ABSTRACTS
A Tribute to Dr. Kevin Anderson (open Acess)
Dr. Kevin Anderson earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from Kansas State University. He spent some time as postdoc (courtesy of the NIH) and was a professor of microbiology at Mississippi State University. Prior to his untimely departure, Kevin was the director of the Van Andel Creation Research Center (VACRC). The lab is owned and operated by the CRS and is located on the campus of Arizona Christian University in Phoenix. Kevin left behind his wife, Diane (who also serves as the CRS Administrative Assistant), their three children, and four grandchildren. Dr. Robert Carter was privileged to interview him before Dr. Anderson was called home
Catching the Vision: Blind Cave Fish (Astyanax mexicanus) as a Model System for Continuous Environmental Tracking and Adaptive Engineering (Open Access)
A wide variety of fish, amphibians, and arthropods have colonized cave environments deploying complex suites of morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits specifically adaptive to a perpetually dark and resource-scarce environment. Among the many examples of this global phenomenon is the Mexican blind cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) which has become a leading research model for this rapid and repeatable adaptation which is nearly entirely due to developmental phenotypic plasticity. Not only do blind Astyanax cavefish (compared to surface morphotypes) exhibit a lack of eye development, but they also display complex enhancements for chemo- and mechano-sensors, altered circadian cycles, modified neural and endocrine circuits, metabolic modifications in both rates and metabolism, epigenetic modifications, and behavioral changes that rely upon all of these complex physical and physiological modifications. These rapid, repeatable, and complex organism-wide system adaptations make little sense in the context of Darwinian evolution involving mutation and natural selection. However, the data fit perfectly with a model of engineered, organism-driven systems of adaptation built into creatures by the Creator that enable them to continuously track and appropriately adjust to specific environmental changes. Given that Astyanax have been well-researched and are relatively easily studied, reared, and bred in a laboratory setting, we propose using these fish in creationist research for the study of environmental tracking conferred primarily through phenotypic plasticity.
CreationeeringTM: an Integrated Engineering-Budiness Paradigm
CreationeeringTM is a new paradigm, or worldview, that integrates engineering and business practice for technological entrepreneurship from a Biblical basis. This paradigm subsumes “intelligent design” along with other engineering attributes and business practice. Furthermore, CreationeeringTM distinguishes itself from “creation science” in that the former includes the “creation process” while the latter is limited to the discovery of existing physical phenomena. The systems engineering steps of CreationeeringTM include the following: design, analysis/synthesis, procurement/making, logistics, assembly, performance/function, sustainability, and death/recycling. The business aspects include the following: human personnel, finances, legal, sales/ marketing, and management. The eight steps in engineering and the five aspects of business comprise the paradigm of CreationeeringTM. God’s account of the CreationeeringTM process is presented with respect to the creation of the cosmos, and Moses’ account of the CreationeeringTM process is presented with respect to the Tabernacle. A brief history is given to explain the loss of the CreationeeringTM mandate and recovery from the Reformation and consequential industrial revolution. Finally, a modern example of the common automobile is discussed to bring clarification regarding CreationeeringTM.
Towards a More Realistic Young-Earth Ice Sheet Model: a Shallow, Isothermal Ice Dome With a Frozen Base
In 1976 M.W. Mahaffy published a simple model for an ice sheet which allowed for time-varying accumulation rates and which did not make the usual steady state assumption that the ice sheet has a constant height. For this reason his model should be of interest to creation researchers, who could conceivably use it to model the rapid growth of a post-Flood ice sheet. This paper explains the theory and assumptions behind Mahaffy’s model, as well as mathematician Ed Bueler’s clever solution for the case of a shallow ice dome with a frozen base, resting on level ground. The results from the Mahaffy/Bueler solution are compared with the results from Larry Vardiman’s ice sheet model, and limitations of the Mahaffy model are discussed, as are the logical next steps in creation ice core research.
Researching ‘Sea-Paths’ Near Antarctica and in Psalm 8:8—Are Sea Creatures Actively or Passively ‘Passing Through’ Ocean Currents?
Recent research in coastal seawaters of Antarctica is expanding our data and understanding of ocean currents, what creationist oceanographer Matthew Maury called “paths of the seas” (based upon his study of Psalm 8:8). Philological study of that verse (i.e., Psalm 8:8, numbered as Psalm 8:9 in the Hebrew Bible) adds clarity to what is “passing through” those oceanic sea-paths, plus that verse’s Hebrew verb refers to continually active (i.e., cross-current) movements at sea.
Planations of Rowena Gap Along the Oregon/Washington Border: Support for Flood Erosion of the Cascade Anticlinorium
The Columbia River Gorge has long been an icon of naturalistic geology. Incised through the Cascade Anticlinorium, the Columbia River supposedly exemplifies the antecedent river hypothesis. This assumes the Cascade Anticlinorium was uplifted at the same rate the Columbia River eroded. In addition to generic challenges to antecedence, it fails to explain planation surfaces along Rowena Gap near the eastern entrance to the Columbia River Gorge. As much as 700 meters above the current river, these planation surfaces truncate folded Columbia River Basalts and extend over 40 kilometers north and south of the Columbia River. Due to their planar nature and no evidence of post-erosion faulting, the planation surfaces were eroded at their current elevation. Secular and post-Flood models alike fail to explain them. That much erosion at such elevation can only be achieved during the Genesis Flood. Recent research in coastal seawaters of Antarctica is expanding our data and understanding of ocean currents, what creationist oceanographer Matthew Maury called “paths of the seas” (based upon his study of Psalm 8:8). Philological study of that verse (i.e., Psalm 8:8, numbered as Psalm 8:9 in the Hebrew Bible) adds clarity to what is “passing through” those oceanic sea-paths, plus that verse’s Hebrew verb refers to continually active (i.e., cross-current) movements at sea.
CRS Annual Board Meeting Minutes
The 58th annual CRS Board of Directors meeting convened from Thursday, 20 May, through Saturday, 22 May 2021. The meeting was held at the new CRS
headquarters and laboratory facility in Glendale, Arizona.
The entire board met on Thursday evening to consider preliminary matters.
All standing CRS committees met on Thursday or Friday. The entire board met on Saturday to finalize the year’s business and planning