[One_who_hopes_to_know]

testable theories about the origins and evolution of life on Earth are being concealed

Let's see ... the scientific method demands that something be called "testable" when it is repeatable and measurable.

Exactly which evolution of one species to another has been repeated, much less measured?

[furball4paws]

If you hopes to know, then you have to have your eyes open:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1343600/posts

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

The BBC version of this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5098608.stm.

A 4.5 billion year old Earth and 2.5 billion year old cellular life aren't facts, and any real scientist should recognize that fact. Scientists could use evidence to support a 4.5 billion year old Earth or 2.5 year old cellular life (as a Creationist could use evidence to support a 6,000 year old or so Universe), but that evidence does not make it a fact.

Furthermore, shouldn't scientists be in support of a debate on Creation/evolution; the one's in the article seem to be more dogmatic religious zealots than objective scientists.

[edsheppa]

Exactly which evolution of one species to another has been repeated, much less measured?

Speciation has been observed. Do a web search for "Observed Instances of Speciation" and you'll turn up some links.

But, more important, your thinking is flawed. You imply that if speciation hasn't been observed then the theory can't be considered confirmed. That isn't the way science works. A scientific theory is confirmed if *any* prediction it makes is validated by testing. The more varied and independent these confirmations, the more strongly we should accept the theory. (Note: I'm not saying the theory is true - no scientific theory is knowably true - only that the strength of our acceptance of a theory is based on the strength of its confirmations.)

In the case of evolution, there have been many confirmations even from the very beginning. Genetic evidence is only the latest in a long line.

I will give an example from another discipline. I expect you're familiar with the Big Bang theory. One prediction of this theory is that the universe should be suffused with radiation having a blackbody spectrum. Scientists fiddling with antennas for satellite communications observed this predicted cosmic microwave background. In short order, this confirmation propelled the Big Bang theory to the forefront and swept its principal competitor from the scene.

The point is that, even without having reproduced the Big Bang itself, we accept the theory because we have confirmed its predictions.