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New
scientific book highlights false claims of evidence for Darwinian evolution
Icons of
Evolution by Dr. Jonathan Wells due out Oct. 15
A brand new book, "Icons of Evolution" (Regnery, 2000), by molecular biologist
Dr. Jonathan Wells highlights how mythology, falsehoods and hoaxes within
today's scientific circles pass for evidence of Darwinian evolution.
Icons of Evolution tackles ten of the most prominent arguments neo-Darwinists
use as examples of evidence for evolution and shows how each is misrepresented
and misused to support Darwin's theory of naturalism.
"Dogmatic Darwinists claim that nothing in biology makes sense except in
the light of evolution," said Wells, a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute's
Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture. "Then they misrepresent the
evidence to promote their view. The truth is, nothing in biology makes sense
except in the light of evidence."
In fact, says Wells; "it turns out that the evidence is not evidence at
all. Over the past decade known scientific frauds were put forth as evidence
for evolution, such as Haeckel's faked embryo drawings and the myth of the
peppered moth."
Many leading high school and undergraduate biology textbooks present students
with drawings of similarities between fish and human embryos, and claim
that these similarities are evidence that fish and humans share a common
ancestor. "Embryologists have known for over a century that these drawings
were faked," said Wells.
Photographs of light- and dark- colored moths on tree trunks are used to
teach students how natural selection altered the proportions of the two
forms when trees were darkened by pollution during the industrial revolution.
Scientists have known since the 1980s that the moths do not even rest on
tree trunks, and all of the pictures have been staged, Wells added. "In
"Icons of Evolution" Jonathan has brilliantly exposed the exaggerated claims
and deceptions that have persisted in standard textbook discussions of biological
origins for many decades, in spite of contrary evidence," said Dr. Dean
Kenyon Professor of Biology, San Francisco State University. "He has done
us all, the scientific community, educators, and the wider public, a great
service."
Besides Haekel's fraudulent drawings and the myth of the peppered moth,
some of the other false or misleading images described in detail by Dr.
Wells in "Icons of Evolution" include:
- a laboratory flask containing a simulation of the earth's primitive
atmosphere, in which electric sparks produce the chemical building-blocks
of living cells;
- the evolutionary tree of life, reconstructed from fossil and molecular
evidence;
- similar bone structures in a bat's wing, a porpoise's flipper, a horse's
leg, and a human hand that point to their origin in a common ancestor;
- fruit flies with an extra pair of wings, showing that genetic mutations
can provide the raw materials for evolution;
"Wells demonstrates
with stunning clarity that the textbook examples Darwinists themselves
chose as the pillars of their theory are all false or misleading," said
Dr. Michael Behe, author of "Darwin's Black Box," and Professor of Biological
Sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
"This is one of the most important books ever written about the evolution
controversy," said Phillip E. Johnson, professor of law, University of
California at Berkeley, author of "The Wedge of Truth" and "Darwin on
Trial." "It shows how devotion to the ideology of Darwinism has led to
textbooks which are full of misinformation."
Dr. Wells is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center
for of Science and Culture and has a Ph.D. one in Molecular
and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is
the author of the forthcoming book Icons of Evolution (Regnery, Oct. 2000)
and Charles Hodge's Critique of Darwinism (Edwin Mellen Press, 1988).
For more information on Dr. Jonathan Wells and "Icons of Evolution" visit
http://www.iconsofevolution.com on the internet. For media inquiries or
to schedule an interview with Dr. Wells, contact the Center for Science and Culture at (206) 292-0401
ext. 107, or send e-mail to cscinfo@discovery.org
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