exhales” electrons onto the electrode, creating an electrical current (which could be used to power a device, if you were so inclined). The USC study very carefully controlled for other sources of nutrition — these bacteria were definitely eating electrons directly.
All told, various researchers around the world have now discovered upwards of 10 different kinds of bacteria that feed on electricity — and, interestingly, they’re all pretty different (they’re not from the same family), and none of them are like Shewanella or Geobacter, two well-known bacteria that have interesting electrical properties. Kenneth Nealson of USC, speaking to New Scientist about his team’s discovery, said: “This is huge. What it means is that there’s a whole part of the microbial world that we don’t know about.”
As for the repercussions of finding bacteria that eat and excrete electrons, the most obvious use is in the growing fields of molecular motors and nanomachines. These bacteria, at their most basic, are machines that consume raw electricity — and so, with some clever (genetic?) engineering, it stands to reason that we might one day use them to power tiny machines that can perform tasks that are currently carried out by expensive, human-operated machines (cleaning up chemical spills, for example). These bacteria might also allow us to find out exactly how much energy a living cell needs to survive; put them in a test tube, and then slowly dial back the electrode voltage until they die. A cruel experiment, but one that would yield very informative results.
In a separate study a few years ago, researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark found that some electric bacteria also have the ability to form microbial nanowires — long chains of bacteria that can span several centimeters. These nanowires ferry nutrients to bacteria further down the chain, which might be stuck underneath some mud. Curiously, these nanowires are about as conductive as standard copper wires, which leads us to wonder if electric bacteria might one day be coerced into building subsurface networks for human use. It would be a little more efficient than spending billions of dollars on laying submarine cables…
Monday, 19 October 2015
The fossil record continues to play rough.
Fossil of world's earliest modern bird could help us understand the extinction of dinosaurs
May 7, 2015 by Gareth Dyke, The Conversation
Fossils of the oldest member of the lineage to which today's birds belong has been found in Hebei province of Northern China. The discovery pushes back the evolutionary record for birds by nearly 6m years and challenges the traditional view of bird evolution. The fossils may one day help solve the puzzle of why dinosaurs that weren't related to birds were wiped out as a result of mass extinction.
Archaeornithura is now the oldest-known example of Ornithuromorpha, a group that includes all living birds and their fossil ancestors. The two extremely well-preserved fossils are about 130m years old, from to the Mesozoic era, which extended between 252m and 66m years ago.
A challenge for evolutionary theory
We have known for a long time that birds are the living descendants of theropod dinosaurs, an evolutionary branch that can be traced back at least 140m years to the so called "first bird" Archaeopteryx (which means ancient wing). Fossils of this creature were first found in found in Jurassic-era limestones in Bavaria, Germany, in 1861.
In recent years, however, researchers have learned two important things that have challenged that narrative. First, many researchers no longer consider Archaeopteryx to be a bird at all, rather a member of a closely-related group of feathered theropod dinosaurs. In addition, new fossil discoveries, especially from China, have dramatically widened our view of the diversity of early birds.
The fossils described in the recent study, published in Nature Communications, were dug out from silt rocks just 10m years younger than those which gave us Archaeopteryx. It is extremely surprising that ornithuromorph birds had evolved and diversified to that extent in just 10m years after Archaeopteryx.
Despite being of a similar age to Archaeopteryx, Archaeornithura was a great deal more advanced. Measuring 15cm in height, it had well-developed feathers, an advanced abdominal region and wings and lacked feathers on its legs, suggesting it was a wader.
Survival of the high-flyers
The finding of Archaeornithura is important, because it may help shed light on why only the types of dinosaurs that evolved into modern birds survived the famous end-Cretaceous mass-extinction 66m years ago.
Other groups of birds, such as Enantiornithines, which often had teeth and clawed fingers, became extinct – but the branch that went on to give rise to all modern birds survived for some reason. If we could pin down when and how ornithuromorph birds evolved from their earlier ancestors and what makes them different to other, earlier birds, we might understand the reasons for the dramatic success of modern birds and why they made it while other dinosaurs died out.
A great deal more research is needed to solve the puzzle of bird evolution. Archaeornithura is not enough on its own to provide all the answers. But fossils such as this will certainly help inform the debate and assist in our search for related species. Understanding the evolution of modern birds and how they made it across one of the largest extinction events of all time is surely a major holy grail of evolutionary biology.
May 7, 2015 by Gareth Dyke, The Conversation
Fossils of the oldest member of the lineage to which today's birds belong has been found in Hebei province of Northern China. The discovery pushes back the evolutionary record for birds by nearly 6m years and challenges the traditional view of bird evolution. The fossils may one day help solve the puzzle of why dinosaurs that weren't related to birds were wiped out as a result of mass extinction.
Archaeornithura is now the oldest-known example of Ornithuromorpha, a group that includes all living birds and their fossil ancestors. The two extremely well-preserved fossils are about 130m years old, from to the Mesozoic era, which extended between 252m and 66m years ago.
A challenge for evolutionary theory
We have known for a long time that birds are the living descendants of theropod dinosaurs, an evolutionary branch that can be traced back at least 140m years to the so called "first bird" Archaeopteryx (which means ancient wing). Fossils of this creature were first found in found in Jurassic-era limestones in Bavaria, Germany, in 1861.
In recent years, however, researchers have learned two important things that have challenged that narrative. First, many researchers no longer consider Archaeopteryx to be a bird at all, rather a member of a closely-related group of feathered theropod dinosaurs. In addition, new fossil discoveries, especially from China, have dramatically widened our view of the diversity of early birds.
The fossils described in the recent study, published in Nature Communications, were dug out from silt rocks just 10m years younger than those which gave us Archaeopteryx. It is extremely surprising that ornithuromorph birds had evolved and diversified to that extent in just 10m years after Archaeopteryx.
Despite being of a similar age to Archaeopteryx, Archaeornithura was a great deal more advanced. Measuring 15cm in height, it had well-developed feathers, an advanced abdominal region and wings and lacked feathers on its legs, suggesting it was a wader.
Survival of the high-flyers
The finding of Archaeornithura is important, because it may help shed light on why only the types of dinosaurs that evolved into modern birds survived the famous end-Cretaceous mass-extinction 66m years ago.
Other groups of birds, such as Enantiornithines, which often had teeth and clawed fingers, became extinct – but the branch that went on to give rise to all modern birds survived for some reason. If we could pin down when and how ornithuromorph birds evolved from their earlier ancestors and what makes them different to other, earlier birds, we might understand the reasons for the dramatic success of modern birds and why they made it while other dinosaurs died out.
A great deal more research is needed to solve the puzzle of bird evolution. Archaeornithura is not enough on its own to provide all the answers. But fossils such as this will certainly help inform the debate and assist in our search for related species. Understanding the evolution of modern birds and how they made it across one of the largest extinction events of all time is surely a major holy grail of evolutionary biology.
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