In a recent article published by the BBC, researchers from the University of Toronto announced the reinterpretation of an enigmatic fossil, Oesia disjuncta, now classifying this creature as a hemichordate.1 They also now think that tube-like structures, originally thought to be a type of seaweed, were made by Oesia.

This reinterpretation was based on the recovery of new fossil specimens from Marble Canyon in the Canadian Rockies. Oesia disjuncta is part of a fossil assemblage known as the Cambrian explosion, so researchers estimate the creature's age to be around 510 million years old. (The Cambrian explosion refers to a dramatic event in life’s history in which 50 to 80 percent of all known animal phyla appear in a geological instant.)

According to lead researcher in the study, Karma Nanglu:

Hemichordates are central to our understanding of how deuterostomes evolved.2

I would partially agree with Nanglu: Hemichordate fossils are central to our understanding of life’s history; but instead of shedding light on evolutionary history, I would maintain that the appearance of this phylum during the Cambrian explosion creates problems for the evolutionary paradigm. (To learn why I hold this view see my article "Cambrian Flash.") At the same time, this find adds to the evidence for the scientific credibility of the Genesis 1 creation account. (For details see my article "The 'Great Unconformity' and the Cambrian Explosion Conform to the Genesis 1 Creation Account.")

For more on the Cambrian explosion, check out the following resources.

 

Endnotes

  1. Karma Nanglu et al., “Cambrian Suspension-Feeding Tubicolous Hemichordates,” BMC Biology 14 (July 2016): 56, doi: 10.1186/s12915-016-0271-4.
  2. “Sea Worm Fossil Gives Clues to ‘Common Ancestor,’” Science & Environment (blog), BBC News, July 7, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36724562.

Subjects: Evolution, Genesis, Fossil Record, Cambrian Explosion

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About The Author

Dr. Fazale Rana

I watched helplessly as my father died a Muslim. Though he and I would argue about my conversion, I was unable to convince him of the truth of the Christian faith. I became a Christian as a graduate student studying biochemistry. The cell's complexity, elegance, and sophistication coupled with the inadequacy of evolutionary scenarios to account for life's origin compelled me to conclude that life must stem from a Creator. Reading through the Sermon on the Mount convinced me that Jesus was who Christians claimed Him to be: Lord and Savior. Still, evangelism wasn't important to me - until my father died. His death helped me appreciate how vital evangelism is. It was at that point I dedicated myself to Christian apologetics and the use of science as a tool to build bridges with nonbelievers. In 1999, I left my position in R&D at a Fortune 500 company to join Reasons to Believe because I felt the most important thing I could do as a scientist is to communicate to skeptics and believers alike the powerful scientific evidence - evidence that is being uncovered day after day - for God's existence and the reliability of Scripture. [...] I dedicated myself to Christian apologetics and the use of science as a tool to build bridges with nonbelievers. Fazale "Fuz" Rana discovered the fascinating world of cells while taking chemistry and biology courses for the premed program at West Virginia State College (now University). As a presidential scholar there, he earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry with highest honors. He completed a PhD in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry at Ohio University, where he twice won the Donald Clippinger Research Award. Postdoctoral studies took him to the Universities of Virginia and Georgia. Fuz then worked seven years as a senior scientist in product development for Procter & Gamble.



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