Diatoms with their symmetrical highly-photogenic glass houses may get most of the attention but the foraminiferans (forams) present some formidable competition. In my recent article (Life in a Glass House) I revealed that the glass-house remains of diatoms are conspicuously absent from the bottom two-thirds of the geological column. This raised a rather uncomfortable question... Continue Reading →
Eleven years into a three-month primary mission the Opportunity rover is still making discoveries on Mars. Talk about exceeding your specs! That is eleven years of observations of rocks, craters, sand dunes, weather conditions and the occasional glance into the skies to do some astronomy. To celebrate its 11th anniversary the rover has just climbed to... Continue Reading →
"Every breaking wave on the shore Tells the next one there'll be one more" Bono and Edge, U2 "Every Breaking Wave" 2014 I was in San Diego a few weeks ago attending the Evangelical Theological Society conference. I will report on that later but today I bring you a few pictures I took before hopping... Continue Reading →
The Mars Curiosity Rover continues to make its way through the basin of Gale Crater on Mars. Â I've provided periodical updates on its progress as it makes its way toward a large mountain in the center of the crater. Â Recently it has driven down almost 1000 feet to arrive at nearly the lowest elevation point... Continue Reading →
While writing about the origins of the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley I was confronted once again with one of the most striking pieces of evidence for an ancient earth that I am aware of. Take a look at the figure below. This figure shows the smoking gun. Smoking gun evidence of what? That the earth's plates... Continue Reading →
In my recent comments about Ken Ham’s view of modern creationism I stated that flood geology was nothing more than a recapitulation of many previous attempts to construct a naturalistic theory of the earth while maintaining a young earth presupposition. These prior attempts to conform geological data to such youthful constraints have not stood the... Continue Reading →
The road cut through Sideling Hill in Maryland on I-68 is one of the best displays of roadside geology east of the Mississippi River. Â Having spent considerable time in the western US it doesn't seem that impressive to me but since I've been deprived of seeing geological strata for the past year I took a... Continue Reading →
Most of us remember our first life-like encounter with dinosaurs sitting in a theater watching Jurassic Park (1993). Although dinosaurs had been very popular in picture books for many years the vivid recreation of them on the screen rekindled a sense of awe of these amazing creatures of a past age. Today, movies with depictions... Continue Reading →
I have one plant in my office that I have managed to keep alive for 5 years but mostly I keep organisms in my office that can't be killed because they are already dead.  I'm a bit more extreme in my lab where I keep thousands of samples of DNA in freezers. In my office I... Continue Reading →
What do you think of when someone mentions the Jurassic or Cretaceous ages? Most likely you will immediately think of dinosaurs and other large reptiles such as pterosaurs.  Maybe you think of the movie Jurassic Park, filled with dinosaurs and lush vegetation.  This time has become known as the Age of the Reptiles and aptly so since... Continue Reading →
Imagine you live in northern England and you are out exploring and come upon a hidden cave entrance.  Upon climbing down into the cave you discover hundreds of bones belonging to large mammals. At first you think the bones represent local animals since there are some deer, rabbits, weasels and wolves but soon it becomes clear... Continue Reading →
"Approach, approach, ingenuous youth, and learn the fundamental truth: The Noble science of Geology Is founded firmly in Coprology. For ever be the Saurians blest, Who left us this diluvian test. I claim a grand coronam lauri, For these, Thesauri of the Sauri."
The Reverend William Buckland (1784-1856) was one of the last in a line of influential natural theologians following in the footsteps of John Ray (late 1600s) and William Paley (late 1700s).  I recently gave a seminar in which I explored a number of significant turning points (figure below) in the history of discovery of deep time and the awareness... Continue Reading →
A story is breaking today of a significant fossil find made almost a year ago but kept under wraps until the data could be properly evaluated.  What has now been revealed is that over 100 footprints were found in newly uncovered rocks along a shoreline of England.  Study of these footprints has led to... Continue Reading →
When I last updated you on the excursion that the Curiosity rover has been making across the floor of Gale Crater on Mars I noted that the images it has been beaming back had been getting rather routine. Â But the rover has slowly been moving downhill toward what seems more and more likely to have... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 