Evolutionary Theory

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Evolutionary Theory Cant Handle Language

February 21, 2008

Did a gene turn on speech? Five years ago, evolutionary geneticists were claiming that mutations in a gene called Foxp2 were the key to human language (see 08/15/2002, 05/26/2004). This was based on two observations: chimps do not have these mutations, and people with alterations to Foxp2 have language impediments. This idea is very unlikely […]

Cell Biology

Missing Links or Linking Misses? The Case of the Fungus Crystal

January 3, 2008

Another evolutionary missing-link claim showed up in the news recently. The suggestive phrase “missing link” implies a chain with just one piece missing. It also implies that the chain is visible from one end to the other. Maybe a magic crystal from a fungus can help us visualize the chain. A “critical missing […]

Early Man

How Early Man Got High on Generosity

November 19, 2007

Are you generous because of a chemical? That seems to be the claim of researchers from UCLA, Chapman and Claremont. They did a double-blind test with students where they played computer games that required them to make decisions about how to split up a sum of money. The ones who got a whiff of oxytocin […]

Human Body

The Brain Evolved!… Didnt It?

November 9, 2007

Evolutionary neurologists are so absolutely sure the human brain is a product of evolution from lower primates over millions of years, they are able to talk openly and frankly about problems with the particulars. But in reading some of their own reviews of current ideas, it is not clear which has been evolving: the brain […]

Fossils

Cambrian Jellyfish Found

November 2, 2007

It’s official: jellyfish were part of the Cambrian explosion. National Geographic News has pictures of well-preserved jellyfish fossils from Utah that show even the “distinct bell shape, tentacles, muscle scars, and possibly even the gonads.” These fossils are dated by evolutionary standards at 500 million years old, into the period of the Cambrian […]

Genetics

Searching for Natural Selection in a Wildflower

October 19, 2007

Evening snow (Linanthus) is an amazing little wildflower that adorns desert areas of southern California. Its blossoms open in the evening, spreading fragrance across a harsh landscape. Two varieties have been noticed; one with white flowers, and one with blue flowers. Scientists noticed that the white ones sometimes grow on one side of a ravine, […]

Early Man

But Is It Evolution?

July 14, 2007

Every week the news media cheerfully present the latest finding that is claimed to be evidence for evolution. The following recent examples, though, might leave a perceptive reader wondering, “What’s Darwin got to do with it?” Slow? No!: If you thought evolution was a gradual process too slow to watch, get a load of this: […]

Mammals

Why Do Some Fruit Bats Have Color Vision?

June 12, 2007

One would think bats don’t need color, since most fly at night. That’s what scientists thought, reported Max Planck Institute, until color-vision cones were found in some species. Some species have two cone types, giving them bichromatic vision, and some have only one, making them effectively color blind. Bats come in two orders: […]

Terrestrial Zoology

Ma Lizards Dress Their Young

June 12, 2007

Leapin’ lizards: the side-blotched lizards of the American southwest are able to dress their kids in the latest scale fashions. A press release from UC Santa Cruz shows that hormones from mom can dramatically affect the pattern and coloration of offspring. The scientists observing this phenomenon think it has something to do with matching their […]

Genetics

New Genes Dont Fit Mr. Darwin

May 1, 2007

If evolutionists predicted the wealth of new data from genetics was going to fall nicely into an evolutionary picture of Darwin’s tree of life, nature has foiled them again. Ancestral patterns are blurred by unexpected findings, such as the following: Little giants: Small, simple. Large, complex. That’s the old high-school picture of genetic evolution, but […]

Politics and Ethics

Naturalism Extends Into All Realms of Scholarship

April 30, 2007

Defenders of evolutionary theory typically argue that their ideas are merely scientific approaches to explaining biological objects. Why, then, are evolutionary approaches extended to intangible realms, like psychology, ethics, criminal law, politics, religion, character and morals? Here are some recent examples to think about: Evolution and the Criminal Mind: In a paper this month in […]

Mammals

Time for Mammals

April 25, 2007

Three recent news stories about mammals involve time. Does nature time things well, or do evolutionists tell swell things about time? Time will tell. Placental mammals – Watch those assumptions: How much can you trust dates that can vary by 50%? A report in Science Daily says the new “consensus” date for the appearance of […]

Genetics

Mutation Rate Catastrophe: You Cant Even Break Even

April 9, 2007

In a tortoise-and-hare kind of story, a team of geneticists figured out what happens when positive natural selection tries to outrun mutations: “mutation rate catastrophe.” Publishing in PNAS,1 they described how beneficial mutations might become established in a population rapidly (that’s the hare). Eventually (this is the tortoise), harmful mutations accumulate to the tipping point, […]

Birds

Evolutionary Predictions Fail Observational Tests

March 8, 2007

Lately, some expectations by evolutionists have not been fulfilled. Here are several recent examples of evolutionary upsets: Dinobird genes cook up scrambled eggs: Scientists expected that the dinosaurs presumed ancestral to birds would show a decreasing genome size. The thinking was that the cost of maintaining a large genome takes its toll on flight. In […]

Dinosaurs

Dino Horns: Is Smaller More Evolved?

March 5, 2007

One can never tell which way the evolutionary path will take to determine fitness. Could be bigger, could be smaller. Could be faster, could be slower. Could be better camouflaged, could be flashy. Michael Ryan (Cleveland Museum) decided that shorter horns on his dinosaur constituted better fitness. CNN says his discovery, a 20-foot dinosaur in […]

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