Today’s New Reason To Believe

Posted by Fazale ‘Fuz’ Rana, Ph.D.

New Discovery Affirms RTB Model Predictions

Even though I’m a budget-hotel kinda guy, occasionally I splurge and stay in a really nice place. It’s fun to get a chance to experience firsthand how the “other half” lives.

A recent study of some of the microbes found in Lake Matano (Indonesia), the world’s eighth deepest lake, provides biologists and geologists a first-hand look at how the earliest life on Earth lived. This new insight provides more evidence for RTB’s origin-of-life model.

RTB and Evolutionary Origin-of-Life Models

One of the key points of difference between the RTB and evolutionary models centers on the timing of life’s first appearance on Earth. The RTB scientific creation model, based on Genesis 1:2 and Deuteronomy 32:9-12, predicts that life should appear early in Earth’s history and that the first life-forms should be inherently complex.

Evolutionary origin-of-life models, on the other hand, require a long percolation time, perhaps up to one billion years, before life can emerge from a primordial soup. These naturalistic scenarios also predict that the first life-forms should be relatively simple.

The Scientific Evidence

As described in Origins of Life, geochemical evidence already indicates that life was present remarkably early in Earth’s history, possibly as far back as 3.8+ billion years ago. (Prior to this time, life would have been impossible on Earth, since the planet’s conditions were “hellish” and unsuitable for life.)

Some origin-of-life researchers, however, question the authenticity of these geochemical finds. They maintain that these markers for early life are actually artifacts produced by inorganic processes.

Banded Iron Formation

One potential biomarker under question is banded iron formations (BIFs). These unusual iron ore deposits are found in sedimentary rocks dated older than 1.8 billion years in age. BIFs are most abundant between 1.8 and 2.5 billion years ago, but also exist in rock formations as old as about 3.8 billion years in age.

BIFs consist of alternating layers of chert (silica) and the minerals hematite (Fe²O³) and magnetite (Fe³O⁴). Deposits of this type don’t form today. Geologists believe that BIFs formed at a time in Earth’s history when high levels of dissolved iron (Fe²+) and silica existed in the oceans. The silica deposited in ocean sediments to form the chert layers. Geologists maintain that the iron ore “bands” formed when the dissolved Fe²+ became oxidized to form hematite (Fe²O³) and magnetite (Fe³O⁴).

Most geologists think that BIFs dated between 1.8 and 2.5 billion years ago resulted from biological oxidation when the oxygen generated by cyanobacteria converted Fe²+ to Fe³+

Banded Iron Formations on Early Earth

In other words, BIFs stand as a marker for biological activity. But what about the BIFs deposited in the geological record before that time? Does their presence mean that life existed on Earth as far back as 3.8 billion years ago? Not necessarily, according to some scientists. It’s possible that these BIFs were generated by inorganic oxidation processes or by a UV radiation-driven reaction.

Other researchers have pointed out that the low levels of oxygen on the early Earth make it unlikely that inorganic oxidation could have produced the ancient BIFs. In a similar vein, while scientists have successfully generated BIF-like materials in the lab using UV radiation, it doesn’t seem probable that this process would operate under the complex chemical conditions of the early Earth.

These problems indirectly suggest that biological oxidation accounts for the production of the earliest BIFs on Earth. Still, this explanation comes with challenges. Many origin-of-life researchers tend to doubt if cyanobacteria were present on Earth at 3.8 billion years ago. It’s possible that another group of photosynthetic bacteria (anoxygenic phototrophs) could have produced the BIFs. These bacteria can oxidize Fe²+ to Fe³+ as part of their photosynthetic activity. The issue with this scenario is that these microbes live in highly specialized environments that consist of iron-rich, shallow ephemeral water. These environs are not good analogs to the oceans of the early Earth.

The work of the biologists and geologists on Lake Matano weighs in here. These scientists have just discovered anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria in Lake Matano that can oxidize Fe²+. This lake closely compares to the most likely conditions for the oceans on early Earth. If photosynthetic bacteria can convert Fe²+ to Fe³+ in Lake Matano, it makes it even more likely that BIFs that date to 3.8 billion years in age are biogenic products generated by bacteria that engage in anoxygenic photosynthesis.

BIFs, along with other biomarkers, collectively indicate that life originated early in Earth’s history as soon as our planet could sustain life. The microbes that generated BIFs must have been metabolically complex, given what we know about the anoxygenic microbes that are capable of phototropically oxidizing Fe²+in Lake Matano.

This new insight adds further support for the RTB origins-of-life model and, at the same time, makes little sense within an evolutionary framework. The sudden appearance of metabolically complex life on Earth comports well with the notion that a Creator intervened to bring about the creation of the first life-forms on Earth.

The accommodations in the Archean oceans for the earliest life on Earth may not meet the four-star quality that many people expect when they stay in a high-end hotel, but it appears to have suited these organisms just fine.

Posted by Fazale ‘Fuz’ Rana, Ph.D.

Punctuated equilibrium doesn’t have a viable mechanism

This past Thanksgiving, my family and I (along with some good friends) rode down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on mules. That night we ate dinner at the Phantom Ranch and the next day rode back out of the canyon. It was an amazing experience to be immersed in God’s creation—but also terrifying at times to be on the back of a mule maneuvering on rugged and narrow trails overlooking sheer drops of hundreds of feet. I was sure thankful my mule (Tin Man) had a good sense of equilibrium. If he didn’t, it would have been all over for both of us on a few occasions.

The evolutionary paradigm also depends on equilibrium (of sorts). Many paleontologists assert that biological evolution occurs by a non-Darwinian mechanism referred to as punctuated equilibrium. According to this view, biological evolution occurs rapidly—in spurts—followed by long periods of stasis.

Proponents of punctuated equilibrium posit that evolution only occurs when a small subpopulation of a species becomes isolated from the general population. If the isolated subpopulation becomes confined to the periphery of the species’ normal geophysical range, evolution will occur rapidly, say evolutionists, if the environmental and predatory pressures found in the periphery differ significantly from those found in the species’ typical geographical range. Experiencing different conditions, the peripheral subpopulation is not ideally suited for its environment. This mismatch provides the driving force for evolutionary change. When occupying its normal range, natural selection prevents a species well-suited for its environment from evolving. In other words, natural selection promotes stasis.

Punctuated equilibrium seems to explain the fossil record. If a new species emerges rapidly from a small peripheral subpopulation, it will seem as if that new species appears suddenly in the fossil record, and few if any transitional intermediates would be expected.

Even though punctuated equilibrium can explain the troubling features of the fossil record, one key question remains. Does the mechanism undergirding punctuated equilibrium actually work? Research results published in 2001 indicated, no.

Theoretical work by University of Oregon scientists shows that the essential processes making up punctuated equilibrium’s mechanism lead to extinction, not evolution. These scientists demonstrated that risk of extinction significantly increases for a species when its population becomes disconnected. Moreover, environmental changes and habitat fragmentation exacerbate a disconnected population’s susceptibility to extinction. Population and habitat fragmentation, along with an altered environment, stand at the center of punctuated equilibrium’s mechanism.

Investigators from Washington University in St. Louis produced field work confirming the work done by the scientists from the University of Oregon. Studying collared lizards in the Missouri Ozarks, the Washington University scientists showed that habitat fragmentation doesn’t drive speciation; rather it leads to extinction.

These two studies create a serious problem for the evolutionary paradigm. As discussed last week, strict Darwinian evolution lacks the necessary corroboration from the fossil record and cannot be declared a fact. Punctuated equilibrium “explains” the fossil record, yet fails due to the absence of a legitimate mechanism and must be rejected as an explanation for life’s history.

Though many evolutionary biologists would claim that I am off-balance, it seems to me that the absence of any conceivable naturalistic explanation for the origin and natural history of life’s major groups opens the possibility for the work of a Creator.

Posted by Fazale ‘Fuz’ Rana, Ph.D.

Fossil evidence reveals that evolutionary change is seldom directional.

As a parent, one of my biggest concerns is that my children have a direction for their lives. I don’t want them to waste time aimlessly going through life.

Unfortunately for the evolutionary paradigm, new research indicates that the fossil record has lost its direction. But this loss of direction isn’t bad for a different paradigm. This new insight adds to the evidence indicating that life’s history has a purpose orchestrated by a Creator.

One of the key pieces of evidence cited in support of biological evolution is the fossil record. Evolutionary biologists point out that: 1) the fossil record shows that past life on Earth is different than life today; and 2) simple life preceded complex life-forms. For many scientists these general features indicate that life on Earth must have evolved.

These observations, however, could just as easily be accounted for by evoking the work of a Creator who created in stages, bringing different life-forms into existence at different times in Earth’s history. This pattern accords with the Genesis 1 and Psalm 104 creation accounts.

What about the specific features of the fossil record? Can these patterns find explanation within a creation model context? Or are they best understood within an evolutionary framework?

Given a Darwinian mechanism, it’s expected that the fossil record should display gradual transformations replete with corresponding transitional forms. Over the last 30 years or so paleontologists have debated whether or not the fossil record truly displays this pattern. In the early 1970s, Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge argued that the fossil record fails to show gradual evolutionary transformations. Instead these two paleontologists maintained that evolutionary change happens suddenly and then periods of stasis, or no evolutionary change, follow. They termed this idea punctuated equilibrium.

Ironically, the pattern proposed by Gould and Eldredge—punctuated equilibrium—is consistent with the work of a Creator and matches the pattern for the fossil record predicted by the RTB creation model. Since its proposal, punctuated equilibrium has been a controversial idea, provoking much debate among scientists about the actual patterns observed in the fossil record.

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences addresses this controversy. The researcher conducting the study examined 250 documented cases in which biological traits were monitored in fossil lineages, statistically assessing the percentage of 1) directional change; 2) random walk; and 3) stasis. He noted that only 5% of the fossil lineages showed directional change while roughly 45% displayed random walks and about 45% stasis. (The 5% of cases displaying directional change most likely represents an overestimate due to a selection effect. Paleontologists are more likely to study fossil lineages that show change than those remaining static.)

In addition to these overarching trends, the statistical analysis also uncovered specific patterns. It turns out that stasis is much more prominent for features related to shape. In contrast, directional trends are more likely to involve changes in body size. Likewise, planktonic microfossils (visible under a microscope) showed a more pronounced tendency to experience directional changes than macroscopic (visible to the naked eye) fossil lineages. More often than not, macroscopic forms displayed stasis.

The statistical analysis supports the central claim of punctuated equilibrium and indicates that directional change in fossil lineages is quite limited.

The patterns uncovered by the study are also consistent with a Creator’s work in life’s history. Organisms created in an optimal state would be expected to experience stasis because virtually any change would cause them to lose fitness. Random walks observed in the fossil lineage could be interpreted as genetic drift and the few cases of directional change are consistent with microevolutionary changes in organismal size or evolutionary advance of microscopic creatures with large population sizes.

The patterns uncovered by this study are provocative in light of the analysis of life’s history conducted by biologist Eugene Koonin, discussed previously. Koonin demonstrated that life’s history is best described as a sequence of biological big bangs with little, if any, evidence for intermediate forms.

Still, can punctuated equilibrium account for the patterns observed in the fossil record without evoking the Creator’s hand?

I will discuss this question next week.