Piltdown Superman

In our neck of the woods, the autumnal equinox has just happened. The first day of fall...because that's what leaves on deciduous trees do. Some folks have fun admiring the autumn foliage, even taking trips to see it. They are sometimes given the silly epithet "leaf peepers." Nature is not tied to solar or manmade calendars. Some trees begin the leaf color-changing process before autumn, others hang on to their leaves a while longer. Conditions are the guiding force, including stress. Leaves changing colors and falling is by design. Late summer trees beginning to change color, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen While scientists have a handle on the process, there is still much to learn. Since there will be less sunlight, the leaves that are used to catch it are burdensome. Before they are released from their duty, trees take back nutrients. There is no chlorophyll in the leaves, so their existing colors are revealed — except red leaves, those undergo a chemical transformation

This post is unusual in several ways, especially since the author is in the ID camp and not friendly to biblical creation science. Links are given here for information and to try to prompt readers to think. Although creation is not mentioned, the subject is still of interest to creationists. Scientists are considering the idea that less complex living things may actually be sentient. (Some are even pondering the idea of sentience in cells, but that idea seems to be too much too soon.) Insects have tiny brains, but show intelligence in facial recognition, for example. Wildflowers in Oneonta Forest Preserve, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen (modified at PhotoFunia ) Materialism is the belief that material is all that exists, no God or spirits, and naturalism is its kid brother. That is,  nature  is all that exists. New word alert: panpsychism . This belief is that all living things have some consciousness. Although there does not appear to be any real conflict between naturalism and panps

If someone gets a notion to saddle up and ride to the extreme northeast of the US, going on through Maine in a certain place will get them to the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Some fossilized plants were found there that paleontologists described as "enigmatic." One reason for this wording is that they show an extreme amount of detail, which seems to be increasingly common among fossils nowadays. In addition, scientists were surprised at the complexity of the fossilized plants. Neither of these facts are surprising to creationists. Fossilized water fern (image adjusted), Fossil Butte, Wyoming, National Park Service (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Yet again, secular paleontologists are assuming deep time and evolution, which in turn dictates the way they interpret evidence. Creationists have the same evidence, but presuppose recent creation and biblical truth in their interpretations (see " What is Really Seen from the Webb Telescope " for

Some of the hands from the Darwin Ranch traveled down from Deception Pass and gone into town to celebrate. Rusty Swingset, the foreman, was even paying for their drinks. The reason? Some evolutionists had used education, technology, and skill in making a hybrid plant receptor, supposedly demonstrating no intelligence or Designer was necessary. Study on that a spell. Good science is often tainted by worthless efforts to prove evolution. Plants pay attention to their environment with receptors, and two of them control development and immunity. Woodland sunflower, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen It is not an isolated incident. Instead, faulty logic, incomplete evidence, materialistic presuppositions, and more are common. For that matter, part of our DNA was called "junk" by tinhorns who did not know what they were doing and used a faulty dataset. Other Darwinists gleefully joined in and added their two grotzits-worth of opinions "Junk" DNA became the consensus — and it

Bugs for lunch, what a marvelous idea! No, this is not about nutty leftist environmentalists , but rather, something that is in the environment: carnivorous plants. Although not envying their diets, creationists have been discussing pitcher plants and Venus fly traps for years. Pitcher plants are slippery and flytraps snap shut, but there are several other kinds of these plants. While it is true that questions are raised about the existence of carnivorous plants in a very good  creation, biblical creationists take on those challenges . Venus flytraps, morgueFile / xianstudio Carnivory in the plant world is not explainable by evolutionary speculations. One way to evosplain them is to say that various types of these plants "evolved independently" multiple times, but that is sometimes annoying even to Darwin's disciples. In addition, there are disparate mechanisms in place in each kind of plant, each contributing to irreducible complexity: Every part must be in place and w

As many people know, a cornerstone of particles-to-paleontologist evolution is mutations. Fundamentalist evolutionists insist that mutations are entirely random — admittedly, that is plausible on the surface. They also claim that there is no purpose (teleology) in evolution. While there are many random mutations, it has been shown (much to the dismay of the Bearded Buddha and his acolytes) that some mutations are the result of advance planning, not random at all . In addition, DNA repair systems are taking the wind out of Darwin's sails. Thale cress, Rawpixel / NASA (Public Domain) Over Eurasia and Africa way, there's a plant that the locals consider a weed. Scientists love it, though. Using the science of genetics pioneered by creationist Gregor Mendel (peas be upon him), a great deal of the genome of the thale cress has been studied. Then came some surprises. Although they won't admit it, not only is there DNA repair happening, but non-randomness in mutations. This seem

The other day, I saw a graphic called First Day in Heaven  that was meant to portray someone joyfully embracing Jesus upon their arrival. I said that this is how I pictured it with my beloved wife. Someone replied that she will greet me with open arms again. A vile atheist chided that person for "lying" to me. Aside from having the decency to let me have my comfort even though he rejects the truth of the gospel, he was assuming that there is no Heaven, so we are wrong — or lying. Because atheism. This is similar to how atheists and evolutionists call on biblical creationists to explain our views on things, yet they often assume we are wrong or lying and will not listen to us. That is not the way to have an intelligent discussion. How can some poisonous plants be a part of God's original very good  creation from a creationist perspective? Both skeptics and many Christians want to know. Sosnowsky’s hogweed, Wikimedia Commons / Krzysztof Ziarnek ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) Creationist

There are words with phile  or similar in them that often mean a love of something, such as philosophy (love or wisdom or learning). The word structure can also make it seem like an organism has a fondness for something, actually meaning that it thrives in a certain environment. A thermophile  lives in extremely hot areas such as the thermal vents on the ocean floor. Want to take a crack at halophyte ? That one is a bit tricky, but it uses the word for salt. There are plants that thrive in saline conditions inhospitable to many other plants. Athel Tamarisk, iNaturalist / Xochitl Zambrano ( CC BY 4.0 ) Athel tamarisk is one of those stubborn plants that lives in deserts and is found in many parts of the world. One of its handels is the Athel pine, and it does resemble pine in some ways. It is also useful as a windbreak, and since it doesn't burn easily, it can be used to hinder fire. When it lives in saline conditions, it actually gives off salt! Athel tamarisk was designed by the

There is an expensive word we need to define: anthropomorphizing. That means giving human characteristics to non-humans, such as those talking rodents in cartoons or animatronic bears in pizzarias. It seems to be human nature to give human traits to things. It is similar to reification , which is a logical fallacy. F'rinstance, "Science insists..." No. "Evolution gave this creature..." No, again. Those are concepts  that are given human characteristics. The part about reification is a bonus for you, now look at how the smart plants know that autumn has arrived here! Burning Bush changing colors, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen , modified at PhotoFunia The vocabulary lesson may seem trivial, but there is something deeper going on that the author of the article linked below wants to present. Regular readers have seen that there are many plants that seem intelligent, even with the ability to communicate with each other . It has been claimed that plants "know&qu

Okay, a tree can only be friendly when it is given human traits in stories. But if one could actually be friendly, it would be the baobab (its counterpart would be the poisonous manchineel tree ). Nine species have been counted that have some basic similarities. A grown baobab may have been in place for a thousand years, so it has an impressive circumference. Leaves? It only grows them during the very short wet season. Although the top branches look like roots, the actual roots run deep. The Creator built it to survive those harsh conditions. Avenue of the Baobabs in Madagascar, Pexels / Beau Botschuijver Baobab trees have many uses. The leaves are edible, the branches trap rainfall, even the seeds can be eaten. The bark can be used to make clothing and rope. But baobabs are not in a hurry to grow, so they are difficult to cultivate — except researchers in Ghana have some promising work happening. These trees are in several diverse regions, which causes so much controversy among evolut

There are a few in the secular science industry who are not content with a simplistic " it evolved " response, they want do dig in deeper. Especially when something like the Venus flytrap has baffled them for years. The more they study, the more puzzling it is. This little plant from the Carolinas in the formerly United States has been treated like a toy by some people. It will not snap shut by just any touch. Similarly, a rapid increase in heat can cause it to snap shut. Venus flytraps, morgueFile / xianstudio Researchers tested the plants with heat to see what happens, and this child wonders if they had a bit of fun like some kids might. Imagine... "Whatcha doin' with that hot air blower, Bo?" "Gladja came along, Cletus. Watch this." He blows hot air on the Venus flytrap and it closes. Well, I would have had fun. Anyway, those plants are not going to close up shop just because it's a hot day. The blower experiment revealed that they shut their t

Southeast Texas has a national preserve that covers a great deal of ground. Texas can handle Big Thicket National Preserve , though. A national preserve is like a national park , but hunting and mineral extraction are permitted under close regulation. There is a variety of recreational activities partly because it has several ecosystems, so both hiking and kayaking can happen on the same day. Naturally, this means there are several different kinds of lifeforms. One that is our focus shows the genius of the Creator and planned mutualism. Cypress slough habitat, Big Thicket National Preserve, WikiComm / William L. Farr ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) Pitcher plants show design through their shape, which takes in some rainwater under the hood, and a fragrance attracts insects. They get in there and become food for the plant. In the days before the plants grow pitchers, they attract bees but do not trap them. However, the plant is designed to nudge the bee to pollinate other flowers! Many things in natu

Although professing atheists claim that living things only appear to have been designed, people who do not filter their observations through that opinion can easily see that living things were not only designed, but designed by our Creator (Rom. 1:18-23). I will go further: I believe part of his purpose was for our pleasure — and meet our needs. They are like living jewels with an incredible array of colors, but they fade away when their time is done (Isaiah 40:8). One does not have to be a botanist to appreciate them. Pink peonies, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen , modified at PhotoFunia Flowering and reproduction are complicated systems (being a botanist is helpful for understanding these details). Birds, bees, flowers, trees have some connections to it. Many flowers need insects and sometimes animals for pollination, and seed dispersal is done through birds, insects, various animals, the wind, and so on. By the way, believers in particles-to-peonies evolution claim that everything c

Back when Darwin roamed the earth, he called the ginkgo a living fossil. Some organisms with that moniker disappeared from the fossil record, then were found alive and well ( such as the coelacanth ). Others have remained essentially unchanged over alleged millions of years when compared to their fossils. A frequent rescuing device when something remains unchanged is stasis : It had no need to evolve. To be blunt, that is a stupid excuse because a lot can happen over all those years. No, one reason it did not change is because the earth is not as old as evolutionists claim. Gingko leaves in autumn, Wikimedia Commons /  Joe Schneid  ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Moving on from the living fossil aspect, people can easily find ginkgo biloba supplements in "natural" food stores and in vitamin sections of stores. Like with many health benefit claims, those not fully researched . Coordinated international research would be nice. Ginkgo is a large, hearty tree. It also has a large genome — bigge

Once again, the narrative is more important than empirical science. We learn that some of Darwin's disciples evosplain (and make a false assertion) that they have observed  the evolution of single-celled algae into multicellular organisms. That is the opposite of the truth. Like everything else, organisms split from their ancestors early on. The differences between land plants and Zygnematophyceae (a class of green algae) are extensive, and land plants have cells and tissues. There is inference instead actual evidence for their common ancestor. Spirogyra green algae, Wikimedia Commons / Bogdan ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Sure, they can build a plan of likely evolution, but again, these researcher are presuming evolution in the first place. (Indeed, we saw similar self-serving logic just recently involving fish hearts and our hearts .) There are also assumptions made about " selection pressure " (that occur over millions of Darwin years and cause things to evolve). It is taken by fa

People who study origins and evolution have heard of Darwin's Abominable Mystery. Like the irreducibly complex eye was a serious problem for Darwin  (yet he still believed in gradual evolution anyway), the fact that flowering plants appear in the fossil record too soon was another problem for him. Neither was resolved. Evolutionists are prone to lying to con people to accept evolution, and they did so a spell back about DAM . This time, however, they are honest about the inescapable conclusion (based on their systems) that flowering plants existed millions of years sooner than they previously thought. Phylica pubescens , WikiComm  Marco Schmidt ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Something that adds to their problem is that a flower found in amber is a Phylicia, which is basically identical to its living counterparts. It did not see fit to evolve after being subjected to "evolutionary pressures" through all those alleged millions of years. In addition, there should be a chain reaction in e

Although it only lives in a small area of the eastern United States, the Venus flytrap is quite famous. Cultivated versions are available for sale, but in its native habitat, it is endangered. People like to try to trigger it to close, but the Venus flytrap discriminates. The right areas must be touched a certain number of times, then that 100-millisecond trap springs shut. Potential prey seldom escapes, but this plant is still checking on what was caught. If it had received a false positive, it relaxes. Otherwise, it begins digestion after five more stimuli occur. Venus Flytrap, Flickr / Mark Freeth ( CC BY 2.0 ) The entire activity of Snappy has been studied all the way down to the DNA, and researchers learned that the best-watered plants have the fastest closure times. There is still more to learn, and Darwin's acolytes are using typical "it evolved" nonsensical words — nonsensical, because they are used to bamboozle the masses because they have no evidence. In reali

Before we get into this, some discussion is necessary. I have become much more circumspect regarding the use of material from the Institute for Creation Research. The main reason is their vehement denial that natural selection exists , and also their Continuous Environmental Tracking model. Biblical creationists, like other scientists, have models and disagreements among themselves. Some creationists dislike the CET model, which is a work in progress. I am not convinced that I need to reject it and delete all the other posts I have done over the years about it. Rocks (pareidolia, see the face in the rock?) and plants, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen However, the post featured below claims to have support for CET. In this case, I think the author is unconvincing. The discussion about how new studies on plants reveal design from an engineering perspective is interesting. Therefore, the article is presented for your consideration. As science and technology develop, things are far less simp

Believers in universal common ancestor evolution want others to believe as they do, so they commence to posturing. Since people are willing to bow down to what they perceive as superior knowledge by scientists, they tend to self-censor any questions. We have seen numerous times that Just-So Stories are passed off as serious research (a recent example is in the  post about electric fish ), but they evosplain much without giving any real science. Since all life supposedly began in the sea, evolutionists must explain how plant life developed on land. Hedge Bindeweed, my photo modified with FotoSketcher Mayhaps the self-censoring of questions and objections is partly because people are not taught critical (logical) thinking skills much nowadays. They might see in an article all the assertions without evidence, and appeal to secular miracles.   Yes, secularists have their own miracles, but they have antipathy toward admitting it, so they rename them. Sound familiar? Atheists and Darwin'

Ever hear of peat? That and peat moss grow in boggy places, and they contain decaying plant material. They are acidic and help improve soil. Kick it up a notch and we get lignite, which is called brown coal. It has noticeable plant material. Lignite has uses, but less energy output than true coals. Lignite was found in Iceland, and the plants of the lignite beds were preserved by lava layers on top of each other. Uniformitarian scientists are baffled as to how some plants reached Iceland in the first place. Lignite Brown Coal, WikiComm / Anton Lefterov  ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) The usual belief is that plants were buried where they grew, but there is no evidence that several of the plants in the Icelandic lignite ever lived there. Some plants can reach remote islands through various means. A few of those in the lignite, however, are not good travelers. Secular scientists suggested ad hoc rescuing devices, but once again, the best explanation for what is observed is found in creation science G