Should professors at Universities be active participants in generating and testing ideas or should they be content to be teachers of what is already known? Most higher educational institutions, such as the one that employs me, continually grapple with how to strike a balance between encouraging knowledge creation and dissemination past knowledge. Put another way,... Continue Reading →
Are billions and billions of pieces of stone found strewn across the African continent the product of intelligent design (purposeful actions) or random processes? Last year I presented a Stone-Age artifact challenge to the young-earth creationist' chronology. Dr. Mortenson, from Answers in Genesis, responded to the evidence that I presented of vast stone-tool production in... Continue Reading →
Modern young-earth creationism has deep roots. The essential elements of flood geology were established in the 17th century though much of what passed as flood geology at that time might be difficult to recognize today. One thing that hasn't changed is the style of rhetoric frequently used to promote flood geology to the general public.... Continue Reading →
What do giraffes, cows, sheep, antelope, pronghorn and deer have in common? Foremost, they all share a specialized digestive system that includes a four-chambered stomach that allows them to obtain nutrients and energy from vegetation that is inaccessible to most mammals. This ability and other shared morphological traits are used by scientists to classify all... Continue Reading →
This fish prefers to be out of water! The Pacific leaping blenny is back in the news again with new research on how they avoid being eaten by birds and lizards. Whoa, back up a bit you say. A fish living out of water! Yep, and this isn't just a fish that can drag itself... Continue Reading →
The Englishman and natural historian John Ray is best known for his book, The Wisdom of God. Like many other books of the 18th century, he continually revised and reissued his book until the time of his death. Even after his death notes that he had made on manuscripts were incorporated into later editions. As a result of... Continue Reading →
I ended my previous article, Ken Ham's Darwinism, with the following observation: Ken Ham has fully embraced Post-Flood Rapid Evolution as a mechanism of creating the amazing variation we see today. As he slides further down the slippery slope into the rabbit hole of radical accelerated evolution he has now become, ironically, more accepting of naturalistic... Continue Reading →
Young life creationists, or baraminologists as they prefer to be called, have experienced a paradigm shift over the past three decades. Initially, young-life creationists (YLCs) made a point of identifying every possible unique characteristic of a species as the result of direct special creation and intelligent design. However, they are now increasingly embracing a model... Continue Reading →
Dinosaurs are fascinating to kids and many adults. If an organization is looking to generate an audience, bringing in a speaker to lecture about dinosaurs is one sure means to succeed. This fall I had the opportunity to attend two public lectures about dinosaurs both of which were aimed specifically at kids. The first, “Dinosaur Accoutrements,”... Continue Reading →
What happened to dinosaur eggs that were either abandoned or broke prematurely? You might think that this is a question that is impossible to answer, but dinosaur eggs have been discovered with intriguing evidence of scavenging of many forms. By studying the remains of organisms that are preserved in preserved dinosaur eggs paleontologists have discovered compelling evidence that a complex ecology... Continue Reading →
A new champion in the crazy genome sweepstakes has been crowned. And it is a tardigrade. A tardiwhat? A tardigrade, or better known as those lovable little “water bears” or “moss piglets.” These tiny (<1mm) animals have always held the fascination of biologists not just because they are so darn cute and photogenic but because they are quite... Continue Reading →
Image you are living in 200 BC in the Middle East and you come by the skull to the right (Fig. 1) as you plow your field or when you explore the local cave complex. What if you are wandering the desert in Egypt and happen upon the bones in the second figure. Or what... Continue Reading →
Creation Ministries International, the third of the big-three literal solar-day young earth creationist organizations, weighed in yesterday with their own assessment of the remarkable set of bones found in the deep recesses of a South African cave. The scientists who recovered and examined those bones over a two-year period have identified them as belonging to a... Continue Reading →
If dinosaurs lived with people not long ago then what happened to them? Any Literal Solar-Day Young Earth Creationist is going to have to contend with this question. At the Answers in Genesis conference that I attended recently the speaker, Bryan Osborne posed this very question to the kids in his audience knowing they would... Continue Reading →
Dinosaurs play an important role in forming the public—and children's in particular—perception of the age of the Earth. I was reminded of this when I had the opportunity to attend two talks about dinosaurs both targeted at kids. The first was a presentation by Jack Horner of Jurassic Park fame but more importantly a researcher... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 