Todd's Blog

A bunch of interesting papers have come out recently that I'd like to comment on, but I keep getting farther and farther and farther behind...  so  here's a quick summary of a few articles of note: This week's PNAS  has a series of articles on australopith diets as inferred from teeth - and this isn't your usual attempt at correlating tooth morphology to diet.  These papers are using (or summarizing) isotope methods to figure out what australopiths (and other hominids) ate.  Because certain plants have different carbon isotope ratios than others, and those ratios can still be detected in tooth enamel.  What do we find?  Lots of variation both geographically and taxonomically.  Really interesting stuff, and it starts with this summary (which has links to the other articles in the series): Stable carbon isotopes and human evolution Over in Answers Research Journal , there's a new article by Michael Brandt.  That name is probably unfamiliar to lots of English spe

So I stayed out late Saturday night shooting footage of the supermoon , and this happened: Totally worth it. Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

Sorry I keep trickling out announcements about the upcoming conference, but I'm posting stuff as it comes in.  The full schedule for the Origins 2013 conference is now available at the Creation Biology Society website: http://www.creationbiology.org/origins2013 If you are scheduled to give a talk and you haven't yet registered, please do so soon. A few additional points: Folks have asked if this will be streamed on the internet with the rest of the ICC.  No, it will not.  Origins 2013 is a separate meeting and is not included in the ICC streaming deal.  As we've done in the past, only the presentation abstracts will be made available to the public after the conference. REMEMBER: Origins 2013 will be held at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center around the corner from the Doubletree where ICC is being held. The Creation Geology Society is offering a fieldtrip on Saturday, August 3.  Please visit the field trip webpage for more information. Feedback? Email me

Yesterday, I announced the biology talks for Origins 2013, and here are the geology talks: A Comparison of the Petrology of Flat-Bedded and Cross-Bedded Coconino Sandstone (Permian), Arizona - Olson Muscovite Survival in Simulated (Turbulent) Eolian and Subaqueous Conditions - Anderson, Cheney, Struble, and Whitmore The Coconino Sandstone: Old Myths and New Discoveries - Whitmore Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

Remember that Origins 2013, the annual conference of the Creation Biology and Creation Geology Societies will take place just prior to the ICC this summer on August 4, beginning at 12 noon.  In addition to the plenary presentation by Andrew Snelling of AIG, there will also be seven talks presented by the Creation Biology Society, and here they are: Telomeres and Telomere Degradation in God's Design - Dykeman and Wise A Creationist View of the Mammalian Immune System from the Red Queen to Social Interface - Francis Categorizing Complexity in Biological Systems - Gollmer Population Genetics of Raccoons and Raccoon Roundworm - Ingle Were Species Necessary for Post-Flood Diversification? - Sanders The Illustration of God's Nature as an Explanation of Biological Phenomena - Wise The Value of Dental Characters for Resolving the Baraminic Status of Australopithecus sediba - Wood Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

You might be wondering why you should sign up for a Core Academy course, or what it will look like if you do.  In the coming weeks, we'll be posting various lessons as free samples of our work, but until then, check out our teaser: If you are unable to view this video (especially if you're not in the United States), then you can definitely see it on the Core Academy news page,  http://coresci.org/news/?p=52 Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

From the new Core Academy newsletter: Christians  have struggled with science for decades.  Sometimes it's hard to focus on Jesus when there's a storm of doubt raging in your head.  Over the years, we've helped hundreds of students gain victory over doubts caused by science.  As we launch this new work, our mission is to extend that ministry to help the church gain a better understanding and appreciation of science, as an ally of faith rather than an enemy.  We want to help our students learn science without losing their faith. Judging from the reactions we've gotten from around the world, we've tapped into a deep need. When we launched this ministry in April, we did so on faith.  We didn't have money in the bank or a foundation backing us or a wide base of donor support.  We just trusted that the Lord and the Lord's people would supply our needs.  As I write this, we have enough money to sustain the ministry only to October.  We need  $25,000  to continu