Plenty of 2015 discoveries clashed with the largely fictional portrayal of dinosaurs in this year's blockbuster movie Jurassic World. They even confront basic theories, like that dinosaurs evolved into birds or died off tens of millions of years ago.
For example, researchers discovered pigment molecules within dinosaur eggs that give the eggs a greenish-blue color. Contrary to what most museums and textbooks teach, the green dinosaur eggs were not completely mineralized. But more importantly, even though pigments are tough biochemicals and able to last a long time, they contain chemical features that are prone to reaction and degredation.1 How could color pigments persist in dinosaur egg shells unless they are thousands, not millions, of years old?
In a separate dinosaur fossil discovery, researchers found red blood cell "look-alikes" and traces of connective tissue fibers. The fossils rested in the British Museum for a century before scientists ran their tests. This soft-tissue find cranked up the intensity of an evolutionary dilemma. Since other scientists had long ago established that bone proteins last no longer than one million years, none should persist in any fossils.2 And yet researchers discovered ten different proteins in fresh and flexible duck-bill dinosaur blood vessels.3 Does finding proteins and blood vessels in dinosaur bone indicate those bones were deposited thousands, not millions, of years ago?
But biochemicals did not supply the only youthful features discovered in dinosaur fossils this year. Creation-based research, including work by this author, detected and described radiocarbon inside seven dinosaur bones, several other fossils, and ancient wood samples. I compared these to already-published examples, now totaling about 50. Radiocarbon decays at a known, steady rate and self-extinguishes after about 100,000 years. Finding radiocarbon in coal and fossils from around the world shows these items were deposited fewer than 100,000 years ago.4
More creation-based research, this time compiling hundreds of data points from rock strata across North America, helped reinterpret the ever-present mystery of dinosaur extinction. Responding to a secular report that pointed to wildly fluctuating weather patterns as having contributed to dinosaur extinction, ICR geologist Tim Clarey gave a glimpse into exciting preliminary results that reveal dinosaur demise by systematic catastrophic flooding, not mere climate change.5
Evidence that dinosaurs died in a worldwide Flood only thousands of years ago not only confirms biblical history, it also implies that dinosaurs and perhaps other extinct creatures survived along with man in the recent past. So when archaeologists hauled up the prow of an ancient Danish ship with an extinct marine reptile carving that looks like so many other ancient depictions from around the world, it makes sense that marine reptiles, not just dinosaurs, went extinct within the living memory of mankind.6
Not only that, but eyewitness accounts hint that a small population of dinosaurs may still be living somewhere near Lake Murray in Papua New Guinea.7,8 Such a discovery would come as no surprise to those convinced of the Bible's history, but would force evolutionists to rewrite huge swaths of their standard dinosaur-related storylines.
Fossils, artifacts, and eyewitnesses supplied solid evidence in 2015 that dinosaur fossils formed recently. Jurassic World undoubtedly sparked dinosaur interest in a new generation that can be more confident than ever that the Bible provides the very best way to understand dinosaur evidence.
References
- Thomas, B. Colorful Dinosaur Eggs Challenge Deep Time. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org. June 11, 2015, accessed December 4, 2015.
- Thomas, B. Can Iron Preserve Fossil Proteins for Eons? Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org June 23, 2015, accessed December 4, 2015.
- Cleland, T.P. et al. 2015. Mass Spectrometry and Antibody-Based Characterization of Blood Vessels from Brachylophosaurus canadensis. Journal of Proteome Research. 14(12): 5252-5262.
- Thomas, B. Carbon-14 Found in Dinosaur Fossils. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org July 6, 2015, accessed December 4, 2015.
- Clarey, T. Solving the Missing Tropical Dinosaurs Mystery? Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org July 9, 2015, accessed December 4, 2015.
- Thomas, B. Sea Serpent on Danish Ship Prow. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org August 27, 2015, accessed December 4, 2015.
- Thomas, B. A Real Jurassic World? Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org August 4, 2015, accessed December 4, 2015.
- According to Scripture, God created dinosaurs on Day Six of creation week. Many would have become extremely violent after the Fall. Two of every basic dinosaur kind left Noah's ark to become founders of new populations in suitable habitats around the world. Hundreds of years later in many places, drastic climate changes and increasing human population eliminated dinosaurs from almost everywhere. See Morris, J. 1989. How Do The Dinosaurs Fit In? Acts & Facts. 18 (5).
Image credit: Copyright © 2015 Jurassic World Universe. Adapted for use in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders.
*Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on December 17, 2015.
