New research shows the sense of smell has even more complexity than previously thought.

“Codes, information, efficient strategies—this is intelligent design territory,” Discovery Institute experts wrote of the findings on the organization’s blog.

Researchers from Peking University in China built on what scientists already knew about the olfactory system. As molecules of odorants—substances that give off a smell—flow into the nasal cavity, they bump into receptor cells on tiny hair-like projections called cilia. An odorant molecule must have a specific shape and composition to bind to a specific receptor and trigger electrical impulses that instantly flow along nerves to the brain.

In a study published last month by Nature Communications, researchers reported new findings from fruit flies about how the olfactory system works. Until now, scientists assumed olfactory receptors worked by sending a simple yes-or-no response to the brain. But, much to the researchers’ surprise, they discovered that when a receptor cell fires, it can generate either an excitatory or inhibitory signal. In the nervous system, excitatory signals trigger certain behaviors that might involve something like moving away from a bad odor or toward a pleasant aroma. Inhibitory signals generally decrease behavioral responses.

The new research shows the olfactory bulb in the brain not only needs to process information about…

Besides Islamic extremist Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen, occult groups are also terrorizing Christians in Nigeria.

 

Pastor Victor Kanayo of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) was killed in a town in Lagos state on Nov. 26 by an occult group known as Badoo, a week after suspected Badoo members killed Iyabo Alaba and her two children, 4 and 8, at Celestial Church of Christ in Lagos city, according to local reports.

 

Originating last year with a sole killer who called himself Badoo before authorities apprehended him, the Badoo group carries out serial, ritual killings rooted in the founder’s methods.

 

Pastor Kanayo was killed in Offin, Igbogbo, a suburb of Ikorodu town in Lagos state, and his wife, Gloria, and their 10-month-old child, Goodness, were seriously wounded, sources said; both were being treated at Ikorodu General Hospital.

 

Head of the RCCG Fingers of God Parish in the Igbogbo area of Ikorodu, Pastor Kanayo and his family were reportedly attacked early in the morning as they slept. Police confirmed the killing of the pastor and the hospitalization of his wife and child due to injuries sustained in the attack.

 

“Around 7 a.m., at Offin, Igbogbo, Lagos, a suburb of Ikorodu town, one Victor Kanayo, a male person and a pastor, was murdered,” said Lagos State Police spokesman Chike Oti at a press conference on Nov. 29. “The command has made a couple…

This year has not gone the way pro-lifers planned.

January started with ushering in a new administration—one that made firm commitments to pro-life groups—and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Newly sworn-in Vice President Mike Pence stood before the 2017 March for Life and declared hope for a new era in the pro-life movement: “Life is winning again in America.”

Nearly a year later, March for Life is finishing preparations for its next big event but not much has changed.

“We’re definitely moving in the right direction, slowly,” March for Life president Jeanne Mancini told me. “Cultural change takes a really long time, and so we can’t give up.”

Mancini and other pro-life advocates had high hopes for 2017: defunding Planned Parenthood, repealing Obamacare, passing legislation to limit late-term abortion. The Republican-controlled Congress did not deliver on any of those initiatives, despite promises made to voters.

But ahead of the 45th annual March for Life next month, pro-lifers remain hopeful. Mancini insists public opinion is shifting in the pro-life direction. More Americans are uncomfortable with late-term abortions, and the number of abortion centers and procedures performed each year are on the decline.

“If you’re not optimistic, you’re not pro-life,” said Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action.

Personnel is…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the fifth richest person in the world, has called for a universal basic income (UBI), even for people who don’t work. He and other billionaires such as Elon Musk say paying a guaranteed minimum “wage” would provide a cushion to help people try new ideas outside the 9-to-5 grind.

Despite many leaders’ dismissal of the concept as Marxist, several industrialized nations have moved beyond the debate stage. In 2015, Finland’s millionaire Prime Minister Juha Sipila said providing basic income to people would make the social security system less complex—a single government payment instead of many programs. The country instituted a two-year pilot program in 2017 that provided 800 euros per month to a group of jobless or skill-less people. But the project sample now involves too few recipients to show much universality, and organizers currently state the only aim is to coax people into accepting low-paying jobs.

Proponents still insist that nationwide implementation of UBI in Finland would streamline social security, as well as put to rest another bugbear in Finnish welfare: People sometimes refuse work in order to receive more handouts.

Swiss voters considered the idea in a national referendum in 2016, and 78 percent cast a “no” ballot. Daniel Straub, Swiss co-chairman of The Peoples Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income told me,…