In fall 2009, the journal Science dedicated a special issue to Ardipithecus ramidus. Popularly known as "Ardi," the fossil was characterized by researchers Tim White and C. Owen Lovejoy as a replacement for Lucy as mankind's direct evolutionary ancestor.

Squid, octopus, nautilus, and cuttlefish are unlike any other marine creatures. With brain, eyes, mouth, tentacles, and, for squid, jet-propulsion siphon clustered at one end of the body, the cephalopod design is so effective that most of these creatures successfully hunt fast-swimming fish for food. But was their body design engineered by a Creator or chanced upon by nature?

Charles Darwin proposed "natural selection" as the means by which new creatures evolve. The question then became, what does nature select? The reigning consensus is that nature selects individuals with genetic mutations, and that this eventually leads to the development of new life forms.

The theory of human evolution is taking yet another hit from recent scientific studies, from the first analysis of the Neandertal genome to painstakingly reconstructed Ardipithicus ramidus and Australopithecus sediba remains. The profusion of evolutionarily bias in media reports, however, can make it tricky to uncover the real evidence.

If humans evolved through a piece-by-piece accretion of parts, then so did their ability to talk. Although talking seems simple, it actually depends on so many perfectly placed characteristics--both material and immaterial--that language must be a gift from God.