Stevin Gehrke • 4 days ago
“There appears to be a misunderstanding of the work done here originating from to the news article referenced. The ‘zinc spark’ is defined by the scientists as the rapid ejection of zinc ions from the oocyte at fertilization, so the term ‘spark’ is being used only as a metaphor. There is no light associated with this event in nature.
In the scientific paper, the scientists added the fluorophore FluoZin-3 (sold by the Walmart of science, ThermoFisher Scientific) to the solution so that when the zinc diffused out of the oocyte, the Zn+2 would bind to the fluorophore and become fluorescent so that that the zinc flux could be imaged over time under a confocal microscope. This is a standard imaging technology for life scientists (google FluoZin-3 if interested ).
So the paper is very interesting basic science in that it describes an important phenomenon that occurs during fertilization. If one considers in vitro fertilization as ethical but the destruction of excess fertilized eggs as unethical, this work could even lead to a method to eliminate the need to fertilize more eggs than needed, and hence resolve that ethical issue. So it may also have practical value in resolving a moral issue of concern to Christians.
But unfortunately the idea that the fertilization event itself is accompanied by the emission of photons is not being described in this scientific work – unless one wishes to speak metaphorically, of course.”
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