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Human ViromeThe human virome (representing human viral communities) presents greater technical challenges (1) for identification and enumeration compared to the microbiome.Technical difficulties with characterizing the human viromeWe identify bacteria in the human microbiome using conserved genomic sequences (16S rRNA). Lacking such conserved genomic regions, viral genomic sequences from human samples are compared to known virus reference sequence databases. Drawback is such databases don't include sequences from novel viruses (2) while the human virome likely harbors as-yet-undiscovered viruses and viral relics.Viruses have small genomes, and are proportionally fewer compared to bacteria. Thus, viral nucleic acids are proportionally minuscule in the total derived from human microbial communities. To detect them, we need to enrich viral nucleic acids before sequence analysis. In turn, enrichment methods could be unwittingly selective, bias against certain viruses, and lead to loss of low-abundance viruses (3).From 4The human virome constitutes viral communities all over the human body. They run the gamut from viral relics such as HERVs (Human Endogenous Retroviruses), retroviral genes internalized millions of years ago during evolution, to tissue-resident viruses such as CMV (Cytomegalovirus) in the respiratory tract. Contribution of these viral communities also runs the gamut from most essential such as HERV-W genes, necessary for placental development, to HERV-K, the most recent integrant, implicated in neurological diseases such as schizophrenia, cancers such as breast and prostate, and autoimmune diseases such as MS (multiple sclerosis), RA (rheumatoid arthritis) and SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus).Figure 1 from 5HERVs (Human Endogenous Retroviruses)Viral genetic material is either DNA or RNA. Retroviruses have RNA but use it to produce DNA, the reverse, 'retro', of the norm. When inserted into host DNA, this viral DNA replicates every time host DNA replicates. When retroviruses infect germline (eggs and sperm) cells, they acquire a vastly greater capacity to replicate. Now endogenous retroviruses (ERV), they are present not just in each and every cell of that host but also get passed on to each and every cell of the host's descendants.ERVs represent 8% of the human genome (6).How do we know we harbor such retroviral relics? By their striking structural genomic similarity consisting of gag, pro, pol and env genes flanked by two identical-at-integration non-coding long terminal repeats (LTRs), which contain the signal for transcription initiation and regulation.Over evolutionary time (~35 million years), ERVs accumulated mutations (insertions, deletions, substitutions) and/or epigenetic modifications (for e.g., DNA methylation) at the same rate as the host genome (7, 8, 9, 10), rendering them non-functional, i.e. unable to produce infectious viral particles.Recombinations between the two flanking LTRs removed the internal coding region leaving a single LTR and inactivating ERVs, which are 10–100 times more numerous than their full length counterparts (11), and many of these insertions are fixed in the host population.To date, no active ERVs have been discovered in humans. The human genome has ~100,000 ERV loci resulting from proliferations of ~50 independent invasions of the genome from free-living (exogenous) retroviruses (12, 13).Figure 2 from 14HERV classification is still a work-in-progress. Magiorkinis et al (15) classify HERV families as the typical, HERV-T; the old, HERV-L; the abundant, HERV-H; the indispensable, HERV-W; the last but not the least, HERV-K.HERV-K(HML2) or HK2, the most recent, is the only ERV lineage to still replicate in the human population within the last few million years.~1,000 HK2 loci in the human reference genome, apparently integrated over the last ~35 million years. Continuously replicating over this long period, most full-length integrated ERV loci (proviruses) converted to relics by recombination. Remainder acquired premature stop codons and/or frameshifts. All reference genome HK2 loci are therefore replication defective, and only 24 loci retain full-length open reading frames (ORFs) in at least one of their genes (16).RNA transcription and protein expression of HK2 and other ERVs are elevated in many cancers, some autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, and HIV infection, leading to a long and unresolved search for a causal role in disease (17, 18, 19). More recently, disease-associated elevation of HERV protein expression has driven research into their potential as immunotherapy targets for cancer and HIV treatment (20).HERV-W, the indispensable HERVs in the Placenta: Genes Syncytins 1 and 2The emergence of placentation during evolution is fundamental to human evolution.Indispensable for human fetus growth, the placenta is composed of multiple unique cell types called extravillous and villous trophoblasts. The latter differentiate into multinucleated cells called syncytiotrophoblasts, which secrete human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and human placental lactogen (hPL), products that help optimize mother-fetus nutrient and hormone exchange.Viral relics in the form of specific HERVs are essential for placental development (14, 21, 22).Viruses were long suspected present in placenta with virus-like particles observed in human placenta (23, 24, 25, 26). These observations faded from memory until the discovery of the Syncytin genes in the late 1990s.Two Env proteins, Syncytin-1 and Syncytin-2 proteins, encoded by two different ERV loci, i.e., ERVW-1 and ERVFRD-1, located on chromosome 7 and 6, respectively, are expressed in the placenta. Independently co-opted numerous times among placental mammals and expressed in the placenta, these genes play a crucial role in the formation of the syncytiotrophoblast, a key function that sustains the highly dynamic and metabolically demanding placenta (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35).Figure 1 from 36.- Viral genes like these may actually have been central in the emergence of placental mammals from egg-laying animals (29, 37, 38, 39, 40).Box from 36.In vitro studies (41) and reduced expression in pre-eclampsia (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49) suggest these retroviral-origin genes are important in human placentation. Pre-eclampsia, 'toxemia of pregnancy', includes hypertension, liver and kidney toxicity, and if untreated, can lead to eclampsia, i.e. seizures, threatening the life of mother and child. These multiple, independent studies thus suggest that human placental syncytin expression is crucial for normal placental function and ensuing normal pregnancy.Mouse syncytin gene knockouts provide more definitive proof. Syncytin-1 knockout mouse: growth retardation, altered placental strcuture, death in utero (50). Syncytin-2 knockout mouse: impaired syncytiotrophoblasts (51).Serving a similar purpose in placentation of eutherian mammals, syncytin genes are thus a most extreme and powerful example of convergent evolution, having evolved independently multiple times through co-option of HERV genes.HERVs in the brain: No definitive proof of disease causation. Lot of correlative data for neurological diseases,Table 1 from 52.especially for schizophrenia.Tables 1 and 2 from 53HERVs and cancerHow to be sure something causes cancer? Likely causes are so numerous ranging from genetic predisposition to numerous environmental factors that pinning one or few down as causative agents is akin to the proverbial needle in a haystack. In 1965 Austin Bradford Hill proposed the famous Hill's criteria (54), essential in helping ascribe causality, as in the link between smoking and lung cancer. How does that pan out with HERVs (55, 56, 57)?Consistency of association: HERVs consistently expressed in many tumors (breast, ovarian, lymphoma, melanoma, sarcoma, bladder, prostate).Strength of association: HERVs rarely expressed in normal tissues.Temporal association: Environmental factors as in exogenous such as chemicals, UV radiation, smoking, viruses, and endogenous as in hormones and cytokines help drive HERV expression.Biological plausibility: no clear evidence yet.Experimental evidence: no clear evidence yet in humans (some mouse model data exists).Clearly work-in-progress.HERV-Breast Cancer link: 58, 59; HERV-Melanoma link: 60; HERV-prostate cancer link: 61.HERVs and autoimmunity (62, 63): MS (multiple sclerosis; 64, 65), RA (rheumatoid arthritis: 66, 67), SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus: 68), Sjogren's syndrome, Graves Disease.Association data; no causal data yet.Certain HERVs and herpes viruses associated with MS.Circulating anti-HERV antibodies present in >50% of SLE in some studies.Those with anti-HERV antibodies more likely to have active clinical SLE.Location-wise identity of Viruses in Human bodyHuman StoolStable over time (69), unsurprisingly healthy gut virome is influenced by diet (70).Abundance of food-related (plant) viruses (71).Eneteropathogenic viruses (72) found in both healthy and in those with GI tract illnesses (73).Novel bacteriophages encode genes for antibiotic resistance and bacterial metabolic pathways (69, 70, 74). More diverse in adults, much less so in a 1-week old infant stool sample (75). Clearly, we dynamically acquire a gut bacteriophage community over time.Novel viruses. Viruses from the new genus Gyrovirus in the Circoviridae family (76) are found in both chicken meat and human samples. Open questions: Do they replicate in humans, i.e. capable of cross-species transmission, or are they harmless?Diarrhea was associated with novel viruses such as astrovirus (77), cosavirus and bocavirus (78).Human SkinPersistent colonization by papillloma, polyoma, and circoviruses(79, 80). Innocuous for the most part. Exception is Merkel cell polyomavirus associated with severe skin carcinoma (81).Human circulatory systemAnelloviridae are ubiquitous in human populations (82, 83).An intriguing heart and lung transplant study (84) tracked circulating plasma virome months post-transplant, and found circulating virome changed with post-transplant treatment. Low dose of anti-viral (valganciclovir) and immunosuppressant (tacrolimus): Herpesvirales and Caudovirales dominate; high dose, Anelloviridae dominate.Graphical Abstract from 84.LiverFlavivirus GBVC (or Hepatitis virus G), a surprising partner in human health, delays HIV disease progression (85).LungInfluenza (flu), Corona and other less well-characterized viruses (86).Bocavirus found in both healthy and in those with respiratory tract illnesses (87).Bacteriophages: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients have bacteriophages similar to each other while those in healthy adults are unique to each individual (88). In this study, spouse of one CF patient and an asthmatic control shared some viral genomes found in CF patients. This suggests environment strongly influences human viral genome since shared environment was associated with shared viruses between spouses, and chronic pathologies that are very different, as CF and asthma are, could still lead to establishment of similar viral communities, perhaps because they both cause impaired airway clearance of microbes.CMV (Cytomegalovirus)CMV, a herpes virus, infects majority of the world’s population.In the US, ~60% prevalence in >6 years of age and ~>90% in >80 years of age in the years 1988-1994 (89).It's usually, but not always, benign (90).Associated with immunosenescence (immune aging) in the elderly (91).CMV-schizophrenia link: In a study of >1000 subjects, 15% carried a particular benign variant of a gene involved in the stabilization of neuronal connections and in synaptic plasticity, essential to learning and memory. Carriers of this gene variant had fivefold increased probability of developing schizophrenia following maternal CMV infection (92).CMV-Flu link: CMV could help body fight off flu: CMV-seropositive young adults make stronger anti-flu antibody responses (93). Seropositive means they were likely exposed to CMV and generated an anti-CMV immune response, as revealed by presence of circulating anti-CMV antibodies. Relevance of this type of finding? The well-adjusted human super-organism is one where their mammalian and microbial components work in harmony to keep pathogens at bay.FluFlu-HERV link: The influenza virus may re-activate HERVs that are associated with neuroinflammation, and white matter and myelin degeneration (94).Such HERVs have been implicated in Bipolar disorder and Schizophrenia (95, 96).Virome BibliographyCanuti, M. "About Viruses, the Importance of Being Earnest." 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"Seropositivity to cytomegalovirus, inflammation, all-cause and cardiovascular disease-related mortality in the United States." PloS one 6.2 (2011): e16103.Fülöp, T., Anis Larbi, and Graham Pawelec. "Human T cell aging and the impact of persistent viral infections." Frontiers in immunology 4 (2013). Human T Cell Aging and the Impact of Persistent Viral InfectionsBørglum, A. D., et al. "Genome-wide study of association and interaction with maternal cytomegalovirus infection suggests new schizophrenia loci." Molecular psychiatry 19.3 (2014): 325-333. Page on nature.comCytomegalovirus infection enhances the immune response to influenza; A Virus In Your Mouth Helps Fight The FluNellåker, Christoffer, et al. "Transactivation of elements in the human endogenous retrovirus W family by viral infection." Retrovirology 3.1 (2006): 44. Page on retrovirology.comPerron, Hervé, et al. "Molecular characteristics of Human Endogenous Retrovirus type-W in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder." Translational psychiatry 2.12 (2012): e201. Page on nature.com.Leboyer, Marion, et al. "Human endogenous retrovirus type W (HERV-W) in schizophrenia: A new avenue of research at the gene-environment interface." The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry 14.2 (2013): 80-90.Thanks for the A2A, Matt Chanoff. I'll answer about the human mycobiome (fungal communities of the human body) separately.

It would have been impossible for Joseph Smith a young 23-year-old farm boy to have made up the detailed 531-page narrative with multiple ancient writing styles and complex literary content found in the Book of Mormon text. Critics have attempted to chip away at the Book of Mormon in niggly little ways for close to two centuries but no one has yet been able to successfully dismiss it outright. It stands as proof that Joseph Smith was a prophet, seer, and revelator.Neither Joseph Smith nor any 19th Century author could have written the Book of Mormon when taking the following into consideration:1. Ancient writing patterns - Several different characteristics of ancient writings have recently been identified in the Book of Mormon. These include the colophon which was often used in Egyptian compositions and chiasmus which is a distinctly Hebraic literary form. Both are found in the Book of Mormon despite the fact that these characteristics were unknown in Joseph Smith's day.a. The colophon is essentially a writer's preface which follows a fixed pattern. It most often includes the writer's name, background, qualifications for writing, and a summary of the text. At times, the text is also concluded with a similar pattern. Colophons are found throughout the Book of Mormon - Sorenson and Thorn, Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, pp. 32-37; Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites, pp. 17-20; Vestal and Wallace, The Firm Foundation of Mormonism, p. 147; Welch, Reexploring the Book of Mormon, pp. 13-16.b. Chiasmus is an ancient literary form which resembles poetry. Instead of repeating sounds or following a rhyming pattern, chiasmus repeats ideas or words in a systematic pattern which reverses at its center point. Many examples of chiasmus have been identified in the Hebrew Bible but the Book of Mormon contains some of the most complex examples of chiasmus known today. Alma's chiasm in Alma 36 is made up of 17 elements with all but the center element repeated twice - Sorenson and Thorn, Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, pp. 114-131; Vestal and Wallace, The Firm Foundation of Mormonism, pp. 155-170; Book of Mormon Authorship, pp. 33-52; Diane E. Wirth, A Challenge to the Critics, pp. 94-99; Welch, Reexploring the Book of Mormon, pp. 230-235.2. Writing styles - A number of scientific tests have been devised to examine the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Two tests which deal with writing styles have produced some exciting yet largely ignored results which our critics cannot explain. Computer assisted analysis techniques referred to as "stylometry" or more commonly "wordprint" analysis was developed to identify an author's writing style much like a fingerprint or voiceprint is used to identify an individual. Although wordprint analyses identifying the usage rate of non-contextual words have produced the best authorship identification, total new word usage rates have also produced significant results and will be addressed.Non-contextual words used in wordprint analysis are the filler words such as prepositions and conjunctions which are repeated subconsciously as a result of habit patterns developed in our early life. Although the conscious features of a given author's style might be imitated, the subconscious features cannot. Analysis indicates that an author's wordprint style remains consistent despite the passage of time, change of subject matter, or literary form. Most importantly, the value of a wordprint analysis is apparently retained where a literal translation has been made (Welch, Reexploring the Book of Mormon, pp. 221-226). Wordprint studies to determine authorship have included the examination of letters, biblical books, ancient Greek works, and more recently the technique was applied to the Book of Mormon. In a 1979 report, Wayne Larsen and Alvin Rencher showed that the Book of Mormon text contained more than 20 distinct wordprint styles which were internally consistent with the authors identified in the text.Who Wrote the Book of Mormon? An Analysis of Wordprints - Wayne A. Larsen, Alvin C. Rencher, Tim Layton https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2026&context=byusq&httpsredir=1&referer=https://www.google.com/Even more surprising to our critics was the fact that none of the Book of Mormon wordprint styles matched Joseph Smith's own style or that of any other suggested nineteenth-century author (See Book of Mormon Authorship, pp. 157-188). Despite the fact that Joseph Smith's own wordprint style is not found in the Book of Mormon, a consistently limited working vocabulary, similar to that of Joseph Smith's, is found throughout the book (See John L. Hilton's F.A.R.M.S. paper entitled Book of Mormon "Wordprint" Measurement using "Wraparound" Block Counting).The rate at which new words are introduced throughout the Book of Mormon is consistently low while individual wordprint styles vary consistently throughout the book according to the textually identified author. The only reasonably acceptable explanation for these two statistically observable results is that "the Book of Mormon is a continuous literal translation of non-English writings by different original authors, expressed by a literal translator using a restricted English vocabulary" (Ibid.). In addition, the conclusion that Joseph Smith or any contemporary could have authored the Book of Mormon is scientifically indefensible in light of the findings mentioned above. When coupled with the internal writing patterns and Egyptian and Hebrew characteristics mentioned earlier, the only rational conclusion that can be reached is that the Book of Mormon was not the product of any nineteenth-century author's imagination. It can only be what Joseph Smith claimed it to be: a translation of an ancient record written by men familiar with both Hebrew and Egyptian language characteristics. Additional information on wordprints may be found in Robert L. Hamson, The Signature of God; Robert and Rosemary Brown, They Lie in Wait to Deceive, vol. 2, chap. 9; Sunstone Magazine, vol. 6, num. 2, pp. 15-26; and BYU Studies, Spring 1980, p. 225ff.3. Migration Routes - Some people both in and out of the LDS Church have erroneously assumed that the Book of Mormon is the history of all pre-Columbian civilizations in the western hemisphere. In reality it is a religious account of three groups that came to the Americas prior to 589 B.C.. Undoubtedly there were other groups which came to the new world at other times and by other routes but these are not mentioned in the Book of Mormon narrative. The primary group described in the Book of Mormon is that of Lehi the prophet. Dr. Eugene England has made a detailed comparison of this group's Arabian journey with modern geographical features. His study revealed no contradictions and numerous correspondences. In fact, more than twenty significant geographical details described in the Book of Mormon such as Nahum, Bountiful, and rivers unknown in Joseph Smith's day, serve as evidence that it is indeed an ancient document, written from firsthand information (Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship, p. 143; see also Scharffs, The Truth about the God Makers, pp. 130-132; Michael T. Griffith, Refuting the Critics, pp. 44-45)4. This short video summarize the evidence for the book’s complexity:Watch it and then try to explain these Book of Mormon’s examples of complexity and sophistication:1. Statistically distinct authors2. Complex source texts3. Realistic battles4. Rich Symbolism5. Epic literature6. Genealogies7. Distinct cultures8. Numerous fulfilled prophecies9. Typological narratives10. Over 150 named locations11. Brilliant doctrinal discourses12. Competing religious ideologies13. Embedded flashbacks14. Over 200 named characters15. Political histories16. Editorial prefaces and conclusions17. Over 1,000 intertextual relationships18. Efficient system of weights and measures19. Lineage histories20. Over 1,000 Hebrew literary elements21. Extended analogies22. Realistic naming conventions23. Pervasive early modern English24. Modern migrations25. Interweaving narrative26. Consistent usage of many words and phrases27. Three calendar systems28. Multiple literary genres29. Realistic demographic data30. Authentic legal cases31. Over 600 consistent geographical referencesEach of the above have been found by scholars to be evidence for the Book of Mormon’s authenticity. A site named Book of Mormon Central contains a detailed examination of many of the above findings. The site also provides a long list of references for scholars and critics to research the Book of Mormon on their own:ReferencesStylometry1. Book of Mormon Central, “Is It Possible That a Single Author Wrote the Book of Mormon? (2 Nephi 27:13),” KnoWhy 399 (January 16, 2018)2. Matthew Roper, Paul J. Fields, and G. Bruce Schaalje, “Stylometric Analyses of the Book of Mormon: A Short History,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 21, no. 1 (2012): 28–45.3. Paul J. Fields, G. Bruce Schaalje, and Matthew Roper, “Examining a Misapplication of Nearest Shrunken Centroid Classification to Investigate Book of Mormon Authorship,” Mormon Studies Review 23, no. 1 (2011): 87–111.4. G. Bruce Schaalje, Paul J. Fields, Matthew Roper, Gregory L. Snow, “Extended Nearest Shrunken Centroid Classification: A New Method for Open-set Authorship Attribution of Texts of Varying Sizes,” Literary and Linguistic Computing 26, no. 1 (2011): 71–88.5. Bruce Schaalje, John L. Hilton, and John B. Archer, “Comparative Power of Three Author-Attribution Techniques for Differentiating Authors,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6, no. 1 (1997): 47–63.6. John L. Hilton, “On Verifying Wordprint Studies: Book of Mormon Authorship,” BYU Studies Quarterly, 30, no. 3 (1990): 89–108; reprinted in Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins, ed. Noel B. Reynolds (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1997), 225–253.7. Wayne A. Larsen, Alvin C. Rencher, and Tim Layton, “Who Wrote the Book of Mormon? An Analysis of Wordprints,” BYU Studies 20, no. 3 (1980): 225–251; reprinted in Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins, ed. Noel B. Reynolds (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1982), 157–188.Complex Source Texts1. John L. Sorenson, “Mormon’s Miraculous Book,” Ensign, February 2016, 38–41, online at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.2. Gerald E. Smith, “Improvisation and Extemporaneous Change in the Book of Mormon (Part 2: Structural Evidences of Earlier Ancient versus Later Modern Constructions),” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 23 (2017): 53–90.3. Gerald E. Smith, “Improvisation and Extemporaneous Change in the Book of Mormon (Part 1: Evidence of an Imperfect, Authentic, Ancient Work of Scripture),” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 23 (2017): 1–44.4. John L. Sorenson, “Mormon's Sources,” Journal of Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 20, no. 2 (2011): 2–15.5. Brant A. Gardner, “Mormon’s Editorial Method and Meta-Message,” FARMS Review 21, no. 1 (2009): 83–105.6. Steven L. Olsen, “Prophecy and History: Structuring the Abridgment of the Nephite Records,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15, no. 1 (2006): 18–29, 70–71.7. Thomas W. Mackay, “Mormon as Editor: A Study in Colophons, Headers, and Source Indicators,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2, no. 2 (1993): 90–109.8. John W. Welch, “Preliminary Comments on the Sources Behind the Book of Ether” FARMS Preliminary Reports (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1986).9. S. Kent Brown, “Lehi’s Personal Record: Quest for a Missing Source,” BYU Studies Quarterly 24, no. 1 (1984): 19–42.Realistic Battles1. Book of Mormon Central, “How Realistic are Nephite Battle Strategies? (Alma 56:30),” KnoWhy 164 (August 12, 2016)2. David E. Spencer, Captain Moroni’s Command: Dynamics of Warfare in the Book of Mormon (Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, 2015).3. Morgan Deane, Bleached Bones and Wicked Serpents: Ancient Warfare in the Book of Mormon (self-published, 2014).4. John E. Kammeyer, The Nephite Art of War (Far West Publications, 2012).5. Daniel C. Peterson, “The Gadianton Robbers as Guerrilla Warriors,” in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990), 146–173.6. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin, eds., Warfare in the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990).7. Hugh Nibley, Since Cumorah, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley: Volume 7 (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988), 291–333.8. Ray C. Hillam, “The Gadianton Robbers and Protracted War,” BYU Studies Quarterly 15, no. 2 (1975): 215–224.Rich Symbolism1. Parrish Brady and Shon Hopkin, “The Zoramites and Costly Apparel: Symbolism and Irony,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 22, no. 1 (2013): 40–53.2. Steven L. Olsen, “The Covenant of the Promised Land: Territorial Symbolism in the Book of Mormon,” FARMS Review 22, no. 2 (2010): 137–154.3. Richard Dilworth Rust, Feasting on the Word: The Literary Testimony of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1997), 150–154.4. Gordon C. Thomasson, “Mosiah: The Complex Symbolism and Symbolic Complex of Kingship in the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2, no. 1 (1993): 32–365. Neal E. Lambert, “The Symbolic Unity of Christ's Ministry in 3 Nephi,” in 3 Nephi 9-30, This is My Gospel, Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Volume 8, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1993), 195–209.Epic Literature1. David B. Honey, “Ecological Nomadism versus Epic Heroism in Ether: Nibley's Works on the Jaredites,” Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 2, no. 1 (1990): 143–163.2. Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites/There Were Jaredites, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley: Volume 5 (Salt Lake City/Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988), 285–423.Genealogies1. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Does the Book of Ether Begin with Such a Long Genealogy? (Ether 1:18),” KnoWhy 235 (November 21, 2016).2. John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2013), 198–218.Distinct Cultures1. Kerry M. Hull, “War Banners: A Mesoamerican Context for the Title of Liberty,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 24 (2015): 108–109.2. Mark Alan Wright, “Nephite Daykeepers: Ritual Specialists in Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon,” in Ancient Temple Worship: Proceedings of the Expound Symposium, 14 May 2011, ed. Matthew B. Brown, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Stephen D. Ricks, and John S. Thompson (Salt Lake City and Orem, UT: Eborn Books and Interpreter Foundation, 2014), 243–257.3. Mark Alan Wright, “The Cultural Tapestry of Mesoamerica,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 22, no. 2 (2013): 4–21.4. Brant A. Gardner and Mark Alan Wright, “The Cultural Context of Nephite Apostasy,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 1 (2012): 25–55.5. Mark Alan Wright, “‘According to Their Language, unto Their Understanding’: The Cultural Context of Hierophanies and Theophanies in Latter-day Saint Canon,” Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 3 (2011): 51–65.6. Brant A. Gardner, “The Other Stuff: Reading the Book of Mormon for Cultural Information,” FARMS Review of Books 13, no. 2 (2001): 21–527. Paul R. Cheesman, “Cultural Parallels Between the Old World and the New World,” in The Keystone Scripture, Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Volume 1, ed. Paul R. Cheesman, S. Kent Brown, and Charles D. Tate, Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1988), 206–217.Fulfilled Prophecies1. Kimberly M. Berkey, “Temporality and Fulfillment in 3 Nephi 1,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 24 (2015): 53–83.2. Randall P. Spackman, “Introduction to Book of Mormon Chronology: The Principal Prophecies, Calendars, and Dates,” (FARMS Preliminary Reports, 1993).Typological Narratives1. Joseph M. Spencer, An Other Testament: On Typology (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2016).2. Richard Dilworth Rust, “‘All Things Which Have Been Given of God . . . Are the Typifying of Him’: Typology in the Book of Mormon,” in Literature of Belief: Sacred Scripture and Religious Experience, ed. Neal E. Lambert (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1981), 233–244.3. Noel B. Reynolds, “The Israelite Background of Moses Typology in the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 44, no. 2 (2005): 5–23.4. Noel B. Reynolds, “Lehi as Moses,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9, no. 2 (2000): 26–35.5. S. Kent Brown, “The Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon,” in From Jerusalem to Zarahemla: Literary and Historical Studies of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1998), 75–98.6. Robert E. Clark, “The Type at the Border: An Inquiry into Book of Mormon Typology,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2, no. 2 (1993): 63–77.7. George S. Tate, “The Typology of the Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon,” in Literature of Belief: Sacred Scripture and Religious Experience, ed. Neal E. Lambert (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1981), 245–262.Geography1. John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2013), 17, 119.2. John E. Clark, “A Key for Evaluating Nephite Geography,” Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1 (1989): 20–70; updated as John E. Clark, “Revisiting ‘A Key for Evaluating Book of Mormon Geographies’,” Mormon Studies Review 23, no. 1 (2011): 13–43.3. Randall P. Spackman, “Interpreting Book of Mormon Geography,” FARMS Review 15, no. 1 (2003): 19–46.4. Dennis L. Largey, et al., “Geography,” in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis L. Largey (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2003), 288–291.5. John E. Clark, “Book of Mormon Geography,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 176–179.6. John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Map (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2000).Competing Religious Ideologies1. Parrish Brady and Shon Hopkin, “The Zoramites and Costly Apparel: Symbolism and Irony,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 22, no. 1 (2013): 40–53.2. Brant A. Gardner and Mark Alan Wright, “The Cultural Context of Nephite Apostasy,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 1 (2012): 25–55.Embedded Flashbacks1. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Mormon Include Flashbacks in His Narrative? (Alma 21:13),” KnoWhy 129 (June 24, 2016).2. Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010), 104–105.Political Histories1. John L. Sorenson, “Mormon's Sources,” Journal of Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 20, no. 2 (2011): 2–15.2. John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2013), 189.Editorial Prefaces and Conclusions1. Thomas W. Mackay, “Mormon as Editor: A Study in Colophons, Headers, and Source Indicators,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2, no. 2 (1993): 90–109.2. John A. Tvedtnes, “Colophons in the Book of Mormon,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon: A Decade of New Research, ed. John W. Welch (Salt Lake City and Provo UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), 13–17.3. John A. Tvedtnes, “Colophons in the Book of Mormon,” in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon: Insights You May Have Missed Before, ed. John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1991), 32–37.Intertextuality1. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Lehi Quote from a Psalm of Repentance in His Dream? (1 Nephi 8:8),” KnoWhy 325 (July 12, 2017).2. Book of Mormon Central, “Where did Moroni Get the Sacramental Prayers from? (Moroni 4:1),” KnoWhy 250 (December 12, 2016).3. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Do So Many of Mormon’s Teachings Appear in Ether 4 and 5? (Ether 4:19),” KnoWhy 239 (November 25, 2016).4. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Ammon Borrow So Much from Tradition in Alma 26? (Alma 26:8),” KnoWhy 133 (June 30, 2016).5. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Does Jacob Quote So Much from the Psalms? (Jacob 1:7),” KnoWhy 62 (March 25, 2016).6. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Does Nephi Quote a Temple Psalm While Commenting on Isaiah? (2 Nephi 25:16),” KnoWhy 51 (March 10, 2016).7. Book of Mormon Central, “Whom Did Nephi Quote in 1 Nephi 22? (1 Nephi 22:1),” KnoWhy 25 (February 3, 2016).8. Nicholas J. Frederick, “Evaluating the Interaction between the New Testament and the Book of Mormon: A Proposed Methodology,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 24, no. 1 (2015).9. Quinten Barney, “Samuel the Lamanite, Christ, and Zenos: A Study of Intertextuality,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 18 (2016): 159–170.Weights and Measures1. John W. Welch, “Weighing and Measuring in the Worlds of the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 8, no. 2 (1999): 36–45.2. John W. Welch, “The Laws of Eshnunna and Nephite Economics,” in Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon: The FARMS Updates of the 1990s, ed. John W. Welch and Melvin J. Thorne (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999), 147–149.3. John W. Welch, “The Law of Mosiah,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon: A Decade of New Research, ed. John W. Welch (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), 158–161.Lineage Histories1. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Do the Authors on the Small Plates Follow a Pattern? (Jacob 7:27),” KnoWhy 74 (April 8, 2016).2. John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2013), 189–203.3. John S. Tanner, “Jacob and his Descendants as Authors,” in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon: Insights You May Have Missed Before, ed. John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1991), 52–66.4. John W. Welch, “The Father’s Command to Keep Records in the Small Plates of Nephi,” FARMS Preliminary Report (September 1984).Hebraisms1. Carl J. Cranney, “The Deliberate Use of Hebrew Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 23 (2014): 140–165.2. John A. Tvedtnes, “Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon,” in Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, 4 vols., ed. Geoffrey Khan (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 2:195–196.3. Donald W. Parry, Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon: The Complete Text Reformatted (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2007).4. Hugh W. Pinnock, Finding Biblical Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999).5. William J. Adams Jr., “Nephi's Written Language and the Standard Biblical Hebrew of 600 BC,” in Glimpses of Lehi’s Jerusalem, ed. John W. Welch, David Rolph Seely, and Jo Ann H. Seely (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2004), 81–130.6. Donald W. Parry, “Hebraisms and Other Ancient Peculiarities in the Book of Mormon,” in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2002), 156–189.7. John A. Tvedtnes, “The Hebrew Background of the Book of Mormon,” in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon: Insights You May Have Missed Before, ed. John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1991), 77–91.Analogies1. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Jacob Share the Allegory of the Olive Tree? (Jacob 4:17),” KnoWhy 66 (March 30, 2016).2. Stephen D. Ricks and John W. Welch, eds., The Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5 (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1994).Realistic Naming Conventions1. Book of Mormon Onomasticon at Book of Mormon Onomasticon.2. Sharon Black, Brad Wilcox, Wendy Baker Smemoe, and Bruce L. Brown, “Absence of ‘Joseph Smith’ in the Book of Mormon: Lack of the Name Letter Effect in Nephite, Lamanite, and Jaredite Names,” Religious Educator 17, no. 2 (2016): 36–55.3. Stephen D. Ricks, “Some Notes on Book of Mormon Names,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 4 (2013): 155–160.4. Sharon Black and Brad Wilcox, “188 Unexplainable Names: Book of Mormon Names No Fiction Writer Would Choose,” Religious Educator 12, no. 2 (2011): 118–133.Pervasive Early Modern English1. Stanford Carmack, “Is the Book of Mormon a Pseudo-Archaic Text?” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 28 (2018): 177–232.Interweaving Narratives1. Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Mormon Include Flashbacks in His Narrative? (Alma 21:13),” KnoWhy 129 June 24, 2016).2. Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010), xvii.Consistent Usage of Words and Phrases1. Royal Skousen, “The Original Text of the Book of Mormon and its Publication by Yale University Press,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 7 (2013): 93–95.2. Royal Skousen, “The Systematic Text of the Book of Mormon,” in Uncovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon: History and Findings of the Critical Text Project, ed. M. Gerald Bradford and Alison V. P. Coutts, 45–66 (published in lieu of Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 11, no. 2 [2002]).Calendar Systems1. Mark Alan Wright, “Nephite Daykeepers: Ritual Specialists in Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon,” in Ancient Temple Worship: Proceedings of the Expound Symposium, 14 May 2011, ed. Matthew B. Brown, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Stephen D. Ricks, and John S. Thompson (Salt Lake City and Orem, UT: Eborn Books and Interpreter Foundation, 2014), 243–257.2. John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Book (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2013), 192–195, 434–442.3. Randall P. Spackman, A Source Book for Book of Mormon Chronology, online at A Source Book for Book of Mormon Chronology.Multiple Literary Genres1. James T. Duke, The Literary Masterpiece Called the Book of Mormon (Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, Inc., 2004).2. David E. Bokovoy and John A. Tvedtnes, Testaments: Links between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible (Toelle, UT: Heritage Press, 2003).3. Richard Dilworth Rust, Feasting on the Word: The Literary Testimony of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1997).4. Stephen D. Ricks, ed., Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 4, no. 1 (1995).Realistic Demographic Data1. John E. Clark, “Archaeology, Relics, and Book of Mormon Belief,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14, no. 2 (2005): 38–49, 71–74.2. James E. Smith, “Nephi’s Descendants? Historical Demography and the Book of Mormon,” Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6, no. 1 (1994): 255–296.3. John L. Sorenson, “When Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land Did They Find Others There?,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1, no. 1 (1992): 1–34.Authentic Legal Cases1. John W. Welch, The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: BYU Press and the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2008).I’m wondering how many of the above critics have read?I have actually read many but not all of the above, as I did my own research.Although the above historical, literary, and scientific details affirm our testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, they cannot by themselves produce a complete testimony. The only way to gain a lasting testimony is through the confirmation of the Spirit as described in Moroni 10:3-5.

What you're really looking for are important scientific contributions that are named after women.That is easy. Here's an incomplete list:The element Meitnerium was named after Lisa Meitner, who helped invent nuclear fission. The element Curium is also named jointly after Marie and Pierre Curie alike.The naming of meitnerium was discussed in the element naming controversy regarding the names of elements 104 to 109, but meitnerium was the only proposal and thus was never disputed.[12][13]The name meitnerium (Mt) was suggested in honor of the Austrian physicist Lise Meitner, a co-discoverer of protactinium (with Otto Hahn),[14][15][16][17][18] and one of the discoverers of nuclear fission.[19] In 1994 the name was recommended by IUPAC,[12] and was officially adopted in 1997.[13]It is thus the only element named specifically after a non-mythological woman.[20]The Wu experiment in physics by Chien-Shiung Wu, which famously demonstrated violation of parity conservation in particle physics.The Wu experiment was a nuclear physics experiment conducted in 1956 by the Chinese American physicist Chien-Shiung Wu in collaboration with the Low Temperature Group of the US National Bureau of Standards.[1] The experiment's purpose was to establish whether or not conservation of parity (P-conservation), which was previously established in the electromagnetic and strong interactions, also applied to weak interactions. If P-conservation were true, a mirrored version of the world (where left is right and right is left) would behave as the mirror image of the current world. If P-conservation were violated, then it would be possible to distinguish between a mirrored variation of the world and the mirror image of the current world. The experiment established that conservation of parity was violated (P-violation) by the weak interaction. This result was not expected by the physics community, which had previously regarded parity as a conserved quantity.The Cauchy–Kowalevski theorem in analysis was first fully proven by Sofia Kovalevskaya, widely recognised as the first major Russian mathematician.Let K denote either the fields of real or complex numbers, and let V = Km and W = Kn. Let A1, ..., An−1 be analytic functions defined on some neighbourhood of (0, 0) in V × W and taking values in the m × m matrices, and let b be an analytic function with values in V defined on the same neighbourhood. Then there is a neighbourhood of 0 in W on which the quasilinear Cauchy problem​with initial condition​on the hypersurface​has a unique analytic solution ƒ : W → V near 0.The concept of the Chang–Refsdal lens in astrophyiscs, by Kyongae ChangA Chang–Refsdal lens is a point-mass gravitational lens (e.g. Black hole) perturbed by constant external shear. The name derives from Kyongae Chang and Sjur Refsdal who in 1979 published a paper [that] illustrated that stars could affect quasar image brightness.The Goos–Hänchen effect was partially discovered by Hilda HänchenThe Goos–Hänchen effect (named after Hermann Fritz Gustav Goos (1883 – 1968)[1] and Hilda Hänchen (1919 – 2013)) is an optical phenomenon in which linearly polarized light undergoes a small lateral shift, when totally internally reflected. The shift is perpendicular to the direction of propagation, in the plane containing the incident and reflected beams. This effect is the linear polarization analog of the Imbert–Fedorov effect.The Hunsdiecker reaction is named after Clare and Heinrich Hunsdiecker.The Hunsdiecker reaction (also called the Borodin reaction after Alexander Borodin) is the organic reaction of silver salts of carboxylic acids with halogens to give organichalides.[1][2][3][4] It is an example of a halogenation reaction. The reaction is named after Heinz Hunsdiecker and Cläre Hunsdiecker.Langmuir–Blodgett films are named after Katharine Burr Blodgett, who extended Langmuir's work on thin films to invent them.A Langmuir–Blodgett film contains one or more monolayers of an organic material, deposited from the surface of a liquid onto a solid by immersing (or emersing) the solid substrate into (or from) the liquid. A monolayer is adsorbed homogeneously with each immersion or emersion step, thus films with very accurate thickness can be formed. This thickness is accurate because the thickness of each monolayer is known and can therefore be added to find the total thickness of a Langmuir–Blodgett film. The monolayers are assembled vertically and are usually composed of amphiphilic molecules (see Chemical polarity) with a hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail (example: fatty acids). Langmuir–Blodgett films are named after Irving Langmuir and Katharine B. Blodgett, who invented this technique while working in Research and Development for General Electric Co. An alternative technique of creating single monolayers on surfaces is that of self-assembled monolayers.A Few Special MentionsEmma Noether (of Noether's theorem fame) has been mentioned by Matt Westwood, while Henrietta Swan Leavitt (the inventor of Leavitt''s law and possibly the only law named after a woman) has been mentioned by David Maier.