Page 154 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

The Errors of the American National Academy of Sciences

than chimpanzee and man. 10
•In a 1996 study, analyses of 88 protein sequences placed rabbits
11
in the same group as primates, instead of rodents. A 1998 study ana-
lyzed 13 genes in 19 species of animals, as a result of which sea
urchins were grouped with chordates. Another study in 1998 ana-
lyzed 12 proteins, as a result of which cows emerged as closer to
whales than to horses. 12
•As a result of his studies on cytochrome c, Richard Holmquist
of the University of California revealed that the biochemical differ-
ence between amphibians and reptiles—classes that should be closely
related according to the theory of evolution—is greater than the dif-
ference between birds and fish, which should be much further apart

according to the theory. Indeed, the difference between amphibians
and reptiles is even
greater than that be-
tween mammals and
fish or between mam-
mals and insects. The
researcher makes the

following comments:
In either case, certain
anomalies appear in
certain vertebrates with
respect to the magni-
tude of these changes
and their relationship
to time. Such anomalies
show up on "phyloge-
netic trees" as appar-
ently negative rates of

152