My post-doctoral research from 1995 to 1999 included searching for, sequencing and characterizing genes of chloroplast genomes of holoparasitic plants (plants that cannot obtain energy from the sun and must steal it from other plants). I am preparing to give a seminar tomorrow on the topic of parasitic plants. So much has been learned since... Continue Reading →
Reading and understanding original research publications can be difficult when the content is outside your field of expertise. Sometimes reading that original research is just avoided and popular summaries are used to inform us of the importance of new research. The latter appears to be the case when Ken Ham writes about his love of... Continue Reading →
I follow a number of apologists who play secondary roles in the young-earth (literal-day) creation universe. These are individuals with ministries that rely on repackaging and reselling ideas generated by the primary young-earth organizations like Answers in Genesis and Institute for Creation Research. One of those is David Rives. One of his many websites under... Continue Reading →
Cheaters prosper! Yes, they really do. Hundreds of thousands of species are singularly devoted to some form of parasitic life strategy. It's a strategy that involves one organism deriving all or much of its resources from a host organism to the detriment of that host. Many of these strategies make us cringe. For example the... Continue Reading →
Young age creationists have responded to biodiversity loss (extinction) in a scattershot way in recent years. So my interest was peaked when the popular journal of Answers in Genesis, Answers Magazine, recently had a issue devoted to "Creation Care." One of those articles, Should We Abandon Some Species to Extinction? was featured on the Answers... 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 potentially be occupied by animals and humans. When the massive ice sheets melted from the Earth’s surface causing the... Continue Reading →
A few years ago I wrote a satire piece titled Answers from Genesis: Reclaiming the Biblical Authority of Joseph’s Global Famine. It was meant to call attention to the fact that Hebrew words used in Genesis 41 to describe the severe famine at the time of Joseph are the same as those used in the... Continue Reading →
Young-earth creationists like to talk about two types of evolution, one is real (microevolution), and the other is a lie from the pit of hell (macroevolution). They act as if their were a chasm between the two as large as the Grand Canyon. But when their literature is explored identifying where microevolution ends and macroevolution... Continue Reading →
When the Creation Museum in Kentucky opens back up on June 8 they will have a new exhibit on great ape origins. There you will be able to learn how all gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and all species of fossil apes including australopiths share a common ancestor no more than 4500 years ago. Ken Ham has... Continue Reading →
How can a population of organisms reproduce and over some period of time diversify into hundreds of species each of which has its own menagerie of unique characteristics? This is a fundamental biological question for which many different mechanisms have been proposed as solutions over the past 200 years. Young-earth apologists say they have replaced... Continue Reading →
Ten years after launching, the European Space Agency Rosetta spacecraft caught up to its target: Comet 67P.  In 2014, Rosetta, now 250 million miles from Earth, traveled along with the comet while it made its way around the Sun measuring its increased activity including classic comet tail formation as it approached the sun. At one... Continue Reading →
Many of my Facebook friends and those that follow my blog may not be aware that I am a PK (preacher’s kid). I know how difficult a pastor’s life can be. It’s a tough job with high expectations, where everything said from the pulpit to the Sunday afternoon put-luck (or more theologically accurate, pot-providence:-) lunch... Continue Reading →
Eight years, 445 published articles, several million page views—what does the future have in store? God-willing, much more but before getting to that future I must express my gratitude for those who have read and shared my writing, provided feedback and challenged my thinking. I began this blog as a way to communicate more effectively... Continue Reading →
The lost world of North America? A Great Lakes Doggerland? Ancient hunting grounds beneath Lake Huron? Yes, people once lived and moved about on land which is today submerged 120 feet under Lake Huron. In 2014 O'Shea and colleagues reported the results of their studies confirming this Atlantian-like history underneath the Great Lake Huron.  The... Continue Reading →
One of the great privileges of my job is that I get to participate on graduate student committees. Many times this allows me to get up close and personal with data sub-disciplines extend far from those of my particular expertise. You know that I have a fondness for fossils and the stories they tell. So... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 