Alec's Evolution Pages with scientific evidence for evolution and refutations of creationist arguments

This site contains essays and articles which present some of the scientific evidence for evolution. It also contains refutations and critiques of creationist arguments and creationism. Check out our links and resources

Welcome to Evolution pages

Taking the side of science in the Evolution v Creation debate

Guy Berthault refuted

Reply to Wieland - no biblical Eve in science

Support for Big Bang theory

Rebuttal of Creationist Open Letter

CMB anistropy in false colour. Reported on-line here

Michael Ruse essay: 'Teach Science and nothing more' in science classes

The errors of Geocentrism

Rebuttal of Cardinal Schönborn

Guy Berthault's work: revolutionary geology or extravagant hubris?

- go here

Contact me

Recent Science Publications

A different kind of transitional

Carsonella rudii, a bacterium that lives in symbiosis in the cells of a certain kind of plant-sap drinking insect, is so reduced and so utterly dependent on its host nuclear genome that it can be regarded as a transition between a symbiont and an organelle (like mitochondria). It is a genuine transitional on its way from bacterium to organelle. Never let creationists tell you that there are no transitionals. Go here to see the full story

Fossil of fish to amphibian transition discovered

An excellent set of fossils that cover the transition of water dwelling fish to modern tetrapods already exist, but a new find, Tiktaalik roseae, shows some remarkable transitional features such as robust front limbs fringed by fin rays instead of digits.

One particular gap has been between the Middle Devonian Eusthenopteron, a fish with some transitional features and the earliest known tetrapods, Acanthostega and Icthyostega. Tiktaalik, dated at 382 million years ago, falls into this gap, and shows many more transitional features, including robust fins that are capable of supporting the body, transitional patterning of the bones of the pectoral fin, a spine and ribcage capable of supporting the weight of the animal and significant features in the skull such as loss of the gill cover and a longer snout.

Daeschler et al, Nature 440, 757–763 (2006).

Shubin et al, Nature 440, 764–771 (2006).

Anatomically modern humans from Kibish oldest known

The OMO I and OMO II specimens from Kibish Etiopia were discovered in 1967. Dating them has proven difficult, although for many years a tentative date of 130,000 years BP made them the oldest known anatomically modern humans.

Now , in Nature 433, 733 - 736 (2005), McDougall et al use new data from sapropels in the Kibish Formation to put an age on these specimens of 195 ± 5 kyr, extending the age of anatomically modern humans back a further 40,000 years beyond the Herto specimens

Go here for the abstract

Amazing new human species found - dwarf human on Flores

In Nature 431, 1055 - 1061, Brown et al report the amazing discovery of a new hominin, a tiny human that stood only a metre high, and that appears to have lived as recently as 18,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Flores..It has a combination of primitive and derived features that assign it to a new species, Homo floresiensis.

Go here for the abstract.

Study of Archaeopteryx brain and inner ear confirm they are transitional between dinosaurs and modern birds

In Nature 430, 666 - 669, (2004), Alonso et al) study the brain and inner ear of Archaeopteryx. They find that the brain and ear lie midway between that of dinosaurs and birds. They report that : 'birds with the same body mass as Archaeopteryx have from one third to five times bigger brains. However, the brain of Archaeopteryx is about three times the volume of those of non-avian reptiles of equivalent size.'

Also data is presented in graphic form that shows that Archaeopteryx semicircular canals have a form that is midway between dinosaurs and birds

Archive of News Items

Click here to go to archive

Guy Berthault is hailed by the YEC community who claim that his work on sedimentation undermines modern geology and the idea of an Old Earth. Go here for a rebuttal.

Carl Wieland published an article on 'Answers in Genesis' claiming that the Miitochondrial Eve concept supported a literal biblical Eve dated at 6,500 years ago. He is wrong and I pointed that out in this article. He responded to this with a reply of his own. Go here to see why Carl Wieland is misinformed about the science and mistaken in his conclusion. The Mitochondrial Eve concept does not support the bible. Now updated.

Christoph Schönborn, Cardinal of the Catholic Church, and Archbishop of Vienna, has been causing controversy amongst the faithful and non-Catholics alike since his article supporting the Intelligent Design movement and attacking the biological Theory of Evolution was published in the New York Times. He has now published an article, ‘The Designs of Science’, in which he seeks to clarify and expand the New York Times piece. Go here for a rebuttal

Observations support Big Bang cosmology

Third Year data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe have been published. These data support the Standard Model of Cosmology extremely well, with detailed support for a Cold Dark Matter model with flat or nearly flat universe, and a cosmological constant-like Dark Energy. Inflation is strongly supported. The signature of gravity waves was not detected but not ruled out. Go here

" There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." - The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin

With these inspiring words, Charles Darwin concluded his book, 'The Origin of Species', and from that date in 1859, nothing in science would ever be the same again. Darwin's concept of Natural Selection was the keystone in an edifice which explains the diversity and nested relationships of species. It is a beautiful and powerful concept, and, as the famous biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky said: "Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of Evolution"

Fundamentalists are opposed to Neo-Darwinism, and supporting sciences such as geology, cosmology, and palaeontology, because:

They contradict the literal account of Creation in the bible

They disprove the notion that the Earth is young - many creationists think it is only 6,500 to 10,000 years old

They suggest that Mankind is ultimately descended from non-humans

They directly debunk the story of a global flood

They dispense with a need for supernatural intervention to explain the origin and diversity of life on earth

Young Earth Creationists, finding their opinion opposed by the scientific evidence at every turn, and unable to make progress in the scientific debate, have attempted to engage the general public in their aim to introduce non-science into the teaching of science in schools.

More recently, a new movement called Intelligent Design has emerged. It is more sophisticated than Young Earth Creationism, although it relies on arguments that have been discredited for more than a century. Its adherents do not all subscribe to a Young Earth, but they all suggest that life is designed by what they call the Intelligent Designer (which is a thinly veiled description of God).

The fact of evolution (that organisms change over time and that new species emerge as other go extinct) has been known for over 150 years. The mechanism by which that happens is described by the Theory of Evolution. There is a vast quantity of scientific evidence in support of neo-Darwinism, the modern Theory of Evolution, although there is much still to be learned.

This site contains essays and articles presenting some of the scientific evidence for evolution as well as criticisms of Creationist arguments. It also contains links to other relevant sites on the web and references to scientific resources like books on relevant science

Another New Book criticising Intelligent Design

Edited by John Brockman, with essays from many leading scientists: "Intelligent Thought; Science versus the Intelligent Design Movement" ' ISBN 0307277224

Intelligent Thought

“An evolutionary understanding of the human condition, far from being incompatible with a moral sense, can explain why we have one.” - Steven Pinker

"Evolutionary biology certainly hasn't explained everything that perplexes biologists, but Intelligent Design hasn't yet tried to explain anything at all" - Daniel Dennett.

I am keen to add additional high quality material to the site. If you have written something that you think would fit into this site's content and style, please submit it here . (I cannot guarantee to publish it, of course)

Disclaimer

Page last updated: 24 November 2007

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