Posted on 09/16/2009 9:03:13 AM PDT by GodGunsGuts
Fresh Fossil Feather Nanostructures
by Brian Thomas, M.S.*
Bird feathers can contain pigmentation for a wide range of colors, with specific molecules reflecting certain hues when light touches them. They also can display “structural” colors, where the thicknesses of layers of cells and connective tissues are fine-tuned to refract certain colors.
Scientists recently described structural coloration that is still clearly discernible in well-preserved fossil feathers. Why do these fossil feathers have their original cell structures laid out in the original patterns if they are millions of years old?
In 1995, paleontologists Derek Briggs and Paul Davis provided an overview of fossil feathers from the 40 or so places on the globe where they were known to exist.1 Among their findings was that 69 percent of feather fossils are preserved not as impressions, but as carbon traces. This was verified by comparing the proportions of carbon in both the surrounding carbonaceous rock and the fossil within it, to the proportions of organically-derived carbon from the same items. They found that there was more organic carbon in the fossil than in the stone.
At that time, the researchers thought the carbon came from bacteria that had degraded the feather material and then remained placed in the feather’s outline. But 13 years later, Briggs and other colleagues showed clear evidence that these “bacterial cells” were actually melanosomes―the same microscopic, sausage-shaped, dark pigment-containing structures in today’s bird feathers―from the original feather.2
This means that the organic carbon in the melanosomes somehow avoided decay for millions of years, which contradicts “the well-known fact that the majority of organic molecules decay in thousands of years.”3
Briggs and his colleagues recently described fossil feathers from the German Messel Oil Shale deposits, which are famous for their remarkably well-preserved fossils. These not only contained organic carbon from melanosomes (not bacteria), but the melanosomes were still organized in their original spacing and layering. Thus, the “metallic greenish, bluish or coppery” colors that can be seen from different viewing angles, producing an iridescent sheen, may very well be similar to that of the original bird’s plumage.4
Biologists already know that “in order to produce a particular [structural] colour, the keratin thickness must be accurate to within about 0.05 μm (one twenty thousandth of one millimetre!).”5 Although the keratin had decayed from these fossil feathers, its layers of melanosomes remained laid out in similarly precise thicknesses. Thus, not only was the color preserved, but the melanosomes were still organized to within micrometers of their original positions.
Evolutionary geologists maintain that the Messel Shale was formed 47 million years ago. But with these colorful feather fossils—which retain not only the original molecules inside their original melanosomes, but also the architectural layout of these structures—evolutionists must invent some kind of magical preservation process that simply isn’t observed in the laboratory or in nature.
Without the assumption of millions of years, however, the fossil data begin to make much more sense. Fresh-looking fossil features point to a young world.
References
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on September 16, 2009.
So then accept that you don't know what you're talking about, have no interest in finding out, and are willing to leave science -- and the business of educating children -- to people who do.
Neanderthals never existed
good thing i didn't all those books have been trashed for all the evolutionary error they contained.
Sure they did. We've even mapped their genome.
I posted a photo of a Triceratops cranium. You don't think they existed either. Do you accept my suggestion, that it might have been a 30 foot long, 10 foot tall, 12 ton goat (based on the fact that both Triceratops and goats have horns)? If not, what was it?
Good quotes, showing the Biblical caution against presumed wisdom, and asserting that relatively, it is nothing (”foolishness”) compared to God.
A modern scientists says the same thing: almost all will tell you that the more they learn, the more amazed they are at what we do not know. Only non-scientists imagine that scientists know almost everything. The really foolish are those who think that all problems are soluble. They can often be heard to make such statements as, “We got to the moon, so surely we can [insert favorite problem here].”
My company has registered hundreds of patents over my lifetime. What have you done?
You should stick to registering new patents. You obviously know nothing about the subjects being discussed here.
I said those 300 foot tall dinosaurs never existed. I never said anything about large lizards.
Says who? You? What theories have you turned into millions of dollars?
No one claims they did, so you're not refuting anything.
Well I agree with you. 300 foot tall dinosaurs never existed. I'm not sure there's a person on the planet who would disagree.
The speed of light is a constant, the distance it has to travel is what causes the shift in color, not whether it is speeding up or slowing down.
Here's a little experiment for you to try.
Have a friend stand at the end of the block while you are on the other end.
Have them say in a clear normal voice "I am Standing here" repeatedly.
Start walking towards them. As you get closer you begin to kind of hear them, but not distinctly until you are much closer.
This is an example of the Red shift in the Doppler spectrum indicating closer distance the light has to travel.
Now, start walking away from them until you cannot hear what they are saying.
This is an example of the blue shift in the Doppler changes. The volume has not changed, but the distance it has to travel has.
That link is just nutty theory. And proven in error as well.
Evidence that Neanderthals were fully human:
The FOXP2 gene supports Neandertals being fully human
http://creation.com/foxp2-gene-neandertals-human
Taking a crack at the Neandertal mitochondrial genome
http://creation.com/taking-a-crack-at-the-neandertal-mitochondrial-genome
National Geographic unveils ‘Wilma’ the Neandertal lady
http://creation.com/national-geographic-unveils-wilma-the-neandertal-lady
Nathan sounds like an assistant janitor at IBM. IBM holds lots of patents! His company!
No, the speed of light is not constant. I know it’s beyond your grasp, so I won’t bother explaining.
I know some millionaires, and not one of them claims that their bank account or business cash flow automatically gives them scientific knowledge. Only a talker would start mentioning his wallet in a thread about the speed of light, especially to a bunch of strangers who don't gives a hoot about your patent accomplishments.
Sorry, you don’t know anything about physics....and it shows.
What's funny is that you can't explain, since you obviously don't even understand how the Doppler effect works. But you think we don't know that. Even GGG isn't defending your assertions, because they're rather astonishingly unread.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.