Borderline Personality Disorder - Or Why Does Donald Trump Fly Into Rages So Often?

The Link Between Borderline Personality Disorder and Anger | Psychology Today

In an article today in Psychology Today, psychologist, Bernard Golden, Ph.D, explains the link between Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Anger.

Although he doesn't name him, most of his article reads like a description of Donald Trump and his frequent loss of self-control and bouts of angry shouting, which characterised his term in the White House, when aids would frequently be sacked in a fit of rage because they had had the temerity to question him or hint at disagreement.

To us in Europe it often seems America was being run from the bedroom of an over-privileged, petulant adolescent that someone had given a Twitter account to and told him he runs the world, where the most bizarre things were tweeted in the small hours of the morning and the world would wake up to the latest outburst and half-baked policy announcement.

This behaviour is explained by his borderline personality disorder, as described by Dr Bernard Golden

Creationism in Crisis - Evolution Of Improved Hearing In Mammals - 165 Million Years Before 'Creation Week'

Artist's impression of Feredocodon chowi.

© Chuang Zhao

Reconstruction of Feredocodon chowi (right) and Dianoconodon youngi (left).

© Chuang Zhao

New Fossils Change Thinking on Early Mammal Evolution | AMNH

Some 165 million years before their god created the small flat planet with a dome over it that Creationists love hearing about, early mammals were evolving into modern mammals, complete with the tiny bones called ossicles that are essential for hearing. These three small bones transmit sound across the inner ear to the auditory sense organ, the cochlea.

Changes in the mammalian dentition were key to freeing these parts of the jaw joint, according to an analysis of two Jurassic-era mammal fossils which are the subject of articles in Nature. These analyses fill a gap in our understanding of the evolution of mammalian dentition and provide evidence of the transition from part of the jaw to the auditory ossicles - the stapes, malus and incus.

Like almost all of the history of life on earth, this all happened in the very long 'pre-Creation' age when 99.99% of Earth's history happened. The discovery was made by a research team that included Jin Meng of the American Museum of Natural History. Their findings are explained in an American Museum of Natural History press release.

Evolution News - An Atlas Of The Human Ovary Shows Common Ancestry of Mammals

Ovarian follicle

Human ovarian follicle

First atlas of the human ovary with cell-level resolution is a step toward artificial ovary | University of Michigan News

This piece of research caught my eye, not so much because it refutes creationism with its daft notion of the special creation of humans as separate from all the other animals but because it's reminiscent of the research I used to be involved with in my first profession - a research technician in Oxford University's Department of Human Anatomy.

The research our small group was doing involved the hormonal control of reproduction in guinea pigs, which involved preparing light microscope slides of sections of guinea pig ovaries, and later on, transmission electron micrographs of ovarian tissues.

Like humans, guinea pigs have oestrus cycles where they periodically shed eggs from their ovaries regardless of whether they have mated or not. This is unlike some other mammals which ovulate soon after mating, stimulated to do so by the act of mating. Unlike human females, guinea pigs are only receptive for two or three days before and just after they ovulate. Outside that receptive period, they have a closure membrane that makes penetration impossible.

Malevolent Designer News - How Creationism's Divine Malevolence Creates Genetic Defects

UC Irvine-led research team builds first tandem repeat expansions genetic reference maps – UCI News

Creationists assure us that creating new genetic information is impossible without magic performed by the magic creator because they have been sold some half-baked notion that genetic information follows the same laws of physics as energy, so can't be created according to the Third Law of Thermodynamics.

The fact that this is demonstrably wrong since gene duplication is readily observable doesn't stop them trotting out the same refuted claims time after time, but then to a creationist, having a claim refuted is not seen as a reason not to try to get away with it again later. You'll see this repeatedly as an apologist fraud such as William Lane Craig, Ken Ham or Michael J Behe will be comprehensively refuted in a public debate one day, only to try the self-same argument a day or two later on a different opponent in front of a different audience.

Sadly for creationists, however, this tactic leads them down a cul-de-sac where they are left arguing that DNA duplication must have been intelligently designed and, so they will also claim, evidence of intelligent design is evidence that their favourite god (and no other!) exists.

Creationism in Crisis - Researchers Have Discovered An Essential Step In The Evolution Of Walking

Tiktaalik reconstruction

Tiktaalik, (artist's impression)

In the evolution of walking, the hip bone connected to the rib bones | Eberly College of Science

From the day its discovery was announced, Tiktaalik has been a major embarrassment for creationists because not only does it refute the claim that there are no intermediate forms, but it also belies the claim that the Theory of Evolution can't make predictions.

Not only is it intermediate between fully aquatic lobe-finned fish and terrestrial tetrapod, but its discoverers predicted exactly where it would be found in the geological column and promptly went and found it there, exactly were predicted in Canada's Ellesmere Island.

But that embarrassment is about to become even more acute.

Researchers at Penn State's Eberly College have shown that Tiktaalik's ribs were attached to its pelvis and that fact helped in the evolution of walking. The research team, co-led by Tom Stewart, assistant professor of biology in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State and Neil H Shubin, one of the discoverers of Tiktaalik, have published their findings open access in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). It is also explained in a Penn State Eberly College news release by Sam Sholtis:

Creationism in Crisis - How Rusty Patched Bumblebee Genes Show Evidence of Evolution Under Intense Selection Pressure

The rusty-patched bumblebee, Bombus affinis

Photo by Jay Watson

The rusty-patched bumblebee, once common in the United States, has declined from about 90% of its former range.

Photo by Jay Watson

Rusty-patched bumblebee’s struggle for survival found in its genes - Warner College of Natural Resources

Evolution, or more precisely change in allele frequency over time, inevitably records selection pressures on a species resulting in a genome which, when correctly read and compared to predecessors, should tell the story of changes in the species environment.

This principle is illustrated by the threatened species of bumblebee, the rusty patch bumblebee, Bombus affinis, which has recently declined by about 90% in the USA and is now considered an endangered species. If this rate of decline continues the species will probably be extinct within 20 years. This level of intense selection pressure has inevitably left its mark on the genome of the species.

On of the problems facing the species is the result of the way bees breed. The queen can normally produce two sorts of egg - a fertilised, diploid egg which will develop into a female and a haploid, unfertilised egg which will develop into a male or drone. The problem arises when there is a high level of inbreeding, due, for example, to a small population - which the bee is now facing. In that situation, the female can produce diploid males because both sets of chromosomes can be identical. Diploid males are normally sterile so reducing the breeding success of the local species.

Creationism in Crisis - A Rainbow On Another Planet! Did God Flood That One Too?

WASP-76b showing its 'glory'

© ESA, work performed by ATG under contract for ESA.
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Each glory is unique, depending on the composition of the planet’s atmosphere and the colours of the light from the star that illuminates it. WASP-76 (the «Sun» of WASP-76b) is a yellow and white main sequence star like our Sun, but different stars create glories with different colours and patterns.

© ESA, work performed by ATG under contract for ESA. CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

CHEOPS detects a "rainbow" on an exoplanet - Medias - UNIGE

Scientists working at the CHEOPS space telescope control centre in the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, working in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the University of Bern (UNIBE), have discovered something which should ring alarm bells in the minds of Bible literalists.

It is the discovery of a rainbow in the atmosphere of an exoplanet known to science as WASP-76b.

WASP-76b is an exoplanet discovered in 2013 and confirmed in 2016 by a team of astronomers led by Neale P. Gibson using data from the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) project. It belongs to the class of exoplanets known as "hot Jupiters," which are gas giants similar in size to Jupiter but with much higher temperatures due to their close proximity to their parent stars. Here are some key characteristics of WASP-76b:

1. Discovery: WASP-76b was discovered using the transit method, which involves observing the slight dimming of a star's light as an orbiting planet passes in front of it. This dimming effect is periodic and can be used to infer the presence and characteristics of the planet.
2. Physical Characteristics: WASP-76b is approximately 1.8 times the size of Jupiter but significantly more massive. It has a high surface temperature, estimated to be around 2,400 degrees Celsius (4,350 degrees Fahrenheit). This extreme heat is due to the planet's close orbit around its host star, WASP-76, which is located about 640 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Pisces.
3. Atmospheric Composition: One of the most intriguing features of WASP-76b is its atmospheric composition. Observations using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile revealed the presence of iron and titanium vapor in the planet's atmosphere. This finding is significant because it provides insights into the atmospheric chemistry and physical processes occurring on hot Jupiter exoplanets.
4. Extreme Conditions: The extreme temperature and atmospheric conditions on WASP-76b make it an inhospitable world, unlikely to support life as we know it. Its atmosphere is thought to be dominated by high-speed winds and extreme atmospheric dynamics, which may lead to unusual weather patterns and atmospheric phenomena.
5. Importance for Exoplanet Research: WASP-76b is one of many exoplanets discovered in recent years that are helping astronomers better understand the diversity of planetary systems beyond our solar system. Its unique atmospheric composition and extreme conditions make it a valuable target for further study, particularly in the field of exoplanet atmospheres and planetary formation theories.

Overall, WASP-76b represents a fascinating example of the diverse range of exoplanets that exist in our galaxy and provides valuable insights into the atmospheric characteristics and physical processes occurring on these distant worlds.

The reason this should set alarm bells ringing in the minds of Bible literalists, is because they believe that 'the' rainbow was sent by the god of the Bible to show believers that he wouldn't ever inflict another genocide on the planet because, although being omniscient and perfect, he regretted the time he did it in a fit of temper and flooded the planet to a depth that covered the highest mountains.

Or so the tale goes.

Before about 4,000 years ago, obviously, sunlight wouldn't have been diffracted into its component colours by passing through raindrops, or so those who didn't understand how rainbows are formed wrote.

And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 9: 8-17

Apparently, God is so forgetful that he needs the rainbow to remind him not to lose self-control and commit genocide again.

But the question for creationists is, did God commit genocide on another planet too and put a rainbow there to remind him not to do it again? If not, how do rainbows form on another planet if they only appear on Earth because God puts them there?

If he did commit genocide on another planet, this means there must have been life there too, yet WASP-76b is far too hot to sustain life as we know it, being a 'hot' Jupiter-like gas giant which orbits its sun (WASP-76) closer than mercury orbits ours.

How this discovery was made is the subject of a news release by the University of Geneva:

Superstition News - How Belief in God(s) Evolved in Human Culture

[left caption]

[Right caption/credit]

Christian church service

Why Do People Believe in God? | Psychology Today

From the point of view of an Atheist like me who realised religion was nonsense at the age of 9 and have been an atheist ever since, the fact that grown adults believe in a magic man in the sky who magically makes things happen does seem incredible.

It gets even more incredible that grown adults believe that, although omniscience and having a perfect plan for our individual lives, he needs to be told of bad things that need to be changed because he either doesn't know they're happening or doesn't know they are wrong.

And yet, for most people in the world, the answer seems obvious: Because it’s self-evident that God exists. From the point of view of the believer, the really puzzling question is how anyone could not believe.

Shinto shrine in Kyoto, Japan

So why do so many grown adults believe in at least one god, or if they're Hindu or Shintoist, or one of the other polytheist religions, several gods?

According to a 2018 article in Psychology Today by David Ludden, PhD, professor of psychology at Georgia Gwinnett College, religion is an evolved feature of human culture and there was a time when people didn't believe in gods.

In his article he makes the following key points:

• Early in the history of humans, nobody believed in a god of any sort.
• Religious belief is considerably lower in developed countries compared with the underdeveloped world.
• Believing that God has a plan helps people regain some sense of control, or at least acceptance.

Evolution in Action - New Study Finds Evidence for Evolution Of A New, Nitrogen-Fixing Cell Organelle

Composite of catalized reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH) images showing the range of sizes of the different UCYN-A sublineages.

Cornejo-Castillo, F.M., et al (2024)

Transmission electron micrograph images of the C. parkeae stage of B. bigelowii. Light microscopy images (A,C) and corresponding TEM images are shown (B,D) for strain MK90-06. Usually, one endosymbiont is found per cell in the posterior of the cell (A,B); however, some of the cells had two endosymbionts per cell during cell division (C,D). Scale bars represent 5 μm in (A and C), and 2 μm in (B and D). E, endosymbiont; G, Golgi apparatus; M, mitochondrion; N, nucleus; P, plastid; and Py, pyrenoid.

Suzuki, Shigekatsu, et. al, (2021)

Evolution in action? New study finds possibility of nitrogen-fixing organelles – Rhody Today

Most biologists now accept the Endosymbiosis Theory which explains how simple prokaryote cells became complex eukaryote cells by a single-celled prokaryote such as an archaea incorporating other single-celled prokaryotes inside its cell membrane. This may have been by engulfing them as prey or by being parasitised by them. Whatever the mechanism, a symbiotic relationship ensued which progressed to the extent that the incorporated cell's DNA was transferred to the host genome and the incorporated cell became a cell organelle.

This explains the origin of cell organelles such as the mitochondria which metabolise glucose to turn adenosine diphosphate (ADP) into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which can then be used to power metabolic processes within the cell. Mitochondria have some similarities with rickettsia bacteria which strongly suggests they have evolved from free-living rickettsia.

Likewise, chloroplasts in plant cells were once free-living, photosynthesising cyanobacteria which became incorporated in what was to become algae, so giving rise eventually to almost all plant life.

And now we have evidence that another incorporation is evolving, in the form of nitrogen-fixing bacteria being incorporated as organelles into a marine alga, which gives the algae the ability to create ammonia and so nitrates directly from atmospheric nitrogen. This was discovered by researchers from the University of Rhode Island, the Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona, the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They have published their findings, open access, in the journal Cell.

Although nitrogen is abundant, comprising about 79% of Earth's atmosphere, it exists as the diatomic gas dinitrogen (N₂) which is notoriously stable making molecular nitrogen almost an inert substance and requiring a lot of energy to break the N-N bond. However, some bacteria, the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, have evolved the ability to do this using the enzyme nitrogenase:

Malevolent Designer News - New Discovery Unravels Malaria Invasion Mechanism

Malaria-infected red blood cells

Photo: AdobeStock

Plasmodium falciparum in a blood smear.

New Discovery Unravels Malaria Invasion Mechanism

Medical science just took a step forward in the continuing arms race between it and creationism's divine malevolence to try to prevent its parasite, Plasmodium falciparum from killing 600,000 people, mostly children, a year, mostly in Africa.

Creationists who use the traditional excuse that it's not their god who designs parasites but another intelligent designer - Sin - should refresh their memories of Michael J Beh's 'proof' that their god exists by falsely claiming that anti-malarial drug resistance in P. falciparum must have been intelligently designed because the (wrong) mathematical model he used gave the infinitesimally small probability it was intelligently designed to give, so could not have evolved.

So, they can't have it both ways: if evidence of design in parasites, no matter how spurious, is evidence for their god then their god is responsible for the design of those parasites. If not, then Michael J Behe's carefully concocted 'proof' is nothing of the sort.

The alternative is the blasphemous claim that there is another supernatural deity with powers to create living things, over whom their god has no power or authority.

So, while creationists are struggling with trying to hold two mutually exclusive views simultaneously, biomedical scientists are trying to unravel the devilishly clever way this parasite overcomes our defences to do what creationists must believe it was designed to do - make us sick and increase the suffering in the world.

This is the latest breakthrough medical science has just announced.

It was made by researchers from by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics, led by Professor Gerd Pluschke of Swiss TPH. Their discovery concerns the way the parasite gains access to the red blood cells to begin their destruction. It is published, open access, in Cell Reports and is explained in a Swiss PTH news release:

Creationism in Crisis - A New Look at Bird Evolution - Not Whether, But How!

Wompoo fruit-dove from Queensland, Australia.

Credit: Daniel J. Field

A greater flamingo, Mallorca, Spain.

Credit: Daniel J. Field

We’ve had bird evolution all wrong - News - University of Florida

To a child-like black vs white creationist, science changing its mind is science admitting it was wrong - which means it's probably wrong this time too, so all of science can be dismissed as wrong. Unless of course, it's some pseudo-science purporting to support creationism, then it's absolutely incontrovertible proof of creationism, because there is nothing a creationist craves more than proof of creationism provided by the same science they despise so much when it refutes creationism yet again.

So, news that a team of researchers at Florida University have re-examined the genetic evidence for the evolution of birds and revised the family tree will be music to the ears of any creationist fraud looking for some science to misrepresent. However, this research does nothing of the sort, and merely confirms what we already know - that birds diversified from a common ancestor by an evolutionary process. The debate is never about whether that happened, but how and exactly when.

What misled taxonomists was a chunk of DNA that has remained more or less unchanged for some 60 million years. By a process which is poorly understood, this large chunk of DNA avoids recombination during the process of egg and sperm production. Using this section alone gave one family tree, which put doves and flamingoes as close cousins, but using the whole genome gave a different family tree which makes doves and flamingoes much more distantly related (though of course, still related by common ancestry).

The research team have published their findings, open access, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) and explain them in a University of Florida news release:

Creationism in Crisis - Sophisticated Wooden Hunting Tools Were Being Made In Schöningen, Germany - 290,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

Examples of pointed split woods and close-up images of the worked point.

Photos: Matthias Vogel, Jens Lehmann, Dirk Leder, NLD.

Early humans used wood splitting 300,000 years ago to hunt animals, study shows

290,000 years before creationism's little god decided to create the small flat planet with a dome over it, in the Middle East, and before anatomically-modern humans had left Africa, someone was creating hunting weapons in a 'workshop' in what is now Schöningen, Lower Saxony, Germany.

What information do you have on the archaeological site at Schöningen, Lower Saxony, particularly on how the wooden artifacts were dated? The archaeological site at Schöningen, located in Lower Saxony, Germany, is renowned for its remarkable finds of wooden artifacts, particularly wooden spears. These artifacts have provided valuable insights into the behavior and technology of early humans in Europe.

The Schöningen site has yielded several wooden spears, some of which are remarkably well-preserved. These spears are estimated to be around 300,000 years old, making them some of the oldest known hunting weapons in the archaeological record.

One of the methods used to date the wooden artifacts found at Schöningen is dendrochronology, also known as tree-ring dating. Dendrochronology involves analyzing the growth rings of trees to determine the age of wooden samples. However, in the case of the Schöningen spears, dendrochronology was not applicable because the wood had undergone significant chemical and physical changes over time, making it difficult to identify and count growth rings.

Instead, researchers utilized other dating methods such as radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dating involves measuring the amount of radioactive carbon-14 remaining in organic material to estimate its age. However, radiocarbon dating is only effective for materials up to around 50,000 years old. To overcome this limitation, researchers at Schöningen used a method called electron spin resonance (ESR) dating.

ESR dating is a technique used to date materials that contain trapped electrons, such as tooth enamel or certain minerals. By measuring the amount of trapped electrons and their properties, scientists can estimate the age of the material. This method was used to date the sediment layers surrounding the wooden artifacts at Schöningen, providing an estimate of their age.

Through these dating methods, researchers have been able to establish the approximate age of the wooden spears found at Schöningen, shedding light on the hunting practices and technological capabilities of early humans in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene epoch.

Tell me more about electron spin resonance dating.

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating is a scientific technique used to date materials that have been exposed to radiation, such as certain minerals or tooth enamel. It is particularly useful for dating archaeological and geological materials beyond the range of radiocarbon dating.

Here's how ESR dating works:

1. Principle: When certain materials are exposed to radiation, such as cosmic rays or natural radioactivity in the environment, they can become trapped in defects within the crystal lattice structure of the material. These trapped electrons have an inherent spin, which can be affected by an external magnetic field. ESR dating measures the amount of trapped electrons and their spin properties to estimate the age of the material.
2. Trapped Electrons: Over time, trapped electrons accumulate in the crystal lattice of the material. The rate of accumulation depends on factors such as the type and amount of radiation to which the material has been exposed, as well as its environment. Trapped electrons are usually produced by ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays or cosmic rays, which knock electrons out of their atomic positions and into trap sites within the crystal lattice.
3. Measurement: To measure the trapped electrons, the sample is first exposed to a magnetic field, causing the electrons to absorb energy and move to higher energy states. When the magnetic field is removed, the electrons return to their original state, emitting energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. This emitted energy is detected and analyzed to determine the concentration of trapped electrons and their properties.
4. Age Calculation: The age of the sample is calculated based on the accumulated dose of radiation it has received over time. This dose is determined by comparing the concentration of trapped electrons in the sample to a standard dose rate calibration curve, which relates the amount of trapped electrons to the known radiation dose received by the material. By extrapolating the accumulated dose from the concentration of trapped electrons, scientists can estimate the age of the sample.

ESR dating has been used to date a variety of materials, including tooth enamel, quartz, and certain types of fossilized shells. It is particularly valuable for dating materials beyond the range of radiocarbon dating, extending the chronological record of archaeological and geological sites back hundreds of thousands to millions of years. However, ESR dating requires careful calibration and consideration of factors such as radiation dose rates and environmental conditions to produce accurate age estimates.

What hominins were in what is now Germany, 300,000 years ago? Around 300,000 years ago, during the Middle Pleistocene epoch, the hominins inhabiting what is now Germany were likely early members of the Homo genus. One of the most well-known and widespread species during this time was Homo heidelbergensis. Fossil evidence suggests that Homo heidelbergensis inhabited parts of Europe, including what is now Germany, during the Middle Pleistocene. These early humans were likely skilled hunters and toolmakers, and they may have been the ancestors of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. However, it's important to note that our understanding of ancient hominin populations is continually evolving as new discoveries are made and research progresses.

The main candidate for their creator is Homo heidelbergensis, believed to be the immediate ancestor of Neanderthals, but whoever made them, they are the oldest known complete hunting weapons.

They were found during an archaeological dig at Schöningen in 1994 and have now been examined using modern technology by researchers from the Lower Saxony State Office for Cultural Heritage (NLD) and the Universities of Reading, UK and Göttingen, Germany, who have reported their findings, open access, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).

The researchers have shown how these pre-Homo sapiens people resharpened broken points on spears and throwing sticks and made tools by splitting wood - the first time this has been demonstrated for other than Homo sapiens. Some of the tools may have been used for softening and scraping animal skins rather than for hunting.

Creationism in Crisis - Evolving Horses Trample All Over Creationism

Top: Eohippus
Bottom: Hipparion

Modern Arabian Horse

Top: Miohippus
Bottom: Merychippus

Feral modern horses, Ogden, Utah, USA.

Kelly Lambright via Getty Images

Horses lived in the Americas for millions of years – new research helps paleontologists understand the fossils we’ve found and those that are missing from the record

Those few creationists who understand the science hate the record of horse evolution found in the fossil record because it runs counter to their dogma. It shows progressive change over millions of years from a small five-toed herbivore the size of a dog, through increasing size and a progressive reduction in toes to give the modern horse which walks on the tips if a single digit on each foot.

It is a fossil record which gives the lie to creationist assertions that there are no transitional fossils since each stage is clearly intermediate between its ancestors and its descendants. Moreover, most of the evolutionary history of the horse takes place in the very long period of Earth's history from before 'Creation Week' when creationists dogma says Earth was magicked out of nothing by a magic man made of nothing who then magicked all the animals out of dirt, exactly as they are today without ancestors.

And there is more embarrassment for those creationists who like to imagine Stephen J Gould and Nilse Eldredge somehow refuted Darwinian evolution with 'punctuated equilibrium' because the evolution of the horse in North America is a perfect illustration of how Darwinian evolution can produce a local fossil record that looks like a period of 'equilibrium' followed by rapid, even sudden, change in form.

Horses originally evolved in North America before crossing over the land bridge between Alaska and Siberia into Asia where they underwent allopatric speciation and then became extinct in North America during the last Ice Age. The domesticated descendants of the Asian horse were then reintroduced to North America by European colonists during the Middle Ages and subsequently became feral. Any examination of the fossil record will now show what appears to have been a sudden change from the Pliocene horse to the modern horse around 800 years ago because the Darwinian evolution occurred not locally but in Asia, where the fossil record will show what appears to have been the sudden appearance of a Pliocene horse without ancestors and no clear relationship to anything in the local fauna.

Creationism in Crisis - A Dinosaur Fossil In The 'Wrong' Place - But Not What Creationists Hoped For

Ajnabia odysseus

Artist's impression

Duckbill dinosaur discovery in Morocco – expert unpacks the mystery of how they got there

Here's something to excite creationists!

It's a fossil out of place!

Sadly though, it's not out of place in the geological column - which would falsify evolution - but out of place geographically. It's the fossil of a duck-billed dinosaur in Morocco, North Africa, but it's closest relatives appear to be from Europe, which was a long sea voyage away at the time and no obvious island chain for them to island hop on.

And to add to the mystery, the European duck-billed dinosaurs didn't evolve in Europe, but in North America, so they must have got to Europe somehow.

When the news from science is relentless in its refutation of creationism, it would have been nice to find something to give the poor beleaguered fools a few crumbs of comfort, but it was not to be. This one is just as relentless s all the others.