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The oldest evidence of life on Earth ever discovered may lie within rocks that are 3.95 billion years old, a new study finds. The new finding represents the earliest sign of life yet on Earth by 200 million years or more, the researchers said. Evidence of life early in Earth's history remains sparse because few well-preserved rocks have survived from the Eoarchean era, which spanned from about 4 billion to 3.6 billion years ago. During that time, Earth's primitive atmosphere and oceans — as well as the oldest signs of life — first emerged. Until now, the earliest hints of...

Charles Mutua Mulli, one of the most interesting and inspirational people you’ve probably never heard of, woke up in his family’s hut in a tiny village in Kenya one morning in 1955 and discovered that his parents had taken his brother and fled. Charles had been abandoned. He was 6 years old. The tale of that child’s experiences over the ensuing 60 years is told in a compelling new documentary titled “Mully” (he later changed the spelling of his surname), directed by the actor/filmmaker Scott Haze. It is a rags-to-riches story of extraordinary dimensions – i.e., Mully literally went from...

From blob-like jellyfish to rock-like lichens, our planet teems with such diversity of life that it is difficult to recognise some organisms as even being alive. That complexity hints at the challenge of searching for life as we don’t know it – the alien biology that might have taken hold on other planets, where conditions could be unlike anything we’ve seen before. ‘The Universe is a really big place. Chances are, if we can imagine it, it’s probably out there on a planet somewhere,’ said Morgan Cable, an astrochemist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. ‘The question is,...

It has become axiomatic that life naturally evolved out of nonliving materials billions of years ago. Given enough time and the chemical opportunity, living cells self-assemble.However, the experts on the development of complex molecules from simpler ones, the synthetic chemists, do not know how this process actually occurs. There are no known pathways to create the components that make up a living cell from nonliving matter. They have no idea how amino acids (the building blocks of proteins and enzymes), nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA and RNA), saccharides (also called carbohydrates or sugars, the scaffolding for DNA and...

NEW YORK - After 12 years advocating for abortion rights, Joe Solmonese might have opted for a less divisive field of work. Instead, he is taking over leadership of the largest national gay-rights group at a time when the same-sex marriage debate rivals abortion for volatility and virulence. "My challenge is to talk about why the equality we seek is not just important to our community, but should be important to everyone," Solmonese said. "I have to believe in the optimism and fair-mindedness of the American people." Solmonese was named last week as the new president of the Washington-based Human...

A Wyoming mother who sacrificed cancer treatment for her sixth child has passed away. According to a Facebook post, Carrie DeKlyen died early Saturday morning, three days after giving birthday to Life Lynn DeKlyen. “She is an amazing inspiration and I am so proud to call her family… She made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up herself for her child and that’s just what moms do,”

Ever since I was a child, I presumed the universe would be teeming with alien life. Star Wars and Star Trek reinforced this belief, and I yearned for the day when we would meet and communicate with other intelligent beings. But as every potential alien discovery turned out to be natural, and our initial assumptions about the chance that life can naturally emerge from non-living materials turned out to be wildly optimistic, perhaps it is time to honestly reappraise the likelihood of us ever detecting, let alone communicating with other technologically-intelligent extraterrestrial species. In this vast universe, there appear to...

While Americans watched in shock as a CBS News report detailed the near-100 percent abortion rate for unborn babies with Down syndrome in Iceland, people in Iceland were celebrating at an annual diversity festival. Gunnar Ingi Gunnarsson, the pastor of a small Baptist church in Reykjavík, pointed out the sad irony of this in a column for Christianity Today. The only Baptist pastor in Iceland, Gunnarsson said abortions have skyrocketed in the country, and very few people – including clergy – speak out against them. He is one of the few who goes against the pervasive atheistic, anti-life beliefs in...

What is Life? Msgr. Charles Pope • August 3, 2016 • What is life? It seems the simplest and most basic reality, but it is hard to define in a way that is satisfying. One philosopher I know defined it as “ordered energy.” But does that really advance the understanding of the mystery we call life?Consider an example: I have in one hand a small rock, and in my other, an acorn. They are similar in both shape and color. Now I place each of them in the ground and water them. The small rock just sits there; even...

It has become axiomatic that life naturally evolved out of nonliving materials billions of years ago. Given enough time and the chemical opportunity, living cells self-assemble. However, the experts on the development of complex molecules from simpler ones, the synthetic chemists, do not know how this process actually occurs. There are no known pathways to create the components that make up a living cell from nonliving matter. They have no idea how amino acids (the building blocks of proteins and enzymes), nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA and RNA), saccharides (also called carbohydrates or sugars, the scaffolding for DNA and...

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a ruling that prevented Arkansas from cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood following the release of controversial videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed a federal judge's ruling forbidding Arkansas from carrying through with Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson's directive to suspend Medicaid reimbursements to a Planned Parenthood affiliate. That ruling by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock had come in a lawsuit by three women who claimed Arkansas violated their rights under the federal Medicaid law to choose any...

An Open Letter to My Colleagues James TourLife should not exist. This much we know from chemistry. In contrast to the ubiquity of life on earth, the lifelessness of other planets makes far better chemical sense. Synthetic chemists know what it takes to build just one molecular compound. The compound must be designed, the stereochemistry controlled. Yield optimization, purification, and characterization are needed. An elaborate supply is required to control synthesis from start to finish. None of this is easy. Few researchers from other disciplines understand how molecules are synthesized. Synthetic constraints must be taken into account when considering the...

Editor’s note: The following excerpt on “Teepee Etiquette — The Unwritten Law of the Lodge,” was taken from The Book of Woodcraft and Indian Lore (1912) by Ernest Thompson Seton. Seton said he gathered these maxims on American Indian hospitality “chiefly from observations of actual practice, but in many cases from formal precept.” They’re still largely apropo for modern hosts entertaining visiting guests in their “teepee” (though your mother-in-law may disagree).Teepee Etiquette — The Unwritten Law of the Lodge Be hospitable.Always assume that your guest is tired, cold, and hungry.Always give your guest the place of honor in the...

I picked up a guy a week or two ago who was in his mid 30s that looked a little scruffy, covered in tats and a very wild and woolly beard. He wanted to go to a low-budget, no-name, mom-and-pop motel a few miles away. He looked a little sketchy, but I noticed that he had the eagle and anchor Marine Corps emblem tattooed on his forearm, and I said, “Marine Corps, huh?”He said, “Yes Sir, two tours in Afghanistan.” As I have said before, I always thank a member of our military whenever I encounter them, and I...

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that an Arkansas law restricting the use of the so-called abortion pill could proceed, overturning a lower court's decision in 2015 that blocked the law a day before it was to go into effect. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis sent the case back to the federal district court in Little Rock, telling the court it must estimate approximately how many women would likely be harmed by the law before the case could proceed further. Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which runs two of the three clinics providing abortions in...

Approaching 63 early next year I’m seriously considering retiring. Still plan to work, 3 day weekends every week. In ’17 you could make around 20K, after that they would take a dollar off funds for every $2 made over ... apparently that figure will go up in ’18. Naturally the apprehension is giving up 20% for the rest of my life but I have a small pension which evens it out. But money lost nevertheless. What price is wrong for a better quality of life and precious time? Did you retire early and regret it or not and wish you...

July 11, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Twelve hours of prayer for Charlie Gard will begin at 5 a.m. London time on Thursday (12:00 a.m. EST). This "worldwide prayer vigil" for the 11-month-old whose parents are fighting to keep him on life support is being organized by Rev. Patrick Mahoney, one of the human rights activists who's assisting Charlie's parents. "Thursday's court hearing will determine if Charlie Gard lives or dies," Mahoney wrote on Facebook. "In response to this, we are inviting people from all across the world to pray with us for this critical hearing on Charlie all day Thursday." "We...

The Government intends to fund abortions in England for women arriving from Northern Ireland, the Chancellor has said. Abortion is banned in Northern Ireland unless the woman's life is at risk or her mental or physical health face permanent and serious risk. Charities have welcomed the Government's move, with some hailing it as a "landmark moment". "We are absolutely delighted that the Government has committed to funding abortion care for women who travel from Northern Ireland to England," said a spokeswoman from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. "This is a landmark moment: for years the women of Northern Ireland, despite...

A mix of what Jesus wants me to tell you in my videos & one of my favorite places as a child in Chepachet, R. I..

A Catholic religious order in Ireland has agreed to withdraw from the administration of three hospitals, because of concerns that Catholic moral principles would influence health-care decisions. The Sisters of Charity announced that they cede control of the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group, which the hospitals, handing over ownership to a secular corporation—which will also be called “St. Vincent’s”—established for that purpose. Irish health minister welcomed the move, saying: “It directly addresses concerns regarding the question of religious influence in the new National Maternity Hospital and further illustrates the constructive role of the sisters to facilitate this landmark project.” A plan...