Reasons to Believe Podcast Reasons To Believe
-
- Religion & Spirituality
-
RTB's mission is to spread the Christian Gospel by demonstrating that sound reason and scientific research—including the very latest discoveries—consistently support, rather than erode, confidence in the truth of the Bible. For more information please visit our website at reasons.org/monthlypartners
-
Star, Cells, and God | God's Hand in Creation
In this special episode, we replay a recorded conversation between prominent astronomer Dr. David Block (professor emeritus of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Witwatersrand and the director of RTB Africa) and world-renowned astronomer Giovanni Fazio (senior physicist at the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian and a lecturer in the department of astronomy at Harvard University). This wide-ranging conversation between two friends includes their collaboration studying the Andromeda galaxy, their perspectives on God’s handiwork in creation, and Dr. Fazio’s groundbreaking contributions to infrared astronomy.
References:
PODCAST LINK:
Professor David Block’s YouTube Channel
YOUTUBE LINKS:
Professor David Block’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@professordavidblock5038 -
-
Stars, Cells, and God | Perils of Space Travel and Drug Stability for Mars Mission
Join Jeff Zweerink and Steve Baertschi, president of Baertschi Consulting, as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.
Perils of Space Travel
Although science fiction makes space travel seem almost inevitable, current research demonstrates numerous challenges to humans residing in space for long periods of time. Along with the well-known detrimental effects on muscle mass and density, research shows that prolonged periods in space expose the human body to far more radiation than encountered here on Earth. That radiation dramatically decreases our bodies’ capacity to fight off cancer and to keep past viral exposure in check. Additionally, radiation impacts the function of our gastrointestinal system and its ability to absorb nutrients and oral medications. These results highlight Earth’s amazing capacity to host a diverse and abundant array of life.
Drug Stability for Mars Mission
Drug stability is a function of the storage environment. Shelf-lives of 2–3 years (from refrigerated to room temperature storage) are common. NASA is planning for a roundtrip mission to Mars, expected to last 2–3 years. Little is known about the stability of drugs in deep space (outside of Earth’s protective magnetosphere). Limited studies of drugs on the International Space Station raise significant questions that have identified critical parameters: microgravity, vibration, humidity, ionizing radiation, carbon dioxide levels, and repackaging. Can we ensure a safe, stable drug formulatory that will meet all of the health needs for a round-trip journey to Mars in the deep space environment?
References:
PODCAST LINKS:
Space Radiation Triggers Persistent Stress Response, Increases Senescent Signaling, and Decreases Cell Migration in Mouse Intestine
NK Cell Function Is Impaired during Long-Duration Spaceflight
Negative Effects of Long-Duration Spaceflight on Paraspinal Muscle Morphology
YOUTUBE LINKS:
Santosh Kumar et al., “Space Radiation Triggers Persistent Stress Response, Increases Senescent Signaling, and Decreases Cell Migration in Mouse Intestine,” https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807522115
Austin B. Bigley et al. “NK Cell Function Is Impaired during Long-Duration Spaceflight,” https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00761.2018
Katelyn Burkhart et al., “Negative Effects of Long-Duration Spaceflight on Paraspinal Muscle Morphology,” https://doi.org/10.1097/brs.0000000000002959 -
Clear Thinking | Torah & Science: Rabbis Feder and Zimmer, Part 2
-
Star, Cells, and God | A Distilled Doxology
In this special episode, Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Sy Garte discuss Garte’s new book, Science and Faith in Harmony. Garte’s approach to science and faith inspires a sense of wonder. He demonstrates the many ways that science—the study of God’s spoken word—harmonizes with Scripture—God’s written word—in profoundly beautiful and meaningful ways.
References:
PODCAST LINKS:
The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith
Science and Faith in Harmony: Contemplations on a Distilled Doxology
Sy Garte
YOUTUBE LINKS:
Sy Garte, The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith, https://a.co/d/iFzvash
Sy Garte, Science and Faith in Harmony: Contemplations on a Distilled Doxology, https://a.co/d/7W2jnKw
Sy Garte, https://sygarte.com
-
Crust Thickness and Life and Antimatter Feels Gravity | Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink
Join Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.
Crust Thickness and Life
A team of five geophysicists demonstrated that the level of oxides in basalt primary melts are a good proxy for the thickness of Earth’s crust. They then supervised a machine-learning algorithm to analyze global geodatabases (e.g., EarthChem and GEOROC) of basalts to determine the variation of the thickness of Earth’s crust spanning the past 3.8 billion years. Their analysis revealed five features of Earth’s crust that led to supercontinent cycles and plate tectonics that are highly fine-tuned for complex life on Earth.
Antimatter Feels Gravity
When Einstein first published his general theory of relativity, scientists did not even know about antimatter—which was discovered almost 15 years later. Since then, scientists have speculated about how antimatter behaves in gravitational fields. Most think that it behaves just like normal matter. However, gravity’s weakness compared to electromagnetic forces has prevented any direct test to see if antimatter falls like normal matter. Recently, the ALPHA collaboration was able to isolate enough atoms of antihydrogen (antimatter counterpart of hydrogen) to demonstrate that the atoms behave like normal hydrogen atoms in a gravitational field. This result demonstrates two things. First, it provides even more evidence for the constancy of the laws of physics. Second, it shows that scientists are willing, able, and driven to test fundamental parts of theories rather than simply accept them without data.
LINKS & RESOURCES -
PLAYLIST – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUwTeBAi_JFG-J6mqU3em0LV7pFUiq9wp&si=uiWkZdNWit1syzgn
Crust Thickness and Life
Zhen-Jie Zhang et al.,
“Lithospheric Thickness Records Tectonic Evolution by Controlling Metamorphic Conditions,” https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adi2134 Meng Guo and Jun Korenaga, “Argon Constraints on the Early Growth of Felsic Continental Crust,” https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz6234
Antimatter Feels Gravity
E. K. Anderson et al.,
“Observation of the Effect of Gravity on the Motion of Antimatter,” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06527-1
Customer Reviews
Real science!!
My favorite science podcast! Love to see science and the Bible confirm each other!
Disappointed
In today’s episode (8-30-23) the hosts talked about climate change and were passionately convinced that humans have greatly contributed to it. Why is an apologetic ministry discussing liberal Democrat topics?
It’s the “vanity of humanity” to believe we humans can actually cause climate change. Please stick to apologetics.
Not easy to hear.
This app is hard to listen to. Sounds like speakers are in a tunnel. I am hearing impaired but can hear well through EarPods and it is still hard to understand and make out the clarity of the words.