What Is 'Real Scientific Research'?

by Brian Thomas, M.S. *

A recent article in The Dallas Morning News¹ and a follow-up NBC interview² presented some history and touched on the tenets of the Institute for Creation Research. Both news reports sparked inquiries from readers and viewers. For example, some are now asking, "What defines credible scientific research?"

As the article points out, [ICR's Director of Physical Sciences, Dr. Jason] "Lisle says his team analyzes the same data as secular scientists—but they interpret it differently, and often find flaws in accepted assumptions."¹ Studying, analyzing, and interpreting data are a part of any research methodology, and so ICR scrutinizes data gathered by other scientists as a part of the process. But ICR goes beyond basic analysis.

While our private donor-based funding pales in comparison to many secular institutions, ICR scientists are involved in original research. For over four decades, generous donors have ensured our scientists' fruitful production of genuine independent research³, as the following examples of ICR discoveries clearly show:

• A floating log-mat model of coal formation was confirmed at Mount St. Helens by sonar and underwater dives into nearby Spirit Lake, refuting evolutionary notions of coal formation requiring millions of years.
• Carbon-14 found in Pennsylvanian coal shows it's only thousands of years old.
• Carbon-14 discovered in diamonds indicate they're only thousands of years old.
• Radiohalos in granitic zircons show that water transported daughter-product particles away from their decaying parent uranium atoms, thereby accelerating uranium decay rates high enough to produce millions of years' worth of daughter products (at today's slow decay rate) in only years or days.
• Six thousand years' worth of helium—a product of Uranium decay—has accumulated in granitic zircons that should contain mere traces of helium if their granites really lasted for billions of years, helping to explain why conventional radioisotope systems make unreliable clocks.
• Genes and other useful DNA information are encoded within the so-called human chromosome 2 fusion site, showing that it was never a fusion site—where evolutionists imagined two chimpanzee-like chromosomes had fused to become the human chromosome 2, but was always a well-designed fully human chromosome.
• The absence of all the tell-tale genetic scars that identify chromosomal fusion from the alleged chromosome 2 fusion site also identify the region as not a fusion site at all—but as a supply of useful information for human cells.
• An approximately 70 percent similarity between human and chimpanzee DNA sequences directly contradicts the often-quoted 98 percent identity. There are 900 million DNA letter differences between human and chimp genomes.
• Genetic differences between species are much too low to have arisen over millions of years but correspond exactly to the expectations of an origin less than 10,000 years ago.

Research continues at ICR.

• Our geologists are mapping for the first time all of North America's rock systems by rock type and thickness onto a giant 3-D assemblage, with its keen revelations and implications for Genesis Flood history forthcoming.
• Others continue to discover radioactive carbon in fossils from around the world, with stunning results set to appear in several publications in upcoming months.
• Our physicists have been running the numbers required to rigorously rule out possible errors that may have caused light from distant galaxies to appear organized into colossal concentric rings with Earth near their center—as though Someone placed us here on purpose.

The power and significance of these discoveries lie in the fact that they emerge from original data obtained by independent credible research. ICR is grateful to its dedicated constituents for enabling these fascinating scientific discoveries for almost a half century. Together we will continue to demonstrate that creation is confirmed by scientific evidence.

References

1. Farwell, S. Dallas researchers out to scientifically prove biblical version of creation. The Dallas Morning News, August 15, 2014. Some results of this independent research are visible in the Dallas Morning News online video that accompanied Farwell's report: Institute for Creation Research works to prove Genesis is scientifically true. DMN video. Posted on dallasnews.com August 15, 2014, accessed August 15, 2014.
2. Dallas Researchers Out to Scientifically Prove Biblical Version of Creation. NBC, Channel 5 News. Posted on nbcdfw.com August 15, 2014.
3. Institute for Creation Research Technical Papers. Posted on icr.org, accessed August 15, 2014.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on August 20, 2014.