A recent study on the genetics of animal life has proven that the incredible theory of evolution is just that, incredible, unbelievable. Published in the open access Journal of Human Evolution (HUMAN EVOLUTION Vol. 33 – n. 1-2 (1-30) – 2018) the paper entitled “Why should mitochondria define species?” by Thayer and Stoelkle is a succinct paper condensing a very large amount of data into simple but remarkable findings. The collection of over 5 million DNA sequences found in the circular chromosomes of cellular mitochondria of over 100,000 animal species have been analyzed to determine the relationships of animal life. This study included human DNA as well. What was discovered was that the specific DNA sequence examined, the bar code sequence of the cytochrome C gene, proved several very important things about animal life.
First, the barcode DNA of each species could be extrapolated back to a theoretical single breeding pair. What this means is that the mutations found in the DNA sequence coalesce on a single breeding pair. Also, every species was shown to have “arisen” or “originated” about 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. No species of today is older than that. Thirdly, each species was shown to be independent of all other species, that is, each kind of animal was shown to be distinctly different from all other animals; there was no ancestry found to be shared between species. Collectively, the data says that animal life originated fairly recently (in evolutionary time), independently (animals are not connected to a shared common ancestor) and 9 of 10 species began earth life at the same time, including humans.
This new data is astounding to those given over to the evolutionary hypothesis. Much resistance has been given to the results of the study, even and especially by those who did the work. One of the researchers, David Thaler, said this, “This conclusion is very surprising,” says Thaler, “and I fought against it as hard as I could.” Why the resistance to good science? In this case, the data do not support the paradigm of evolution that life arose billions of years ago and through time created varieties of forms; Homo sapiens being a most recent emergent species in the last few hundred thousand years.
In analyzing the genetic barcodes, the researchers found that almost all animals originated at the same time as humans. There was a complete lack of variation in “neutral” mutations which are not subject to the evolutionary forces of survival of the fittest and should have been useful in at least indicating the point in time when a species “emerged” as a separate species from the evolutionary process. To find that 9 of 10 animals began earth life at the same time is a fact that is quite the antithesis of an evolutionary process.
The expectation of the scientists involved in the study was that each species would be shown to arise independently of all others and at different times but from a common ancestral lineage. Secondly, evolutionary thinking would suggest that similar forms would be closely related by their DNA. In fact, there should have been abundant evidence that all mammals, all reptiles, all birds, and all groupings of animals would begin to overlap in their DNA sequences showing infallibly that life is the product of the process of evolution at least within groups if not between groups with many “intermediate sequences” just as intermediate life forms have been postulated (but never found). None of this appears to be the case.
How does an evolutionist explain (away) the data? Jesse Ausubel, director of the Program for the Human Environment at The Rockefeller University said this, “Viruses, ice ages, successful new competitors, loss of prey—all these may cause periods when the population of an animal drops sharply… In these periods, it is easier for a genetic innovation to sweep the population and contribute to the emergence of a new species.” This, of course, is theoretical as not many who hold to evolution postulate this account of how evolution works. Another possibility has been considered as well; that, like the speculative demise of the dinosaurs by an asteroid 65 million years ago, a major Earth catastrophe wiped out all animal life 200,000 years ago and what we see now is the emergence of brand new life forms from its ashes… all at the same time. This means that a pair of humans survived. A pair of rats, bats, pigeons, baboons, zebras and, well, all other living things used in the study were ‘saved” from this particular catastrophe – whatever it might have been. But is such a scenario likely? It implies that an ark of some sort must have held those breeding pairs or possibly all life began at the same time through breeding pairs much like Adam and Eve.
One hypothesis that has been around for centuries stands out as a strong contender for a viable explanation of the results of the study. Creation! The data were predicted by creationists who hold to life’s origin according to the biblical framework, although the timeframe is far too distant than the biblical story which states life began around 6000 years ago. Even this seems not to be an insurmountable problem given that molecular clocks when they are calibrated correctly (honestly) indicate that mutations rates are much higher than is assumed by evolutionary molecular biologists would like, bringing the date for the origin of animals closer to the 6000 year mark.
There will be many other explanations for the results of this study by the evolutionary community of scientists and armchair specialists. The best one I have heard is “This is what we should expect.” Just like junk DNA turned out to be a vast information library of regulatory and developmental control sequences, this data, which destroys the whole evolutionary paradigm, will be reinterpreted as “… of course, this is exactly what we should expect.” And this without further considerations.
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