Blind Forces Do Not Inspire Design

Fossils, Failures and Flawed
Logic: Are Evolutionists
Finally Abandoning Darwin?

 

Evolutionary biologists make the case for ‘bioinspiration’ from fossils,
while giving blind forces the credit.

by Sarah Buckland-Reynolds, PhD

In inescapable irony, evolutionary scientists recently published an article in Nature Communications Biology with a conundrum of conclusions. The article entitled: Palaeo-bioinspiration draws on the fossil record to advance innovation, puts forward the idea that extinct organisms – yes, the ones evolution supposedly weeded out because they were less fit – can inspire cutting-edge technology. Realizing the inherent contradictions in using ‘evolutionary ancestors’ as templates of innovative genius, the authors go on to critique evolutionary ‘misconceptions’, while still claiming that these innovative templates are the product of blind evolution.

Aish et al. provide a multitude of examples where paleo-bioinspiration is applied across fields such as hydrodynamics, aeromechanics, actuators, protective technology, and building construction. They challenge the misconception that extinct fossils are inherently ‘primitive’ or ‘failures’ and advocate for a broader recognition of their value in driving innovative scientific exploration. But, is the field of “palaeo-bioinspiration” really compatible with evolutionary theory?

A Darwinian Tailspin

In attempting to reconcile the incompatibility of their concept with evolutionary theory, Aish et al (2025) mentioned that:

Expanding the scope of bioinspiration to the fossil record greatly increases the diversity of potential biological “muses” and provides a means to understand the form, function and origins of current living systems …To reach its full potential, palaeo-bioinspiration has to overcome the misconception that fossils are “failures” or “primitive”, and temper the widespread belief that extant biodiversity is inherently “optimised”.

But, is it truly a ‘misconception’ of evolutionary theory to view extinct creatures as primitive and unoptimized? Let’s rewind to Darwin’s original work. In The Origin of Species, he wrote:

Multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die. — Charles Darwin

And again:

As new species are formed through natural selection, others will become rarer and finally extinct. The forms which stand in closest competition… will naturally suffer most. — Charles Darwin

The premise of evolutionary ‘advancement’ is that natural forces act upon organisms resulting in the survival of those most fit. Extinction therefore equals ‘unfit’. So, if pterosaurs, trilobites, and ammonites were wiped out, they were, by Darwin’s own logic, unfit. Yet now, they are being hailed as biomechanical geniuses.

Evolutionists vs. Themselves

Let’s look again at the recent Nature article on palaeo-bioinspiration. Throughout their article, Aish et al. make the point that the fossil record contains a treasure trove of innovation. Unreservedly, they maintain that it is not enough to examine present-day systems, because these represent “only 0.1% of all life since it began 3.7 billion years ago.”

Attempting to fix the irreconcilable issues that arise from an evolutionary standpoint when accepting their claim, the authors urge us to “temper the widespread belief that extant biodiversity is inherently ‘optimised.’” Yet, according to evolutionary theory, natural selection fine-tunes species over time to become more adapted and increasingly optimised to their environment.

To make their case further, the authors explain:

A notable barrier to the broader adoption of Palaeo-bioinspiration as a design methodology is the idea that extinct organisms are somehow the “losers of evolution”. This is, of course, incorrect: many extinct species or genera existed for millions of years and were very successful both in terms of their evolutionary lifetime and geographical distribution. Asteroids, volcanic activity, abrupt climate change, changes in resource availability or competition (as well as more chronic changes, such as orogenesis, sea level rise or glaciation) may have given rise to their extinction rather than any evolutionary “inadequacy”

But, according to evolutionary theory, selective pressures would weed out organisms that were not well adapted to their environments, while those more adaptive organisms would overcome selective pressures over time. While some may argue that sudden disasters may not have given organisms time to adapt to their environments, and that not all extinction events signal ‘unfitness’, every catastrophic event in history had some survivors. For example, the supposed Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event that is said to have caused Pterosaurs to become extinct, still had reptilian, bird and mammal survivors.

This pattern reinforces the evolutionary principle that survivors often possessed traits, such as ecological flexibility or geographic spread, that conferred a relative advantage under extreme conditions. Despite this relative ‘unfitness’ according to evolution, the authors attempt to justify their acknowledgement of the engineering genius even of extinct organisms. It is inconsistent with evolutionary theory for scientists to say that past organisms were weeded out of evolutionary history, while simultaneously arguing that these same extinct species were thriving and innovative.

The Example of Pteroplane Engineering

As one of many examples, Aish et al. mention the Pterosaurs as an inspiration for various forms of aerodesign. In their words:

Pterosaurs possessed compliant, single-spar wings with multi-modal capacity: the wings folded into robust walking limbs that likely provided most of the power for launch. A patent filed for a wind-turbine blade retrofit that can increase turbine efficiency by 14% was heavily based upon concepts discovered in pterosaurs. Pterosaur wing morphology also inspired a solid-state aircraft concept for high altitude exploration of Earth, Venus and Mars. A NASA-Carnegie Mellon University collaboration prototyped a folding-wing “quad-launching” Mars explorer, inspired by pterosaur anatomy and reconstructed launch capacity.

Interestingly, another article published in Nature Scientific Reports in February 2025 highlighted even more unique properties of Pterosaur bones with potential applications in aircraft design– yet, ironically, attributed this ingenuity to their ‘god’, that of evolution.

This microarchitecture of bone offers a unique geometry where self-healing materials with internal monitoring systems can be developed. The iterative process of Darwinian natural selection has evolved multiple engineering solutions that can be reverse engineered to solve challenges facing industry in the 21st Century.

Are they truly suggesting that an extinct species is now inspiring engineering innovations ranging from earth-based flying machines to state-of-the-art spacecraft with self-healing properties? Indeed, such a legacy defies evolutionary expectations. Yet, evolutionary presuppositions often lead to circular reasoning, attributing these clear signs of ‘innovation’ to natural selection. Isn’t it more reasonable to conclude that this reflects the ingenuity of a Designer whose fingerprints linger even in fossils buried for millennia?

Extinct Fossils Have A Biological Library?

Having cited numerous examples of engineering genius beyond the Pterosaurs, these evolutionary authors seem to have been overwhelmed by the evidence of innovative information that they were faced with. As a result, they were compelled to admit the existence of a ‘biological library,’ revealing the informational complexity in fossils from Earth’s 3.7-billion-year history.

This admission of a ‘biological library’ is notable, as it implicitly acknowledges that ancient creatures possessed massive amounts of non-random and innovative structures capable of inspiring even modern technological innovations!

In making this admission, these authors had to discredit the core tenets upon which Darwinian evolution is built. However, unlike evolutionary theory, creation science does not need to twist itself into knots to explain why “extinct” doesn’t mean “inferior.” It recognizes that design and purpose exist because they are products from the All-Intelligent Mind of God.

Who Engineered the Engineers? Back to the Basics

This brings us full circle to the question of where such innovation originates. If even long-extinct creatures possess engineering features that can still outperform modern systems, we must ask: Who engineered the engineers?

The Biblical answer echoes from Psalm 104:24:

How many are Your works, Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.

Such wisdom cannot emerge from randomness but points to the Author of life, who “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). This ‘biological library’ is not an archive of evolutionary trial-and-error, but a testament to divine foresight.

The design legacy of extinct species transcends evolutionary ambiguity, inspiring awe and revealing the genius of a God who creates with purpose and power.

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Dr. Sarah Buckland-Reynolds is a Christian, Jamaican, Environmental Science researcher, and journal associate editor. She holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona with high commendation, and a postgraduate specialization in Geomatics at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. The quality of her research activity in Environmental Science has been recognized by various awards including the 2024 Editor’s Award from the American Meteorological Society for her reviewing service in the Weather, Climate and Society Journal, the 2023 L’Oreal/UNESCO Women in Science Caribbean Award, the 2023 ICETEX International Experts Exchange Award for study in Colombia. and with her PhD research in drought management also being shortlisted in the top 10 globally for the 2023 Allianz Climate Risk Award by Munich Re Insurance, Germany. Motivated by her faith in God and zeal to positively influence society, Dr. Buckland-Reynolds is also the founder and Principal Director of Chosen to G.L.O.W. Ministries, a Jamaican charitable organization which seeks to amplify the Christian voice in the public sphere and equip more youths to know how to defend their faith.