No Glaring Scientific Errors, Please
It is always irksome to me when Christians set out to discuss creation vs. evolution and end up making grievous errors in their statements about scientific facts. I mean, couldn't they at least show the evolutionists that they are capable of thinking and understanding science? An argument containing glaring scientific errors is more likely to turn an evolutionist further from creation.
Last weekend I was reading Answers, the journal produced by Answers in Genesis, and came upon an article about the intelligent design of camels. This article had great potential and even said some valid and important things. Sadly, it contained errors that could quickly turn off an educated evolutionist.
For instance, it stated that elliptical red blood cells are exclusive to camels. This is not true -- llamas and alpacas also have elliptical red blood cells. Granted, they are cousins of the camel, but the article made no allowance for them. Furthermore, birds, reptiles and amphibians also have elliptical red blood cells.
The article incorrectly defined "osmosis" in a very glaring way, saying it was equivalent to water storage or something ~equally incorrect.
The article furthermore stated that camels store large amounts of water in their circulatory system. The blood volume of camels may be a higher percent of their body weight than the blood volume of cows. However, the idea that camels use their circulatory system to store water is flawed. If the camel stored water in its blood stream, it would pull that water off when it became dehydrated and the camel would likely experience decreased tissue perfusion, lactic acidosis and a debilitated condition. The Fresno Zoo website states that camel blood volume does not fluctuate (at least not significantly) with dehydration. This idea suggests a much more stable system than the Answers article.
Lastly, the article stated that the fat in the camel's hump allows it to make use of the water in its circulatory system. That makes no sense -- water in the circulatory system is basically freely available to be used. The fat in the hump provides water to the camel by actually making new water as it is metabolized for energy. Interestingly, one source mentioned that breaking down 1 pound of fat results in the production of 1.1 pounds of water in the Arabian camel. That's pretty amazing.
My plea for Christians: if you are going to take the time to debate evolution, please get your facts straight. It's really not all that hard if you use the right sources. Peer reviewed journals are a must.
Last weekend I was reading Answers, the journal produced by Answers in Genesis, and came upon an article about the intelligent design of camels. This article had great potential and even said some valid and important things. Sadly, it contained errors that could quickly turn off an educated evolutionist.
For instance, it stated that elliptical red blood cells are exclusive to camels. This is not true -- llamas and alpacas also have elliptical red blood cells. Granted, they are cousins of the camel, but the article made no allowance for them. Furthermore, birds, reptiles and amphibians also have elliptical red blood cells.
The article incorrectly defined "osmosis" in a very glaring way, saying it was equivalent to water storage or something ~equally incorrect.
The article furthermore stated that camels store large amounts of water in their circulatory system. The blood volume of camels may be a higher percent of their body weight than the blood volume of cows. However, the idea that camels use their circulatory system to store water is flawed. If the camel stored water in its blood stream, it would pull that water off when it became dehydrated and the camel would likely experience decreased tissue perfusion, lactic acidosis and a debilitated condition. The Fresno Zoo website states that camel blood volume does not fluctuate (at least not significantly) with dehydration. This idea suggests a much more stable system than the Answers article.
Lastly, the article stated that the fat in the camel's hump allows it to make use of the water in its circulatory system. That makes no sense -- water in the circulatory system is basically freely available to be used. The fat in the hump provides water to the camel by actually making new water as it is metabolized for energy. Interestingly, one source mentioned that breaking down 1 pound of fat results in the production of 1.1 pounds of water in the Arabian camel. That's pretty amazing.
My plea for Christians: if you are going to take the time to debate evolution, please get your facts straight. It's really not all that hard if you use the right sources. Peer reviewed journals are a must.
posted by Claire at 18:45
1 Comments:
Testing testing 123.
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