News to Note, August 11, 2007

1. Living With Your Ancestors

Evolutionists are busy rewriting the story of the evolution of humankind, reports the BBC’s James Urquhart. Two hominid fossils from Kenya have prompted the revisions, which entail a new hypothesized evolutionary relationship between Homo habilis and Homo erectus, as claimed in the journal Nature.

2. Microbes from the Freezer - Still Alive

Microbes thought by some to be as old as eight million years are now alive and well (along with their progeny) in a lab at Rutgers University, reports the BBC.

3. National Geographic News: “Photo in the News: Rare Fossil Trees Found in Hungary”

“Eight million years old” seems to be the most popular age of major discoveries this week; in addition to Antarctic microbes, fossilized trees in northeastern Hungary have been found recently that are part of an “eight-million-year-old swamp cypress forest.”

National Geographic News describes the 16 trees as an “oddity” because “they did not petrify, or turn to stone, as preserved trees usually do [but instead,] retain[ed] their original wood.”

While National Geographic News did not publish any significant details on the find (presumably because it is a new discovery and has not yet been studied in detail by paleontologists), the idea of eight-million-year-old wood certainly raises an eyebrow. In fact, the find reminds us of another “incredible” fossil find: the allegedly 65-million-year-old T. rex soft tissue found a few years back.

Now, as then, old-earthers are forced to stand behind uniformitarian doctrine and dating methods, despite their shock at the find, rather than letting their whole house of cards topple.

4. Deep Sea Origins: Yet More Dispute

If eight-million-year-old microbes and trees weren’t enough, though, what about 1.43-billion-year-old fossilized habitats of deep-sea microbes? LiveScience’s Dave Mosher reports this week on supposedly ancient black smoker chimneys—naturally occurring, microbial-housing chimneys that are, interestingly enough, nearly identical to the “archaea- and bacteria-harboring structures found today on sea beds.”

5. Darwin or Design

Our own Dr. Georgia Purdom was recently interviewed for the internet “book” Darwin or Design. The book, authored by The Sci Phi Show’s Jason Rennie, is an examination of the origins debate, and, specifically, the controversy over the idea of intelligent design. For her part, Dr. Purdom weighs in on what the ID movement is and is not. You can read more from Dr. Purdom about this topc in Is the Intelligent Design Movement Christian?

While the book does not allow much room for young-earth creationists, it does give voice to many different schools of thought and allows Darwin dissenters to be heard (something we have often discussed in the past). If you’re interested in reading a book that highlights a variety of perspectives on (and presuppositions behind) the origins debate, you may want to check it out. You can get the book a number of ways, including free chapter-by-chapter audio downloads.

By the way, if you are looking for information on what the Bible says about origins (and how real science supports Scripture), be sure to check out our on-line bookstore, filled with invaluable resources for learning to defend not only a recent, six-day creation but also the Bible as a whole—and resources for educating the whole family.