ABSTRACTS
Chloroplast Genome-Based Molecular Baraminology Analysis of Proteales
Matthew Cserhati
Proteales (or proteans) is an order of eudicot angiosperm plants that have economic and medicinal importance. The chloroplast genome of 18 Proteales
species, together with four outgroup species from the genus Cucurbita were downloaded, aligned, and clustered. According to the results, the Hopkins clustering statistic was 0.801, which reflects decently good clustering. Five putative groups were found: Platanus, Sabia, Meliosma, Nelumbo, and the family Proteaceae (Macadamia+Grevillea+Helicia). Similarities based on pollen morphology also lend support to this division of Proteales species into these five tentative holobaramins. Hybridization data within the genera Platanus and Nelumbo and between Helicia and Macadamia also imply that these groups may be putative holobaramins. Further evidence from mitochondrial genomes, nuclear genes, or more hybridization data would strengthen these clusters.
The Kallikak Family Eugenics Fraud and the Harm That It Has Caused
Jerry Bergman
Every society has some citizens who do not live up to what that society considers appropriate behavior. A once-common label for some of these persons was “feeble-minded.” Inspired by Darwinism, Harvard-trained biologist Charles Davenport, and a one-time Ohio State University psychology professor, Henry Goddard, located a family whom they believed supported their eugenic belief that feeble-mindedness was, at the least, partly inherited.
In a futile effort to protect their identities, the pseudonym “Kallikak” was given to the family chosen for the case study. Great consequences resulted from Davenport and Goddard’s research including fueling support for American and German eugenic policy. In Germany, it eventually resulted in the Holocaust. A careful investigation has determined that the Kallikak study was fraudulent, and in the end, badly misled. The persons responsible for the fraud likely included Goddard and the fieldwork project director Elizabeth Kite. The disastrous result was that an entire family and family history, as well as some of the people connected with the research, experienced slander that left an indelible mark on their lives.
Radiocarbon and the Longevity of Prediluvian Patriarchs
Raul E. Lopez, Jr.
A successful scientific explanation for the long lifespans of prediluvian patriarchs has not yet been put forward. However, one overlooked possibility involves the negative role of radiocarbon (C-14) as a source of cancer-inducing mutations. Because radiocarbon is incorporated into the very atoms of the DNA strand, the transmutation of radiocarbon atoms back into nitrogen has a disproportionate ability to create mutations compared to other sources of radiation. If we accept that today’s fossil fuel reserves were created by the burial of prediluvian forests and marine life, then the amount of carbon in the prediluvian atmosphere, biosphere, and oceans was much greater than at present. This means that radiocarbon produced from cosmic rays before the Flood would have been diluted into a much larger carbon sink, greatly decreasing the concentration of radiocarbon in humans, thereby lowering the rate of cancer, and allowing longer lifespans. To support this thesis, we will calculate likely levels of radiocarbon before and after the Flood and compare them with prediluvian and postdiluvian lifespans. Next, we will show that radiocarbon decay has the potential to cause the most cancers and be a significant factor in decreasing human lifespans. Finally, we will discuss future experiments and a way we can begin to increase human lifespan in the present. Isaiah prophesied, “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, Nor an old man that hath not filled his days: For the child shall die an hundred years old; But the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” and “for as the days of a tree are the days of my people….” (Isaiah 65:20, 22c)
Notes from the Panorama of Science
On Day One of Creation Week, we read, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1–2 KJV). The ‘deep’ (t e hom) means ‘large body of water.’ These verses tell us that, at first, there was only darkness and nothingness, but God had created the space and the matter, perhaps, from which all the physical universe would be constructed. The waters of the deep were a major part of this creation, and perhaps were the form of the original matter.
Did a Cretaceous Antarctic Ammonite Live (at Least) Two Centuries?
A conventional paleoecologist has concluded that the large extinct Late Cretaceous ammonite Diplomoceras maximum had a lifespan of 200 years (Ivany, 2020; Yirka, 2020). Virtually all creationists consider Cretaceous strata to be Flood deposits. Could this be additional confirmation that pre-Flood animals were experiencing extreme longevity, just as pre-Flood humans were
Groundwork for Creation Cosmology Part II: Working Assumptions(Open Access)
Andrew Repp
Today’s extensive cosmological data sets are a gracious gift of God, inviting us to understand them within a Biblical framework. A previous article (Part I) considered several relevant Scripture passages. This article attempts, in turn, to justify three working assumptions: firstly, that God designed the Universe to be intelligible, given sufficient observational and theoretical perseverance; secondly, that God designed it to maintain roughly invariant characteristics over long periods of time (quasi-steady state); thirdly, that certain features of the Universe are ultimately inexplicable in terms of today’s physics.