Thursday, December 14, 2006

Supernumerary limbs

So a couple weeks ago, japanese researchers found a dolphin with an extra pair of fins near his tail. Obviously all sea mammals had land dwelling ancestors, which explains why cetaceans still have vestigial hind limb bones, even though the limbs never get to poke out. Now most of the patterning and limb development relies on, you guessed it, Hox expression. Therefore this is likely another example of the power of Hox which presumably was desilenced in the protolimb. Is this some sick joke by Darwin, or a test from God? I mean this looks awfully similar to the darwin fish. Lets see what the "Answer in Genesis" has to say about that:

"Biblical creationists have been so successful in disseminating information that counteracts evolution/millions of years, that as soon as anything arises that remotely looks like it could in some way support evolutionists/millions of years, it almost immediately becomes headline news." Yes obviously creationists are crumbling under their mountains of evidence, we're just happy to get a dolphin once in a while.

"Because of their obvious evolutionary bias, they have already jumped to a conclusion in interpreting these fins as back legs—before they have x-rayed the fins and carried out detailed research. " Hmm, yes scientists are so biased by facts.

"Homologous structures are seen throughout the vertebrate phyla—but as creationists have pointed out so many times, the homology argument does not support evolution, but rather a common designer. There are many problems with the homology argument as used by evolutionists. For example, the rudimentary male mammary gland and nipple are clearly homologous to those of the female, but they are not taken as evidence that males once nursed their young." Well maybe they should read the bayblab, they could learn a thing or two about that.


I find that last "argument" particularly absurd. Lets take the example of the banana. Creationist call it the atheist nightmare (video included on how to convince atheists about it). I mean what better proof of intelligent design than the banana. It fits perfectly in your mouth (or any orifice really), it tells you when its ripe, it tastes good, it has no seed and it comes pre-wrapped for your convenience! And if you really think about it, doesn't the banana look a lot like a dolphin. It's practically the same shape, but a different colour and it's in the sea and doesn't really fit in your orifices. Obviously they have the same designer. That argument is fool proof. In fact, it's true bananas where intelligently designed, I agree, except it was designed by humans, by very carefull selective cloning. In fact all the bananas out there are sterile clones! In fact this type of clone monoculture is the reason the much better "gros michel" banana was wiped out by disease, forcing us now to rely on the "cavendish". Now for more animals with extra limbs check out this seven-legged transgendered deer... enough said.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Rick Lisko hunts deer with a bow but got his most unusual one driving his truck down his mile-long driveway. The young buck had nub antlers - and seven legs. Lisko said it also had both male and female reproductive organs. "It was definitely a freak of nature," Lisko said. "I guess it's a real rarity.""

Bayman said...

That video is priceless. Good to see Kirk Cameron's career is still going strong though. That guy is off his rocker:
"I was committed to my belief that God didn't exist. This really wasn't based on anything other than what I had learned in school..."

Yeah that stuff is all a bunch of crap. I can't believe kids waste 12 years of their lives going to "school". Why do we even bother...reading, writing, arithmetic, history, science? Let's just go back to the stone age and chant at the moon around the campfire every night. But seriously, if people just showed up at church instead of wasting their time at school we'd all be a lot better off...It's ok to study architecture though, since it proves that "seeing a building is proof of the builder..."

Anonymous said...

This dolphin must be the retarded baby of a fish and a squirrel...