When it comes to reading recent articles on the study of dinosaurs, some mental gymnastics is required to try to discover whether the author is writing about real dinosaur fossils or just bird fossils. After all, evolutionists believe that birds are dinosaurs (as biblical creationists, we reject this claim), so this can be confusing! So what should we think of a title like this: “Dinosaur feathers may have been more bird-like than previously thought”?
Well, I would rewrite this title as follows:
Fossilized feathers look like feathers, research suggests.
Or maybe:
Fossilization may have altered the feathers, research suggests.
But I guess none of those titles get as much attention as starting with “dinosaur feathers.” But the original title is misleading. Researchers have not studied fossilized dinosaur feathers and compared them with fossilized bird feathers. They compared fossilized bird feathers and fossilized bird feathers. In other words, they were studying feathers!
You see, most of the so-called “feathered dinosaurs” were really just feathered dinosaurs. . . birds! And that probably includes Sinornithosaurus, the “feathered dinosaur” used in this study. Now here’s a quick overview before we look at the popular summary of the study. A 2019 analysis of fossil feathers (supposedly from dinosaurs) found that
The feathers of a flightless dinosaur mostly contained a different, more flexible form of the keratin protein that makes up the beaks, scales and feathers of modern birds. The researchers then suggested that feathers had evolved at a molecular level over time to become stiffer as birds – the last living dinosaurs – took flight.
Starting with God’s Word, we know that feathers have not evolved over time.
But a new study attempted to mimic the process of fossilization in the lab, and this team found that “fossilization can change feather proteins,” making them appear to have a different molecular composition when in fact, these themselves -called “dinosaur feathers” were composed. of the same keratin proteins as (other) bird feathers. This, of course, “raises new questions about the evolution of feathers.”
The researchers then examined a bird feather approximately 50 million years old and a non-avian dinosaur Sinornithosaurus feather 125 million years old. To their surprise, the bird’s feather appeared to be made primarily of alpha-keratins. Since it should have been rich in the beta variety, the team suspects that the proteins were transformed during fossilization. The dinosaur’s feather, on the other hand, contained mostly beta-keratins, suggesting that it wasn’t exposed to enough heat to process its proteins.
The simplest interpretation is that the distorting effects of fossilization led previous researchers to think that dinosaur and bird feathers were so molecularly different.
These feathers did not evolve, and the creatures that carried them were not buried millions of years ago: they were buried during the worldwide flood of Noah’s time, just a few years ago. thousands of years.
Although other researchers disagree with the findings of this study, I am not surprised that feathers in the fossil record look like feathers today! After all, these feathers did not evolve, and the creatures that carried them were not buried millions of years ago: they were buried during the worldwide flood of Noah’s time, years ago just a few thousand years old.
Get more answers at Answers News
This point was discussed today on Answers News with co-hosts Roger Patterson, Dr. Georgia Purdom and Rob Webb. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live in front of a studio audience here at Creation Museumbroadcast on our Answers on the Genesis YouTube channeland posted on TV Answers. We also covered the following topics:
- Neanderthals “might not be (a) distinct species.”
- A preacher faces prison for showing a sign with a Bible verse on it.
- A Canadian nurse risks losing her license if she does not adopt gender ideology.
- And more!
Watch the full October 30, 2023 episode of Answers News.
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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This article was written with the help of the AiG research team.