Large depressions, layers of rocks, precipitated minerals in rock cracks, erratic rocks strewn about, mountains inside of craters: these are just a few examples of the diversity of landscapes on Mars that the Curiosity rover has discovered and been investigating the past six months. Â The mountain at the center of the crater that Curiosity... Continue Reading →
A few nights ago I finally decided it was time to find out what had been making periodic strange noises in my attic at night for the last couple of months. Â I had looked up there once before and couldn't find any signs of anything unusual so I thought it was just in the gutters... Continue Reading →
In my class yesterday I reviewed a paper selected by my students that explored the sweet tasting abilities of bats. We learned that most, but not all, bats can taste sugar like other mammals.  I did not know much about mammalian taste receptors (that is one problems with letting students pick the topics!) and I... Continue Reading →
I have been thinking about Elephants the last couple of days and may write more about elephant following in the vein of my recent posts on horses. For now I just want to introduce you to one really weird extinct elephant. I call it an elephant because of its obvious similarities but just like with... Continue Reading →
Plants aren't just helpless victims of herbivory. They find ways to fight back against those voracious animals that can ravage them in short order.  Plants can produce toxins, spines, thorns, glass crystals in their cells and many other defenses but all of these defenses require a significant allocation of energy.  That energy could be spent growing new... Continue Reading →
What happened to huge dinosaur eggs that were either abandoned or broke prematurely? Â 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 various forms. Â I recently came across a report from 2011 that I thought was especially interesting... Continue Reading →
Where did domesticated dogs come from?  That dogs are wolves has been known for some time but which wolves and when did domestication occur has been a more difficult question to answer.  Thousands of dog breeds and wolves have been genotyped to explore this question and that evidence suggests four and possibly more, separate wolf... Continue Reading →
Does Genesis require that ostriches were flight capable in the prelapsarian world?  If you have read parts I and II of this series you might think that I have overlooked one very important clue about the origin of ostriches: the Genesis creation account.  You could suggest that a logical argument can be made that the... Continue Reading →
A few days ago I shared some thoughts about the significance of genetic differences that are observed between humans and primates (How Similar is Similar, Part I). I said that it was important that genetic similarity numbers that are frequently used to make a case for genetic uniqueness need to be assessed in the context of... Continue Reading →
A recent paper published by the Answers Research Journal, the research publication of Answers in Genesis, reported a comparison of human and chimpanzee genomes and found that they have, on average, a DNA similarity of  only 70%.  This is a very striking number since the usual numbers you hear thrown about as representing the similarity... Continue Reading →
Some passages of scripture contain fascinating natural history information about animals. Â The book of Job, in particular, records many physical and behavioral traits of animals. One such animal described in Job is the ostrich. Â The ostrich we know today is a strange bird. It is very large, its wings are not able to provide flight... Continue Reading →
Fossilized bones of dinosaurs, whales and mammoths get all of the attention but trace fossils provide important evidence for interpreting when and how organisms lived on Earth in the past. Trace fossils are not the fossilized remains of organisms themselves but rather are evidence of the past presence of organisms. Â The most recognizable trace fossils... Continue Reading →
The book of Job contains some of the most descriptive language about the natural world in all of Scripture. Â In Job 39 alone, we find God describing the natural history of animals including the mountain goat, deer, donkey, ostrich, horse, hawk and eagle in order to illustrate His omniscience and wisdom in creation. Â Although... Continue Reading →
I'm posting a short follow-up to a story about huddling penguins that I wrote about a few weeks ago (Heat-sharing Huddling Penguins - A Benefit to Selfish Behavior?). Â I was pointed to a really fascinating set of videos that show emperor penguins in the process of forming huddles. Â You can see these videos embedded in... Continue Reading →
Everyone has encountered a T. rex in books, movies or museums.  Besides its size and menacing jaws one of the most striking features of a T. rex is its diminutive arms.  So why were the arms of T. rex so short?  There have been many hypotheses including: 1) they had no use and... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 