Just 50 miles from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea is a deep scar in the face of the Earth. Long known as the Valley of Siddam, the vale of salt, or the Jordan Valley, its most famous feature is the Dead Sea, which sits 1400 feet below the Mediterranean shore. The exceptionally salty... Continue Reading →
Does fossilization require rapid burial as the result of catastrophic global flooding? Literalist creationists would have us believe so for they point to the fossil record as being proof of a cataclysmic global flood. Look a bit deeper though and you will find that creationists frequently concede there are thousands of exceptions to this general... Continue Reading →
Are plants alive? Ken Ham seems to think so since he refers to “animal or plant life in outer space.” But what does he mean by alive? I think he has only a secular scientific definition of life in mind when he makes these statements. I wonder if he even knows that his own website... Continue Reading →
Ken Ham recently proclaimed that he thought it was highly unlikely that “plant life” would be found on other planets. I wonder what he thinks the word “life” means in this context? For example, does living mean that plants also experience death? If so, how can he say that animals and man were allowed to... Continue Reading →
Can you imagine the world’s oceans filled with carnivorous reptiles? Dinosaurs are the most famous members of the age of the reptiles. However, many of the original reptilian fossil discoveries that initiated the idea of the age of reptiles were not dinosaurs. They were instead reptiles that lived in the sea.
Yesterday I introduced the main character to this drama of the hunt for the elusive bird leptin. Now its time to introduce the other players and get on with recounting how the discovery of the bird leptin gene was made. Several years ago I began collaborating with Dr. Rich Londraville (UA Biology) on a project involving the... Continue Reading →
Last week the headlines read “elusive bird hormone found” and “discovery of the elusive leptin in birds.” It has been great to see so much interest in research I have been involved with for several years, but our paper (Reference 1) and the press blurbs associated with it only tell a small part of the... Continue Reading →
The process of discovery in science can be as fascinating to follow as a sporting event: if we knew how it was going to end we would be much less likely to watch. The Rising Star Expedition has the drama but not the finality, fortunately!, of a sporting event where there is a final score. ... Continue Reading →
Our solar system comes with planets of all sorts of sizes and compositions. Not long ago, it was possible to debate if there were any other planets in the Universe other than those of our solar system. Now, there doesn't seem to be any question that other planets, called exoplanets, do exist. The... 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. In the fall of 2013 she brought me a leaf that she thought had a caterpillar of some sort on it. She is well aware that bugs make little... 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. The most recognizable trace fossils... Continue Reading →
My WordPress tag reader led me to this video posted on Eric Hovind's "Creation Today" website. This site is what Dr Dino's website presence morphed into after the arrest and conviction of fringe creation scientists Kent Hovind. What caught my eye was that today's video highlighted evidence of creation from thorns. I have been thinking... Continue Reading →
Here at Naturalis Historia we hope to bring a greater awareness of the importance of science and religion in the 17th and 18th century. A time when many discoveries were being made that impacted our views of the earth and its history. Such an emphasis may unintentionally perpetuate the myth that the Middle Ages where... Continue Reading →
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