In 2013 a remarkable DNA sequence was reported by geneticists studying ancient DNA. It was a nearly complete genome extracted and decoded from the remains of a tooth of a horse preserved in permafrost sediments in Alaska. This partially-fossilized horse was dated to more than 500,000 years old and is the most complete sequence of... Continue Reading →
Thus far in this series about horses we have we have explored some of the interpretations of the fossil record of horses and demonstrated the difficulty of defining the boundaries of species of modern horses. We have observed that evolutionary theory and most modern young earth creationists propose that the domestic horse, the donkey... Continue Reading →
In my introduction to the origin of horses I suggested that a horse is a horse of course, unless of course it isn’t a horse. But that begs the question, how do we know what the boundaries are of what constitutes a horse? Although I suggested that young-earth creationists (YECs) have diverse views of what... Continue Reading →
"A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and no one can talk to a horse, of course, unless, of course, the horse, of course, is the famous Mr. Ed!" From the introduction to the 1960s TV show "Mr Ed" No one disputes that Mr. Ed was a horse but what about the plains... Continue Reading →
Young earth creationists (YECs) are the most vocal skeptics of evolutionary theory, however, they recognize organisms do change over time. But how much? Everyone agrees that organisms have the capacity to adapt to their environments. This adaptive ability can lead to the formation of isolated genetic lineages we identify as species. Evolutionary theory posits that continued... Continue Reading →
Ken Ham's Ark Encounter will vividly display what many young earth creationists believe the common ancestors of today's species of animals may have looked like as they rode out a global flood 4350 years ago. After disembarking from the ark, young earth creationists have proposed that these common ancestors experienced a burst of adaptive radiation into new environments... Continue Reading →
As the strict young-earth creationists at Answers in Genesis work to complete their Ark Encounter "theme park," they have expended an impressive amount of energy organizing the millions of species of land animals alive today into a handful of small groups they call "baramins." Creationists insist that while adaptation or speciation within a particular "baramin" is observable (and, indeed, necessary in order to account for the present observed diversity of life), there is never any overlap between separate kinds. Unfortunately for the young-earth model, the push to minimize the number of animals riding on the Ark has exposed a major problem with this view.
I ended my previous article, Ken Ham's Darwinism, with the following observation: Ken Ham has fully embraced Post-Flood Rapid Evolution as a mechanism of creating the amazing variation we see today. As he slides further down the slippery slope into the rabbit hole of radical accelerated evolution he has now become, ironically, more accepting of naturalistic... Continue Reading →
In 2013 a remarkable DNA sequence was revealed by geneticists studying ancient DNA. It was the nearly complete genome extracted and decoded from the remains of a tooth from a horse preserved in permafrost sediments buried in the Yukon region in Alaska. This partially fossilized bone was estimated to be more than 500,000 years old. ... 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 →
Naturalis Historia 