y saw no flight from the theory. In other words, believers in the big bang have faith in the model even when empirical science shows discrepancies. This particular discrepancy may be resolved, but many more remain, such as the larger discrepancy pointed out in item 1 of the September 9 News to Note.
This faith in the big bang was shown by comments on the article in the PhysOrgForum. In a thread titled, “Saved? Never thought it was in jeopardy!” a user named “docdeal” writes, “I never doubted validity of Big Bang. Sure its [sic] great it is verified even further but your [sic] preaching to the choir on this one.”
The debate over Darwin is heating up in … Russia? That’s right, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. Maria Shraiber, a student in a St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) school, has filed a civil suit along with her father against the teaching of evolution in public schools. The suit alleges that “the teaching of Darwin’s theory in school as the only correct teaching violates [Shraiber’s] right of choosing her philosophy of life and insults her religious feelings.”
We are glad to hear that the message of the vacancy of evolution is alive and well in Russia (although we do not know Ms. Shraiber’s particular religious background or beliefs regarding creation). Answers in Genesis believes that students should learn about evolution, but not through indoctrinatory methods that present the model as scientific fact or restrict teachers from explaining other viewpoints. As for those interested in reading about our outreach to Russia, see “Proclaiming the Truth in Russia … from the Very First Verse.”
A bee trapped in amber is exciting evolutionists, who see the bee’s wasp-like features as a sign that wasps and bees evolved from a common ancestor. Evolutionists are also connecting the evolution of pollen-eating bees to the spread of angiosperms (flowering plants).
Of course, this bee—as can be seen in the photo in the article—is very obviously a bee, and has not changed all that much in an alleged 100 million years! A more reasonable explanation is that bees and wasps come from one original created kind that then diverged into the various species we observe today. But even if bees and wasps were separate creations, this “oldest” bee has features that present-day bees lack, showing, if anything, a loss of genetic information—not the gain bacteria-to-bee evolution would require.
Geologist Russell Mapes, a student at the University of North Carolina, believes that the Amazon River once flowed east to west, the opposite of its current flow from the Andes toward the Atlantic in the east. Why? “Sedimentary rocks in the central part of South America contain ancient mineral grains that must have come from the eastern part of the continent.” Uniformitarians believe rocks on the eastern side of South America are significantly older, and use this to identify where in South America rocks originated from that, they say, have been carried elsewhere by the Amazon.
Of course, this is just an attempt to explain away the disorganized ages of these mineral grains, which do not make sense according to standard radiometric dates. Since the radiometric dates do not line up with the current flow of the river, this geologist is postulating this reverse-flow to try to account for why the dates are mixed up. But such a change is unnecessary if the dates are inaccurate in the first place.
Scientists are again looking to nature for inspiration. National Geographic News reports on engineers’ attempts to mimic seagull wings in their aircraft designs in an effort to reduce drag. Scientists have also designed wings based on the fins of great white sharks and humpback whales.
Just another example of design in nature.
Don’t expect fair treatment of Christianity from Britain’s “Beeb,” according to details leaked about an “impartiality summit” comprised of BBC executives:
[E]xecutives admitted they would happily broadcast the image of a Bible being thrown away—but would not do the same for the Koran.
Humanists aim to remove the Bible from public disc