On June 11, 2008, Jesse Hall from Aledo, Texas, underwent a hemispherectomy to treat a rare brain illness.¹ The suffix “ectomy” refers to the surgical removal of a body part. A hemispherectomy, therefore, means the surgical removal of a hemisphere—a half—of the brain. Yes, it is possible for people to survive this procedure, and even recover almost all their normal functions.

New research purports to shed light on how brains evolved. Apparently, evolving a more complicated brain, such as from invertebrate to vertebrate, is not simply a matter of more connections (synapses) between neurons. Professor Seth Grant, head of the Genes to Cognition Programme at the Sanger Institute, argues that the synapse proteins had to evolve first.

Back in 1988, researchers placed bacteria in an environment that pressured them to evolve the ability to metabolize (eat) citrate instead of the standard glucose. After 31,500 generations and 20 years, the bacteria finally ate citrate.¹

A recent New York Times online editorial titled “The Cons of Creationism”¹ is a typical example of the way the secular media routinely mischaracterize creation science. Let us critique the editorial’s claims, one item at a time.

Researchers are intelligently designing techniques to combat mutations that cause neurological disorders. If evolution works according to the standard neo-Darwinian model of time + selection + mutation, then why are we interfering with the process? Shouldn’t we let evolution run its course?