I commemorate surpassing 2300 YouTube subscribers by sharing insights into the channel's purpose, future projects, and new website. Content will blend science with philosophical and theological explorations, critique Young-Age-Creationism, and address big existential questions. My mission is to engage seekers, skeptics, and believers in meaningful dialogue about science and faith.
Natural Selection can be difficult to observe in natural populations. In the video linked below I examine a fascinating example of possible adaptation via natural selection of cliff swallows to the challenge of fast-moving vehicles in their environment. In the paper we will examine it was observed that over a period of 30 years, the... Continue Reading →
The evidence continues to accumulate: Mars used to be wet. It used to have a much more active hydrological cycle. The Mars Couriosity Rover has been revealing the complex geology of Mars including the deposition of sedimentary rocks (Curious Geology: Stunning Images Reveal a Complex Mars) but we have been able to study the watery... 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 →
Today, young-earth creationists are actively promoting a new model of the origin of the diversity of life on Earth. This speculative view borrows a number of elements found in any typical evolutionary biology textbook. For example, modern YECs claim that most and possibly all species alive today—except humans—are related to numerous other, though not all,... Continue Reading →
Phrenology, essential oils, homeopathy, reflexology, ESP, astrology, creation science, climate change denial, blood-type diet, vaccinations cause autism, quantum computing, smoking causes cancer, dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid impact, HIV causes AIDS, low-carb diet. Which of the above would you classify as the products of good scientific research and which would you classify as pseudoscience? ... Continue Reading →
They say diamonds are forever, but for geologists this saying doesn’t make much sense.  They would agree that diamonds are for a long time—hundreds of millions if not billions of years—but not forever.  Many lines of evidence reveal that one must go deep (more than 150 km) into the mantle of the Earth to find... Continue Reading →
Can scientists bring back an extinct dinosaur?  Way back in 1990, a novel by Michael Crichton and subsequent movie by the same name, Jurassic Park, in 1993 used futuristic genomic biology to suggest how we might de-extinct the dinosaurs. Could we really retrieve dinosaur DNA from preserved dinosaur blood sucked up by an ancient mosquito and... Continue Reading →
We use present day observations to infer past events every day.  I look out and see the patio is wet and a large dark cloud has just passed overhead. From this I derive a very reasonable hypothesis despite not being an eyewitness to the history: my wet patio was caused by a rain shower. I... Continue Reading →
So how long can DNA or even cells survive in the environment once an organism dies?  This has been a topic of considerable debate in the scientific literature since the advent of high-throughput DNA sequencing techniques.  This growing field of scientific inquiry is fascinating to me and promises to shed new light on old questions.  I have... Continue Reading →
Are the existence of plant thorns and thistles proof that the world can only be a few thousand years old?  Yes! according to most young-earth creationists. I've written several times about thorns and creation (eg. The Prelapsarian Acacia and the Good Creation: On the Origin of Thorns) but a video available at creationtoday.org - a small fringe young-earth... Continue Reading →
Ecology is the branch of biology that studies the interactions of organisms with each other and their environment.  The animals and plants around you are living in relationship with each other and the environment, including yourself. Around your home you may have considerable control over the environment - moisture, nutrients, lawn-mowing, week control, pest removal - and thus you are probably... 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 →
My daughter is very attentive to the insect population around our house. She spends many hours collecting all sorts of insects and other animals. Â In the fall of 2013 she brought me a leaf that she thought had a caterpillar of some sort on it. Â She is well aware that bugs make little... Continue Reading →
Diatoms are single-celled organisms that live in almost any moist environment. They are found by the millions in a cup of sea water or a puddle in your back yard. They play a critical role in the environment as oxygen producers. But they are best known for their visually stunning homes constructed of glass. I... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 