1

Dinosaur DogmaOn the BBC News website inNovember (goo.gl/KwE8OS) was aheadline about the discovery of a newgenus and species of fossil oviraptoriddinosaur from China. DubbedTongtianlong limosus (“muddy dragonon the road to heaven”), the fossil wasdiscovered by workmen after blasting arocky hillside with dynamite.Amazingly, the specimen was still invery good condition and almostcomplete.

The fossil is formally named by DrJunchang Lü and his colleagues in ascientific report in Nature(goo.gl/8YzSsv). It includes anextremely detailed description. Clearlythese scientists studied the fossilexhaustively and very carefully.

But here's the rub. The BBC Newswebsite states that the dinosaur “waspreserved raising its beaked head, withfeathered wings outstretched in themud it was mired in when it died 72million years ago”. Feathered wings?Really? Why is it, then, that the

scientific description of the fossilmentions not a single piece of evidencefor any feathers at all? No, nothing!The BBC News article even includes anartist's depiction of the dinosaur whenstill alive, mired in clay, clearlyshowing it with feathered wings.Evidently the artist has a powerfulimagination.

What does this really show? Thatevolutionism is dogma, not truescience. The evolutionary theoriesrequire this dinosaur to have feathersand so, lo and behold, they are shown,even though there is not a scrap ofscientific evidence for their existence!Hence, dear reader, we urge you not toget bogged down in the miry clay of

Image: Artist’s impression of T. limosus, BBC Newswebsite, reproduced here under Fair Usage provisions.

2

Evolution. It is nonsense. The rationalexplanation for the scientific facts - asopposed to evolutionary fictions - ofthe world we see around us is that itwas created, by a Designer.

And for more comment on dinosaurfeathers, see page 15.

Teeth and BeaksOnly a few weeks after the previousarticle, the BBC News website(goo.gl/MgSpsU) reported on the workof a team of scientists led by Dr ShuoWang of Capital Normal University inBeijing, China, who have beenstudying fossils of a dinosaur calledLimusaurus inextricabilis. The teamfound that some of the fossils had teethwhereas others had beaks, leading themto conclude that the animals’morphology changed as they grew.

The website claims that the discovery isa surprise and has not been seen in anyother reptile. However, way back in2009 we reported (Creation vol. 16, no.

6: 1-2) that American palaeontologistsMark Goodwin and Jack Horner hadconcluded from a study ofTyrannosaurus and Triceratops fossilsthat the appearance of these dinosaurs,including their dentition, variedconsiderably during their lives.

The BBC News article reports Dr StigWalsh, of National Museums Scotland,as commenting that the Limusaurusdinosaurs were switching from one sortof feeding type that required teeth toone in which teeth were a disadvantage,and a beak was better: “Other theropoddinosaurs in the group to whichLimusaurus belongs are carnivores andI can't help wondering whether thedriver for such a life cycle change wasto allow Limusaurus to capitalise on amore abundant food source as theybecame larger”. The writer of thearticle goes on to say that “Theresearchers think the toothed juvenileswere probably omnivorous meat-eaters.The adults, which had beaks, moved onto a plant-based diet.” He/she thenconcludes with the risibly optimisticcomment that “The discovery will help

explain how the beak, whichis so important in the birdkingdom, evolved.” So in theevolutionary Just So story ofthe transformation of reptilesto birds, teeth indicate meat-eaters and beaks indicateplant-eaters, do they?Someone should tell thisoverly enthusiastic writerabout the existence of owls,eagles, hawks, vultures…Artist's depiction of Limusaurus inextricabilis. Image: N. Tamura,

Wikimedia, goo.gl/bl9DRf, under CCA 3 Unported licence.

3

Divided Creation?Recently our attention was drawn toFaithlife Blog (goo.gl/Im7l2u), wherean article by Ryan Nelson discusses abook by John Walton entitled The LostWorld of Genesis One. Nelson agreeswith Walton, that reading the Bible inEnglish (or indeed in any languageother than the original) adds layers ofinterpretation to the meanings of thewords. Thus if we want to find outwhat is truly meant by the Hebrewword bara, for example, then ratherthan examining the English synonymsof the word “create” we should look tosee how the Hebrew word was usedand understood by Hebrew writers inother contexts in the Bible. Few wouldquarrel with this as it is clearcommonsense, and scholarly study ofthe Bible reaps its own rewards.

But Nelson then goes on to commenton other points made by Walton whichseem much more contentious, as theyappear to be designed to support aparticular agenda. According to Nelson,Walton distinguishes between

“functional creation” and “materialcreation”. He draws an analogy withthe creation of a temple, which (hesays) does not constitute a temple if itconsists of the building alone, butonly when other, functional, factorssuch as rituals and the indwelling ofGod are included.

But is this a fair analogy? Such aviewpoint may seem persuasive at

first glance, but it suffers from somefatal defects. One has to ask whetherthis dualistic view of the nature of thecreation that is so characteristic of theclassical Greek mindset is fairlyapplicable to the much more holisticmindset of the writers of the OldTestament. We would suggest it is not.

Does the Bible in fact distinguishbetween functional creation andmaterial creation to the extent thatsomething created may have materialexistence but no function? For ourguidance we need look no further thanan example that the Lord himself gives.In Jeremiah 1: 5 God declares, “BeforeI formed you in the womb I knew you;before you were born I sanctified you;I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”It is clear from this scripture alone thatGod creates materially and imbueswith function simultaneously andindivisibly: He does not do the one andomit the other. Indeed, can one think ofanything whatsoever that God hascreated for which He had no purpose inmind? The very idea is ridiculous.

God created the world to be inhabited: material and functionare intimately linked. Image: K. Tuck, www.rgbstock.com.

4

For these reasons it seemsextraordinarily unlikely that Godcreated the universe materially in sixdays, but thought about its function onsome completely different occasion.Nelson notes that “Walton considersfunctional creation to be the momentpurpose is established, whereasmaterial creation is the momentphysical shape is formed.” But surelythis deference to “moments” is alimitation of God to the time dimensionthat we inhabit, whereas in reality Godtranscends time. As Walton himselflamely admits, “grammatical subjectsof the verb are not easily identified inmaterial terms, and even when they are,it is questionable that the context isobjectifying them.…That is, no clearexample occurs that demands amaterial perspective for the verb,though many are ambiguous.”

So why, then, is Walton pushing hisparticular line of argument? A cluemay be in the following comment (asreported by Nelson): “If the seven days…concern origins of functions, notmaterial, then the seven days andGenesis 1 as a whole have nothing tocontribute to the discussion of the ageof the earth. This is not a conclusiondesigned to accommodate science - itwas drawn from an analysis andinterpretation of the biblical text ofGenesis in its ancient environment. Thepoint is not that the biblical texttherefore supports an old earth, butsimply that there is no biblical positionon the age of the earth. If it were to turnout that the earth is young, so be it. But

most people who seek to defend ayoung-earth view do so because theybelieve that the Bible obligates them tosuch a defence.”

So there you have it: Walton’sargument depends enormously on anentirely unproven initial ‘If’. At heartWalton appears to be unhappy withthose who believe that both science andthe Bible lead one to the conclusionthat the Earth is young, and thereforehe presents some subtle - but fallible -arguments which seemingly underminethat view. It is appropriate therefore toconclude with a quote from Isaiah 45:18, noting how the material creationand the functional creation of the Earthgo wholly hand in hand: “For thus saysthe Lord… Who formed the earth andmade it, Who has established it, Whodid not create it in vain, Who formed itto be inhabited”.

Migrating insectsA study of migrating insects wasreported upon by the BBC Newswebsite (goo.gl/HHCbHT) on 23rdDecember. The result of ten years ofmonitoring by an international team ofresearchers, the study has revealed thatan incredible 3.5 trillion insects,totalling around 3200 tons of biomass,migrate above the UK annually. Manyof these insects are tiny, such as aphidsand midges, but the totals also includelarger insects such as hoverflies,beetles, butterflies and moths.

5

The report notes that although thesmaller insects took off regardless ofwind direction, all the medium andlarger creatures showed a really clearpattern of seasonal movements. “Theinsects are basically measuring thewind direction and deciding whether ornot to fly on that particular day ornight,” said Dr Jason Chapman, fromthe University of Exeter, a co-author ofthe paper. “It signifies that the insectshave a compass mechanism in order toknow which is north and south, butthey also have the capability to then flyup high into the sky and assess thedirection of the wind and relate it to thecompass direction and make a decisionon whether to fly or not - that's a quitecomplex set of things and many, manyspecies are doing this.”

One wonders how many millions ofyears it took these insect groups toevolve these complex mechanisms, and

how they managed to avoid getting lostand perishing in unsuitable areas in themeantime? Perhaps they were designedwith these capabilities from the outset.This logical alternative is completelyabsent from the report's discussion.

Polarised beeYet further astonishing sophisticationin the ability of bees to navigate wasreported last year in the journalCurrent Biology (goo.gl/sjHDZR). DrGavin Taylor, of Lund University,Sweden, and colleagues investigatedthe ability of the orchid bee (Euglossaimperialis) to find its way through thedense rainforest that forms its naturalhabitat. How, they wondered, does thisinsect cope with such enormousdifferences in illumination andobstruction of the sky by vegetation?

Insects such as bees are well known topossess not only compound eyes butalso simple eyes called ocelli. But theresearch team found that in the orchidbee they are very far from just ‘simple’.The team discovered that the ocellihave two distinct visual fields - afocused monocular visual field and alarge trinocular fronto-dorsal visualfield shared by all the ocelli. Themonocular field is suitable fordetecting features elevated above thehorizon and therefore assisting withflight stabilization. The trinocular fieldis more subtle: analyses showed thatthe photoreceptors have similar

Insects such as this Painted Lady butterfly may travelhundreds of miles as they migrate. The ability tonavigate is essential to their survival. Image: S.Gjenero, www.rgbstock.com.

6

orientations within each ocellus and arelikely to be sensitive to polarized light.Furthermore, the average receptororientation is offset between the ocelli,each having different axes ofpolarization sensitivity relative to thehead. Unlike the eyes of any otherinsect described to date, this ocellarsystem meets the requirements of a truepolarization analyzer. Hence the ocelliof this bee could provide not onlysensitive compass information fornavigation in the rainforest butadditionally cues for visualdiscrimination or flight control. And allthis sophistication developed just bychance? We think not.

Balance“How amazing are the deeds of theLORD! All who delight in him shouldponder them. Everything he does

reveals his glory and majesty. Hisrighteousness never fails.”Psalm 111: 2-3, NLT.

I have always loved biology rightfrom school days. It was one of thethings that helped lead me to the LordJesus when, as a mature student, Istarted studying for A level, anddiscovered that the lecturers withPhDs couldn’t explain the gaps inwhat they call the ‘evolutionarychain’. Then I went on to do my nursetraining and just loved the classeswhen we learned all about the human

body and how it all worked.

It’s utterly amazing how the body isbusy all day long keeping all thechemical balances right. An imbalancein some of these could be catastrophicto the body. Even when we treat ourbodies badly, by not looking afterourselves, or eating, drinking andsleeping badly, still the body carries ondoing the balancing. But eventually, ofcourse, we’ll get a problem if wepersist in an unhealthy lifestyle.

So for many years I’ve looked at God’samazing creation in awe and wonder,and questioned how anyone coulddoubt that there’s a God, and howpeople can believe it all happened byaccident.

(D. Cockcroft, reproduced with kindpermission from Seeds of the Kingdom,23 July 2016, goo.gl/NENLo4.)

Dorsal view of a Euglossa imperialis bee. Between thecompound eyes are three circular dark ocelli (red arrow).Image: Yves Basset, Smithsonian Tropical ResearchInstitute, used with permission.

7

Evolution hangoverIn one of the more logic-free articles tohave come to our attention, the BBCNews website (goo.gl/vFgJpV)reported on the work of scientists at theUniversity of Oxford who have beenlooking into the reasons why humansget so much shoulder, hip and kneepain. According to the article, entitled

“Hip pain may be 'hangover fromevolution'”, the scientists started bypresuming evolution; assumed ages ofup to 400 million years for thespecimens they examined even thoughdating methods are so unreliable; andattributed changes to the neck of thethigh bone as occurring “as man beganstanding up straight on two legs” - as ifthere was any evidence whatsoever forsuch changes in behaviour.

Continuing this blithe freewheelingthrough evidence-free speculation, thearticle then goes on to refer to other

“evolutionary quirks” in humans,claiming that some people prone tolower back problems “could havespines closer in shape to those of ournearest ape relative”. Notice that it onlyapplies to “some” people and is nomore definite than “could have”. Thearticle also notes that “The team thenused their data to hazard a guess at theshape of human bones 4,000 years inthe future - although they admit thereare many uncertainties in future timesthat could not be accounted for.”Indeed. So much for that, then.

To cap it all, the article then ends byattributing these downsides to design!

Cuttings & Commentsfrom New Scientistby Dr David Rosevear

15 October p.16 – Thirsty throatsdrink more easilyA study in Australia has found thatswallowing is effortless when we aredehydrated, but more difficult if wehave already drunk plenty, putting usoff from drinking any more.

“Brain scans showed that whenpeople were overhydrated,swallowing was linked to moreactivity in some parts of the brainthat are responsible for consciousthought processes.”

“It shows we have very subtlemechanisms for regulating theamount we drink. If left to your own

Sophisticated feedback mechanisms regulate thedesire to slake one’s thirst. Image: J. Kollarova,www.rgbstock.com.

8

devices, you will drink the requisiteamount of water to maintain balance.”Any evolutionary Just So story toexplain the origin of this feedbacksystem would be hard to swallow.

15 October p.38 – History lessons“Seshat is a vast and growing

database of historical andarchaeological knowledge that canbe explored using scientifictechniques. That makes it a powerfultool for testing and ultimatelydiscarding hypotheses.” It aims tounderstand the forces that have shapedhuman societies in the past.It hopes to trace how hunter-gathererssettled down into farming communities,developed hierarchies and raisedarmies. A graph plots the course ofadvances in social complexity forcommunities in China, Egypt, Italy,Pakistan and Peru.Interestingly, the graph shows generallow complexity before 4,000 BC, withsteep rises for China and Egypt soonafter this time. Similar steep risesoccurred with the Romans in thesecond millennium BC.One Book that is rich in historical factsisn’t mentioned – the Bible. The Seshatdatabase will not pick up on Creation,the Flood, and the dispersal from Babel.The Table of Nations in Genesis 10-11has been verified (see After the Flood,Cooper). Biblical history speaks ofcities, complex metallurgy and musicfrom the beginning, with folk with fewmutations to their brains and bodiesliving for close to 1,000 years, passingon information gleaned from Adam’s

walks in the Garden. All the skills hadto be rediscovered after the Flood, sothat graph was correct in showing risesin organisation. Today the build-up ofgenetic entropy has flattened out theplot. The Bible also lays out the futureof history in some detail. Seshat, theancient Egyptian goddess of wisdom,never managed that.

22 October p.6 – Salvation by dung?Referring to whale faeces, this articlesays:

“Research is revealing that their dungbrings nutrients to surface waters,which generates more food for fishby stimulating the growth of phyto-plankton. These tiny organisms areeaten by krill, which become prey forfish. Phytoplankton also suck carbondioxide out of the air, helping to limitglobal warming.

“It inspires us to see whales not asresources to be exploited, or ascompetitors for fish stocks, but asecologically essential geoengineers.”The whole designed system needs to bein place for it to operate.

22 October p.10 – Gene-swappingorgies … in cheeseBacteria in cheeses stacked in storehouses exchange genes amongthemselves.A study showed that altogether nearly5,000 genes have been swapped,affecting the tastes of individualcheeses. One finding was based ongenome comparisons from 30 bacteriafound in the rinds of traditional agedcheeses from various countries. They

9

were matured in bulk in places such ascaves, and microbes escaped into thesurroundings and colonised newbatches.

“‘There’s been evolution going on formillennia,’ says Paul Kindstedt ofthe University of Vermont inBurlington.”No Paul, the genes swapped are allbacterial genes. Bacteria are alsoknown to swap genes through fibres ontheir surface known as pili. This isn’tevolution.

22 October p.15 – First birds honkedin dinosaur times

“Birds developed the unique vocalorgan that enables them to sing morethan 66 million years ago whendinosaurs walked the Earth, a fossildiscovery shows.

“But the earliest syrinx, anarrangement of vibrating cartilage

rings at the base of the windpipe, wasstill a long way from producing thelilting notes of the blackbird.”Instead, the extinct duck was only ableto honk. Ducks and geese today stillhonk. The millions of years are basedon the assumption that sediments arelaid down gradually under tranquilconditions such as prevail today.History tells us of a worldwide violentflood that destroyed all life outsideNoah’s Ark. One might expect marinebirds like ducks to be buried ahead offlying birds like blackbirds.

22 October p.34 – Life’s subatomicsecret

“The cryptic nucleus that gives rise tolife is weirder than we thought.”All living tissue is made of carboncompounds – organic chemistry.

“But the abundance of this element inour universe depends on a seeminglymiraculous coincidence – an excitedstate of the carbon nucleus that ourbest models say shouldn’t exist, butclearly does. The nature of this weirdform of carbon has baffled us formore than 60 years, much to thedistress of nuclear physicists. Itsexistence is so essential in thesequence of reactions making lifepossible that our failure to explain itis deeply embarrassing.”The cause of this embarrassment is theassumption that the universe startedfrom nothing with a big bang explosion.This theory permits the initialformation of only sub-atomic particlesplus hydrogen and helium. All heavierelements, including carbon, must be

Cheese: teeming with microbial genetic activity.Image: Devanath, www.pixabay.com.

10

synthesised in this hot plasma. Twohelium-4 atoms might come together toform beryllium-8. If this could capturea third helium atom it might form thedesired carbon-12, except that Be-8 ishighly unstable and decays in the blinkof an eye.The only other theoretical possibilitywould be a three helium collision, butthis would be so unlikely as to be toorare to account for the presentabundance of carbon, even given aeonsof time.Our Creator didn’t need time. Hecreated time so is outside of time. Pastand future are all present with him. Hechose to make the Earth with all itselements on Day One (Genesis 1) andeverything in six days, to give us apattern of work and rest.Where something can’t be made by‘natural’ processes, Creation is the onlychoice.

29 October p.9 – Theory tweaksolves five physics problems at onceFive of the biggest fundamentalproblems in physics have been tackledby scientists at the University of Paris-Saclay in France. They are anexplanation of dark matter, neutrinooscillations, baryogenesis (the origin ofsub-atomic units leading to theformation of atoms and the whole ofmatter), inflation and the strong CPproblem. Actually, all these problemsonly arise from the big bang theory,and disappear when we accept Creation.

“For example, we don’t understanddark matter, the mysterioussubstance that makes up 84 per cent

of the universe’s mass. Nor whythere is more matter than antimatter.Nor why the universe grew sorapidly in its youth during a periodknown as inflation. The listcontinues.”

“Presumably we need some newparticles … Some models, likesupersymmetry, add hundreds ofparticles – none of which have beenspotted at colliders like the LHC.”The new theory, dubbed SMASH addssix new and undiscovered particles.They hope to be able to test the theorywithin the next 10 years or so.Don’t hold your breath!

29 October p.14 – Brains becomedesensitised to lying

“Little white lies have a tendency tosnowball. The more we lie, the moreour brains seem to becomedesensitised to deception.”A team at university College Londonran an experiment with volunteers thatencouraged them to lie.

“Brain scans showed that the first liewas associated with a burst ofactivity in the amygdalae, areasinvolved in emotional responses. Butthis activity lessened as the liesprogressed. ‘This highlights thedanger of engaging in small acts ofdishonesty’, says [team leader Tali]Sharot.Sir Walter Scott could have saved themthe bother of setting up this experiment.He knew what a tangled web we weavewhen first we practise to deceive.

‘But exhort one another daily, while it iscalled Today; lest any of you be

11

hardened through the deceitfulness ofsin.’ Heb. 3:13

5 November p.9 – Swift stays on thewing for 10 months

“Common swifts spend an astonishing10 months a year without everlanding – a world record forsustained flight, beating the alpineswift, which flies non-stop for up tosix months.

“In Europe, common swifts land for 2months to breed, spending the nightsin nests. Then they head to Africa –where no roosting sites have everbeen found – before returning toEurope 10 months later… A Swedishteam have confirmed this by fittingdata loggers on seven swifts.”Of course, this means that the birdssleep on the wing. Possibly, one half oftheir brain remains conscious, andhopefully, one eye open.It has been found that “dolphins andkiller whales go for about fourmonths without sleep after birth,with their mothers not having anysleep”.

Apart from these, the only One weknow of who neither slumbers norsleeps is He who keeps Israel!

12 November p.15 – Bats smash birdflight speed record.Swifts have another claim to fame (seeabove): The common swift, Apus apus,is the fastest bird on record, clockingup 111 km/h in level flight. (That’s 69mph for the brexiteers among us.) That,one assumes, is while they are awake!However, Brazilian free-tailed batshave achieved speeds of more than 140km/h (88 mph) in level flight, fasterthan any bird.

“The bats are well-adapted to theiraerial lifestyle. Long, narrow wings,with pointed tips help them fly fastand horizontally, and long toe hairsmay help judge speed andturbulence.”Or perhaps they were designed thatway, along with their clever trick ofnavigating using echo-location.

19 November p.10 – Our food couldsoon come from methaneThe comment on this article on the NScover reads; Protein from methanecan feed the world, giving theimpression that biomolecules can besynthesised from the naturallyoccurring chemical CH4. The realitywas more mundane. Anaerobicbacteria get their energy from methane.

“Calysta is using a bacterium calledMethylococcus capsulatus. Thebacteria are grown in vats, fedmethane, and are then dried andturned into pellets.” These could beCommon swift. Image: pau.artigas, Flickr, via Wikimedia,

goo.gl/K9emcq, under CCA-SA 2.0 licence.

12

used as food at fish farms, or even aspet food and possibly made for humanconsumption. I can’t see that catchingon.

19 November p.64 – FeedbackFeedback questions the accuracy ofsupermarket chain Waitrose’sdescription of their Himalayan pink

‘sea salt’, since it is mined such a longway inland at a high elevation, far fromany sea.They are willingly ignorant of historythat tells us that ‘the world that thenwas, being overflowed with water,perished.’

26 November p.8 – Gravity chasedlight after the big bang

“A varying speed of light solves bigproblems.”The measured temperature of theuniverse, the cosmic microwavebackground (CMB) is uniform, evenfor parts separated by many billions of

‘light years’. Heat carryingphotons, travelling at thepresent speed of light, couldnot reach these parts to shareout the heat. Conventionalphysics assumes that thisspeed is a constant, c.The fudge factor invented tosolve this problem isinflation. Perhaps, a minutepart of a second after thesupposed explosion ofeverything, the universeinflated very rapidly for ashort time. This might makefor a uniform temperature

while the universe was relatively small.However, there is no evidence tosupport inflation theory. “But wedon’t know why inflation started orstopped.”Now Canadian workers suggest that inthe early universe, light and gravitypropagated at different speeds. Fastmoving photons would allow theuniverse to reach equilibriumtemperature much more quickly. Moredata from the CMB-mapping Plancksatellite might confirm or refute thisidea.There is experimental evidence that thespeed of light was much, much fasterwhen the Creator first stretched out theheavens. We reported on this in CSMpamphlets 262 and 256. An ultra-rapidspeed of light, decreasingexponentially with time, wouldcondense time from billions of lightyears to only thousands of years sinceCreation. The idea of a decreasingspeed of light was not well received at

The Himalayas. A number of marine fossils are known from the region,notably a fossil of an extinct whale called Himalayacetus which wasfound in a layer of sediments clearly associated with marine animalsrather than freshwater species. Image: lutz6078, www.pixabay.com.

13

the time, but more recently the Institutefor Creation Research in Texas hascome to the same conclusion. Theoriginal research was done by theAustralian independent creationistBarry Setterfield, and publicised byCSM’s Malcolm Bowden.

26 November p.9 – Oceans of waterin deep Earth go 1000km down

“Earth’s mantle may contain manyoceans’ worth of water – with thedeepest 1000 kilometres down. If itwasn’t down there we should all besubmerged.

“The water is much deeper than anyseen before, at a third of the way tothe edge of Earth’s core. Its presencewas indicated by a diamond spat out90 million years ago by a volcanonear the São Luiz river in Juina,Brazil.”The diamond has a sealed inclusionwith minerals. Infrared spectroscopyshowed the presence of hydroxylgroups (OH), indicative of water.Could this be where the Flood watersreturned?

“His team has previously foundevidence of massive amounts ofwater some 600 kilometres down,mixed in with rock.

“… it is possible that Earth had waterfrom day one in the very dust androcks that first formed it.” Yes, Dayone.

26 November p.12 – Ants grow plantcities and farm tropical fruits

A Fijian ant has been found to grow andharvest fruit on the branches of varioustrees.

“First, the ants insert seeds from thefruit plant in cracks in the tree bark.Workers then patrol the plantingsites and fertilise seedlings withfaeces.

“As the plants grow, they form large,round hollow structures at their basecalled domatia that serve as nests forthe ants. When the fruit appears, theants eat the flesh and collect theseeds for future crops.

“The plants are completely dependenton the ants to cultivate and fertilisetheir seeds. And the ants cannotsurvive without the food and shelterprovided by the plants.”Could this symbiotic system haveevolved, retaining interdependence ateach step in the imagined process?

“Ants are a lot smarter then we thinkthey are.”Or maybe these insects were createdwith instincts built in by a smart Creator.

3 December p.15 – Sleep makes badmemories stick

“Don’t go to bed angry. Now there’sevidence for this proverb: it’s harderto suppress bad memories if yousleep on them.”In a study of 73 students, they wereasked to memorise mugshotsassociated with unpleasant images.They were asked to think about half theimages but to suppress thoughts of theother half. The next day (after sleepingon it) the experiment was repeated withmore nasty images, and again they

14

were asked to think over half of themwhile suppressing thoughts of the rest.Finally they were questioned on themugshots to see if they could recall theassociated horrid pics. The participantsstruggled to remember those imagesthey saw on the second day, but notthose from the first day that they hadslept on. Sleep had consolidated thememories.It had previously been found that sleepdeprivation helped to suppress badmemories and prevent conditions likepost-traumatic-stress disorder.I read somewhere: ‘Be angry and sinnot - do not let the sun go down uponyour wrath.’ Good to see the scientistscatching up with this wisdom!

3 December p.29 – Seeing reasonA quote: “Studies by Dan Kahan ofYale University have shown that, incontrast to liberals, amongconservatives it is the mostscientifically literate who are leastlikely to accept [the idea of man-made] climate change. ‘Polarisationover climate change isn’t due to alack of capacity to understand theissues,’ says Kahan. ‘Those who aremost proficient at making sense ofscientific information are the mostpolarised.’”

10 December p.10 – Tweak darkmatter to explain galaxies

“Dark matter might talk to itself. Themysterious substance that outweighsall visible matter in the cosmos mightbe best explained if it’s able to

interact with itself via an invisibleforce.”It is suggested that there is both coldand hot dark matter and that the twomay exchange energy. But not onlyAlice finds this curiouser and curiouser:

“‘It’s what the philosophers of sciencecall an auxiliary hypothesis on top ofan auxiliary hypothesis,’ he says.

‘It’s already ad hoc and we’re addingmore.’”The big bang theory might have beendumped long since, were it not that theonly alternative is Genesis 1:1.

10 December p.26 – What you areThis 10 page feature explores the massof contradictions that make up thehuman condition. It seems you are amind reader who doesn’t know yourown mind; a maths genius who doesn’tunderstand risk; biased and prejudiced,yet a member of the most supremelycooperative species on the planet. Onpage 29 you learn that you are a believer.

“Among the scientists who study thecognitive foundations of religiousbelief, there is a widespreadconsensus that atheism is only skindeep. Scratch the surface of a non-believer and you’ll find a writhingnest of superstition and quasi-religion.

“That’s because evolution hasendowed us with cognitivetendencies that, while useful forsurvival, also make us very receptiveto religious concepts…

“With all this supernaturalequipment filling our heads, atheismand scientific materialism are hard

15

work. Overriding inbuilt thoughtpatterns requires deliberate andconstant effort, plus a learnedreference guide to what is factuallycorrect and what is right and wrong.Just like a dieter tempted by adoughnut, willpower often fails us.”Then again, perhaps you are by naturea believer because the Creator madeyou in His own image. He has madeeverything beautiful in his time; alsoHe has put eternity in their heart.

17/24 December p.12 – Feathereddinosaur tail found in amber

“A piece of feathered dinosaur tailwas trapped in amber and preservedfor almost 100 million years.Individual feather fronds can beidentified as well as signs of itsoriginal colour and traces of blood.”

“The tail belonged to a small juvenilecousin of T. rex that lived in Asia.The 3.6 centimetre [1½ inch] lump ofamber was discovered in a market inMyitkyina, Myanmar, last year …”The feathers were not flight feathers,and the tiny creature may have been ayoung bird. Blood degrades wellwithin the time scale suggested.Moreover these Chinese markets arewell-known as sources of fake fossils.There is no evidence that any dinosaurever had feathers, according to birdexpert Alan Fedduccio.

From the Postbox“Honestly, had we not discovered CSMand been enabled by their work to place

our feet on the solid ground of Genesis-as-fact, I believe that sooner or laterour faith would have crumbled and wewould never have been able to pass iton to our children with the convictionthat has enabled them, thus far, not tocrumble.” J.

“We received your latest journalyesterday, and have of course devouredit from cover to cover already! Alwayscontent of great interest, as usual, butone leaflet particularly struck us withits potential use as an evangelistic tool;we refer to pamphlet 404, written byKenneth Allen. Well done, friend!”R&RB.

Stubborn secularists"We need to understand that the oldestablishment media outlets self-consciously perpetuate a secular visionof life which sees the world in terms oftwo groups of people: those whosupport a secular vision of life and whoare thereby rational and liberal, andthose who resist a secular vision of lifeand who are therefore by definitionirrational and repressive. So thevarious establishment media andjournalistic outlets are largelyincapable of understanding andinteracting with non-secularconceptions of life."S. Turley, 11 November 2016,goo.gl/ehQdsf.

16

They just don’t knowA quote kindly provided by CSMmember L.T.:

“It may be difficult to believe, but therewas a common theme to this seemingcacophony of scientific expertise anddiscovery. The theme was, 'We justdon’t know'. No one knows how lifebegan – or even how to define ‘life’, ifyou want to get all philosophical aboutit – but it’s a question of suchparamount interest and importance thatkey players in many avenues ofscientific research are willing to devotetheir time and resources to answering it.Underneath it all, it was refreshing tohear a bunch of really smart folks say

‘we don’t know’. It was humbling andput things in a grandiose perspective.No one knows how we all got to behere, but the researchers in the Originsof Life initiative and beyond are tryingto find out.”(Conclusion of a report on a one-daysymposium held at Harvard’s ScienceCenter to discuss recent progress onorigin of life research,goo.gl/z0XEFX.)

CSM on the webThe Creation Science Movement hasrecently upgraded its websitewww.csm.org.uk. It has also createdextra sites. Clicking on ‘Shop’ on thissite will take one towww.genesisexpo.org.uk, our mainInternet shop for creationist books,pamphlets, CDs and DVDs. Anothernew site, www.creationpoint.org.uk isa work in progress and will catch thosewho haven’t yet heard of us. DrCooper’s books, published by us, nowhave their own websitewww.billcooper.org.uk which will bethe first port of call for people lookingfor the Authenticity series and otherbooks by him. It will link to the CSMsites.

We are grateful to consultant Mr AlanReed and new CSM recruit Mr LeonDavey for their expertise in creatingthese outlets.

Creation Science MovementPO Box 888, Portsmouth PO6 2YD, UK

Founded 1932, Registered Charity 801745https://www.csm.org.uk

info@csm.org.uk; tel. 02392 293988www.facebook.com/Creation-Science-Movement-160127110749224/