38, Number 4
March , 2002
La Brea Tar Pits: An Introductory History (17691969)
In the first two decades of the twentieth century, hundreds of thousands of fossils were excavated from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits. Prior to that time, these pits were unknown. When Spanish settlers first arrived in the area of Los Angeles in the eighteenth century, they found a number of tar springs located in the middle of a large plain at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains. Surrounding the springs was a scattering of animal bones visibly embedded within a layer of asphalt. It was not until the mid 1870s that people began to realize the remote antiquity of these bones. Soon after exploratory excavations began in the early 1900s, scientists were finding tar pits containing large numbers of fossils.
The conventional explanation for the occurrence of these fossils is that thirsty birds and mammals, deceived by water-filled pools of tar, had blundered into these viscous traps and died in them. Although widely accepted, the entrapment theory has failed to give convincing answers to some key evidentiary questions, including the physical characteristics of tar pits, the fragmentation and chaotic intermingling of the bones, and the numerical preponderance of the carnivores. Since these issues cannot be adequately resolved by the entrapment theory, then a new explanation is needed. The evidence seems to be pointing toward the possibility of a single catastrophic flood as the agent for fossil deposition at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Why Mutations are Lethal to Darwinism
The primary means by which evolution is believed to occur are mutations, independent assortment of genes, gene shuffling and natural selection. Mutations are non-directed DNA changes that can be expressed in the offsprings phenotype and passed on to the organisms progeny. Unrepaired mutational genetic changes are relatively rare, however, occurring only about once per billion DNA bases. For natural selection to operate, there would need to be biological variants from which to select, and these differences must ultimately be provided only by mutations in the macroevolutionary scenario. A review of many types of mutations, however, indicates that they cannot provide the raw material necessary for natural selection for various reasons. Consequently, evolutionary naturalism still lacks a mechanism to produce new information and biological novelty.
Don B. DeYoung
For mankind as well as for the animal world, eyesight is a compelling testimony to creative design. Continuing research reveals the complexity of vision for every creature, whether living in the past or present. This article reviews recent studies of eyesight in people, trilobites, parasites, and dinosaurs.
The Crucial Importance of Epistemology and Correctly
for the Cause of Creation and Intelligent Design
Robert E. Kofahl
In the creation/evolution debate much misunderstanding and error arise from differing definitions of science and conflicting epistemologies. Creationists rightly hold secularists guilty of distorting the definition of science by injecting it with their epistemology and their assumption of a closed materialistic universe. Conversely, some Christians would inject their belief in God and His miraculous works into scientific hypotheses, calling it theistic science. Some in the Intelligent Design (ID) movement develop this further, classifying intelligent design as a scientific concept. The application of philosopher of science Karl Poppers criterion of demarcation and the process of conjectures and refutations is proposed to correct these errors.