Focus: news of interest about creation and evolution
Still fussing over feathers
Earlier we reported (22(4):6–7)
that National Geographic had issued only a 10-line ‘correction’
of its November 1999 cover-story claims of a feathered dinosaur fossil, Archaeoraptor,
which was a fake (a ‘composite’ of a dromaeosaur tail and the body of
a bird.)
To give credit where due, NG has issued a five-page report on its own investigation
into the fiasco in its October 2000 issue.
In one place it talks of ‘misguided secrecy and misplaced confidence, of rampant
egos clashing, self-aggrandizement, wishful thinking, naïve assumptions, human
error, stubbornness, manipulation, backbiting, lying, corruption …’.
Meanwhile, the evolutionists’ quest to find ‘dino-bird’ fossils
continues—and just as unconvincingly.
A headline-grabbing claim revisiting the fossil of a tiny ‘feathered’
reptile, Longisquama, is doubted by many biologists, who say that the ‘feathers’
are in fact scales.
Others promote it as evidence against the dinosaur-to-bird theory. And
more recent claims that a fossil named Protopteryx had ‘scale-like’
tail feathers have been questioned by others who say that the feathers resemble
the tail feathers some birds display today when attracting a mate. Evolutionist
bird expert Alan Feduccia summed up their confusion: ‘The true origin of birds
is still up in the air.’ See also Did birds
really evolve from dinosaurs?
National Geographic, October 2000, pp. 128–132.
Science, 23 June 2000, pp. 2202–2205.
Nature, 23 November 2000, p. 428.
New Scientist, 16 December 2000, p. 25.
More ‘living fossil’ coelacanths
The scientific world was stunned in 1938 when the coelacanth fish was discovered
to be living in deep waters off Madagascar.
Previously known only from the fossil record, it was said to have become extinct
65 million years ago.
Then in 1998 a marine biologist reported finding a fresh specimen in an Indonesian
fish market.
Biologists had known nothing of this second population but local fishermen were
quite familiar with it.
Last October, recreational divers stumbled upon coelacanths off Sodwana, on South
Africa’s north-east coast, 98 metres (320 feet) below the surface. It was
the first time a diver outside a submersible craft had seen the species in its natural
habitat.
A team later managed to film three coelacanths at a depth of 107 metres (350 feet),
showing them ‘standing’ on their heads and feeding off the ledge of
an underwater canyon.
Following this latest discovery, marine biologists surmise that the coelacanth may
be far more widespread than was thought.
ABC News, 4 December 2000.
Sheep-goat hybrid
An unusual hybrid has been reported by veterinarians in Botswana—the offspring
of a female goat and a male sheep.
The animal shows many ‘hybrid’ features, with an outer coarse coat and
inner woolly coat, and its tail hangs down.
It is very strong, apparently resistant to disease and grew faster than the kids
and lambs born in the same month. This is an example of ‘hybrid vigour’.
Its 57 chromosomes, intermediate between sheep (54) and goats (60), definitively
prove the animal is a real hybrid.
BBC News, 13 December 2000.
This fascinating account indicates that goats and sheep are descended from a single
original ‘kind’. Other examples of interbreeding abound—such as
false killer whale/dolphin and lion/tiger (Ligers and
Wholphins: What next?, Creation22(3):28–33)
indicating that the number of created kinds on the Ark was substantially fewer than
the number of separate ‘species’ in the world today. (See also
Speedy species surprise in this issue)
Dates damage Black Sea flood theory
The idea that the account of the worldwide Flood in the Bible is merely a distorted
memory of localized flooding of the Black Sea has suffered a further setback. Robert
Ballard, discoverer of the wreck of the Titanic, thought he had found relics of
the Biblical Flood on the Black Sea floor, including carved wooden beams, stone
tools and a collapsed structure ‘clearly built by humans’. But carbon
dating of the wood gave ‘ages’ of only about 200 years.
MSNBC Science News, 6 November 2000.
It seems that either the Black Sea flood theory or the carbon dates (or both) are
wrong. To link the flooding of the Black Sea with the Biblical Flood was totally
unjustified speculation anyway. (See Pre-Flood relics
on the bottom of the Black Sea?)
Another ‘living fossil’ tree
When the Wollemi Pine was discovered to be living in a remote canyon in Australia
in 1994, it was nicknamed the ‘dinosaur tree’ as it had previously been
known only from fossils ‘dated’ at around 150 million years old. (Sensational Australian tree … like 'finding a live
dinosaur' Creation17(2):13;
19(3):7; 23(1):6.)
Now another new species of Australian tree has been found further north—also
previously unknown except for a fossilized nut found in 1875 and ‘dated’
at 15–20 million years old.
Not yet given a botanical name (though its finder has dubbed it the ‘Nightcap
Oak’), the newly-discovered ‘living fossil’ is apparently confined
to a single stand of 23 adult trees. As with the Wollemi Pine, the exact location
of these ‘primitive’ trees is being kept a closely guarded secret. Meanwhile,
authorities are endeavouring to multiply large numbers of these trees from cuttings.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 December 2000, p. 7.
As with all ‘living fossils’, the discovery of the Nightcap Oak defies
evolutionists’ expectations—but is right in accord with the Biblical
account.
Firstly, there has been no evolutionary change (ruling out any notion of ‘primitive’
vs ‘modern’).
Secondly, since the time of catastrophic fossilization (the Flood) was thousands
of years ago, not millions, it is not surprising at all that some species previously
thought to be extinct turn out to be still living. (The intervening layers of rock
do not represent vast ages, but layers of sediment deposited rapidly during the
Flood and its aftermath.)
See also Living fossils.
Preserved in salt
Researchers claim to have found the planet’s oldest living inhabitants—a
new species of bacterium said to have been buried alive in salty water 250 million
years ago.
The bacteria were preserved in crystals of salt, and were recently revived in a
Pennsylvania laboratory.
Many in the scientific community dispute the claim, suspecting that the bacteria
were not as old as the salt crystals.
However, the researchers refute this, saying the crystals were carefully inspected
to make sure they had not been damaged since their formation (thus ruling out more
recent entrance of bacteria) and all precautions were taken to prevent contamination
in the laboratory.
Nature, 19 October 2000, pp. 844–845, 897–900.
Even in ideal, dehydrated conditions, it is unlikely that even DNA, let alone all
the complex machinery of a living cell, could remain intact beyond about 10,000
years (Nature 365:700, 1993).
So if the bacteria really are as old as the salt crystals, the geological ‘millions
of years’ for the salt crystals must be way out.
Island grey days
Imagine seeing only shades of grey. One in every 50,000 people worldwide suffers
from achromatopsia, a total colour blindness.
But on the remote Pacific island of Pingelap, one in 20 has the disorder.
Affected islanders lack the sharp vision most people use to read (hampering their
schoolwork), and their eyes are overwhelmed by sunlight—particularly severe
on this tropical island. Treated as outcasts, staying indoors all day, some have
managed to find work as night fishermen.
Most of the affected islanders can trace their ancestry back to one of the 20 survivors
of a typhoon in 1775. That man probably carried a single copy of the flawed gene
that has now become common in this isolated population.
Scientists have now identified the defective gene that causes achromatopsia, giving
rise to hopes that ultimately a gene therapy treatment can be developed.
New Scientist, 1 July 2000, p. 12.
Color Blind Island, <abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/colorblindness_gene000626.html>,
28 June 2000.
A striking and sad example of how debilitating mutations can become common in small
isolated populations.
The theory of evolution says that species ‘advance’ in complexity through
mutations, but the evidence—consistent with a creation which is in ‘bondage
to decay’ (Romans
8:21)—indicates otherwise.
DNA decay drives cloning doubts
Advances in genetic technology have fuelled claims that man might soon be able to
bring extinct species back to life, as long as preserved specimens containing original
DNA can be found (e.g. woolly mammoths in ice).
But this is just wishful thinking, say many geneticists.
A cloning expert at London’s Natural History Museum, working on DNA extraction
from lizard specimens, says that when an animal dies, its DNA starts breaking up
immediately into smaller and smaller pieces—much of it is quickly destroyed,
in fact.
‘To clone an animal you need its complete set of DNA intact and in a sensible
form.’ Trying to clone from a century-old specimen would be like ‘taking
a set of encyclopaedias and tearing up all the pages, then burning nine out of ten
of them. At the end, all you’ve got is a handful of tiny strips of paper,
and no idea of what was in the rest of the set of encyclopaedias.’
Australasian Science, September 1999, pp. 19–21.
Scientific American, November 2000, pp. 66–71.
The Australian Museum website, 15 December 2000.
This highlights the absurdity of claims of DNA-containing fossils being millions
of years old. No fossil can be older than Creation, around 6,000–7,000 years
ago.
Minuscule motors
Far tinier than any man-made motor is the ATPase enzyme, inside living cells, which
produces ATP, the ‘energy currency’ of the body.
Spinning like a motor, it produces an immense torque (turning force) for its size,
and keeps the cell supplied with usable energy.
Yet this machine is so tiny that 100,000 million million of these motors could fit
into a pinhead. (See Design in living organisms (motors),
Journal of Creation
12(1):3–5.)
By fitting a tiny metal propeller to the rotating central protein shaft of the ATPase
enzyme, biological engineers have built a ‘bio-molecular engine’.
With the minute nickel blades rotating at up to eight rpm, some of the mini-motors
spun continuously for 2½ hours.
Researchers hope to show the feasibility of harnessing the tiny engines for medical
technology. However, they have conceded that they have a long way to go.
For one thing, of the 400 motors, which they constructed utilizing the ATPase enzyme,
only five actually worked.
Beyond 2000, 30 November 2000.
The only way at present that man can produce an engine this tiny is to use a pre-made
motor from the Master Technologist.
Rising mountains doomed dinosaurs?
A new theory has been put forward to explain the extinction of the dinosaurs (believed
by evolutionists to have occurred 65 million years ago).
A university professor says the dinosaurs died out when India collided with the
rest of Asia. He says that the collision rapidly pushed up a huge mountain range,
affecting areas from Italy to New Caledonia, and triggering changes around the Earth,
so that the ‘dinosaurs were doomed.’
While most geologists believe that mountain ranges form over long periods of time,
this new theory says mountain-building sometimes happened quickly, triggering widespread
volcanic eruptions and mass extinctions.
The Age (Melbourne), 3 November 2000.
It’s not surprising that at least one scientist would conclude from the geological
evidence that rapid uplift of mountain ranges occurred in the past—the Bible
speaks of such an event marking the end of the Flood: ‘The mountains rose up; the valleys sank down’
(Psalm
104:8, NASB).
Creationist geologists surmise that post-Flood volcanic activity was widespread
(perhaps triggered by the mountain-building of Psalm 104), and continued for years—accounting
for the many extinct volcanoes in the world today.
Land dinosaurs survived the Flood on the Ark, and, assuming they are extinct (see
Mokele-mbembe: a living dinosaur? Creation21(4):24–25;
A living dinosaur? 23(1):56),
died out subsequently—just as species become extinct today.
Creating History
A leading Japanese archaeologist, whom colleagues had nicknamed ‘god’s
hands’ for his uncanny ability to know just where to dig to find ancient relics,
has publicly admitted to faking his most recent discoveries.
Shinichi Fujimura was renowed for discovering Japan’s ‘oldest’
sites of civilization, making front-page news each time he found ever-older artefacts.
But a Japanese newspaper had secretly photographed Fujimura sneaking onto the site
in the early morning, digging holes and burying the stone implements a few days
before he and colleagues unearthed them and proudly announced the ‘discovery’
to the media. After exposure, Fujimura apologized to the media, head bowed, saying,
‘I can’t imagine what made me do it.’
Although admitting to planting evidence at only two sites, Fujimura’s actions
have raised doubts about his other finds, spaning 180 sites.
Meanwhile, a British museum has discovered that a prized dinosaur skeleton on display
for 116 years is a fake—created from ‘a motley collection of bones,
plaster and paint’.
Renaming the exhibit ‘iffyosaurus’, it will remain on display ‘as
an example of Victorian fakery.’
ABC News, <abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/Japan_archaeologist0001105.html>,
7 November 2000.
The Science Show—Radio National (Australia) broadcast, 9 December
2000.
The West Australian, 9 December 2000, p. 23.
The lesson is that extraordinary claims about the past should be treated with extraordinary
scepticism.
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