The Crocoduck Exists!

(via The Friendly Atheist)

A new specimin of Cameron and Comfort's required proof for evolution, the Crocoduck, has been found:


Pelagornithid

The unusually intact fossilized skull of a giant, bony-toothed seabird that lived up to 10 million years ago was found on Peru's arid southern coast, researchers said Friday.

With fossils discovered in North America, North Africa and even Antarctica, the birds were ubiquitous only a few million years before humans evolved and scientists puzzle over why they died out. Some believe they are related to gannets and pelicans, while other say they are related to ducks.

Let's keep an eye on Ray Comfort's blog to see his response.

Where are the Transitional Fossils??

Well, here's one (thanks Ron):


And here's the fascinating story behind its discovery, well worth taking the time to watch:

Fast Fossilization

Recently this petrified human brain site has been getting some attention. I have no idea whether it's real or a parody, but this kind of thing is certainly common among creationist arguments. I've already posted about the fossilized teddy bear, and the below image shows what is apparently a fossilized human foot, still inside its boot:


These nutjobs don't seem to realize that the time it takes for fossils to form is entirely irrelevant. What matters is the age of the fossils since formation, and many independent dating techniques (radiometric dating, fission-track dating, paleomagnetism, amino acid dating) all agree that dinosaur bones are many millions of years old.

Science in Seattle

The reason I haven't made any posts for a while is because I've been on holiday. My wife and I went on a road trip around Washington state and British Columbia, and spent a couple of days in Seattle, home to the conservative think tank and creationist stronghold The Discovery Institute. This is the organization responsible for the "Teach the Controversy" strategy to get religion taught in school science classes. From Wikipedia:

In 2005, a federal court ruled that the Discovery Institute pursues "demonstrably religious, cultural, and legal missions", and the institute's manifesto, the Wedge strategy, describes a religious goal: to "reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions".

It was gratifyingly ironic that just a half-hour walk from this fortress of ignorance, at the Pacific Science Center, the remains of a 3.2 million year old humanoid fossil was on display. Named Lucy (after The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), she's one of many "missing" links between the modern human and our ape-like ancestors. The exhibit was superb, and Lucy was part of a much larger collection of fossils as well as cultural artifacts from Ethiopia, where she was discovered.

Lucy

At the end of our tour we exited through the obligatory gift shop, which had a ton of books for sale on evolution, Darwin and the invalidity of intelligent design. Not a single creationist book was to be found, I'm glad to say. If the Discovery Institute can't even influence the science in their own city, it bodes well for the rest of the US...

Petrified Teddy Bear

This site is selling a "fossilized" teddy bear. Apparently this proves that objects can fossilize very quickly:


I disagree, I think it's clear evidence of a missing link between Yogi Bear and Winnie the Pooh.

Pimp my Ride

Fossil Evidence for the Great Flood

The above image is taken from www.creationism.org, and used in an article in which all fossils are claimed to be evidence of creatures that died in the Great Flood. Yes, the same flood as in the story of Noah's Ark. But hang on a minute, this fossil is a fish, right? Something doesn't add up. I'm reminded of an Eddie Izzard skit about evil pilot-fish escaping God's wrath.