QUESTIONS ABOUT ORIGINS Q. What new discovery in astronomy has provoked many leading scientists to rethink the origin of our universe? A. Most scientists thought the universe had always existed until Edwin Hubble observed that the universe is expanding. Scientists now believe that the universe originated with a one-time explosion of incredible force called, "the big bang." But scientists wonder how everything in our cosmos could come from nothing. Something or someone must have been there to cause it to begin. Astrophysicist George Smoot (an agnostic) said, "If you're religious, it's like looking at God." (See article 1) Q.How could a "big bang" randomly result in the conditions necessary for life? A.Scientists have calculated that several conditions vital for life needed to be fine-tuned to a razor's edge. Without this precise fine-tuning, our universe wouldn't exist, let alone support life. Leading astrophysicist Stephen Hawking writes, "The odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like a big bang are enormous..I think there are religious implications whenever you start to discuss the origins of the universe." (See article 2) Q. How do scientists account for such incredible odds against life existing on Earth? A.Many scientists admit that a finely-tuned universe, and a "just right" solar system and planet couldn't have happened without a superintelligence. Others chalk it up to an incredible coincidence. A few prefer to believe a speculative theory, that there may an astronomical number of universes, and that ours just happens to be the one that supports life. However, theoretical physicist, Paul Davies confides what many scientists conclude, "It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature's numbers to make the Universe..The impression of design is overwhelming." (See article 3) Q. Could intricate organs like the eye have evolved by unguided natural processes? A. Darwinian natural selection doesn't explain how the eye's many individual components could independently evolve, yet synchronize together to produce sight. Several molecular biologists conclude that irreducibly complex systems, like the eye, have been designed. Even Darwin admitted that the eye still gave him a "cold shudder." (See article 4)