News to Note, November 20, 2010

1. Bacteria: Evidence of Evolution?

Although we may not often think of it, none of us are ever alone—we all have bacteria both on and in our bodies that, among other things, help us to digest food. But is this evidence for evolution?

2. Did Neanderthal Children Grow Faster?

Did Neanderthal children grow up more quickly than the rest of us?

3. BBC News: “Eggs with the Oldest Known Embryos of a Dinosaur Found”

Paleontologists have at last reported on dinosaur eggs discovered more than thirty years ago.

The eggs, found in South Africa in 1976, are not only interesting because of their purported age (nearly 200 million years old), but also because they contain “well-preserved embryos.” The eggs belong to the species Massospondylus, a prosauropod.

The team, led by University of Toronto–Mississauga paleontologist Robert Reisz, believes that the embryos inside the eggs were about ready to hatch when they were fossilized. They therefore are a good guide for what Massospondylus juveniles may have looked like. Surprisingly, they looked very different from the adults, probably walking on all fours rather than on two hind legs only. Their heads may have also been disproportionately large, whereas the adults’ heads were disproportionately small.

Young-earth creationists believe that most of the fossils we find were produced by catastrophic processes, and in particular the global Flood of Noah’s day. This helps explain how dinosaur eggs and embryos could remain well preserved (they were quickly buried and fossilized); without catastrophic burial, it’s unclear why the eggs wouldn’t have hatched or, even if they did not hatch, why a predator or natural forces would not have destroyed the eggs long before they could have been buried. And since the global Flood occurred “only” a few thousand years ago, most dinosaur eggs that have been found are of very similar age.

4. Christianity Today Offers Review for New Book

Christianity Today offers a review of the interesting new book America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God—and What That Says about Us. So what do we have to say about what the review says about what the book says about what we say and what that says about us? (Whew!)

And Don’t Miss . . .

• The possible evidence of ancient tool use we reported on in August has been attacked again as dubious. Scientists writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argue that the scratches on bones found in Ethiopia were made not by stone tools, but rather by the claws of animals trampling over the bones. But a member of the team that first reported on the bones defended the original claims.
• National Geographic News carries an interesting blog entry that discusses how evolution itself is evolving. Evolutionary scientists continue to discover that the so-called “modern synthesis” of Darwinian evolution developed in the middle of the twentieth century is flawed. To us, it’s a reminder that God’s creation is a whole lot more complicated than either evolutionists or creationists understand.
• In the travel section of the Irish Independent, a seemingly fair-minded journalist describes his visit to the newly opened Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain. The author writes that museum is a lot like “Disneyland for Darwinists,” including a “one-stop-shop for those seeking insight into the mysteries of evolution—in short, all you wanted to know about the alleged chimp to chump story arc but never got around to asking.” So the world has yet another museum dedicated to evolution, but our Creation Museum still receives more hostility than all the evolution museums combined.
• Will we find evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence in the next 25 years? It sounds crazy, but that belief is part of what’s motivating “Project Dorothy,” a new attempt to “listen” to nearby stars for possible communications from intelligent aliens.
• Researchers have revealed a treasure trove of ancient beasts in the Aspen, Colorado, area. So far, the find has included two mammoths (with possible evidence of a third), five mastodons, two bison, one deer, one giant ground sloth, one small reptile, and one mouse-like creature. Does the “jumbled” status of the remains indicate catastrophic burial?

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