GEOSCIENCE NEWSLETTER
Number 50 July 2017
GRI NEWS
GRI Field Conference in the Alps
The conference group at Sustenpass, Switzerland.
Foreground rocks are metamorphic Paleozoic
rocks. Background rocks are Mesozoic
sedimentary cover.
The Geoscience Research Institute
conducted a field conference in the western
Alps for about 40 church leaders. The
trip started and ended in Milan, Italy,
and featured topics in glaciation and the
collision of the African and European
continents. In addition to the geological
studies, the group was treated to spectacular
scenery, fields of wildflowers, occasional
wildlife and many other evidences of Gods
power and love of beauty.
North American Division
Conference on Faith and Science
Panel members take questions from the
audience at the conference in St. George.
The North American Division of Seventh-
day Adventists sponsored a conference on
faith and science in late June and early
July. About three hundred teachers, pastors
and others met in St. George, Utah, where
they heard lectures on issues in origins and
visited Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon
National Parks.
GRI in Australia
Jim Gibson of GRI presented lectures
on creation and science in Perth, Sydney
and Cairns during a recent visit to
Australia. In Sydney, he was joined by Tim
Standish for a program for youth at the
Fox Valley Community Centre. In Cairns,
Gibson spoke to the meeting of the SDA
Business Professionals Convention, adding
something unique to the rich program.
GRI in Southeast Asia
Ben Clausen points out a geological feature
during the field trip.
Four GRI scientists participated in a Faith
and Science Conference in Bali, Indonesia
from May 15-21 sponsored by the Southern
Asia-Pacific Division. More than two
hundred teachers and others attended
the meetings, which included a field trip
focused on the significance of volcanoes.
Creation Sabbath
Remember Creation Sabbath - October
28, 2017. Find useful ideas and resources
at CreationSabbath.net.
Teachers Convention
GRI is planning a special series of
presentations for the teachers convention
planned by the North American Division
for August 6-9, 2018 in Chicago. Teachers
are invited to watch for further information
as it becomes available.
Geoscience Newsletter is published
electronically by the Geoscience
Research Institute, 11060 Campus
Street, Loma Linda CA 92350
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
New Books on Intelligent Design
Wells, J. 2017. Zombie Science: More
Icons of Evolution. Seattle: Discovery
Institute Press. $14.84 on Amazon.com.
Bethell, T. 2017. Darwins House of
Cards. Seattle: Discovery Institute Press.
$21.95 on Amazon.com.
Two new books written from the viewpoint
of intelligent design have been released.
Zombie Science, by Jonathan Wells, is a
follow-up to his previous book, Icons of
Evolution. Both books expose inaccurate,
and sometimes fraudulent, claims common
in evolutionary textbooks. Topics in the
newer book include the evolutionary tree,
natural selection, vestigial organs, the
human eye and others.
The second book, Darwins House of
Cards was written by Tom Bethell, and
gives a well-written summary of the
evidence against the neodarwinian theory
of evolution.
GRI BLOG
New blog topics this quarter included dis-
cussions of the relationship of organismal
form and the environment, the end-Creta-
ceous extraterrestrial impact theory, and
the livability or not of newly discovered
exoplanets. Enjoy them at: https://grisda.
wordpress.com.
GRI ON FACEBOOK
Visit our Facebook page at https://www.
facebook.com/Geoscienceresearchinsti-
tute/ for notes on the blog posts or other
current issues.
 SCIENCE NEWS
Design in Beetle Wings
Coccinella magnifica, a ladybird beetle from
Eurasia. Photo Giles San Martin, CCbySA2.
Saito, K. et al. 2017. Investigation of
hindwing folding in ladybird beetles
by artificial elytron transplantation
and microcomputed tomography.
Proceedings National Academy of Sciences
114(22):5624-5628. Doi: 10.1073/pnas.
1620612114.
Summary. Ladybird beetles fold their
wings using a structure that combines both
the ability to deform the wing for folding
and the strength to enable flying. The
design of their wings may offer promise
for applications in human engineering
(biomimetics).
Comment. Design in nature is frequently
discovered to be superior to what humans
have devised. This indicates that nature
has been created by a Designer far more
intelligent that we are.
Design in Bird Feathers
Lingham-Soliar, T. 2017. Microstructural
tissue-engineering in the rachis and barbs
of bird feathers. Scientific Reports 7:45162;
doi: 10.1030/srep45162.
Drawing showing fibrils of the feather rachis
continuing into the barbs. Photo Copyright
Nature Journal; used under Fair Use.
Summary. The structure of a feather is
specially designed to provide both stiffness
and flexibility. The central shaft (rachis) is
tapered like a cone, with walls composed
of many fibrils of -keratin. Since the di-
ameter of the cone decreases toward its
tip, some of the fibrils must not reach the
tip. But termination would leave notch-
es of weakness where the feather might
easily break. This problem is avoided by
diverting many of the fibrils into the side
branches (barbs) of the feather. Further,
the somewhat brittle keratin fibrils are em-
bedded in an amorphous matrix (cortex)
which is quite ductile, enabling the feather
to bend without breaking. Discovery of this
well-engineered design in feathers could
lead to improvements in design in human
manufacturing (biomimetics).
Comment. Birds are designed for flight,
this paper reveals evidence of design ex-
tending to the microscopic level. Well-en-
gineered designs are not created at random,
but reflect the activities of an intelligent
mind.
All in the (Bear) Family
A grizzly-polar bear hybrid, displayed at the
Ulukhaktok Community Center, Canada.
Photo by AE Derocher.
Kumar V., et al. The evolutionary history of
bears is characterized by gene flow across
species. Scientific Reports 7, 46487; doi
10.1038/srep46487 (2017).
Summary. Hybrids between grizzly and
polar bears have been known for a long
time, and other bear hybrids have been
reported, both in the wild and in zoos. The
extent of gene flow among bears has not
been studied until now. Complete genome
sequencing has been accomplished for all
six typical bear species and the unique
spectacled bear, permitting detection of
gene flow among the species. Results
showed that gene flow is relatively
common throughout all six ursine bears,
but not in the South American spectacled
bear. Combined with evidence of gene flow
in other mammalian groups, this suggests
that maintenance of stable morphology in
the face of gene flow may be an important
factor in defining species.
Comment. The finding of gene flow
among most bear species is expected by
creationists. As animals emerged from the
ark, they must have been able to spread
out across the world and adapt to various
local habitats. The result is the formation
of numerous locally adapted species from
an original pair of ark animals. Gene flow
is to be expected unless it has been blocked
by genetic changes, as may be the case with
the spectacled bear.
Another Hominid, Another Theory
Sketch of Homo sapiens skull from Jebel
Irhoud. CC by SA. Wikimedia Commons.
Hublin, J-J., et al. New fossils from Jebel
Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African
origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 546:289-
292 (2017). doi:10.1038/nature22336.
Summary. Human fossils were
discovered in Morocco in 1960 at a site
named Jebel Irhoud. The fossils appeared
to be close to anatomically modern humans
(AMH), but with some features interpreted
as archaic. Newly described fossils from
the same locality provide greater detail and
indicate the fossils are the oldest known
fossils with anatomically modern traits.
Thermoluminescence dating gave an age of
about 300,000 years for the fossils, much
older than any previously known AMH
fossil.
Comment. There seem to be several
extinct varieties of fossil humans, found
widely, although not abundantly, in Asia,
Europe and Africa. This pattern would fit
with the possibility that prehistoric humans
were divided into several small, isolated
populations. One difficulty in interpreting
these fossils is the paucity of fossils,
as shown by the frequent changes in
interpretation that occur when new fossils
are discovered.