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Marcus Ross has loved paleontology, and especially dinosaurs, since he was a kid growing up in Rhode Island. His twin passions of Christianity and science have provided some amazing opportunities along the way!

Marcus began his formal studies in geology at the Pennsylvania State University, where he earned a B.S. in Earth Science. It was there that he also began his early work in creation science, writing articles and leading a student creation club on campus. Following graduation, he continued his studies with a M.S. in Vertebrate Paleontology from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and later a Ph.D. in Environmental Science (Geoscience) from the University of Rhode Island. His dissertation research focused on the fossil record of mosasaurs, a group of large marine-dwelling lizards known from upper Cretaceous rocks around the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Canada’s is proud of her connection with some great inventors, although sometimes the connection is a little remote. Consider the story of Guglielmo Marconi’s invention of wireless communication (radio). He spent only three weeks in St. John’s Newfoundland, but he made the city famous nonetheless. It was in mid-December 1901 that Marconi successfully received signals sent by collaborators from Cornwall, England, a distance of 3430 km (2100 miles). Within a few days Canada concluded an agreement with the inventor for the construction of a wireless communication station in Cape Breton. This provided him with a subsidized monopoly. Marconi then left Canada and the rest is history. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most abundant wild mammals living in moderate latitudes is the common squirrel. Squirrels thrive in almost every habitat, from tropical rainforest to semiarid desert. They avoid only the cold polar regions and the driest deserts. Squirrels are also one of the very few mammals that thrive in cosmopolitan areas. Some wild squirrels have even become pets of a sort, or at least comfortable around people, if the human is patient and not aggressive towards the animal (Rose, 2014). As two of the leading squirrel authorities observed, “one can only marvel at how well adapted squirrels are to exploiting a forested environment” and, one could add, an urban environment as well (Steele and Koprowski, 2001, p. 11). Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of people in these COVID times, especially young people, are growing tired of the same old scene, the same four walls, the same view out the windows. No matter how beautiful the scene, it soon ceases to interest us if that is all we see. Nevertheless, even in our same old environments, it is still possible to maintain the flame of interest in the creation. Some young people in Alberta recently shared with me some of their interests in the creation. Clearly their stories show how they are keeping their interests alive. Indeed, these stories can help enhance our appreciation of the creation too. Read the rest of this entry »

Versatile and Beautiful

Have you ever noticed how beautiful objects are which are made of wood? The people of Bible times also appreciated and used beautiful wood. The ancient Phoenicians (Canaanites) exported cedar wood for temples and palaces of many contemporary empires. One of their more famous customers was the Assyrian Sennacherib (about 700 B.C.) who commissioned two fleets of ships to be built from the cedars of Lebanon, one for the Tigris River and the other on the Euphrates River. King David himself made extensive use of cedar wood in his palace and his son, Solomon, proved to be even more enthusiastic about the cedars of Lebanon (Cedrus labani). Solomon promised massive payments to his friend and father-in-law King Hiram of Tyre in return for importing cedar trees for the temple. Much later, the Romans sought cedar wood from Lebanon for their own ships. However, Emperor Hadrian cautioned against over-exploiting this resource. Unfortunately, nobody listened and few of these trees remain today. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a fascination with living organisms that closely resemble fossils dated at millions of years old. The classic definition of a living fossil is an extant organism that closely resembles fossil specimens.

In 1938 Miss Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer of South Africa recognized that among recently caught fish, one specimen was unfamiliar. It turned out to be “the only living member of an ancient group of lobe-finned fishes that was known previously only from fossils and believed to have been extinct since the Late Cretaceous period approximately 70 million years ago (Myr ago)”¹ Much later, in 1997, a second species of this fish was discovered in the seas around Indonesia. The two species were named Latimeria chalumnae and L. menadoensis respectively. Read the rest of this entry »

For almost everyone, the year 2020 has certainly presented obstacles to our normal tasks and social gatherings. So it was that CSAA, like many Christian organizations, found that an on-line fall program offered the best hope of sharing our message. Blessed with someone on our team with expert computer skills, the appropriate programs were selected to make the event possible and professional. When David Coppedge of southern California agreed to be our speaker, we were so pleased! All the pieces of the organizational puzzle had fallen into place. One benefit of an on-line event, we discovered, was that people from as far away as Ontario and B.C., were able to enjoy the program. Read the rest of this entry »

It was a surprise to read in the September 17 issue of Nature¹ that fruit flies have some interesting things to teach us in the field of technological applications of extremely thin protective coatings.

For this story, we focus on their beautiful red eyes. Like all insects, fruit flies have compound eyes consisting of multiple miniature light receptors which focus on one spot at the back of the eye. We immediately notice that these compound eyes tend to bulge outward, or at least they are highly exposed. There are no eyelids to protect them from damage and/or to protect them from glare. It was back in the 1960s and 1970s that biologists began to notice that insect eyes seem to have some protection after all. Depending upon the lifestyle of the insect, their eyes seem to have anti-reflective or anti-adhesive protection. An anti-reflective coating allows more light to be transmitted through a transparent layer than would normally occur.  And an anti-adhesion coating repels water from such a surface. Read the rest of this entry »

Pterosaurs (Greek pteron and sauros, meaning “wing lizard”) are constructed from a combination of the characteristics of mammals, birds and dinosaurs with one of the weirdest looking beaks possible added on. This example points to the problem of taxonomy, the science of classifying life. Pterosaurs fly like birds and can flap their “wings” like a bird. They also can soar like an eagle using bat-like wings made from a flap of skin stretched between their body and a long fourth finger called the wing finger. They also have many body traits like dinosaurs. For this reason, they are often referred to as flying dinosaurs, or dragons of the air (Unwin, 2006, p. 2). Ironically, they are classified as reptiles likely because birds supposedly evolved after them.

Pterosaurs were first discovered in 1784 in the German Solnhofen limestone quarries. This is the same location where another strange creature, Archaeopteryx, originally identified as a pterosaur, was found (Clarey, 2015, p. 66). Twenty-nine pterosaur species, over 26% of the 110 pterosaur species currently known (in about 85 genera), have been found in Solnhofen limestone quarries alone.

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Creation Science Association of Albert is delighted to present David Coppedge as the featured speaker for our Creation Weekend 2020. Due to the COVID 19 restrictions, Creation Weekend will be a one evening online event this year.  David Coppedge was exceptionally well received with his presentations in Edmonton in 2012. Now in 2020, his return promises another tour de force with a presentation entitled Creation is Awe Inspiring! This event will take place on Friday evening, October 23, 2020 at 7:30 pm. To participate in this session, register at www.create.ab.ca/register.  Once you register you will receive a confirmation email, and closer to the event you will receive an email with further details. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Jerry Bergman, who needs no introduction to readers of Dialogue, is the author of a delightful new book for families and animal-lovers and all who enjoy fascinating details from nature. Readers of Dialogue, for more than fifteen years, have been blessed with little known insights into some well-known creatures. His new book Wonderful and Bizarre Life Forms and Creation is a collection of the “best of Bergman” from Dialogue plus a few completely new chapters. The twenty-three chapters present each creature with pictures and highlights. This is an attractive and well documented book in full colour, which will inspire much reflection and discussion. Many will want to buy several copies, one for personal use, and others for those special people in their lives! Read the rest of this entry »

One family, with one child in high school, one in junior high and one in elementary school, were going to start with just one video clip from Michael Behe. The idea was, like the thin edge of the wedge, to first catch their attention. But everyone was so intrigued, that they watched all five episodes in one sitting! Read the rest of this entry »

Highly divisive issues are rocking our society today and as Christians, we need insights into where these ideas are coming from, and what they mean for us and our children. There are few issues of greater interest to modern society than the environment. Christians therefore cannot allow themselves to remain ignorant on this topic.

With travel opportunities and wonderful photography from every continent, we cannot fail to be aware of the beauty and diversity in nature. Naturally Christians, like many others, appreciate and value our beautiful surroundings. It is no surprise then, that we hear a lot about the environment. But is the popular message a good one? Journalists, politicians and scientists are promoting big changes to our society in the name of environmental preservation. For example, two individuals from a Canadian think tank dedicated to promoting “climate and social justice”, wrote in a recent opinion piece: “The Green New Deal is capturing people’s imaginations and reframing the climate debate that builds on a ground swell of support for a major social and economic shift.” (Maude Barlow and Dylan Penner. July 12, 2019 Edmonton Journal). Read the rest of this entry »

A careful examination of objects by both telescopes and microscopes reveals a major contrast between human-constructed objects and those designed by the Creator.  Human made objects, such as a watch, reveal more imperfections as the magnification by which they are viewed is increased.  An old-fashioned gear watch is an object of beauty when viewed by the naked eye.  Under the microscope, though, the flaws in the machining process become more apparent until, under high power, a watch looks not only imperfect, but crude.

In contrast, increasing magnification of the natural world reveals new detail and perfection.  Read the rest of this entry »

Pangolins are some of the strangest animals you will likely ever see. They are covered with scales like reptiles and look like a cross between anteaters and armadillos (Kierst, 2013). Because they are like no other animal, they were put in their own taxonomic order called Pholidota, Greek for “horny scale” (Benton, 2005, p. 348). Their tough, overlapping, reptile-protective keratin scales cause it to look like a giant pinecone with a long, thin reptilian tail. Its profile looks very much like a miniature dinosaur and nothing like the mammal it is. It is a mammal because they give birth to live young that suckle mammary glands  as infants (Johnson, 2001, p. 31).

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