NewsWatch

Original Biochemistry in Fossils

ICR.org, 9/29/23, “Original Biochemistry in Fossils”  [Excerpts]: In 1997, paleontologist Dr. Mary Schweitzer accidentally stumbled upon what appeared to be blood vessels and blood cells from a T. rex bone. Proliferating publications of apparently intact tissues, including branching blood vessels, from long-buried dinosaur bones led ICR to begin its own dinosaur soft tissue research. Biomaterials like blood vessels or even mere protein remnants present a serious challenge for the deep times assigned to the fossils they come from. 

We began a literature search in 2008. By 2013, we had compiled about 40 technical articles that described original biochemistry in fossils. In God’s providence, that initial report led to collaborations on original research, which blossomed for me into a Ph.D. in paleobiochemistry in 2019.

Our results thus far confirm the presence of bone collagen in some Mesozoic samples. Collaborators have actually sequenced bone collagen from a hadrosaur from Montana. We plan to submit the results to a conventional journal for publication to help dissolve false accusations of bias in creation research. 

Finally, preliminary results from our decay rate experiments suggest that the published decay rate for collagen may be too low. These experiments take a long time to perform because collagen is so tough. If confirmed, this would spell bad news for those who wish collagen could last millions of years.

(https://bit.ly/3S7llsL)

Former British Jew Urges Aliyah

JihadWatch.org, 11/10/23, “A Former British Jew Urges Others to Make Aliyah” [Excerpts]: There follows below a grim warning from a British Jew now living in Israel, who is convinced that antisemitism in the UK, largely spread by the millions of Muslims now living in the country, will inexorably increase. The signs, he says, are unmistakable, of a resurgence of antisemitism, and British Jews must recognize that the “golden age of British Jewry is over.”

“…I recall almost no antisemitism growing up in Manchester, the second-largest Jewish population in the UK. There were Jewish clubs, Jewish sports, Jewish social activities, and theater, all sitting side by side with their non-Jewish counterparts. I spent six years at university in London and had only one example of antisemitism, and that was not from a student, but a professor. This then was the Golden Age of British Jewry.”

Sadly, however, it has all come to a grisly end. “Jews in the UK no longer feel safe. Lord David Wolfson, a Jewish Peer of the Realm, made a speech last week in the House of Lords in which he stated that he was more fearful for the safety of his daughter on London’s underground wearing a Magen David than he was for his son currently wearing the uniform of the IDF on the battlefront. This is a stark shift from the sense of security and belonging that once characterized the Jewish experience in the UK.

“Pro-Palestine rallies in most of the major cities in the UK have become a breeding ground for hateful chants, including cries of ‘Jihad,’ and these instances go unpunished. Despite strong statements from the home secretary, law enforcement is impotent to intervene. Quite simply, they are scared to enforce the law of the land. This leaves the Jewish community feeling vulnerable, and in some cases, actually terrified….”

(https://bit.ly/4aJevRg)

“Antiracists” Mostly Fired Blacks and Latinos

TheCollegeFix.com, 11/8/23, “Kendi’s ‘Antiracist’ Center Mostly Fired Black and Latino Employees” [Excerpts]: Boston University Professor Ibram Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research appears to have fired mostly racial minorities as part of its recent restructuring.

But according to Kendi, any policy that results in racial disparities flows from and is proof of racism.

“A racist policy yields racial disparities,” Kendi previously stated in The New York Times. “An anti-racist policy reduces or eliminates racial disparities.”

“A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups,” Kendi also wrote in his book, How to Be an Antiracist.

The center staff page that previously listed 45 employees is now empty. The Fix used archived websites and other reported information to determine that the research team was likely cut as part of the layoffs.

Both the university’s communications coordinator McKayla Richardson and the center’s media contact, Tami Nguyen, did not respond to The Fix’s emails on Oct. 17 and Nov. 2 that asked about staff layoffs.

(https://bit.ly/3H6GXPv)