Friday, February 28, 2014

Whale Fossils in a Desert, Ancient Zircons, and a Changing World

We're learning more about our universe: from whales beached in a desert, tiny crystals, and Earth's greatest mass extinction.
  1. Cerro Ballena's Whales
  2. Zircons in the Sands of Time
  3. Timeline: Earth's Formation, Atmospheric Oxygen, and Humans
  4. Earth's Anticlimactic Apocalypse: 252,000,000 Years Ago

God: Large and In Charge


(From Tim Eagan, via GoComics.com, used w/o permission.)

Although I knew someone who said that the sun goes around Earth, based on Joshua 10:12-13, I haven't been told that God planted trilobite and dinosaur fossils to 'test our faith.'

The notion that God would booby-trap creation with intellectual land mines doesn't make sense. Not if I assume that what Jesus said is true:
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way and the truth 5 and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

"If you know me, then you will also know my Father. 6 From now on you do know him and have seen him.' "
(John 14:16-7)
From what's in John 1:1-5 and 14:8-12, I think it's safe to assume that God the Father and God the Son are on the same page. Bottom line? God doesn't lie, or falsify evidence. Truth cannot contradict truth, which is why faith and reason get along just fine. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 159)

I also think arguing with the Almighty about how creation should have been designed is pointless. God is large and in charge. (Catechism, 268, 279, 300, 301, 302-305)

More of my take on truth and getting a grip:

Change Happens

This universe is good, but it's not perfect: yet. Change happens, and our decisions make a difference: for good or ill. (Catechism, 302-308, 1730-1742)

We live in a universe that's beautiful, ordered: and there for us to study. (Catechism, 31-36, 282-289, 299, 341)

We can learn a little about God by studying what God created. On the other hand, studying God's creation doesn't keep us from getting goofy ideas.

Nebular Hypothesis, Yes; 18th Century Last Judgment, No

Emanuel Swedenborg is one of the scientists who first developed the nebular hypotheses. He also, in 1758, said that the Last Judgment had happened: in 1757.

I've opined about relying on scientists and auto mechanics for theological insights before, and that's another topic. (January 31, 2014; August 19, 2010)

More-or-less-Christian 'End Times Biblical prophecies' and their secular analogs are part of American life: and, occasionally, death.

I suspect that most cultures have had folks with a doomsday frame of mind. I mentioned a short list of predicted apocalypses on Tuesday, along with two examples of folks who were sincerely, and lethally, convinced that the end was nigh. (February 25, 2014)

More of my take on doomsday declarations that didn't deliver:

Stewards of Creation

We are made in the image of God: male and female; with dominion over this world; and a frightening responsibility.

We are stewards of this wonderfully interdependent creation. We don't own the world, but we're in charge of its resources: for our use, and for all generations to come. (Genesis 1:27; Catechism, 339-346, 355-361, 373, 2402-2406, 2456)

That's why I think we need to keep learning about how the universe works: and learn the right lesson from Earth's anticlimactic apocalypse, the Permian-Triassic extinction event.

1. Cerro Ballena's Whales


(From Adam Metallo/Smithsonian Institution, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"Hundreds of fossils await unearthing and description at Cerro Ballena"
"Chile's stunning fossil whale graveyard explained"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (February 25, 2014)

"It is one of the most astonishing fossil discoveries of recent years - a graveyard of whales found beside the Pan-American Highway in Chile.

"And now scientists think they can explain how so many of the animals came to be preserved in one location more than five million years ago.

"It was the result of not one but four separate mass strandings, they report in a Royal Society journal...."
Folks knew that this part of South America's Atacama Desert had whale fossils. Cerro Ballena, "Whale Hill," got its name from the fossilized whale bones sticking out from the rocks. That's Cerro Ballena (27° 02' 31.51" S, 70° 47' 42.18" W), near the coast in northern Chile, not Cerro La Ballena in Santiago's metropolitan area.

Excavation in a quarry near Caldera, Chile, stopped when paleontologists got permission to do their own digging in the 20 by 250 meter trench. They had two weeks before the quarry went back to folks providing material for the Pan American Highway.

The scientists photographed, mapped, scanned, and cataloged 40 skeletons: rorqual whales; sperm whales; seals; aquatic sloths; walrus-whales; and predatory bony fish. (Royal Society (February 2014))

Whales: In a Desert?!

The Atacama Desert is a remarkably dry place, and may be the oldest desert on Earth.

It's home to grasshoppers that look like pebbles, red scorpions, Darwin's leaf-eared mouse, and other animals that get along without much water: except along the coast, where seals and sea lions come ashore.

These days, Cerro Ballena is about a mile inland. In the late Tortonian and early Messinian, about 7,250,000 years back, scientists are reasonably sure it was a flat sandy area, just above high tide, at the end of an estuary.

Something, probably a toxic algal bloom, killed the assorted whales, aquatic sloths, and fish. A storm and high tide washed the bodies ashore, where they were out of reach of marine scavengers.

More:

2. Zircons in the Sands of Time


(From John W. Valley/University of Wisconsin-Madison, via Reuters, used w/o permission.)
"A 4.4 billion-year-old zircon crystal from the Jack Hills region of Australia is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters February 23, 2014." (Reuters)
"Crystal is 'oldest scrap of Earth crust' "
BBC News (February 24, 2014)

"A tiny 4.4-billion-year-old crystal has been confirmed as the oldest fragment of Earth's crust.

"The zircon was found in sandstone in the Jack Hills region of Western Australia.

"Scientists dated the crystal by studying its uranium and lead atoms. The former decays into the latter very slowly over time and can be used like a clock.

"The finding has been reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.

"Its implication is that Earth had formed a solid crust much sooner after its formation 4.6 billion years ago than was previously thought, and very quickly following the great collision with a Mars-sized body that is thought to have produced the Moon just a few tens of millions of years after that. Before this time, Earth would have been a seething ball of molten magma...."
Right now, we're reasonably sure that the Solar system, and Earth, are about the same age. The moon is a tad younger, and probably happened after a whacking great impact between Earth and roughly Mars-size planet. The Jack Hills zircons aren't much younger.

Current estimates, age (in years) of:
  • Jack Hills zircons
    • 4,400,000,000 roughly
  • Earth's moon
    • 4,520,000,000 more or less
  • Solar system
    • 4,560,000,000
These zircons are a big deal for folks trying to understand what happened in our planet's early years. They formed in Earth's solid crust: soon after a collision that melted Earth's outer layers.

"Soon" in this case was very roughly 100,000,000 years: a hundred times longer than we've been using fire.

Learning that there's More to Learn

Scientists have learned a great deal about Earth and other planets in the last few centuries. The best explanation we've got for Earth's early years is the nebular hypothesis.

The idea that our sun and its planets started as a rotating cloud if gas goes back to about 1735. At the time it was an interesting idea, without much evidence backing it up. Since then, we've collected a great deal of data about Earth and other planets, and observed nebulae in several stages of collapse.

As a working explanation, the nebular hypothesis will do until we develop something better: yet more topics.

More about these zircons:

3. Timeline: Earth's Formation, Atmospheric Oxygen, and Humans


(From Andree Valley/University of Wisconsin-Madison, via Reuters, used w/o permission.)
"The timeline of the history of Earth, and places the formation of the Jack Hills zircon and a 'cool early Earth' at 4.4 billion years is seen in this graphic handout obtained by Reuters February 23, 2014."
"Rock around the clock: zircon crystal is oldest piece of Earth"
Will Dunham, Reuters (February 23, 2014)

"To put it mildly, this is one gem of a gem.

"Scientists using two different age-determining techniques have shown that a tiny zircon crystal found on a sheep ranch in western Australia is the oldest known piece of our planet, dating to 4.4 billion years ago....

"...John Valley, a University of Wisconsin geoscience professor who led the research, said the findings suggest that the early Earth was not as harsh a place as many scientists have thought.

"To determine the age of the zircon fragment, the scientists first used a widely accepted dating technique based on determining the radioactive decay of uranium to lead in a mineral sample...."
I've mentioned some items shown on that timeline:
Others, like the Late Bombardment, Late Heavy Bombardment, lunar cataclysm, or LHB, I haven't.

Most of what we know about the LHB comes from analyses of rocks brought back from our moon. For reasons that scientists are still discussing, our moon got hit with a remarkable number of asteroids, between about 3,800,000,000 and 4,100,000,000 years ago.

So did Earth, but most evidence left by the LHB on our planet is long gone: understandably, since Earth's surface gets recycled.

The process is fast, for organic matter; not so fast for continents and ocean floors. Recycling rocks involves plate tectonics, which is yet again another topic. (December 6, 2013; February 27, 2013)

Life on Earth started right after the LHB ended: unless critters lived before the LHB, and survived. I won't be surprised, either way.

More:

Technical Stuff

"...But because some scientists hypothesized that this technique might give a false date due to possible movement of lead atoms within the crystal over time, the researchers turned to a second sophisticated method to verify the finding.

"They used a technique known as atom-probe tomography that was able to identify individual atoms of lead in the crystal and determine their mass, and confirmed that the zircon was indeed 4.4 billion years old.

"To put that age in perspective, the Earth itself formed 4.5 billion years ago as a ball of molten rock, meaning that its crust formed relatively soon thereafter, 100 million years later. The age of the crystal also means that the crust appeared just 160 million years after the very formation of the solar system...."
(Will Dunham, Reuters)
The technical side of radiometric dating, which has nothing to do with online dating, fascinates me. Your experience may vary.

Life Began 4,300,000,000 Years Ago: Maybe

"...'One of the things that we're really interested in is: when did the Earth first become habitable for life? When did it cool off enough that life might have emerged?' Valley said in a telephone interview.

"The discovery that the zircon crystal, and thereby the formation of the crust, dates from 4.4 billion years ago suggests that the planet was perhaps capable of sustaining microbial life 4.3 billion years ago, Valley said.

" 'We have no evidence that life existed then. We have no evidence that it didn't. But there is no reason why life could not have existed on Earth 4.3 billion years ago,' he added...."
(Will Dunham, Reuters)
I realize that absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence. I stopped trying to convince zealots of any ilk a long time ago.

There's no evidence that life existed 4,300,000,000 years back: but it's remotely possible that it did, since apparently Earth was cool enough, and presumably had at least a little liquid water. We know that life began here at some point: since we're here.

Evidence and Beauty

Depending on who's talking, evidence of Earth's first life are 3,500,000,000 year old fossilized mats resembling stromatolites, 2,700,000,000 year old microfossils and chemical traces, or a 17th century Calvinist's book.

God might have designed the universe along the lines imagined by ancient Mesopotamians. But I'm willing to accept the idea that we have learned a little more about this creation over the last few millennia.

By the same token, I'm willing to accept the idea that God has the patience and wisdom to create and sustain a universe that's almost unimaginably ancient: and filled with beauty and wonders that we're only beginning to understand.


(From "The Three-Story Universe," © N. F. Gier, God, Reason, and the Evangelicals (1987), via Nick Gier, University of Idaho, used w/o permission.)

4. Earth's Anticlimactic Apocalypse: 252,000,000 Years Ago


(From William Foster, via LiveScience, used w/o permission.)
"Gastropods (snails) (Coelostylina werfensis and 'Polygyrina' gracilior) from the Early Triassic representing slow-moving, epifaunal grazers."
"Earth's Greatest Extinction Hardly Changed Ocean Ways of Life"
Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience (February 23, 2014)

"Earth's largest mass extinction had surprisingly little effect on the range of lifestyles seen on the planet's seafloor, despite the loss of more than 90 percent of marine species, researchers find.

"Understanding the impacts of this ancient extinction event may shed light on the damage climate change might now inflict on the planet, the scientists say.

"The end-Permian mass extinction, which occurred 252 million years ago, was the biggest die-off in the planet's history, and the largest of the five mass extinctions seen in the fossil record. The cataclysm killed as much as 95 percent of all species on Earth...."
"Epifaunal grazers?" In this context, "epifaunal" means critters living on an underwater surface: like a lake or ocean bottom; rocks; or, more recently, pilings. Mussels, crabs, starfish, and flounders are epifaunal animals.

I've posted about the Great Dying before. Briefly, something went horribly wrong about a quarter of a billion years back.

Active volcanoes in a nation-sized region spewed toxic gasses for a million years, rain as acid as undiluted lemon juice may have helped kill most of Earth's species: a process that may have taken only 20,000 years.

Bad News and Scorpions

The Great Dying was bad news for endangered species like fusulinids. Those odd critters were nearly extinct when the disaster began, and didn't survive.

Tabulate and rugose corals died out: but other corals are still with us.

We don't have recipes for fried trilobite, because those arthropods joined rugose corals in the roster of formerly-living types of animals in the Great Dying.

Trilobites had a good run though: thousands of species over a span of 300,000,000 years, give or take. That's impressive, but not even close to scorpions' 430,000,000 years: so far.

Goodby Rostroconchs, Hello Sea Lilies

"...The researchers deduced the probable lifestyle of each group, based on where it lived, how it fed and whether it was attached to the seafloor. They identified 29 lifestyles, or modes of life.

"The scientists discovered that on the global scale, just a single mode of life on the seafloor was irrevocably lost at the end of the Permian: a life spent stationary, unattached to and partly buried in the seafloor, and feeding on any pieces of food that would land on the ocean's bottom. This lifestyle was practiced by now-extinct mollusks known as rostroconchs.

"On the other hand, just one new mode of life emerged after the mass extinction: one spent erect on the seafloor with limited mobility and grazing on items suspended in the water. This lifestyle was practiced by the feathery-limbed mobile 'sea lilies,' or crinoids...."
(Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience)
Rostroconchs looked a bit like bivalves: mollusks with two-part shells, like oysters and clams.

The new critters, crionids, are still with us: although they've changed over the last quarter of a billion years.


(From berichard, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(A feather star: yes, it's an animal.)

Getting a Grip about Change

The Permian-Triassic extinction event, or Great Dying, is the worst mass extinction ever. But I think there's a lesson in what didn't happen:
"...'We are not saying nothing happened," said study lead author William Foster, a paleontologist at Plymouth University in England. 'Rather, global oceans in the extinction's aftermath were a bit like a ship manned by a skeleton crew — all stations were operational, but manned by relatively few species.'

"The lack of change in the number of lifestyles could explain why so few new groups of marine organisms arose after the extinction, said paleoecologist Martin Aberhan, of the Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity in Berlin, who did not take part in the research.

" 'At the level of presence or absence of modes of life, there was virtually no change in the long run,' Aberhan told Live Science...."
(Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience)
I don't see a problem with deciding that particularly cute, cuddly, or fascinating critters be saved from extinction. Paying attention to Earth's plants and animals, and taking reasonable steps to ensure their welfare, is part of our job.

But I do not see a point in pretending that life on Earth should remain exactly as it was in 1950, 1825, 1700, or some other arbitrary point in our home's long history.

Change happens. That's the way this universe works. We're learning to control some aspects of this changing world: and must learn to use our knowledge wisely.

But I think that we are no more able to stop this world from changing, than King Cnut could command the tides. (February 27, 2013)

More:
Related posts:

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Human Folly and Body Counts

Ragnarok didn't happen last Saturday. I'm pretty sure that the "Jorvik Viking Centre experts" were having a little fun while promoting their organization:
I quipped that Ragnarok, the day after, was a massive anticlimax on Google Plus. (February 23, 2014)

End-Times Bible Prophecy, the Zombie Apocalypse, and Godzilla

Selling 'End Times Biblical prophecy' books and Last Judgment fire insurance is a cultural tradition here in America. I've occasionally had fun with the less-serious sides of the perennial doomsday prediction in another blog:
I've toyed with the idea of writing my own doomsday prediction: maybe involving mutant squirrels, conspiring with corrupt pet store owners to enslave humanity in their nougat mines; or a revolt of the Roombas.

Two aspects of this plan have so far thwarted my ambition. First, someone might take me seriously, and a really don't need that kind of trouble. Second, the robot revolt has been done: including an insightful analysis by XKCD:


(From XKCD, used w/o permission.)

Tales about giant fire-breathing lizards and mutant ants can be fun. Real doomsday predictions: not so much.

The Coming Apocalypse: 634 BC — 2013 AD

After the current apocalyptic prediction fizzles, some folks who believed the 'End Times prophecy' recover: and some don't. Broken lives of believers are a tragedy. So, I think, is the effect that this recurring silliness has on folks who don't believe, and that's another topic.

Prophecies of doom, and their anticlimactic aftermath, is nothing new: and not limited to Christians. Wikipedia has a list of anticipated apocalypses: from 634 BC, when Rome didn't fall; to 2013 August 23, 2013, when Grigori Rasputin said fire would consume all life on land.

At least two 'prophecies' were accurate: in a very narrow, tragic, sense.

Guyana, a Gated Community, and Death

Jim Jones predicted that after a nuclear apocalypse on July 15, 1967, survivors would found a new Eden: socialist, of course.

Mr. Jones called his little group The People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ, but I don't think the People's Temple can reasonably be called a Christian church. Mr. Jones apparently called Christianity a "fly-away religion" that oppressed women and enslaved "people of color." Back in the '60s that notion may have seemed novel, and that's another topic.

1967 brought "Captain_Scarlet_and_the_Mysterons" and "All You Need is Love, but no apocalypse: nuclear or otherwise.

The mass murder-suicide in Guyana started November 17, 1978, when Congressman Leo Ryan; news media workers Don Harris, Bob Brown, Greg Robinson; and escaping Temple follower Patricia Parks were killed at an airstrip. On the evening of November 18, 1978, Jim Jones and his followers drank poisoned Flavor Aid. The final body count was 918: 642 adults and 276 children.

Marshall Applewhite and 38 of his Heaven's Gate followers spent their last days in a San Diego-area gated community. On March 24, 25, and 26, 1997, they methodically killed themselves.

By now, I suppose someone has blamed Christianity, Congress, flavored beverages, gated communities, vodka, or Star Trek for these deaths. I'm inclined to see them as somewhat extreme examples of human folly.

Standby Alert: Two Millennia and Counting

I'm a Catholic, so I take the Last Judgment seriously. That is emphatically not the same as quivering in fear every time something odd happens, or the latest 'prophecy' gets trotted out. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1038-1041)

This creation's closing ceremony could start any time, but my guess is that it's not imminent. We've been on standby alert for about two millennia, and that's another topic. (Matthew 25:13)

When the Second Person of the Trinity was here, my Lord said:
"21 But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, 22 but the Father alone.' ..."
(Matthew 24:36)
Pretty much the same thing is in Mark 13:32. I'm willing to leave the decision to God, and concentrate on my part of the job outlined in Matthew 28:19-20. Not everyone feels that way.

I could try slicing and dicing Bible verses and history trivia to get a nifty new Apocalypse prediction — but I really do not need that kind of trouble. My particular judgment is coming within the next few decades, and that's another topic. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1021-1022, 1051)

Related posts:

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Where Past, Present, and Future Come Together

Readings for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time 2014:

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time 2014

By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas
February 23, 2014

You know how it goes sometimes. You sing your greatest song in the shower, you always think of a response too late, for a Deacon sometimes he preaches the best homily when he's laying back in his chair praying his rosary. He gets by with this by calling it, horizontal meditation.

That has happened to me after Mass this past Thursday when the question was posed by Jesus to his followers, "who do the people say that I am?" The answer came to Him, while some say Elijah some say one of the prophets and so forth, but who do you say that I am, He asked? Peter responded by saying, "you are, the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And as you all know this response by Peter counted him first among the Apostles.

So I'm thinking to myself as I also asked of myself the question, what does that mean to you and I. If I am to believe that Jesus is who he says he is, then for me there must be a past, a present, a future/eternity.

So many of us, I am convinced, we so live completely in the past that the present becomes obscured. What I'm trying to say is, the past is past and it must be relegated to the past. I am reasonably sure, therefore, a good number of us, sin is the bugaboo. But keep in mind what Pope Francis said, not all that many days ago, " do not be afraid to go to confession".

I remember going to a retreat at Barrington and part of the retreat, of courses, you go to confession, how many times at that point had I gone to confession and heard the words of absolution, but this time for some reason, it was different. It was like for the first time I really heard and absorbed the words of absolution. What a wonderful feeling. So in my meditation I would say to you if your past needs a good confession, don't wait. Now we are ready for the present.

After talking to a friend this past week, our conversation also became a part of my meditation. The question posed is what about the present? Well I guess, to put it in perspective everything is in the past except for the present moment. What is happening at this moment, think about it? What from the past has become so present that without it you and I would have no hope! Okay! I'm beating around the bush little bit, but the next question posed to you might be, if you know that Jesus Christ is the son of the Eternal Father, what is your reason for being here?

I will tell our servers from time to time that they are taking part as servers at the most important happening of the day, that nothing that happens this day is more important and life-giving than what takes place on this altar. I can say that because the Church has taught us from the very beginning, that what happens on this altar is a reenactment of the Passion Death and Resurrection of Christ, of course in an un-bloody manner.

Christ and his Church has made it possible for each one of us to be a part of the past so intimately involved that the past is made present. Do you believe that? Why do you believe that? It is very much like the little girl who is to receive her first communion and was asked a question, do you really believe that that's Jesus, really Jesus? How do you know that it is Jesus? Her answer was because Jesus said so!

In the first reading the Lord said to Moses, "speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: be Holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy!" This living out the present while observing the statutes of the past brings us to the future, or one could say, Eternal Life. The past, the present and the future all come together right here on this altar. There's another question that begs for an answer, how can we come here, daily or weekly and receive the body and blood of Christ, and not love one another including our enemies. Ouch, that hurts! For I'm betting that there is not one of us here in this church that can honestly say that we live up to the perfection of this Commandments, that Jesus is giving us.

There was a book written a few years ago entitled, "The 100:" a ranking of the most influential people in history, by Michael Hart. Who would you think-ranked first in his book it was, Mohammed-- based on the fact that he had more followers. Number two was Sir Isaac Newton based on the idea that his discoveries form the basis of all modern technology.

Jesus doesn't show up until third on the list but here's what's interesting. Hart says he would have no trouble at all placing Jesus first especially because of the uniqueness of Jesus' teaching about loving your enemies but he doesn't-- and here's why. Hart writes: "Now these ideas about loving your enemies, which were not a part of the Judaism of Jesus' day nor of any other religion — are surely among the most remarkable and original ethical ideas ever presented. If they were widely followed, I would have no hesitation placing Jesus first in this book."

This should give each one of us here reason to reflect on our own actions and biases for that matter and how we live up to the letter of the law that Jesus said, of Himself, that he came to perfect the law, not to do away with it.

I leave you today with one final thought. God in His Divine Wisdom has given to us a family to live out the precepts of His Law. Where we learn his law and learn to live his law so that, our past can be the past, our present be a time of joy and happiness and our future be Eternal Life.

Be Good, be Holy, preach the Gospel always and if necessary use words.

'Thank you' to Deacon Kaas, for letting me post his reflection here.

More reflections:
Related posts:

Science, Faith, and Albertus Magnus

This isn't your usual "religious" blog.

In the last few weeks, I've written about planetary defense against asteroids and comets, why smallpox isn't a threat any more, and how Neanderthal genes may affect folks trying to stop smoking.

My shameless interest in science and flagrant faith flies in the face of the view that religion and science are at war.

My faith doesn't depend on a lively interest in this wondrous creation: but it's not threatened by knowledge, either.

Space Aliens, Authority, and Getting a Grip


(Columbia Pictures. via Space.com, used w/o permission.)

I think UFO religions are a mistake, but that searching for extraterrestrial life is reasonable: and fascinating. I'm not one of the 90.19% who believe space aliens are "out there," but I certainly won't claim that life exists on Earth and only on Earth.

Assuming that there must be life on other worlds makes as much, or as little, sense as assuming that there isn't: given what we know today. Some of us will keep looking for life, and learning about the universe, using science: until we find a better method. (February 7, 2014)

My guess is that the Church won't issue a policy statement about dealing with space aliens until, and unless, we actually meet some. When, and if, that happens, I'm quite certain that we won't be told to shut our eyes and pretend they're not there. We've been through something like the "are we alone?" debate before.

On March 7, 2014, it'll be 737 years since the Church banned claiming that there's only one world.

God's God: Aristotle's Not

I gather that the issue was authority.

Back in the 13th century, educated Europeans had a very high opinion of Aristotle. Some may even had the attitude expressed by Dante, that Aristotle was "the Master ... of those who know."

A few researchers realized that the universe might be much more than our Earth and sky.

Others, predictably, didn't like the new idea: which would have been okay. Insisting that other worlds can't exist: because Aristotle said so? That's a problem, since nobody's opinion outvotes God's.

As I've said before, that's when the Church stepped in. After March 7, 1277, Catholics weren't allowed to claim that Earth must be the only world. (January 29, 2012)

I did a little checking, and learned that the 219 Propositions of 1277 were later annulled. Interestingly, the Wikipedia article about that particular document didn't mention Proposition 27/219, so I'm guessing that the 'God's God, Aristotle's not' principle is still valid.

Evolution and "A State of Journeying"

I've explained why I don't denounce evolution as "the religion of the antichrist." (January 2, 2014)


(From "The Three-Story Universe," © N. F. Gier, God, Reason, and the Evangelicals (1987), via Nick Gier, University of Idaho, used w/o permission.)

I'm sure that God could have created a universe designed along the lines imagined by ancient Mesopotamians: and which was only a few thousand years old.

But I'm also willing to take the universe "as is."

Over the last several centuries, we've learned that we live in a vast and ancient cosmos: which operates under rational physical laws. I don't see how that can interfere with faith in an infinite, eternal, and rational Creator. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 159, 202, 279, 301)

We've also learned that things change. Considering what happened when the first of us broke the lease in Eden, I'm very glad that this universe is in a "state of journeying." (Catechism, 302-305) (January 18, 2012)

Dürer, Eden, and Getting a Grip

Believing what the Church says about Adam, Eve, and original sin is one thing. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 355-378, 388-412) (July 11, 2012)

Trying to believe that our first parents were German is daft. (May 16, 2012)

That sort of silliness isn't necessary, since the Bible wasn't written by Americans: or by folks with a contemporary Western worldview.

If I assumed that every word of the Bible is literally true, from the viewpoint of a post-Victorian American, I might not get past the two creation stories in Genesis. (Genesis 1:1-2:4 and Genesis 2:4-9)

I could read the two accounts of creation, notice that they're not exactly alike: and assume they're different because religion is stupid.

Or I could assume they're both literally, word-for-word, true: and that I'm puzzled because thinking is a sin.

Instead, I read Genesis 1:1-2:4 and 2:4-25 as an explanation of God's role in our existence: among other things.

As far as I'm concerned, all that's changed in the last few centuries is how much we know about the "clay" God used. (December 13, 2013)

If anything, I'm impressed at how similar the 'origins' accounts in Genesis and those in other cultures are.

The "Golden Age," Χρυσόν Γένος or Chryson Genos, is unique to ancient Greece and Rome: but a remarkable number of other folks remembered that we've known better days.

Maybe that's because folks around the world share the same basic hopes and fears. Or maybe we're looking at what happens when a scattered humanity tells the same tale around the evening fire for a million years, and that's another topic.

Patron Saint of — Scientists?!

"God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed - the sixth day."
(Genesis 1:31)
This wonder-filled universe is still "very good," and we've still got the Adam's job of tending it. (Catechism, 373, 2402)

Science and technology aren't transgressions, they're tools we're expected to use: wisely. (Catechism, 339, 2292-2296) (March 17, 2013)

It's no wonder, though, that some folks think the Catholic Church encourages superstition: Albertus Magnus is a patron saint of scientists, students, medical technicians, philosophers, and the natural sciences.

And he was interested in astrology.

Back in the 13th century, Albertus Magnus was occasionally called a wizard and magician: hardly surprising, considering his "tampering with things man was not supposed to know," as the fictional Mr. Squibbs put it.

His posthumous career as an alchemist was equally imaginative, but his interest in astrology wasn't.

Astrology, along with any other sort of divination, is against the rules today. (Catechism, 2116)

In the 13th century, being interested in astrology didn't make someone an "astrologer" in today's sense.

Researchers of the late Middle Ages thought that Earth was a small part of the universe: and that what happened 'out there' affected what happened here. They were right about that, but further study showed that the real 'cosmic' influences don't lend themselves to fortunetelling. Astrology isn't astronomy, even though both involve stars and planets.

Wrenching myself back on-topic — Albertus Magnus saw no conflict between worshiping God and studying God's creation.

Neither do I.

As a Catholic, I must believe that God is truth, that truth cannot contradict truth, and that studying this astonishing universe is okay. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 159, 214-217)

Related posts:
More about what the Bible is, and isn't:
  • "Understanding the Bible"
    Mary Elizabeth Sperry, Associate Director for Utilization of the New American Bible, USCCB

Friday, February 21, 2014

DNA Components, an Asteroid, and Life on a Wobbling World

Last Monday's close approach by asteroid 2000 EM26 started me thinking about impact events, and what we can do about them. In a less grimly practical vein, finding life on other planets may not be as unlikely as some thought.
  1. Adenine, Guanine: DNA Components Found in a Meteorite
  2. Good News, the Asteroid Didn't Hit Earth — Not-So-Good News: Some Do
  3. The Moon, Tides, and Searching for Life in the Universe
Now, why I think we need a planetary defense system.

Barringer Crater; Shanxi Province; and, Maybe, Atlantis


(From Frederic Edwin Church; via www.newscientist.com, Judith Filenbaum Hernstadt, and Wikimedia Commons; used w/o permission.)

Cosmic debris hits Earth every day, but so far nobody's been killed: Except for folks living in Shanxi Province about 524 years ago; and maybe others who were too close when the Tunguska event happened.

Places like Barringer and Kaali craters are of more interest to tourists than mourners: partly because the impacts happened a few thousand years back; partly because we have no written records from those days.

Satellite image of the islands of Santorini. This location is one of many sites purported to have been the location of Atlantis. WikipediaWe know that the Minoan civilization went out of business very abruptly at about the same time as a massive explosion ripped Santorini into today's circular archipelago.

Since the Minoans lived perilously close to that volcanic cataclysm, it's quite possible that they didn't recover from the massive tsunami. Plato's Atlantis, which disappeared after "portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night," might be a heavily-fictionalized retelling of the Minoans' last days. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (April 20, 2012))

I don't "believe in" Atlantis, or assume that all rousing stories are true. But I do accept the idea that folks like to tell stories about their experiences: and often pass along tales their ancestors told.

It's (very) remotely possible that the Atlantis described in Plato's "Critas" is based on oral traditions about a once-great civilization that built its major city a little too close to what would be an impact site.

Greenwich Village Impact: A Cautionary Tale


(Copyright M. Ahmetvaleev, via NASA News, used w/o permission.)

When the asteroid 99942 Apophis whipped past Earth last year, I outlined what could happen if something that size hit New York City's Greenwich Village.

Briefly, the New York neighborhood would disappear, at least part of Hoboken would slide into a two-mile-wide crater, and pieces of Manhattan would start raining on Atlantic City just over three minutes later.

Folks who weren't in New York City or its environs would survive, except for those who got in the way of those pieces of Manhattan Island. I'm pretty sure that somebody would eventually rebuild a port city near the mouth of the Hudson River, although that would take time.

As I said in a Google Plus post last Tuesday, I don't have much time for sensationalism, but I think the time to develop an asteroid-deflection system is before a mountain falls out of the sky: not after.

Is Saving Lives Ethical?

I've seen Western civilization's silly notion that science and technology will solve all our problems morph into the equally-silly notion that science and technology will kill us all.

Since quite a few folks still seem ambivalent, at best, about newfangled gadgets and science: here's why I think using our brains is okay. Provided, of course, that we don't do something stupid.

I think that God didn't make a horrible mistake by creating us, and putting us in charge of this world. (Genesis 1:27-31)

We don't own the world: we're stewards, with the daunting job of maintaining it. Science and technology are wonderful tools we're expected to use: wisely and ethically. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2402, 2293, 2293, 2415)

Technology, like science, isn't 'good' or 'bad' by itself. What we decide to do with these tools is what makes a difference. Ethics always matter. (Catechism, 2294)

I hope that we've learned a little since the 18th century, when some tightly-wound preachers warned that God would punish us for trying to cure smallpox. However, I'd be mildly surprised if someone doesn't get 15 minutes of fame by denouncing efforts to intercept an incoming asteroid as "sinful."

I'm more inclined to follow the lead of folks like Cotton Mather, Louis Pasteur, and Pope Pius VII, who thought saving lives was a good idea. (February 12, 2014)

Planetary Defense: A Work in Progress



We don't have the technology needed for planetary defense against asteroids and comets: yet. But serious discussion of asteroid impact avoidance has been going on since 1992: and more hypothetical discussions go back several decades.

If astronomers tracked an asteroid today, noting that it would impact somewhere between London and Berlin in six months: I don't think we could do much except start evacuating southeastern England, the Netherlands, and northern Germany. We probably couldn't get everyone out of the way, but millions of lives could be saved.

If we had six years, I think that maybe — just maybe — we could cobble together a space tug powerful and accurate enough to push the asteroid into a less lethal orbit.

If someone spots an asteroid bound for Earth a few decades from now: I strongly suspect that averting catastrophe will be a matter of deciding which mining company gets the contract. (September 29, 2013)

1. Adenine, Guanine: DNA Components Found in a Meteorite


(From Michael Callahan, via Space.com, used w/o permission.)
"Life's building blocks were found in a much smaller sample of the so-called 'Murchison meteorite' than before, as this diagram shows."
"Space Dust Is Filled with Building Blocks for Life"
Elizabeth Howell, Space.com (February 17, 2014)

"A study of teeny-tiny meteorite fragments revealed that two essential components of life on Earth as we know it, could have migrated to our planet on space dust.

"Researchers discovered DNA and amino acids components [!] in a smidgen of a space rock that fell over Murchison, Victoria, in Australia in September 1969. Previous studies of the meteorite revealed organic material, but the samples examined then were much larger. This study would lend more credence to the idea that life arose from outside of our planet, researchers said in a statement.

" 'Despite their small size, these interplanetary dust particles may have provided higher quantities and a steadier supply of extraterrestrial organic material to early Earth,' said Michael Callahan, a research physical scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md...."
The DNA components these researchers found in the Murchison sample are adenine and guanine, nucleobases. (NASA (August 8, 2008))

Only about 5% of all meteorites are like the Murchison meteorite, carbonaceous chondrites. On top of that, these DNA parts and amino acids make up a tiny fraction of the Murchison's material. That's why some scientists aren't at all sure that carbon-rich rocks falling from the sky had much to do with life's beginnings here on Earth.

On the other hand, a whole lot of rocks have gotten splashed from one planet to another: particularly in the Solar system's hectic youth. It's possible that at least some of the material for life here came from elsewhere.

I think there's another implication to finding parts of a 'DNA kit' in a meteorite. It looks like organic material, including complex molecules used by life, is spread throughout the Solar system: and beyond.

As I wrote in another blog, "since our star isn't all that far off the 50th percentile, other stars may have had the same 'heat and stir' mix for growing life, too." (Apathetic Lemming of the North (February 16, 2010))

2. Good News, the Asteroid Didn't Hit Earth — Not-So-Good News: Some Do


(From Slooh, via Space.com, used w/o permission.)
"This graphic shows the location of the asteroid 2000 EM26 in the night sky on Feb. 17, 2014 during a live skywatching webcast by the online stargazing venture Slooh." (detail)
"Huge Asteroid to Fly Safely By Earth Monday: Watch It Live"
Miriam Kramer, Space.com (February 15, 2014)

"An asteroid the size of three football fields is set to make a close brush of Earth on Monday (Feb. 17), and you can watch the flyby in a live webcast.

"Near-Earth asteroid 2000 EM26 poses no threat of actually hitting the planet, but the online Slooh Space Camera will track the asteroid as it passes by Earth on Monday. The live Slooh webcast will start at 9 p.m. EST (0200 Feb. 18 GMT), and you can also watch the webcast directly through the Slooh website.

"You can also watch the asteroid broadcast live on Space.com. Scientists estimate that 2000 EM26 is about 885 feet (270 meters) in diameter, and it is whizzing through the solar system at a break-neck 27,000 mph (12.37km/s), according to Slooh. During its closest approach, the asteroid will fly about 8.8 lunar distances from Earth...."
Something nearly nine times as far from Earth as our moon is "close" only on an astronomical scale. This asteroid's flyby is notable partly because it happened almost exactly a year after a much smaller bit of debris exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Only a thousand or so folks were injured that time, and nobody died. Property damage included a lot of broken windows, and at least one broken building.


(Reuters//Yevgeni Yemeldinov, used w/o permission)
"Workers repair damage caused after a meteorite passed above the Urals city of Chelyabinsk February 15, 2013." (Reuters)

It's really remarkable that nobody got killed.

The Chelyabinsk meteorite was about 65 feet across: 20 meters. Monday's asteroid is more than ten times wider. When something that size hits Earth, much more energy gets released. The good news is that bigger meteorites come less often than smaller ones.

The bad news is that bigger meteorites, and asteroids, cause more damage. About a month before the Russian meteorite hit, I'd described what might happen if something a quarter-mile across hit New York City's Greenwich Village: with more detail than in this post. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (January 11, 2013))

Briefly, there'd be a crater a bit over two miles across where Greenwich Village had been: and pieces of Manhattan Island would start falling on Atlantic City just over three minutes later. Not very big pieces: only about a quarter inch across, on average.

Even so, something like that would have a bad effect on land value near the mouth of the Hudson. I think folks would build a another city there, eventually: but on the whole, avoiding that sort of catastrophe seems prudent.

3. The Moon, Tides, and Searching for Life in the Universe


(From Mike Neal, via Space.com, used w/o permission.)
"Astrophotographer Mike Neal sent in a photo of the Harvest Moon taken on Sept. 18, 2013, in Maui, HI." (Mike Neal, nealstudios.net)
"Alien Planets May Not Need Big Moons to Support Life"
Mike Wall, Space.com (February 3, 2014)

"Alien planets without big, climate-stabilizing moons like the one that orbits Earth may still be capable of supporting life, a new study reports.

"Previous modeling work had suggested that Earth's axial tilt, or obliquity, would vary wildly over long time spans without the moon's steadying gravitational influence, creating huge climate swings that would make it tough for life to get a foothold on our planet.

"But that's not necessarily the case, said Jack Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif...."
Earth's axis of rotation is about 23.4°. In other words, a plane running through Earth's equator is tilted that may degrees away from the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun. Thanks to this tilt, the northern and southern parts of our planet go through an annual cycle of seasons.

If Earth didn't tilt at all, winter and summer wouldn't be nearly as dramatic. Oddly enough, Earth is slightly closer to the sun during the northern hemisphere's winter: today. (NASA's Space Place)

That'll be different 13,000 years from now, as Earth's pole twists around, and that's another topic. (Wikipedia)

We've known about Earth's traveling poles for about two millennia, although it wasn't until the last several centuries that  we started learning about the physics involved.

Then someone named Milankovitch started comparing about a half-dozen orbital parameters with changes in Earth's weather and climate.

That was less than a hundred years back. I think we're not even close to noticing, let alone understanding, all of Earth's long-term cycles.

But we're learning.

Time and Tides

Seashore tides wouldn't be nearly as noticeable without the moon, but we'd still have them. The sun's effect on Earth's oceans isn't nearly as great, and that's yet another topic.

The same forces that cause tides and keep Earth's poles swinging around in a 26,000-year cycle apparently keep our planet's axis of rotation very close to the 23.4° we're used to.

As the Space.com article points out, astronomers are still working out how much Earth's axis would wobble without our moon. Until a few years ago, it looked like Earth's tilt would go from zero to 90° and back over a span of a few million years.

Compared to the duration of most television series, that's a very long time. On a geologic or evolutionary scale, it doesn't give critters much time to adjust.

Life on a Double Planet

Luna, Earth's moon, is huge: 27% Earth's diameter. It's roughly 71% as wide as Mercury, and larger than Pluto. The European Space Agency called it a double planet back in 2003, and I think they have a point.

Since Earth is the only planet where we know life exists, using our home to define what's required for life makes sense. If life can only develop on a double planet like ours, we may very well be alone: if not in the universe, then in this galaxy.

Some of the thousand-plus planets orbiting other stars that we've cataloged so far are odd: but not one is a double planet like Earth.

Living With Wobbles

Lissauer's team used more refined math, and today's number-crunching machines, for simulations of Earth without the moon over long periods: up to 4,000,000,000 years.

Sure enough, Earth wobbled more: but not nearly as much as earlier math predicted. For shorter periods, like 100,000,000 years simulation runs, Earth's tilt never exceeded 40° or dropped below 10°.

Life on Earth might look different if we'd gone through the wider seasonal changes: but I strongly suspect that life would have gone on.

Today's climate isn't what it used to be: and never was. At the moment, we're in an interglacial period with another round of continental glaciation on the way: or at the end of the latest ice age cycle. Either way, Earth is cooler than "normal:" by Eocene standards. (January 10, 2014)

Scorpions, Cockroaches: and Humans


(From MIT News Office, used w/o permission.)

Life had endured through several billion years of hard times before the on-again, off-again ice age that started about 2,580,000 years ago.

Massive volcanic eruptions triggered rain with the acidity of lemon juice, killing a breathtaking variety of plants and animals 252,000,000 years back.

Asteroid impacts reset Earth's climate every hundred million years or so; and a 10,000,000-plus year winter sent glaciers down to the equator. Three times. (Cryogenian period, Wikipedia) (November 29, 2013, September 29, 2013, August 30, 2013)

Critters like the saiga antelopegiant pandas and the kakapo might not survive another major ice age. Not on their own. Giant pandas and the kakapo are cute, though, so I suspect that they'd keep going: in zoos.

As for humanity, we'll probably look a little different 1,000,000 years from now: but I think we'll prove at least as durable as scorpions, cockroaches, and rats. (November 29, 2013)

Getting a Grip About "Class M" Planets


(from Beau.TheConsortium, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

The old Star Trek series added "class M planet" to the language. Most of those "strange new worlds" bore a strong resemblance to either southern California or the Desilu Studios Backlot: but considering the show's budget and 1960s technology, I think they did a pretty good job.

Folks who were serious about science, or speculative fiction for that matter, realized that we weren't likely to find that many planets where conditions were so very much like one of Earth's more hospitable spots.

A few years back, when we'd learned more about plate tectonics and were cataloging nearly-Earth-size exoplanets, some scientists suggested that Earth might not be a typical life-supporting world.

Earth may be about as small as a planet can be, and keep recycling ocean basin crust as the eons roll by. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (December 5, 2009))

Others crunched numbers and decided that "uninhabitable" planets circling red dwarfs, although not "Earth-like" in the Star Trek sense, might have habitable zones. (May 10, 2013)

If we do discover life on other worlds, I'm pretty sure that much of what we find will be at least as odd as critters from Earth: worms living in near-boiling water; animals that die if exposed to oxygen; and bombardier beetles. (January 31, 2014; Apathetic Lemming of the North (April 9, 2010))

If we meet people who aren't human: we may learn that Earth was listed as uninhabitable. Their probes had found our double planet: but nobody imagined that life could survive, let alone thrive, on a world with our violent tides.

And that's yet again another topic.

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Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.