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Every young person in school must study science. Most people would agree that a basic understanding of the workings of the human body, or disease organisms, of weather patterns, of plant biology, local ecology, of electricity, etc. are essential to anyone’s functioning successfully in modern society. Despite the relevance of these topics, many people are uninterested or afraid of studying science. As a result, in the United States, for example, we see a relatively low proficiency in this discipline in the general population. An article in the August 15, 1997 issue of the journal Science, considers why this is so. (Gregg Easterbrook. 1997. “Science and God: A Warming Trend?” Science 277 pp. 890-893) According to the article, influential scientists themselves admit two sources of the problem. firstly many students fear that science teachers will attempt to destroy their religious faith. And secondly, science, as taught seems pointless and devoid of meaning, Who would want to pursue such uninspiring material? Not too surprisingly many Christians elect to avoid it as much as possible. The scientists quoted in Easterbrook’s article, for the most part, suggested that students can have their cake and eat it too. They can retain their religious faith while at the same time adopting the views of modern secular science. In this these scientists are wrong. Many of the conclusions of secular science are incompatible with our Christian faith. This does not however mean that Christians should avoid the study of science. Far from it. It merely means that Christians must actively develop critical thinking skills. They must learn to ask probing questions. Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists have found what might have been the perfect ancient vacation hotspot with average sea water temperatures of 24C. Now that’s a warm ocean. Where? Smack in the middle of the Arctic. Several geologists recently pulled a core of sediment from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean and discovered a bygone greenhouse world. No one expected to find evidence of temperatures high enough to make Santa sweat. Read the rest of this entry »

A seahorse (family Syngnathidae, genus Hippocampus meaning “horse sea monster”) is like no other animal on earth. It is the only fish that swims upright. It is not just a fish that travels on its tightly curled tail, but its whole body is designed around how it swims. For example, its elaborate balancing mechanism uses an air bubble inside of a specially designed swim bladder to maintain upright posture. Read the rest of this entry »

Jerry Bergman. 2008. Slaughter of the Dissidents: the shocking truth about killing the careers of Darwin doubters. Leafcutter Press. pp. 477.

There are so many stories: school teachers who lost their jobs, students who did not receive their earned degrees, candidates who did not secure academic jobs, university faculty who lost their jobs or who were assigned to less meaningful work – all had one thing in common – their colleagues feared they might criticize Darwinism. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us appreciate the word “young”, especially when it is used to describe us. However there is one class of individual that does not particularly like this adjective. These are astronomers. They don’t mind looking young themselves. However they do not want to hear about phenomena in space which appear recent or young. Many astronomers believe that our solar system is billions of years old. There should not be too many phenomena (or any) in space that are of very recent origin. Read the rest of this entry »

An interesting article appeared recently in the journal Science that suggested that bumble bees have solved a problem that plant physiologists have been working on for one hundred years! It was in 1920 that plant physiologists Wightman W. Garner (1875-1956) and Harry A. Allard (1880-1963), while working with tobacco and flowering cosmos, discovered that the correct length of day is essential for the onset of flowering in these plants. They named the phenomenon “photoperiodism,” and it is an extremely important control on the beginning of the flowering process in many plants. Read the rest of this entry »

It was Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who famously said “Cogito ergo sum” or “I think, therefore I am.” Obviously thinking at that time was an activity held in high esteem. And we might suppose that thinking is a skill that we all appreciate today too. That however is not necessarily so. Consider for example the recent case of American philosopher of science Thomas Nagel. You might expect that thinking is what philosophers are paid to do. That is what Dr. Nagel thought too. Read the rest of this entry »

Anniversaries are certainly special. Everyone recognizes that, and a two hundredth anniversary definitely merits plenty of attention. So it is that Fathom Media , in conjunction with Creation Ministries International has produced a spectacular overview on the significance of Darwin’s life  (born 200 years ago) and of his famous book (published 150 years ago).  This 54 minute DVD, filmed with the best technology, combines beautiful scenery shot on location in South America and England, with dramatic re-enactments from Darwin’s life. Read the rest of this entry »

Spiders look scary and with good reason. They are all predators, you know. Their eight hairy legs and alarming mouth parts would frighten any potential victim. Although the usual victims are insects, even most people are reluctant to get too close to these creatures. Nevertheless, despite their frightening appearance, spiders are actually wonderfully designed organisms. Many species effortlessly produce an amazing product — spider silk. For forty years, scientists working for the American military, have sought to produce something like spider silk. Apparently this material is, by weight, five times stronger than steel. the military would love to use it for bullet proof vests, for parachutes, tents and surgical dressings. Until very recently however, all that the scientists produced was useless blobs. The spider, on the other hand, turns special proteins into as many as seven kinds of silk. The best plan would have been to let the spider do all that for us as well as for herself. Spider farming would have been fine, except that these fierce predators ate each other up. So it was back to the drawing board. Read the rest of this entry »

Many people think we can depend upon scientists to draw dependable conclusions. Recent events in the field of environmental science however, throw some interesting light on this issue. When it is evident that a mistake has been made, do scientists change their minds? Not necessarily. The story of atmospheric ozone and the Montreal Protocol, is a case in point. Read the rest of this entry »

The Creation Science Association of Alberta is delighted to announce that geologist Dr. Steven Austin has agreed to come to Edmonton for the November 7/09 weekend. He has agreed to deliver three lectures on the Saturday and also, we expect, one on the Friday evening, in a format much like the hugely successful event with Dr. Kurt Wise, this past fall.  Get the latest here. Read the rest of this entry »

As a teenager I was active in the Boy Scouts, and in lower levels of school I had an interest in science and math. I was a radioman in the US Navy during the Second World War, and in college I majored in zoology with very strong concentrations in Bible and chemistry. Read the rest of this entry »

This is not exactly recent news, but the one hundredth birthday of evolutionist Ernst Mayr draws renewed attention to it. Within the past thirty years, the standard view of evolution theory has been shown to be woefully inadequate. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever wished that you could rewrite an event in your life? It happens to all of us once in a while, of course. However the results are a little worse when something has been published. It’s harder to imagine that the event never happened. Thus it was in 1999 that some palaeontologists positioned themselves far out on a limb (metaphorically speaking), and in early 2000 somebody cut the branch off. Oooops…… Read the rest of this entry »

The newest title in the highly successful “Wonders of Creation Series” is The Archaeology Book by David Down. Just published in February 2010, this book includes a new multi-age format. Each chapter provides introductory material suitable for grades 5-6, elaboration on the topic which is suitable for grades 7-8, and further details which raise questions concerning controversial issues such as dating techniques. This latter section is provided for grades 9-11 or other interested readers. Read the rest of this entry »