Creationism and Baraminology Research News

I've got a lot of stuff I'd like to post, but not enough time to post it. Anyway, Mark Stewart has been collecting a list and recently forwarded it to me with permission to post it. It's very interesting.

Many Creationists use living fossils to ask questions of evolution, such as "why have these things not evolved for so many million years", or, in the case where forms are absent from the intervening periods, "if the fossil record completely missed these, what confidence can we have that the known extents of fossil record existence has anything to do with the actual extents of their existence (i.e. if it went missing for 100 million years, how do we know that it wasn't around 100 million years before the first fossil, or that any fossil wasn't around in completely different time periods, or that the periods are even time periods at all).

However, we are more concerned about what this says about Creationary models. One thing I thought about was that many current flood theories explain the pattern of fossils through an ecological zonation theory -- that is, the fossil record is the record of successive habitats that were overwhelmed by the flood. That's why we find fossils in transitional habitats but not transitional fossils -- i.e. that first you have ocean-bottom dwellers, then fish (well, you have fish pretty much everywhere), and then you have amphibians, then reptiles (mammals are left out because they are usually just not found in flood sediments). So while they are transitions, they are not transitional fossils. Anyway, by looking at the habitats of "living fossils" we can better understand what the pre-flood ecology was like. Anyway, here is Mark's list of transitional fossils, as well as references:

Living Fossils



1. Diplopanax - Creation Ex Nihilo 12(4): 6,7 (Sept - Nov 1990)

2. Tuatara - Biblical Basis for Modern Science by Henry Morris (Baker Book
House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984) pg.355; Scientific Creationism Edited
by Henry Morris (Master Books: El Cajon, CA, 1974) pg.89; The Genesis Flood
by John Whitcomb & Henry Morris (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing:
Philipsburg, NJ, 1961) pgs.176, 177; The Creation-Evolution Controversy by
R.L. Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.287, 289; "The
Tuatara: Why is it a lone survivor?" by C. M. Bogert, Scientific Monthly, 76
(1953): 165; Sphenodon - Gliedman "Miracle Mutations", Science Digest (Feb,
1982) pgs.90, 92; A Case for Creation by Wayne Frair & Percival Davis (Moody
Press, 1967) pg.65

3. Latimeria chalumnae (Coelacanth) - Also mentioned in Creation Ex Nihilo
15(4): 45 (Sept - Nov, 1993); Creation 23(2): 5 (March - May, 2001); Forey,
"The Coelacanth as a Living Fossil" in Living Fossils, N. Eldredge & S.
Stanley, eds, 1984) pg.166; A Case for Creation by Wayne Frair & Percival
Davis (Moody Press, 1967) pg.65; Genes, Genesis & Evolution by John W. Klotz
(Concordia Publishing House: St. Louis, Missouri, 1955) pgs.200-202; Darwin
Retried: an appeal to reason by Norman Macbeth (Harvard Common Press:
Boston, Massachusetts, 1971) pg.121; Biology: A Search for Order in
Complexity, Edited by John N. Moore & Harold Slusher (Zondervan Publishing
House: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1970) pg.264; The Biblical Basis for Modern
Science by Henry M. Morris (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984)
pg.355; Scientific Creationism Edited by Henry Morris (Master Books: El
Cajon, CA, 1974) pg.89; The Genesis Flood by John Whitcomb & Henry Morris
(Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing: Philipsburg, NJ, 1961) pgs.177,178;
After Its Kind by Byron C. Nelson (Augsburg

Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.55, 56; Life (April 3,
1939) pg.26; The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry
Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.288, 292

4. Sea Lillies (echinoderm) - Also mentioned in The Creation-Evolution
Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.288,
293

5. Starfish - Also mentioned in After His Kind by Byron C. Nelson (Augsburg
Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.59; The
Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland,
Michigan, 1976) pg.287, 290

6. Lobsters

7. Nautilus - Also mentioned in Sturmer, "A small coleoid cephalopod with
soft parts from the lower Devonian discovered using radiography", 318 Nature
(1985) pgs53, 55; Ward, "Is Nautilus a Living Fossil?" in Living Fossils, N.
Eldredge & S. Stanley, eds, 1984) pg.247; The Creation-Evolution Controversy
by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.288

8. Cockroaches - Also mentioned in Kuisinitz, Cockroach: The Ancient
Super-Pest, Science World (Feb 4, 1983) pg.12; The Creation-Evolution
Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg. 287,
290; "Insects in Amber" by C. T. Brues, Scientific American, 185 (1951)
pg.57

9. Dragonflies - Also mentioned in Evolution from Space by F. Hoyle & N.
Wickramasinghe (1981) pg.86, 89; The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R. L.
Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.287; "The Dragonfly:
Fossil on Wings" Science Digest, 49 (1961) pg.6

10. Ginkgo tree (maidenhair tree) - Also mentioned in Genes, Genesis &
Evolution by John Klotz (Concordia Publishing House: St. Louis, Missouri,
1955) pg.200; Darwin Retried: an appeal to reason by Norman Macbeth (Harvard
Common Press; Boston,

Massachusetts, 1971) pg.121; After Its Kind by Byron C. Nelson (Augsburg
Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.58; The
Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland,
Michigan, 1976) pg.288, 291; Morphology and the Evolution of Fossil Plants
by T. Delevoryas (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1962) pg.134

11. Sequoia - Metasequoia glyptostroboides trees mentioned in A Case for
Creation by Wayne Frair & Percival Davis (Moody Press, 1967) pg.65; Genes,
Genesis and Evolution by John W. Klotz (Concordia Publishing House: Saint
Louis, Missouri, 1955) pg. 200; Scientific Creationism Edited by Henry
Morris (Master Books: El Cajon, CA, 1974) pg.89; The Genesis Flood by John
Whitcomb and Henry Morris (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing: Philipsburg,
NJ, 1961) pg.179, 180; The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong
(Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.287,291; "Metasequoia Discovery"
by R. Chaney, American Scientist, 36 (1948) pg.490

12. Peripatus (Wasp)

13. Lingula (Crabs) - 2~13 mentioned in Creation Ex Nihilo 15(2) Our World
(March - May, 1993); J. Beerbower, Search for the Past 168 (1960); A Case
for Creation by Wayne Frair & Percival Davis (Moody Press, 1967) pg.65;
Darwin Retried: An appeal to reason by Norman Macbeth (Harvard Common Press,
Boston, Massachusetts, 1971) pg.121; Scientific Creationism Edited by Henry
Morris (Master Books: El Cajon, CA, 1974) pg.89

14. Robinia and Baetidae (mayflies) Creation Ex Nihilo 15(3): 51 (June -
August, 1993); Evolution From Space, pg.86, 89

15. Syncarid - Creation Ex Nihilo 15(4): 23 (September - November 1993)

16. Liquiddambar - Creation Ex Nihilo 15(4): 45 (Sept - Nov 1993)

17. Comptonia and Limulus (horseshoe crabs) Xiphosurans Creation Ex Nihilo
16(1): 6 (Dec - Feb, 1994); Gliedman, "Miracle Mutations" Science Digest
(Feb, 1982) pg.90, 92; A Case for Creation by Wayne Frair & Percival Davis
(Moody Press, 1967) pg.65; Galatheid crabs & horseshoe crabs in Of Pandas
and People by Percival Davis & Dean Kenyon; Academic Editor Charles Thaxton
(Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas, Texas, 1989) pg.99; "Living fossils"
Creation 26(4): 24,25 (September - November, 2004)

18. Penaeus and Antrimpos (shrimp) Creation Ex Nihilo 16(2): 6 (March - May,
1994)

19. Mapinguari - Creation Ex Nihilo 16(3): 9 (June - August, 1994)

20 Triops cancriformis (tadpole shrimp); Lepidurus apus, Triops - Creation
16(3): 51 (June - August, 1994); Also Creation 16(4): 50,51 (Sept - Nov,
1994); Creation 23(3): 15 (June - Aug, 2001)

21. Polistes (Wasp) - Creation 17(1): 28 (Dec 1994 - Feb 1995)

22. Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine tree) - Creation 17(2): 13 (March - May,
1995); Creation 23(1): 6 (Dec 2000 - Feb, 2001); Creation 23(3): 56 (June -
Aug, 2001); Creation 27(4): 8 (September - November 2005) Impact #394 (April
2006) "Wollemi Pine'-Old pollen records for a newly discovered genus of
gymnosperm" Geology Today 11(2): 48-50 (1995) by M Macphail, K Hill, A
Partridge, E Truswell, and C Foster; "Wollemi Pine" Nature Australia 25(2):
22 (1995) by K McGhee; The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a
Living Fossil from the Age of Dinosaurs, 2nd edition (Text Publishing
Company: Melbourne, Australia, 2002) by J Woodford

23. Pleurotomaria - Creation 17(2): 52 (March - May 1995)

24. Crinoid Anthedon - Creation 17(3): 52 (June - Aug 1995)

25. Busycon contrarium - Creation 17(4): 6 (Sept - Nov, 1995)

26. Northomyrmecia macrops (dinosaur ants) - Creation 17(4): 7 (Sept - Nov,
1995); Many ants, J. Beerbower, Search for the Past 168 (1960); A Case for
Creation by Wayne Frair & Percival Davis (Moody Press, 1967) pg.65

27. Bathynomus (Sea lice) - Creation 18(2): 7 (March - May, 1996)

28. Budgerigar (budgies) - Creation 18(3): 8 (June - Aug, 1996)

29. Acer monspessulanum (maple leaf) - Creation 18(3): 41 (June - Aug, 1996)

30. Lavarackorum elseya (turtle) - Creation 18(4): 7 (Sept - Nov, 1996)

31. Anadara (bivalve) - Creation 19(3): 52 (June - Aug, 1997)

32. Exocoetoides minor (flying fish) - Creation 20(1): 56 (Dec 1997 - Feb,
1998)

33. Bohartilla and Stichotreme - Creation 20(3): 55 (June - Aug, 1998)

34. Allaeochelys crassesculptata and Carettochelys insculpta (Fossil &
Living Turtle) - Creation 21(2): 29 (March - May, 1999); Snapping Turtle
mentioned in Of Pandas and People by Percival Davis & Dean Kenyon; Academic
Editor Charles Thaxton (Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas, Texas, 1989) pg.99

35. Rhamphorhynchoid Pterosaur Scaphognathus Crassirostris - Proc 4th Int'l
Conf Creation (1998) pg.253-269

36. Koelreuteria (leaf) - Creation 21(4): 33 (Sept - Nov, 1999)

37. Nightcap Oak (Australian tree) - Creation 23(2): 6 (March - May 2001)

38. Prawn (genus Penacus) - Creation 23(3): 15 (June - Aug, 2001)

39. Raptophasma Kerneggeri (Gladiator insect) assigned to new order
Mantophasmatodea - Creation 25(2): 51,52 (March - May 2003)

40. Bacillus circulans - (bacteria) - 108 Annals N.Y. Acad. Science 453
(1963); Guiness Book of World Records by N. & R. McWhirter (New York:
Sterling, 1973) pg.97; The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong
(Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.287

41. E. elfriedae (squid) - Sturmer, "A small coleoid cephalopod with soft
parts from the lower Devonian discovered using radiography", 318 Nature
pg.53, 55 (1985)

42. Cephalocarids (mollusk) - Hessler, "Cephalocarida: Living Fossil Without
a Fossil Record, in Living Fossils, N. Eldredge & S. Stanley, eds, 1984)
pg.181

43. Neopilinia, Neomphalus, Neritopsis - Batten in id, Living Fossil
Molluscs, pg.218; A Case for Creation by Wayne Frair & Percival Davis (Moody
Press, 1967) pg.65; Scientific Creationism Edited by Henry Morris (Master
Books, El Cajon, CA, 1974) pg. 89; The Genesis Flood by John Whitcomb &
Henry Morris (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing: Philipsburg, NJ, 1961)
pg.178; "New Missing Link Discovered" Science by Bentley Glass, Vol.126,
pg.158 (July 26, 1957); The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong
(Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.287, 289; Guiness Book of World
Records, Edited by N. & R. McWhirter (New York: Sterling, 1973) pg.89

44. Campanile symbolicum (snail) - Houbrick in id, The Giant
Creeper...Marine Snail, pg.232

45. Distoma melanioides - Houbrick in id, Snail from South Australia, pg.236

46. Nellia tenella (bryozoan) - Winston & Cheetham, "The Bryozoan Nellia
tenella as a Living Fossil, in id.at 257

47. Heliopora (coelenterate coral) - Colgan, "The Cretaceous Coral
Heliopora..." in id. at 266

48. Bowfin (fishes) - S. Stanley, The New Evolutionary Timetable 83-84
(1981); Of Pandas & People by Percival Davis & Dean Kenyon; Academic Editor
Charles Thaxton (Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas, Texas, 1989) pg.99

49. Lepisosteidae (Gars) - Wiley & Schultze, "Family Lepisosteidae (Gars) as
Living Fossils" in Living Fossils at 160, 163 N. Eldredge & S. Stanley eds
(1984)

50. Lungfishes - S. Stanley, The New Evolutionary Timetable 84 (1981);
Darwin Retried: an appeal to reason by Norman Macbeth (Harvard Common Press:
Boston Massachusetts, 1971) pg.121

51. Chanidae (teleostean fish) - Patterson "Family Chanidae and Other
Teleostean Fishes as Living Fossils" in Living Fossils at 132 (N. Eldredge &
S. Stanley eds. 1984)

52. Denticeps clupeoides - Greenwood "Denticeps clupeoides Clausen... in
id.at 140

53. Polypterus and Erpetoichthys (osteichthyans) - Greenwood "Polypterus and
Erpetoichthys: Anachronistic Osteichthyans, in id.at 143

54. Sturgeons - Gardiner "Sturgeons as Living Fossils" in id.at 148

55. Amia (neopterygian) - Schultze & Wiley "The Neopterygian Amia as a
Living Fossil" in id. at 153

56. Bat - Mayr, "Discussion" in Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian
Interpretation of Evolution 54,58 (P. Moorhead & M. Kaplan eds 1967); Jepsen
"Early Eocene Bat from Wyoming" 154 Science 1333 (1966); E. Russell, The
Diversity of Animals 123 (1962); The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L.
Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.287, 288

57. Protosciurus (flying squirrel) - Emry & Thorington "The Tree Squirrel
Sciurus...as a Living Fossil" in Living Fossils 23,30 (N. Eldredge & S.
Stanley eds. 1984)

58. Tapiridae and Tragulidae (Tragulids) - Janis "Tragulids as Living
Fossils" in id.at 87,93

59. Rhynchochyon (Elephant shrews) - Novacek "Evolutionary Stasis in the
Elephant-Shrew, Rhynchochyon" in id.at 4

60. Tupaia (Tree shrews) - Tattersall "The Tree-Shrew, Tupaia: A 'Living
Fossil Model' of the Ancestral Primate?" in id.at 32

61. Tarsiers - Schwartz "What Is a Tarsier?" in id.at 38

62. Bovidae (Bovids) - Vrba "Evolutionary Pattern and Process in the
Sister-Group Alcelaphini-Aepycerotini (Mammalia: Bovidae), in id. pg. 62

63. Tapirs - Janis "Tapirs as Living Fossils" in id. pg.80

64. Opossums - Also mentioned in A Case for Creation by Wayne Frair &
Percival Davis (Moody Press, 1967) pg.65; Darwin Retried: an appeal to
reason by Norman Macbeth (Harvard Common Press: Boston, Massachusetts, 1971)
pg.121

65. Pangolins

66. New world porcupines - Also mentioned in Of Pandas and People by
Percival Davis & Dean Kenyon; Academic Editor, Charles Thaxton (Haughton
Publishing Co.: Dallas, Texas, 1989) pg.99

67. Aardvarks - 65 ~ 68: W.R. Bird The Origin of Species Revisited
(Philosophical Library: New York, NY, 1987) pg.68; Of Pandas and People by
Percival Davis & Dean Kenyon, Charles B. Thaxton, Academic Editor (Haughton
Publishing co., Dallas, Texas, 1989) pg.99

68. Platypus - Darwin Retried: an appeal to reason by Norman Macbeth
(Harvard Common Press: Boston, Massachusetts, 1971) pg.121

69. Oyster - Darwin Retried: an appeal to reason by Norman Macbeth (Harvard
Common Press: Boston, Massachusetts, 1971) pg. 121

70. Lepidocaris (crustacean) - "Ecology, Paleontology, and Stratigraphy" by
Harry S. Ladd, Science, Vol.129 (Jan 9, 1959) pg. 74; The Genesis Flood by
John Whitcomb & Henry Morris (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing:
Philipsburg, NJ, 1961) pg.178;

Notostracan (crustaceans) in Of Pandas and People by Percival Davis & Dean
Kenyon; Academic Editor Charles Thaxton (Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas,
Texas, 1989) pg.99

71. Hickory (leaf) - After Its Kind by Byron C. Nelson (Augsburg Publishing
House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.52

72. Japanese Oak (leaf) - After Its Kind by Byron Nelson (Augsburg
Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.53

73. Walnut (leaf) - After Its Kind by Byron Nelson (Augsburg Publishing
House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.54

74. Grape (leaf) - After Its Kind by Byron Nelson (Augsburg Publishing
House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.55

75. Magnolia (leaf) - After Its Kind by Byron Nelson (Augsburg Publishing
House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1927) pg.57

76. Spider - The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry
Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.290

77. Myriopod (centipede-millipede) - The Creation-Evolution Controversy by
R.L Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.290

78. Cycad (tree) - Essentials of Earth History by W.L. Stokes (New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1960) pg.266; The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L.
Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg. 288,292

79. Switch-pine

80. Turnip-pine

81. Club-mosses

82. Horsetails

83. Ferns

84. Liverworts

85. Mosses

86. Hornworts - 80~87 in The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong
(Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.288

87. Apus (crustacean) - The International Wildlife Encyclopedia, Eds. M. &
R. Burton (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1969) pg.75; The Creation-
Evolution Controversy by R.L Wysong (Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976)
pg.288

88. Heterodontus Japonicus (Port Jackson Shark)

89. Cow Shark

90. Cat Shark - 89~91 in The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong
(Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.293

91. Sea Urchin - The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry
Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.288; Echinoneid Sea Urchin in Of Pandas
and People by Percival Davis & Dean Kenyon; Academic Editor Charles Thaxton
(Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas, Texas, 1989) pg.99

92. Spirula (squid) - The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong
(Inquiry Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.288, 294

93. Vampyroteuthis (squid-octopus) - The Nightmare World of the Shark by J.
Cook & W. Wisner (New York: Dodd, 1968) pg.12; Abyss - The Deep Sea and the
Creatures That Live in it, by C. Idyll (New York: Crowell, 1971)
pgs.232-253; The Creation-Evolution Controversy by R.L. Wysong (Inquiry
Press: Midland, Michigan, 1976) pg.288, 294

94. Alligators - Of Pandas and People by Percival Davis & Dean Kenyon;
Academic Editor Charles Thaxton (Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas, Texas,
1989) pg.99

95. Sirens (amphibians) - Of Pandas and People by Percival Davis & Dean
Kenyon; Academic Editor Charles Thaxton (Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas,
Texas, 1989) pg.99

96. Kakabekia (protozoan) - Of Pandas and People by Percival Davis & Dean
Kenyon, Academic Editor Charles Thaxton (Haughton Publishing Co.: Dallas,
Texas, 1989) pg.99

97. Salamanders - of the Cryptobranchidae family - Creation 26(2): 26,27
(March - May, 2004) by David Catchpoole

98. Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis - (frog) - Creation 26(3): 8 (June - August
2004) anon.; Nature (October 16, 2003) pp.669-670, 711-714; New Scientist
(October 18, 2003) p.19

99. Diplopanax stachyanthus - woody mastixioid fruit - "Fossil Mastixioid
(Cornaceae) alive in eastern Asia" American Journal of Botany 77: 689-92
(1990) by Richard H. Eyde and Xiang Qiuyun; "Problems in the interpretation
of variation within the fossil record" Creation Research Society Quarterly
28(2): 52,53 (September, 1991) by Trevor J. Major

100. Butterflies - "Fluttering among the dinos" Creation 26(4): 8
(September - November 2004); New Scientist, 27 (March 2004) p.17

101. Rhyniognatha hirsti - "'Evolutionary origins' continue to be pushed
back in time" TJ 18(3): 7 (2004) by Michael J. Oard; "New light shed on the
oldest insect" Nature 427: 627-630 (2004) by MS Engel and DA Grimaldi

102. Diatomyidae (Laotian rock rat) rat-squirrel (rodent) - thought to be
extinct for 11 million years; Science (March 10, 2006) co-authored by Mary
Dawson (Paleontologist, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

103. Neoglyphea inopinata - lobster/shrimp-like crustacean; mentioned in
"Living fossil' found in Coral Sea" source:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12875772/; found in the southwest entrance to Manila
Bay, Philippinnes, 1908

104. Neoglyphea neocaledonica - mud lobster/shrimp-like creature; "Living
fossil' found in Coral Sea" http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12875772/ ; found in the
Chesterfield islands, northwest of New Caledonia, Coral Sea; thought to have
been extinct for 60 million years

105. Laonastes aenigmamus - Laotian rock rat; Southeast Asia; Systematics &
Biodiversity (April 2005) Believed to have been extinct for 11 million
years. A rodent in the mammalian group of diatonyids - Answers 1(1): 8, 9
(July - September 2006); "Kebab meat rodent gives birth to new family" New
Scientist 186(2500): 18 (2005) by J. Pickrell; "Rodent resurrection" Science
311(5766): 1341 (2006) by S. Hurtley & P. Szuromi; "Laonastes and the
"Lazarus effect" in recent mammals" Science 311(5766): 1456-1458 (2006)

106. Neoglyphea neocaledonica (crustacean) found in the Coral Sea between
Caledonia & Australia; believed to have been extinct 60 million years;
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12875772 (May 26, 2006);
http://www.msnbc.msn.com:80/id/12875772/ (May 19, 2006)

107. Gracilidris (ant) found in the Dominican Republic on Hispaniola Island;
believed to have been 15-20 million years; "Ants of the Dominican Amber
(Hymenoptera: Formicidae). 3 The subfamily Dolichoderinae" Psyche 92(1):
17-37 (1985) by E.O. Wilson; "Rediscovery of a fossil dolichoderine ant
lineage (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) and a description of a new
genus from South America" Zootaxa 1142: 57-68 (2006) by A.L. Wild and F.
Cuezzo

108. Priscomyzon riniensis (lamprey) believed to 360 million years old;
Nature 443(7114): 921-984 (October 26, 2006); Creation 29(2):10 (March - May
2007)

Dr. Damadian, the inventor of the original MRI, has now made another breakthrough with the invention of the Upright MRI, as well as an MRI that can be used during surgery. [Hat Tip: creationsafaris]

Why is this relevant to this blog? Dr. Damadian has been openly a young-earth Creationist for his whole career.

In fact, sometimes people forget how much modern origins theory owes to Creation research. Consider the following:

• Stratigraphy was pioneered by Steno, whose purpose was to recreate the history of the Genesis flood. His principles of stratigraphy are still taught today.


• Taxonomy, which really invigorated the field of biology, was done by Linneaus in his attempt to understand the created kinds.


• Genetics, which we all know how important it is, is founded on the principles that Mendel offered, in his attempt to understand change within fixed limits over and against evolutionary principles.


• Art Chadwick is pioneering the use of 3D GPS in paleontology, so that he has the exact location and orientation of every bone he has dug up. You can even view maps of the bones in the quarry on his dig website.


• Geologist John Baumgardner pioneered the modelling of the Earth's mantel processes in software. His software has been used by NASA as well as other groups, and in fact the Los Alamos National Laboratory wanted access to his code so much that they allowed him to spend half of his time researching Creationism. He also uses this code to analyze the dynamics of Noah's flood, and in fact examining the flood is what brought him to geology in the first place.

Also of note are two biologists who became creationists after making major contributions to the field of evolution:

• Dean Kenyon wrote the book on origin of life studies in the 1960s with his book called "Biological Predestination". He is now, I believe, an Old-earth Creationist, doing work in the ID movement.


• George Price pioneered the mathematics of group selection, and in the middle of his biology career, had an apparent conversion away from macroevolutionary theory.


• John Sanford was co-inventor of the "gene gun" which, if I am not mistaken, was really the first commercially viable mechanism for creating transgenic crops. He is now a Young-earth Creationist and recently wrote the book "Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome".

Also of interest but not quite as groundbreaking as the rest (or maybe it is, I don't know a whole lot about geology so maybe this is more significant than I realize) is the group of Creation geologists who made the cover story for the journal Geology (actual paper is here). While their research was not about Noah's flood, they were investigating the physics of rapid burial, which is pertinent to understanding how creatures died in the flood. It's difficult to say that Creationists are not real scientists when in fact Creationists trying to understand rapid burial mechanisms make it to the front cover of one of the leading Geology journals. (There's many, many other ones I could tell you about, some of which are posted throughout this blog).

What's the point of all of this? Creationism is not a stopping of science. It has a long history of opening the door to new ideas and research that are useful in both Creationary and evolutionary circles.

Salvador Cordova weighs in with his impressions of the BSG Conference. And yes, Sal, more journals would be nice.

I'm hoping to do more in-depth conversation on some of the individual topics in the conference proceedings. In the meantime, you can download the whole thing. Unfortunately, it has only the abstracts, but thankfully the BSG policy is that all important points and conclusions be covered in the abstract. Anyway, we'll cover them more in the future.

Also, just browsing around, I noticed that AiG has a brand new look.

Another report from Jean:

Today we spent the morning looking at the biblical implications related to the Fall and how that may have affected things. The afternoon sessions discussed design. Wilson pointed out in his talk that scary and even deadly strategies were used by prey to thwart predators (e.g. threatening displays and poisons). He argued that these characteristics were 'front loaded' at the time of creation although they may not have
been manifested until after the Fall. Dr. Gollmer discussed design patterns by using comparisons from computer programming. He pointed out that the modularity, reusability and robustness seen in living things were a sign that they had been designed from the top down. This is in contrast with what we would expect from an evolutionary process that would be developing things from the bottom up. There were many other interesting topics discussed that I won't have time to cover (I am supposed to be downstairs with my poster). I give my talk tomorrow.

I managed to get Jean Lightner to give me blog updates for the BSG (Baraminology Study Group) conference! Here's a quick recap of day 1:

Your live action BSG reporter here. After breakfast I spent the morning getting A Whirlwind Tour of Creation Biology from Todd Wood. He covered the historical development of ideas in this area. He showed how the authority of Scripture gradually eroded among Christian scientists. Where Scripture seemed at odds with the science of the day, some Christians said that God was just explaining things in simple terms so the ignorant masses could understand things. Those with special scientific knowledge knew that God didn't really mean what he said. This problem of accommodating 'science' appeared well before Darwin. Todd also pointed out a number of concepts, and even debates, within the modern creation movement that were around long before the rise of modern creationism.

I spent the afternoon in the Statistical Baraminology Workshop. Todd covered some basic concepts about baraminology and some statistical methods aimed at finding discontinuities. He showed how datasets could be copied from an Excel spreadsheet and pasted in the correct spot on the BSG website so the computer there would do all the calculations for us. Hopefully a lot more people will learn to use this incredibly valuable resource.

I have a plenary session to attend tonight. I hope to check in with you tomorrow.

Jean

They look like they have a lot of interesting things going on. I'm sadly not able to attend this year -- getting to meet a lot of Creation researchers (including Paul Nelson this year!) is always a ton of fun and enlightening as well.

If anyone wants to brush up on any academic subject, you might check out the new "iTunes University". It's in iTunes under the iTunes store. I particularly suggest MIT's OpenCourseware as they have been working on their "open-source" course material for about 5 years now. I'm downloading their "intro to biology" courses now. I think I might need a bigger hard drive....

The BSG Conference is next week! Sadly, I am unable to go this year (new baby, finances, lots of overtime at work all getting in the way). However, I would love to hear from anyone who attends. The abstract list looks fascinating!

It appears that the Bryan Center for Origins Research (BryanCORE) has revamped its website. Of particular interest is its enCORE series which it is making publicly available, detailing for the public notes about the research that CORE is engaged in. Roger Sander's brief analysis of the biodiversity of the Galapagos islands was very interesting, and reminded me a lot of his talk at the 2006 BSG on stochastic versus adaptive radiations. Sanders had used his personal research on the biodiversity of the Robinson Crusoe islands (I think - I may be mistaken as to the location) to argue that species radiations are primarily stochastic rather than adaptive.

Anyway, hat tip to Sudden Creation for noticing the new site.

There is a great presentation available from the International Symposium on Neural Networks on the No Free Lunch algorithms. The presentation points out that "evolutionary algorithms" often implicitly import solution space structure information into their search algorithms. It even gives an example of how to measure the imported information in bits based on the difference between the performance of the search algorithm and a random search. The presenter mentions that including the number of bits imported into the search algorithm should be included in every evolutionary paper. However, I think that there is a more significant idea lurking in there somewhere.

Since, according to Marks, you can measure the number of bits imported into a search algorithm by running trials, why don't we apply this to known cases of evolution? It seems that we should be able to calculate the number of bits the cell itself is applying to its own evolution, shouldn't we?

Now, before getting too excited, there are some caveats. The biggest one is that Marks doesn't separate importing information into the search algorithm versus importing information into the environment. Just like you can import bits into the search algorithm, given any search algorithm, you can also import bits into the environment to match the algorithm. So is the design in the search or in the environment? It's a thorny issue.

In any case, even if we can't follow all of the possibilities, we should at least be able to get an estimate of the number of bits being supplied by the cell for its own evolution. This would be interesting to apply to some of the existing data for evolutionary scenarios.