DE EXTINCTION, BARAMINOLOGIST, EXTINCT SPECIES, DINOSAUR, PASSENGER PIGEON, #DE EXTINCTION #CHRISTIAN #CREATION SCIENCE #PASSENGER PIGEON

DE-EXTINCTION?

Good day everyone!

How was everyone’s week? I pray all is well with you fine people out there. Did you enjoy last week’s blog? There’s so much miss-information out there on global warming its nice to know the truth. 

Speaking of information, there are fascinating studies going on in the scientific community. “Let’s look, for example, at the fairly new area of research known as de-extinction. Not too long ago, an article in Scientific American explained that researchers are attempting to take species closely related to extinct species and, using DNA from preserved specimens from institutions like museums and zoological societies, to reincorporate the missing DNA and recreate the extinct

species or a close equivalent.”¹ Can you imagine mammoths or dinosaurs once again walking on this earth? 

The research is exciting but very complicated. “There are many hurdles to recreating a species, from sequencing the genome of current species, finding genetic samples of extinct species, splicing genes, culturing cells, and incubating and birthing enough specimens for them to continue the species on their own. Each hurdle may take decades to overcome, and that assumes that research money, laboratory space, and researchers are available to pursue the work…The problem is not just being able to regain a single species, but also having to regain the full spectrum of their habitat, including plants, other extinct animals, and anything else that would interact with that species to make its

survival plausible. This makes the task seem insurmountable. Their feeling is that the little information gained by these ventures would not warrant the amount of time and energy taken away from today’s conservation movement.”² Not to mention a waste of money. 

But there seems to be another agenda behind the resurrection of extinct species. It seems secular scientists are looking for a way to prove evolution with this type of research. So does this leave creation scientists, Christians, out or does it go against our faith? Not by a long shot! Creation scientists who study created kinds are called baraminologists, and they have been conducting similar

studies for about as long as the secular scientists have. “Both areas of research are looking for what previous generations of organisms may have been like and how to get to those organisms from the organisms we presently have. Both methods of study are viable means of investigating this question because they both go back to the basic premise of genotype versus phenotype. An individual’s genotype is his entire genetic code. An individual’s phenotype is the result of that genetic code being expressed in proteins, which through billions of interactions create our physical bodies. This is not a one-for-one type of situation.

Though every cell in your body carries your complete DNA, every cell does not use the body’s entire genome. In many cases there is not a single gene that programs a single trait. Multiple genes work together to create, for example, your hair. Each one of these genes also has options (alleles); you get two options, one from each of your parents. Sometimes one option can hide another option, or they can both be visible as an average of the two, or one may exaggerate the effect of the other. Every individual carries these pieces of—from a physical point of view—hidden information. This is why we have so many different kinds of dogs. As we select genes for certain physical characteristics of dog breeds, we increase the likelihood of only getting certain alleles, and then those individuals no

Tasmanian wolf/tiger. The last one died in captivity in 1936

longer have the option of giving some of those previously hidden traits. We have lost information, which may or may not affect the physical appearance of an organism.”³

So, is this type of research something Christians can get behind and be involved in? Yes. For example, de-extinction research has primarily centered around the resurrection of the extinct passenger pigeon. “By studying this pigeon’s genetics and possibly being able to reintroduce the species into today’s

current populations, we may be able to open up a plethora of opportunities. What if this research leads to a cure for a disease ravaging today’s society, or to an animal that can thrive in hostile environment to provide a protein source for starving people? What if we find that these birds have a slightly different communication pattern, provoking the next big technological revolution? By reviving lost species we may gain the opportunity to see information that was previously lost to us.”⁴

It is a thrilling area of science and I for one will be keeping an excited eye on the outcome.

Until next time, God bless and take care!

Willow Dressel

References:

^1-4https://answersingenesis.org/creation-science/why-bring-back-extinct-species/

All photos public domain