News to Note, November 11, 2006

1. National Geographic News: Dolphin With Four Fins May Prove Terrestrial Origins

A four-flippered dolphin found off the coast of Japan two weeks ago is making waves in science circles, with at least one evolutionist claiming the discovery “certainly is direct evidence of evolution.” Yet the same scientist elaborates:

“There's not much science yet,” Baker said. “It's an interesting finding, and I think the interpretation that it is consistent with our expectations from evolution is true. [But] that's as far as it can go at the moment.”

This evolutionary scientist has explained the situation as well as we could: the speculations founded on this four-finned dolphin are simply an interpretation consistent with evolutionary expectations.

Watch for a complete response authored by Ken Ham and Dr. David Menton.

2. Human-Cow Embryos for Stem Cell Research

The headline tells it like it is: scientists in the UK have requested permission to create embryos out of human DNA and cow eggs.

3. news@nature.com: The Moon has gas

Peter Schultz of Brown University, along with colleague Carlé Pieters, have made an interesting discovery that highlights a point made by creationists. By studying lunar data, the duo has determined that the moon is still spouting gas-and that gas is responsible for some of the moon's cratering. The results indicate “some lunar craters were formed as recently as 10 million years ago,” and the article points out that “[i]n terms of lunar geology, 10 million years is yesterday. It was thought that all volcanic activity stopped 3.2 billion years ago[.]” (A ScienceNOW article on the subject reports the estimates as two million years ago.)

Of course, even two million years is far too old for the timeframe the Bible gives; however, the creationist point this story affirms is the sudden and dramatic reversal of dates. Uniformitarian estimates of when lunar volcanic activity ended have changed from 3.2 billion years to as few as 2 million years-in other words, a greater than 99% decrease based on this new evidence. Old-agers may say they're certain about old ages, but one never seems to know when the secular scientific consensus will dramatically change their story.

4. National Geographic News: Baboons, Birds Remember Hundreds of Photos

Those who read last week's News to Note may remember item 3, in which we pointed out how intelligent crows upset evolutionary notions of animal intelligence. A story with similar effect was reported by National Geographic News this week, after experiments show baboons and pigeons can “remember hundreds of images and store them in their brains for at least a year.”

Of course, the article assumes an evolutionary relationship:

Despite diverging from a common ancestor 250 million years ago, both species showed no difference in how they learned and recalled the images.

Yet intelligent behavior observed in animals other than primates helps erode “intelligent apes” as so-called evidence for evolution.

5. USA TODAY: Fossils unearth big debate

This article largely speaks for itself. Examine how even evolutionists, when honest, explain the many difficulties in understanding the fossil record:

… [i]f bones don't lie, why do fossil researchers argue about everything? …

… [s]erious disagreements regularly accompany fossil discoveries …

… [d]oes she [she being Selam] belong to a pre-human species of hominids? Scientists disagree …

… [t]he problem, some suggest, is that … we don't have enough fossils to say anything authoritatively about prehistoric life …

… [t]o begin with, fossilization … is a tricky process. It relies on fortuitous and imperfectly understood conditions …

… “We should be very careful about reading the fossil record directly as if we know everything” …

… “A lot of things are taken for granted rather than examined in a systematic way” …

In short, we couldn't agree more with these evolutionists!

6. ScienceDaily: Milky Way's Neighbouring Galaxies Have Different History

Current big-bang-based theories of the origin of galaxies “predict that small galaxies form first, and later assemble into larger systems like our [g]alaxy.” But this idea of origins for the Milky Way galaxy was upset by recent analyses of nearby dwarf galaxies, which show chemical makeup “fundamental[ly] differen[t]” from our own galaxy. “The chemistry we see in the stars in these dwarf galaxies is just not consistent with current cosmological models,” explained astronomer Amina Helmi. It looks like naturalist astronomers will have to continue modify their ideas to come up with a scientifically sound viewpoint to justify their faith in a natural origin for the universe.

7. PHYSORG.com: Pacific Ocean gives birth to new volcanic island: eyewitnesses

A new island in the Pacific Ocean has been “born,” according to eyewitness reports. The island is reportedly one mile in diameter, and is a hive of volcanic activity that has produced streams of pumice that emanate from the island (“the sea turned to stone,” as one ship captain put it).

Although specifics have yet to be determined as to the exact age of this island, its fast formation may be an important clue to how other islands may have formed rapidly during Flood-era volcanism.