The talk of the world is coronavirus-so many questions. How did it come to infect humans? How should we go about controlling its spread? Will the virus mutate and become more infectious or deadly? Are there any effective treatments? There is no shortage of speculation and ongoing research hoping to provide answers to these questions. ... Continue Reading →
A Letter of Concern: Thoughts on the Global Coronavirus Crisis
The following is a letter that I wrote and have sent to a few family and friends. Given the news today I decided I would post it here for my broader family and because I haven't had time to write individual messages to all those I intended but know most of them will see if... Continue Reading →
Bad Calculation: The Case of the Shrinking Comet and the Age of Solar System
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 →
A Plea to Pastors and Theologians who Preach on Social Media
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 →
Vision 2020: Past, Present and Future of Naturalis Historia
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 Liturgy of Creation: Reading Genesis 1 as a Festival Calendar Narrative
I own more than 400 books on the topic of origins, broadly speaking. That includes commentaries on the book of Genesis, works on the relationship of science and faith, young-earth creationist textbooks and popular literature and books on the philosophy of science. I’ve recently finished my most recent purchase The Liturgy of Creation by Dr.... Continue Reading →
Man-made Hunting Structure Discovered Under Lake Huron: A North American Doggerland?
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 →
A Tale of Taphonomy: Clam Shrimp Fossils and the Age of the Earth
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 →
The Lake Malawi Sediment Chronometer and the Toba Super Eruption
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 →
The Toba Super Eruption, Polar Ice Cores, and Climate Change
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, Â 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 →
The Toba Super-Eruption: A Global Catastrophe that Young-Earth Creationists Ignore
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 →
Institute for Creation Research Goes all-in on Denying the Reality of Natural Selection
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 →
A Primer on Young-Earth Views of Speciation, Mutations and Natural Selection
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 →
A Walk on the Beach Preserved in Stone–How Fossilized Turtle Tracks Refute Young-Earth Fossil DogmaÂ
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 →
Young-Earth Creationism Leads the Short-Necked Okapi to Identify as a Giraffe
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 →