Soft Tissue Discovered in Dinosaur Bones

Partners

Hotel Reservations

By:William Nugent

Most of us are familiar with the occasional reports in newspapers and over the Internet that tell of blood remnants and soft tissue being found in dinosaur bones. These reports are not mere speculation but are based on genuine findings that are reported by mainstream scientists.

The reports go on to mention that the scientists were surprised to find such tissue preserved in ancient bones. One report carried by MSNBC on March 24, 2005 was titled Scientists recover T. Rex soft tissue: 70-million-year-old fossil yields preserved blood vessels. Notice that the title contains the assumption that the "fossil" was 70 million years old.

The facts of the science of biochemistry collide very violently with the paleontologist's assumption that the T. Rex bones are that old. The soft tissue in the bones strongly infers that they are no more than several thousands of years old. This turns the evolutionary paradigm on its head.

The soft tissue, including blood vessel walls, are composed of protein. Biochemicals such as proteins are notoriously unstable and breakdown rapidly. These biochemicals have short duration spans in almost any imaginable environment.

Proteins are extremely large molecules consisting of hundreds of amino acids arranged in precise sequence. When an animal is buried its body is attacked by bacteria, many varieties of which can thrive in an anoxic (oxygen free) environment.

All proteins are broken down and digested by the bacteria. If that weren't enough the surrounding dirt or sand that covered the animal also infiltrates the body structures.

Petrification occurs when silica from the surrounding soil or sand enters the bones and essentially replaces the bone with silica which hardens to become stone. Petrification can occur very rapidly under the right conditions such as under hot volcanic ash.

You may be surprised to learn that very few dinosaur bones are actually petrified. Most contain the original calcium and phosphorus that was present when the dinosaur was alive. Most dinosaur bones were not examined to try to find soft tissue remnants.

However in recent decades there have been many discoveries of well preserved dinosaur bones. Blood remnants and soft tissue has been found in some of these bones. The finds have been reported by scientists who are evolutionists.

The discoveries of blood or soft tissue have been so numerous it is beyond the scope of this article to detail them all.

The find that was reported by MSNBC mentioned above has to do with a Tyrannosaurus Rex leg bone that was broken so it could be lifted by helicopter. When the researchers noticed how well preserved it was they sent parts of it to Dr. Mary Schweitzer, an evolutionist who was well known for her work on finding remnants of hemoglobin in dinosaur bones from an earlier find.

She dissolved the bone samples in a solution of the chemical EDTA which dissolved away the hard calcium and freed the soft tissue within. The tissue from the dinosaur bone was seen to be unmistakably flexible.

The article "Answering objections to creationist 'dinosaur soft tissue' age arguments" by Drs. Carl Wieland and David Menton in the journal "TJ, the in depth journal of CREATION" 19(3) 2005 explains Schweitzer's method and even has photographs of the soft tissue that was recovered from the T. Rex bone. Interestingly the prestigious evolutionist journal Science also has detailed articles on this and other finds of soft tissue in dinosaur bones.

Soft tissue in dinosaur bones is just part of the growing body of scientific evidence that indicates that the earth is young. The earth's age is not billions or even millions of years old but strong evidence infers that it is less than ten thousand years old. I believe the evidence points to the earth's age being within the 6,000 year time span recorded in the Bible.

Sadly the evolution oriented scientists have downplayed the significance of the data. Some paleontologists have claimed that soft tissue could have been preserved under the right conditions for 65 million years. Such a long preservation is absurd according to creationist Dr. Carl Wieland who appeals to the plain facts of biochemistry.

The fact that biochemicals are unstable and would degrade rapidly is well established in mainstream science. See the article "Instability and decay of the primary structure of DNA" by T. Lindahl in Nature 362(6422):709-715, 1993.

The evolutionists, to their credit, have faithfully reported the findings. Yet most have not abandoned the multibillion-year-old earth paradigm. The old earth paradigm is very ingrained in everything from textbooks to the mindset of college faculties.

Soft tissue in dinosaur bones clearly points to young earth and hence not enough time for evolution to occur. Evolution itself should thus be abandoned. Most evolutionists have simply circled the wagons, made minor adjustments in their concept of fossilization and gone on as if nothing happened.

It is a familiar pattern. Strong scientific evidence fatal to evolution comes along, evolutionists make minor adjustments and then claim that science is open minded and self correcting. Of course, in this case science has not corrected itself enough.

The abandonment of evolution would be the proper correction of science. The role of the scientist is to go where the evidence leads. In the case of blood remnants and soft tissue in dinosaur bones the evidence clearly points to young earth.

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: dinosuar, bones, blood, soft, tissue, evolution, young, earth, fossil, creation, schweitzer, creationism

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Bill Nugent, a defender of the Christian faith, has written many articles on Christianity, philosophy and science. He has also written books that give Bible based teaching on sanctification and that caution against the error of legalism. His books are available at his ministry website www.gracelawandsonship.com.