Introductory

Check the Lobster Lips

Have you ever discovered something new, like a new recipe, a new and better way to carry out a task, or a new object in the sky? Whether you have invented a device which will make you rich, or whether you have identified a new phenomenon in nature, the joy of discovery is a reward in itself. When it comes to identifying new organisms, many people have turned their attention to the rain forest. New plants and new animals, often insects, are routinely described from that part of the world. Deep sea divers have also encountered some very strange creatures from the ocean depths. The sea between Denmark and Sweden, however has been fished for many centuries. We would not expect to find any new creatures in those cold waters, would we? Read the rest of this entry »

Chemical Delights

As a rule, scientists seek answers. They want to answer the “why” questions. Why, for example, are plants green? Why is blood red? These are very simple queries compared to the biggies like why does quantum physics work. Nevertheless, believe it or not , we are as far from answering why chlorophyll is green, and blood cells are red, as we are from explaining quantum mechanics. Two commentators in fact recently termed the reason blood is red a “visual pun of molecular wit.” (Morrison and Morrison. 1998. Scientific American. March p. 106) The explanation for colour in chlorophyll is similarly obscure. The situation becomes even more interesting when we discover that chlorophyll and the heme component of hemoglobin are chemically extremely similar . Read the rest of this entry »

Cleaning up in ponds

Some things in nature are so unexpected that our reaction can only be one of wonder or amazement. Did you know that some plants, innocent in appearance, but vicious in character, lurk in ponds throughout the world? These plants attract, catch and eat aquatic insects, water fleas and young tadpoles, fish fry, tiny worms and very young insect larvae including mosquito wrigglers. Read the rest of this entry »

Clever Plans in Plants

Have you ever read The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl? It is such a fun story! Even grown ups laugh about this nasty scheming reptile who keeps devising new and ingenious ways to catch children for his supper. He describes his schemes as “secret plans and clever tricks.” Various jungle animals however foil each sneaky plan and the nasty croc eventually gets launched by an elephant into outer space. Read the rest of this entry »

Cold Light, Cold Courtship

Imagine a June evening in south central Canada or the nearby United States. As dusk deepens, tiny dots of light appear on bushes, grass or in the air. The tiny lights seem to flash in code. These remarkable lights are fireflies. The more we learn about these insects, the more amazing they appear. This is certainly not a case of familiarity breeding contempt. Adult fireflies are beetles, but unusual beetles. They possess the ability to produce light within their bodies. The adult phase, which many of us have seen, is short and spectacular. Most adult fireflies last only a few days and their principal purpose is to reproduce. Read the rest of this entry »

Comparative Youth

When I say I’m young, people laugh! Well, I am young, compared to lots of things: the pyramids of Egypt, for example. Whether an object or person is young or old, you see, depends upon what you are comparing. Even thousands of years can be young in the right context. For example, I read recently in Scientific American that the rings of the planet Saturn are “young”. In that case, astronomers were not comparing these rings to the ages of any of us living today, but rather to evolutionary ideas about the solar system. Most astronomers imagine that the solar system is billions of years old. However the ring systems around several planets in our solar system may be only “several thousand years” (Joseph Burns et al. 2002. Scientific American 286 #2 p. 73). That’s a huge difference. But why do we care? What do several zeros (or not) at the end of a number matter anyway? The problem for secular scientists is to explain how young rings came to be around “old” planets. The alternative, of course, is to conclude that both the planets and the rings are young. Read the rest of this entry »

Completing the Picture

Margaret Helder
Paperback / $12.00 / 137 pages / line drawings
Full of interesting details about dinosaurs and the fossils of unusual sea creatures (animals without back bones), the discussion is presented at two levels: junior high and adult. So take your pick which section you prefer, or read the one after the other. Excellent food for thought.

Creation Diary

November 13, 2004, a beautiful fall morning, found me driving south to Red Deer to hear John McKay of Australia. He has been described as a veteran creation geology expert and a walking encyclopedia of creation knowledge. With accolades like that, I was excited about this opportunity to learn. This man’s father was a Scottish lawyer, so he joked that he learned how to argue while very young. Read the rest of this entry »

Creation Diary

What a glorious occasion it was. On Tuesday, November 9th, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Vij Sodera, a surgeon from the United Kingdom, speak on “Human Fossils: the myth of evolution from apes.”

As a medical doctor, Vij Sodera compared various skeletons that have been found, and concluded there is no evidence for evolution. The artifacts represent either apes or humans, but there are no missing links or transitional forms. Of special interest to me were two aspects of the discussion: one on skulls and the other on feet. Read the rest of this entry »

Creation Weekend – How Creation Defeats the Challenges of Evolution!

For close to 40 years now, the Creation Science Association of Alberta has brought interesting and qualified speakers to the province. In keeping with this excellent tradition, biologist Dr. Jerry Bergman is scheduled to speak in Edmonton on October 14 and 15, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

Creation Weekend: Inspiring and Fun

Not surprisingly, with an upbeat and exciting speaker, the audiences at our Creation Weekend sessions in October 2012 were large and enthusiastic. The final session ended with a standing ovation, which is most unusual for a lecture. So it was that David Coppedge of Santa Clarita, provided amazing illustrations, interesting information and profound insights. Read the rest of this entry »

Déjà Vu Again

The genius of the English language, many people say, is that it freely borrows from other languages. For example, the term “déjà vu” is French and it means “already seen.” We might more readily say “been there, done that!” Another equivalent expression is “nothing new under the sun.” Indeed some things are just so-o-o-o predictable. Among current events, none seems more aptly connected to the term déjà vu than the resistance of established scientists to criticism, any criticism, of their views. Read the rest of this entry »

Designer Originals

We humans are proud of our accomplishments in science, technology, the arts, and music. And, we have a right to be proud: the technological wonders of the last century have radically changed our world and benefited us enormously. While basking in our accomplishments, though, it behooves us to acknowledge the fact that we have used the natural world as a model for many of our achievements. Many scientists spend a lifetime studying and learning from the wisdom expressed everywhere in creation. In the fields of “engineering, chemistry, ballistics, aerodynamics – in fact in almost every area of human endeavor – nature has been there first” and the natural world is “infinitely more economical of resources and generally superior in performance” than our best efforts (Felix Paturi. 1976. Nature, Mother of Invention. Harper & Row p. 1). Read the rest of this entry »

Diatoms: Jewels of the Marine World

Diatoms are a major group of plants which float in open water, and they are one of the most successful types of microscopic algae known. The estimated over 100,000 known species are found in the oceans, in freshwater, in soils and even on damp surfaces. Most diatoms are unicellular, although some can form colonies in the shape of long filaments or ribbons. As eukaryotes or cells with a nucleus, they have highly complex cells, comparable to other eukaryotes such as mammals and even humans (Philippe, et al., 1994, Journal of Evolutionary Biology 7: 247). Read the rest of this entry »

Dinosaurs by Design

Duane T. Gish
Hardcover / $18.00 / 88 pages / full colour drawings
Divided into three sections: a discussion of dinosaur fossils in general, where and when they lived, early fossil discoveries and how to excavate such specimens. Secondly, specific details about many popular dinosaur species: their size, location of fossils and other interesting facts. The last section includes discussions of these creatures in the context of Biblical revelation. For youngsters aged 8 – 14.