The NASA rover Curiosity has been making its way across the floor of Gale crater on Mars since 2012. It has closely examined a wide range of rock types which reveal that this location on Mars has experienced a long history of variable climates. From water-infused bedrock, water-deposited conglomerates, wind-formed fossilized dunes to active sand... Continue Reading →
When I read a research article I expect that article to include an introduction that prepares me to understand how the research I am about to read about fits with previous results. If the work doesn’t agree with prior research I expect some discussion about why the authors believe the work of others is in error... Continue Reading →
The diversity of life on earth today is staggering. Where did that diversity come from? How is that diversity maintained over time? How long did it take for that diversity to form? These are fundamental questions that biologists are interested in investigating. Conventional evidence-based biological theories ascribe biological diversity to the diversification of life over... Continue Reading →
If a global Flood destroyed all humans except Noah and his family just 4350 years ago, where are all the human fossils? This is a question that any young-earth apologist must be prepared to answer. It’s a perfectly natural and appropriate question. After all, according to young-earth creationists (YECs), nearly all fossil remains of dinosaurs,... Continue Reading →
During the last Ice Age when the oceans were up to 300 feet lower than they are today an extensive cave system on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico was exposed above sea level allowing it to be inhabited by land animals. When the great ice sheets melted from the Earth's surface causing the oceans to... Continue Reading →
On the Greek Island of Lesvos there is a World Heritage Site which includes hundreds of petrified trees and countless other fossils. Many of these petrified trees are found standing upright with root systems intact. A variety of tree species have been identified including a species similar to the giant sequoia trees found today in California.... Continue Reading →
One method of examining a student’s grasp of a complex topic is to confront that student with an alternative point of view and ask them to critique it. If that student has a good working knowledge of the subject, they should be able to recognize the broad philosophical underpinnings of that alternative viewpoint and be able... Continue Reading →
Ken Ham continues to beat the drum over record-breaking attendance at the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. On a nearly weekly basis he claims record-breaking crowds. He shows videos and pictures of people pouring into his attractions. He continually posts rave reviews of the Ark and Creation Museum. As visionary of both of these tourist... Continue Reading →
The Xenarthrans include the armadillos, anteaters and sloths. What makes these animals different from other mammals? They all have a unique projections on their vertebral (back) bones; the ischium and sacrum bones of the hip are fused, unlike all other mammals; the males have internal testicles (no external scrotum) located near the bladder and they experience... Continue Reading →
Young-earth creationists (YECs) routinely appeal to post-flood hyper-evolution to explain the diversification of pairs of ancestral animals into dozens and even hundreds of descendant species in the space a few hundred years following a global flood 4500 years before present. For example, a pair of ancestral canines are said to have evolved in less than 1000... Continue Reading →
The young-earth inspired attraction, the Ark Encounter, opened one year ago near a small town in Kentucky. When it opened there were many questions about how this themed religious attraction would fair. Would the Ark Encounter become a sort of Christian Mecca? A place that fundamentalist Christians would feel they have to see once in... Continue Reading →
Please welcome Lars Cade* as a guest blogger on Naturalis Historia. I am a Christian currently studying to become a paleontologist. While I still have much more that I need to learn before I could properly consider myself one, I know enough of the discipline to know when it is being misrepresented. Unfortunately, the young-earth... Continue Reading →
We use present day observations to infer past events every day. I look out and see the patio is wet and a large dark cloud has just passed overhead. From this I derive a very reasonable hypothesis despite not being an eyewitness to the history: my wet patio was caused by a rain shower. I... Continue Reading →
Young-earth creationists (YECs) are at odds with each other about whether a large collection of fossils found deep in a South African cave should be categorized as humans (Homo naledi) or apes. But what about other hominin fossils that the scientific community have generally considered the remains of distant relatives of humans? What about... Continue Reading →
Thousands of bone fragments have now been reported from chambers deep in the same cave system in South Africa. They belong to what has been described as a new hominid species; Homo naledi. When the first set of bones and the context in which they were recovered were revealed, young-earth creationists (YECs) scrambled to set the... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 