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Have you ever seen a plant growing inside a cage? We saw such a sight at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia. It makes you stop and think doesn’t it? Is the cage there to protect the tree or to protect the people? Is this some sort of carnivorous threat or what? The little evergreen tree inside the cage is actually a very non-threatening 50 cm tall. The cage is there to prevent anyone from running off with the rarest known tree species on earth. The existence of this highly unusual tree, known as the Wollemi Pine, was just discovered in late 1994. Scientists are still dancing with delight. Read the rest of this entry »

The giant panda, one of the most popular and lovable zoo animals, is in the top ten of animal favourites. Called a super large teddy-bear, the panda has appeared as toys and dolls, on calendars, and thousands of other items. Reasons why it is so popular include its cute baby bear face, its cuddly soft roundness, and its clumsy playfulness. It was called a white bear for years because it has black fur on its legs, ears and around its eyes on an otherwise white body. Read the rest of this entry »

Pelicans are large water birds with a giant throat pouch designed for storing fish catches. This feature makes pelicans unique compared to all other birds (Burton, M and R. 1977. Inside the World Animal World. Quadrangle). The pelican’s famous foot-long bill, the longest of any living bird, can hold a hundred or more fish (Scott, J. 1975. That Wonderful Pelican. Putnam). The volume of its full bill is up to 11.4 liters, (3 gallons), a size larger than that of most entire birds (Fitzgerald, D. B. 2010. A Critical Evaluation of Origin of Species. TEACH Services, Inc. p. 35). It has a specially designed bone and muscle system it uses to operate its beak and pouch. The pouch normally folds conveniently under its bill, but expands when fishing. These versatile fishermen can scoop up fish with their bills and can store them in their pouch, which can stretch many times their original size.  Read the rest of this entry »

It seems almost too amazing to contemplate. Measured from its antennae, Pioneer 10 extends less than 3 m (9 feet) and weighs about 270 kg (570 lb.). Its power comes from four nuclear generators each of which provided only 40 watts at launch, 29 years ago. Now that spacecraft is almost 12 billion km alway (7 billion miles). Despite the immense distance and the tiny onboard power source, a message from Pioneer 10 was successfully detected on April 28/01 by a tracking station in Spain. Some people might wonder how signals from Pioneer 10 are recognized from so far away. Apparently there is a new analytical technique based on chaos theory, which may enable scientists to sift real signals out of background noise. Read the rest of this entry »

Nature is so full of wonderful creatures that it must be hard to focus on one for special study. However in recent years, a strange assortment of animals have enjoyed a brief moment of scientific attention. In each case the occasion for this special fame was the publication of the genome of that organism. The genome consists of details concerning the DNA molecules in each cell of the organism. DNA, or the genetic information, is made up of four special molecules (called nucleotides) strung together. It is the order of the nucleotides, like beads on a string, which determines the information content of the DNA for each particular organism. 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 »

We have seen scientists in the past, like famous evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould, who declared that “science” and “ethics” including religion, were separate issues, each with their own spheres of influence. The implication was that everyone should be free to support the philosophy of one’s choice. Well that was then, and this is now. Today, with ethical issues as with everything else, it seems there is only one respectable position, that of the secular scientist. To support any other views is to fight “all of science.” Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever noticed that everybody seems to place a high value on problem solving? I can well imagine one’s mother saying “This room is way too messy! How are you going to manage your clothes, toys, electronic gadgets (or whatever) so that this does not happen again?” She clearly expects you to come up with a plan and to follow it! Possibly you may come up with some way to organize your treasures in order to keep mum happy. 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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Have you ever wondered how this transformation takes place?  The caterpillar makes his cocoon (or chrysalis) and out pops the butterfly – pretty simple, right?  Simple – until you realize that nearly every single organ in the caterpillar body is destroyed and then remade into a beautiful butterfly.  Eat leaves? Now change your diet to drinking nectar.  Those tiny suction-cupped feet?  Forget those – now you can fly with wings that make the whole world envious of your beauty.  Read the rest of this entry »

Some years ago during the summer, I was a counselor at a small camp in southeastern Quebec. Nature interpretation was my specialty. It was dark each evening by the time the campers converged on the washroom after campfire. The lights of that building attracted all manner of creepy crawlies. Frequently at this time I would hear a shout “Moxie, Moxie — what is this thing in the washroom?” Read the rest of this entry »

When we study nature, it is probably a good idea to expect the unexpected.

Certainly the richness and variety of living creatures can never fail to amaze us. One fascinating situation involves certain parasites or disease causing organisms. In several cases, a parasite passes through two entirely different kinds of host in order to continue its nasty parasitic existence. Not only are these situations fascinating, but biologists are mystified how these relationships could ever have developed. 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 »

Creation Weekend 2022 represented yet another experiment in our efforts to bring the presentations of featured speakers before a far-flung audience. Obviously live events are the ideal, when people can meet, share concerns, examine resources at first-hand, and engage the speaker in face-to-face conversation. But even online, the audience enjoys the speaker’s message and still has the opportunity to ask questions. In these uncertain times therefore, Creation Science Association of Alberta elected to provide a hybrid event.

Imagine a dinosaur being swept far out to sea. It might seem like a crazy idea, but it appears that such an event happened in many places. The story however becomes even more amazing when we learn that these victims were unusually heavy creatures for their size, the kind that would be expected to sink like a stone once they were in water over their heads.  To some, the story may not come as a complete surprise however. Way back in the dark ages, for example in the spring of 1995, an item appeared in Dialogue. In part, it ran as follows…… Read the rest of this entry »