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 →
One of the largest volcanic eruptions in earth’s history, the Toba super eruption has been a special interest to anthropologists and climatologists because of its potential impacts on past human populations. I have explored the implications of the Toba eruption on human history in previous posts (See: The Toba Super Eruption: A Global Catastrophe that... Continue Reading →
I recently discussed how the catastrophic Toba super-eruption in Indonesia is a serious challenge to the young-earth model of earth's history (The Toba Super Eruption: A Global Catastrophe that Creationists Ignore). Briefly, I explained that the Toba volcano caldera produced the largest eruption in the past 100,000 years releasing an estimated 2800 cubic kilometers of... Continue Reading →
Sudden catastrophic events are not unknown in earth’s history. Large craters are evidence of past cosmic impacts and widespread layers of volcanic ash are a testimony to massive volcanic eruptions. But when did these catastrophes occur and could they have influenced human history? Standard geological models place the largest catastrophic events far in the past. ... Continue Reading →
A difference of opinion among creationist’ organizations about the origin of species and natural selection has been festering for a number of years and yesterday that dispute broke out into full view. The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) published a short article on their website extolling the virtues of Dr. Guliuzza’s Continuous Environmental Tracking (CET)... Continue Reading →
How did the earth become populated by billions of species of living things? Conventional evolutionary biology provides an explanatory framework to answer that question. Intelligent Design advocates provide another as do Progressive Creationists (Old Earth Creationists). But a large segment of the population looks to creation scientists (Young-earth creationists—YECs) to answer the question. How do... Continue Reading →
Baby sea turtles emerge from their sandy nest and quickly make their way down the beach and into the sea. As they do so they leave tiny footprints in the sand, but the tracks are short-lived. Blown away or destroyed by the next large wave, they are lost forever. Imagine the footprints you leave during... Continue Reading →
The Ark Encounter theme park in Kentucky is filled with signs and displays that promote young-earth interpretations of geology, astronomy, biology, archaeology and theology. I have critiqued many of these interpretations before (e.g. My Trip to the Ark Encounter and Depicting a Real Flood with Unrealistic Images). Today, I want to talk about one sign.... Continue Reading →
How do scientists communicate with each other? What are the latest research results? How can one learn about theories and how they are regarded by the scientific community? Where can you talk to scientists about their work? A partial answer to all of these questions is: scientific conferences. It is possible to stay somewhat current... Continue Reading →
How should a movement dedicated to science denial warn its adherents against the evils of science denial? Young-earth creationism finds itself faced with just this problem as some of its followers slip toward the flat-earth fringe. Answers in Genesis, the leading young-earth apologetics ministry, has responded by critiquing the flat-earth movement in a series of... Continue Reading →
Here is a puzzle: Where can you stand on dry ground and look up to see a river channel above you? Yes, New Orleans is a good answer. However, I'm talking about looking up 100 feet from a non man-made location. There are many places on Earth and possibly on Mars where such... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 