ABSTRACTS
STUDYING THE HUMAN BRAIN
KEVIN C. McLEOD
This study looks into the question, "why" the human brain is so large and complex. In the course of the investigation, the role of language in the fossil record is examined. The conclusion: that man and his brain are unique creations, will, it is hoped, encourage more insight into this most challenging area.
A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GENESIS LIFE-SPANS
WILLIAM L. SEAVER
An extensive statistical analysis of the life-spans of the patriarchs, as given in Genesis Chapters 5 and 11, shows that statistically the life-span can be considered constant before the Flood, while after the Flood the data can be fitted by an asymptotic exponential decay curve. Also, it is concluded that as for the life-spans reported in Genesis Chapter 11, the data in the Masoretic text are the authentic ones; those in the Septuagint have been tampered with. Moreover, it is statistically unlikely that there are gaps in the genealogies in Genesis Chapter 11.
WAS THE PRE-FLOOD ANIMAL KINGDOM VEGETARIAN?
Grant R. Lambert
It is commonly assumed that much of the animal kingdom became carnivorous or at least omnivorous after the Fall, though no mention of such a change is recorded in Genesis 3. Here, a case is made from the scriptures for creatures being exclusively vegetarian before the flood.
THE CREATION OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD
D. RUSSELL HUMPHREYS
God could have started the earth's magnetic field in a very simple way. He could have created the earth's original atoms with some of their nuclear magnetic moments pointing in the same direction. In one plausible scenario, this would produce a magnetic field of dipole character about eighteen times stronger than the earth's present field. The alignment of nuclei would disappear in a short time, but the field would preserve itself by inducing an electric current in the earth's interior. The field strength would gradually diminish due to resistive losses, as Barnes has calculated. If the field has always decayed at the present rate, it would take about 6,000 years to reach its present strength. In other words, the initial value for the field is consistent with the observed decay rate and the scriptural time scale. It is a striking confirmation of the Biblical creation account.
SOME IMPLICATIONS OF VARIANT CRANIAL CAPACITIES FOR THE BEST-PRESERVED AUSTRALOPITHECINE SKULL SPECIMENS
GERALD DUFFETT
The ten 'best-preserved' specimens of Australopithecine skulls were considered in this present study, which is a survey of the rise and fall in their measured/estimated cranial capacities. The discovery of 'pre-Zinj' in 1960 probably triggered the change in trend that is detectable in the literature only after that date. Discrepancies resulting from the basis of the same ten best specimens affect both the 'gracile' and 'robust' forms of Australopithecus africanus whose skulls probably demonstrate sexual dimorphism. Whilst inadvertently establishing the gender of the Taung child by a mathematical method, the same method suggests that the specimen (Sts. 5) fits the plot of 'robust' results better than that of 'gracile.' The revised cranial measurements might well imply the following: (1) Evolutionary morphometric studies are so variable as to be unreliable even when based upon the same fossil material. (2) The revised cranial capacities for australopithecines now lie well within the range of the great apes and so no more warrant the title of 'Near-men.' (3) If sexual dimorphism explains the presence/absence of the sagittal crest used to identify the 'robust' form as belonging to robustus/boisei species and the 'gracile' form as africanus, then any phylogeny which separates the latter from the former is invalid as it violates the 'facts of life' as well as one definition for the term species. (4) Discrepant results for cranial capacities such as those for Australopithecus africanus could well explain why phylogenies have recently sought to be established upon molecular studies instead of upon fossil specimens.
THE AGE OF LUNAR CRATERS
GLENN R. MORTON, HAROLD S. SLUSHER, AND RICHARD E. MANDOCK
The currently accepted uniformitarian views on the origin and age of lunar features are contradicted by the facts of the rheology of materials. In view of the nature of the material at the surface of the Moon, the craters, in particular, could not be older than a few thousand to a few million years. But the craters are there; hence they must be far younger than the uniformitarian view would allow.
ARE THE BRISTLE-CONE PINE TREES REALLY SO OLD?
WALTER E. LAMMERTS
Various treatments were given to 8-month-old bristle-cone pine seedlings; and it was found that supplementing the winter day length with a 250-watt heat lamp in order to give a total of 16 hours of illumination proved most effective. The lamp was placed about three feet above the seedlings, and the temperature in the growth chamber was kept at about 70'F. Those which received a short (circa 21 days) drought stress period in August of the third growing season showed up having one more growth ring than the control seedlings, that is four growth rings instead of three. Also seedlings which received a two week drought stress period in August of the fourth growing season showed a similar extra growth ring. The bearing of this on the estimates of the age of the bristle-cone pine forest is discussed. Under the San Francisco type of both spring and fall rainfall with a relatively dry perod in the summer the young forests on the White Mountains would have grown an extra ring per year quite often. Accordingly it is believed that the presumed 7100 year age postulated for these trees by Ferguson would be reduced to about 5600 years, on the assumption that extra rings would be formed by stress during about 50% of the years between the end of the Flood and about 1200 A.D.
WHAT BIBLE-SCIENTISTS CAN LEARN FROM BIBLE-SCIENCE
BARRY FERST
This article is a philosophical inquiry into the way in which Bible-science or creation-science is conducted, and into the status of terms such as "conceptual framework," "model," and "paradigm," which are often used in Bible-science writings. The ways in which Bible-science differs from other science are considered, and some suggestions are made which may help writers on Bible-science to improve their clarity. Also, similarities to, and differences from, some other particular scientific viewpoints are noted.