Re: It's no joke!

>Regardless of whether or not there are still traces of blood vessels and cells in these T.Rex bones, it is certainly remarkable that they are not completely fossilised after spending ' 70 million years' entombed in sandstone. All things considered, an impartial skeptic might reasonably inquire whether this generous estimate of burial time makes any sense. However, it is now evident that the situation offers a rare opportunity for 'old earth' proponents to justify this much-quoted feature of the geologic column. Thus, a simple C14 test on a sample of the material and/or associated bone - openly conducted and properly monitored - would certainly shed some much needed light on the matter, and in the interests of truth would surely be hard to deny.
>
Vernon,

It is true that most things "turn to stone", but it is not
the case that things just magically turn to stone because
they are old. Think about it, if you ensconce a protein an
isolated anaerobic environment, nothing will change (note:
anaerobic = an environment where oxidation cannot occur,
isolated: = no exchange with the surroundings can occur).
Some residual oxygen is left over in the cells, but it is
not enough to oxidize the entire cell. It is mentioned in
the article that this may not be so unusual for bone marrow:
a region of the bone that should be relatively isolated and
anaerobic if the bone is not fractured.

Actually, if you want to make a real argument against
evolution, then you would need to show that there _is_
suffient C14 in the sample. A 70 Myr sample probably
would not have enough C14 left over to measure even in
accelerator mass spectroscopy. If we found proportions
equivalent to a decay period of 6000 years, then you
would have a real case (assuming no contamination).
That test could be done by taking part of a sample
not exposed to air. 5000 years is usually the limit
for C14 measurements, but if all we need is to detect
trace amounts proportional to 6000 yr decay, accelerator
mass spectroscopy would be sufficient to do the test.

If there is no C14, you have no case. Evidence of "soft
material" is no evidence at all against evolution.

by Grace alone we proceed,
Wayne
Received on Sun Mar 27 19:38:56 2005