Where are the Transitional Fossils?
November 10, 2011
Related topics: Fossil Records |
Today’s entry is part of our Video Blog series. For similar resources, visit our audio/video section, or our full "Conversations" collection. Please note the views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. For more on what BioLogos believes, click here.
Today's entry was written by
Kelsey Luoma.
Kelsey Luoma is a graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California, where she received a bachelor's degree in biology. She plans to continue her education in medical school. As an evangelical Christian and student of biology, Luoma is very interested in resolving the conflict between faith and science. She has spent two summers working as a student intern for BioLogos. In the future, she hopes to serve internationally as a physician.
A common argument leveled against the theory of evolution is that scientists have not been able to produce the expected transitional fossils that show the change of one species into another. If evolution were true, wouldn’t there be instances of clear intermediary species, like, for example, a species that was half whale and half hippo to show the transition between those two? In this, the first of what we expect will be many BioLogos podcasts, BioLogos intern Kelsey Luoma addresses this misconception about what a transitional fossil actually is. Rather than a mix between two related species, transitional fossils point back to the common ancestors that modern species share. The fact is that the number of transitional species is massive and it grows with each passing year. Given the rarity with which organisms are actually fossilized, the amazing thing is actually the completeness of the fossil record, not its incompleteness. The transitional species story strongly supports, and certainly does not disprove, evolutionary theory. 1
1. To hear the full audio clips which have been referenced go to:
- Rational Response Debate with Kirk Cameron (from Way of the Masters)
- Behind the Scenes with Dr. Neil Shubin (from Cincinnati Museum Center)
- Mark Norell Publishes New Archaeopteryx Findings (from American Museum of Natural Sciences)
- Texas A&M Professor Discusses Findings of Autralopithecus Sediba and its Relationship to Humans (from Texas A&M University)
- Intro/outro music composed by Martin Minor (Minor2Go).
An audio only version of the podcast can be downloaded here.
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November 10th 2011
I visited the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC last year. Beside the the wonderful section on human evolution, I was fascinated by the display of ancestors of modern whales that were suspeneded from the ceiling by cables. You could easily follow the evolution of forelegs to flippers and the increasingly vestigal hind legs. How anyone could suggest that there are not transitional fossils is incredible.
Very nice work. I hope that we will see more of these podcasts.
Reply to this commentNovember 14th 2011
Loren,
Reply to this commentDid you also happen to ask the curators about the other organisms found in the same rocks as the dinosaurs. Did anyone mention the fossils of modern looking animals - most of which should not be contemporaries of dinosaurs, at least not in the strick sense. Any flowering plants? Any pollen? No. The displays can easily mislead because of their “chronological” arrangement when all other fossil evidence is omitted - or left somewhere in the dungeons. Please find out some more about the other fossils first before coming to such a neat conclusion.
November 14th 2011
KevinR,
Really? I am quite positive scientific journals would appreciate the chance to rock the world with this information. So where is this contradictory evidence been published and vetted by experts in the field?
Reply to this commentNovember 14th 2011
What’s the matter with you, Loren? Haven’t you ever watched The Flintstones?
Reply to this commentYabba Dabba Do!
November 11th 2011
Hi i am a methodist and i study on a biology college.
Reply to this commentIts realy amazing to see the transitional fossils, they nearly are a proof of evolution, but not darwinian evolution. what is expect in darwinian evolutions about the fossil record? There are expected to find lots of UNSUCCESSFUL organism fossils.
The fossil record as we know supports better lamarckian evolution than darwinian evolution.
Absolutaly i am not YEC, and i dont know if i am OEC, but absolutaly i am not in fully agreement with darwinism and neodarwinism.
November 11th 2011
Agar,
Welcome.
I find your comments perceptive.
Most people know that there are two distinct aspects of evolution, variation and natural selection. Darwinism is strong when it comes to talking about variation, where genetic mutation can bring about change, but Lamarckism is strong when discussing how natural selection is caused by changing ecologies.
Contemporary neoDarwinism neglects completely the task of investigating natural selection, so you are right. It fails to adequately depict how evolution actually works. Lamarck of course did not understand ecology either, but now we can combine the best of genetic variation and ecological selection to develop a new and powerful understanding of how evolution really works, which quite different from the neoDarwinist views of Dawkins and Dennett.
I have written a book on the subject that might interest you and I would be interested in any materials that you find enlightening.
Reply to this commentNovember 11th 2011
Roger, have you ever read any of Jared Diamond’s work? If you have, I’m curious what you think. His books “Guns, Germs, and Steel” and “Collapse” are illuminating summaries (to me) of recent human adaptation (or failure to adapt) from an anthropological/evolutionary/ecological perspective. Since “ecology” is your favorite bell to ring here, I was reminded of Diamond’s writings.
Reply to this comment—Merv
November 13th 2011
Merv,
Thank you for the suggestion.
Reply to this commentDecember 7th 2011
Thank you i’m flattered
Reply to this commentRecently i’ve read something about new evolution synthesis.
But nobody knows exactly how it must works.
I am largely interested in this kind of essay. If you can tell me the where i can access your texts and works.
November 14th 2011
“Rather than a mix between two related species, transitional fossils
Reply to this commentpoint back to the common ancestors that modern species share.”
On the face of it, it seems that just as it was necessary to redefine and re-interpret Genesis 1, it has now become necessary to redefine what a transitional fossil should be.
This mainly because the original interpretation or understanding of the word clearly results in an absolute vacuum in the fossil record - there are none. So we have to tell ourselves another story to make transitional fossils appear real.
So in spite of our common sense telling us over and over again that living things have been designed and manufactured in the most astonishing ways, we persist in the make-belief that it all just happened by accident and made itself. In following that path we eventually end up having to invent new ways to deceive ourselves.
November 14th 2011
Kevin R wrote:
So in spite of our common sense telling us over and over again that living things have been designed and manufactured in the most astonishing ways, we persist in the make-belief that it all just happened by accident and made itself.
You are right. There is a disconnect between the way Darwinists say that life has evolved, which is without design, and the way Christians believe that life was created by God, which is with purpose and meaning.
On the other hand there is also a disconnect between the manner that life developed on earth as attested by natural history and the Biblical narrative found in Genesis.
We can say that either one or the other must be true and the other one false, or we can try to use our God given minds to determine how they both are correct in their own way and thus have the best of both worlds, that is understand how God created life and also understand the purpose for which we are created.
Creationists and atheists choose the first course of action, although coming their own separate conclusion. Christians who seek to understand all of God’s Truth endeavor to follow the other path. Please join us.
Reply to this commentDecember 16th 2011
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