Articles » Intermediate

Junior high and high school students wonder what difference it makes whether the universe came about through a long process or whether God spoke all things into existence a relatively short time ago. The main thing, many suggest, is that we are here. Details are irrelevant, so why the big fuss over origins? Read the rest of this entry »

I really hate to admit it, but in certain situations I am old fashioned! In the good old days, biology students were taught about living organisms. We learned the appearance, life cycles and ecological preferences of various groups of plants, animals, fungi and microbes. Read the rest of this entry »

Dinosaur books are everywhere. There is no doubt about that. And you might well suppose that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to discussions about dinosaurs. However Albertan Vance Nelson of Creation Truth Ministries has achieved the seemingly impossible. His argument about dinosaurs is new and fascinating. And the book is magnificent with beautiful illustrations from sites around the world. Also there are wonderful dinosaur reconstructions based on the latest scientific information.  Read the rest of this entry »

While we may be aware of wonderful living creatures, we seldom reflect on the blessings of the material world. But the apostle Paul, way back in New Testament times in Lystra, assured his pagan audience that God provides favourable natural conditions to draw attention to himself.  While God uses material blessings to draw attention to himself, some people wonder whether evolution can be included under the umbrella of God’s providential design. Since evolution is by definition a process that involves only matter and energy, then the evolutionary process can never involve foresight or design which are non-material.  When we look at life however, we see features which demonstrate intelligent purpose and planning, thereby pointing to the work of God. Read the rest of this entry »

It was in 1909 that Charles Walcott of the Smithsonian Institution, noticed an unusual fossil in Canada’s Rocky Mountains in Yoho National Park. It was the discoloured, extremely thin remains of a soft-bodied marine creature. Now wait a minute, he must have thought! What we normally find as fossils are the hard parts such as shell or bone from once living creatures. Naturally intrigued, Walcott returned to British Columbia for several summers. He found a whole collection of soft bodied creatures previously unknown to science. Read the rest of this entry »

Once the heady days of the moon landings had faded into history, many people grew bored with space exploration. Some Christians even concluded that the main objectives were atheistic or evolution-based anyway, so why should we support such endeavours?

It is certainly true that the main objectives for exploration of the solar system are based on evolutionary preconceptions. According to longtime NASA scientist Dr. Robert Jastrow, exploration of the moon initially did not seem very interesting to the NASA planners. In his 1989 book Journey to the Stars, Dr. Jastrow declares that the top people at NASA “were not terribly interested in the moon at that time, in fact, from a scientific point of view they did not know it existed …” (p 12). This was certainly strange when one considers that the mandate for the fledgling organization was to launch the US into space as soon as possible, and to explore what was there. Read the rest of this entry »

There are a lot of books on Darwin in existence, and these tend to idolize him. This book is quite different. It is undoubtedly a major contribution to the history of science. Even if you already know a lot about Darwin, you will learn something new. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a popular saying: “I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” These remarks are generally attributed to Voltaire (Francois- Marie Arouet 1694-1778) in pre-revolution France. Today in most western countries, citizens expect these sentiments to be foundational to democracy. Some recent events in the United States however cause many to wonder if people really are entitled to express their own interpretations in matters relating to science. Read the rest of this entry »

Book Review –
Darwin’s Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished
Reviewed by Margaret Helder

A project which has produced a delightful read on Darwin’s life, views and impact, began many years ago when an undergraduate student, out of curiosity, dipped into a new volume in his university library. This volume was the first in a lengthy series from Cambridge University Press. These volumes contained the correspondence, both to and from, of Charles Darwin. Thus hooked on these communications, Robert Shedinger, who was majoring in a general arts degree, began a 40 years long research project on Charles Darwin’s thoughts and actions. Astonished by what he found, Robert Shedinger now shares the results of his research. His book, Darwin’s Bluff, can’t fail to interest everyone.

Some people may wonder why we pay so much attention to fossils. These artifacts, of course, are the traces preserved in rock, of organisms that lived some time in the past. Well why do we concern ourselves so much about organisms which are dead and gone? After all, human biology, the environment, the wonderful diversity of organisms alive today, and new products and machines are interesting enough and of current value besides. Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps one of the most famous books in the western world is Darwin’s Origin of Species, published in 1859. Most people with an interest in science, will remember that 2009, the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the publication of this book, was marked by  celebrations which were frequent and fervent. It seems fair to ask therefore precisely why this book merits such attention. Read the rest of this entry »

Biology is a changed discipline since the advent of the human genome project. Now scientists have detailed molecular DNA codes for many important organisms. DNA, of course, is the genetic information which provides for inheritance, development and mature life processes of each organism. Read the rest of this entry »

The study of science really was a lot less complicated a generation or so ago. What we knew about the planets in our solar system, for example, was short and sweet. The planets basically had location, size and mass, rings or no rings, moons and names. That wasn’t too hard to learn. Since the advent of the space age however we have discovered a wealth of exciting new information. Every planet is different not only in appearance from all the other planets, but also in important physical characteristics. Three planets (Venus, Uranus and Pluto) spin in a backwards (retrograde) direction as do a few moons. In addition the axis of rotation for Uranus is tipped so steeply that it is basically spinning sideways. Moreover four gaseous planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, all exhibit magnetic fields just as Earth does. The orientation of the field however with these giants is exactly opposite to that on earth. A compass on any of the four Jovian planets would point southward. Evidently the solar system is becoming more complicated with the launch of each additional probe. Read the rest of this entry »

It is unusual in science to find most experts anxious to destroy the reigning paradigm. This however is the situation in physics where just about everyone is anxious to “break” the “frustratingly successful standard model” (Nature September 11/08 p. 156). This model “describes every known form of matter, from individual atoms to the farthest galaxies” (p. 156) and also three of the four fundamental forces in nature. The data to develop the Standard Model were collected from fancy particle smashing experiments. One might imagine that these scientists would be pleased with such a successful model, but they are not. The mathematics behind the model does not suit their philosophical assumptions. Read the rest of this entry »

If bats were prettier to look at, we might appreciate their amazing talents more. The fact is that bats exhibit some astonishing design features which our engineers and technologists really envy. Traditionally scientists have grouped bats according to their food preferences. There are the fruit bats with good eyesight, the insect consuming, echolocating bats and the vampire or blood consuming bats. Further research has revealed how amazingly these animals are designed for their life styles. Such studies have also revealed that the old fashioned ways of categorizing the creatures according to lifestyle and physical appearance do not really work. This has had some serious implications for ideas concerning whether Darwinian evolution could ever work or not.  Read the rest of this entry »