Abstract:The Wilderness Act characterizes wilderness as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man…" How crucial to the idea of wilderness is its location on our home planet? If an extraterrestrial community of life were discovered, it would certainly be untrammeled by man. Does it make sense to extend the idea of wilderness to encompass other planets and their potential ecosystems? Many values are associated with wilderness, supporting arguments for the need to preserve or (...) protect it. Some arguments seem readily applicable to extraterrestrial habitats, while others may be specific to Earth. I offer an overview of values attributed to wilderness, and consider the extent to which these values may or may not apply beyond the Earth. Following Rolston's claim that nature is not only of value, but a source of values, extraterrestrial wildernesses can be esteemed as instances of a cosmic evolutionary process. (shrink)

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This is the address given by Alan R Johnson, an alumnus of OCMS, to inaugurate the J. Philip Hogan Chair of World Mission. The Hogan chair represents a connection between Assemblies of God World Missions and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary where in a proactive and catalytic fashion the process of engaging with subjects of missiological importance can be undertaken. The author argues that thinking about missions is a communal activity that requires continual reflection.

Anamniote animals, such as fish and amphibians, are able to regenerate damaged CNS nerves following injury, but regeneration in the mammalian CNS tracts, such as the optic nerve, does not occur. However, severed adult mammalian retinal axons can regenerate into peripheral nerve segments grafted into the brain and this finding has emphasized the importance of the environment in explaining regenerative failure in the adult mammalian CNS. Following lesions, regenerating axons encounter the glial cells, oligodendrocytes and astro‐cytes, and their derivatives, respectively (...) myelin and the astrocytic scar. Experiments to investigate the influence of these components on axon growth in culture have revealed cell‐surface and extracellular matrix molecules that inhibit axon extension and growth cone motility. Structural and functional characterization of these ligands and their receptors is underway, and may solve the interesting neurobiological conundrum posed by the failure of mammalian CNS regeneration. Simultaneously, this might allow new possibilities for treatment of the severe clinical disabilities resulting from injury to the brain and spinal cord. (shrink)