How are beaches originated? How long do they take to form?

Fossils and the rocks in which they are contained are an excellent platform for discussing origins from a biblical perspective, especially in relation to the design and complexity of ancient life and the worldwide destruction caused by Noah’s Flood.

Climatic effects of the impact and volcanism scenarios for the extinction of dinosaurs are investigated in a modelling paper.

A Cambrian fossil worm shows only minor differences from species still living, an example of family stasis.

Darwin saw evolution as a slow and steady process with species gradually transforming into new species over long time. He thought that the fossil record should provide evidence for his theory. However, the needed evidence proved to be elusive.

Claims of dinosaur DNA stir controversy

Cambrian arthropods were as complex as living species

The "Cambrian explosion" is a term used to describe the abrupt appearance in the fossil record of major animal phyla, without intermediate forms in lower layers. This pattern of abrupt appearance can be observed for many groups of organisms, including crinoids (sea lilies).

Fossilized crane fly eyes discovered to be calcified and have melanin

Fossils are remains or other evidence of organisms that lived in the past and are preserved in the rocks. How did they form and what can we learn from them?

Is a recent fossil found in Peru evidence for transitional forms in an evolutionary sequence?

The abrupt appearance of trilobites in Cambrian strata and their absence in Precambrian sediments is a real feature of the rock record and not due to failure of preservation in Precambrian rocks.

A newly described Cambrian locality in China has added more than 50 new species to our knowledge.

A fossil bird recovered from Cretaceous lake deposits in China shows preservation of some soft tissues, including a pair of lungs that appear to have functioned in a way similar to those of living birds.

New observational data on the phenomenon of rapid bedrock erosion became recently available after the well documented events that affected the Oroville Dam in February 2017.

The Yellowstone "fossil forest" has many layers of volcanic ash. Trace element analysis of these layers reveals they derive from about four volcanic sources, and the layers from different sources are interlaced, implying contemporaneous eruptions of the different sources. Published in Origins n. 65.

An appeal, by Dr. Leonard Brand, for more original research, publications, and review papers to present a coherent model for the interpretation of the Yellowstone fossil forests that would bring it to the attention of the geological community. Published in Origins n. 65.

This post complements an article that was written in 2014. Since then, there have been some interesting developments in the area of Triassic pterosaurs that are worth mentioning, the most important being the recent description by Britt et al. (2018) of a Triassic pterosaur from the Nugget Sandstone of Utah.

A Christian scientist, while accepting the testimony of Scripture about God’s past intervention in Earth’s history, can still keep an open mind toward aspects of the geologic record that are unusual and different.

During one of my frequent visits to the office of my high school headmaster, his individual tutelage yielded a life lesson that I’ve never forgotten. His exact words were, “You think you’re right!” Of course I thought I was right, wouldn’t anyone who thought they were wrong change their mind and then immediately think they are right? Now that I’m an adult biologist, I still think that I’m right. Inevitably…