Page 179 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

The NAS's Error in Portraying Molecular Biology as
Evidence of Evolution

viding any evidence for the theory of evolution. The NAS authors
continue this "maybe-they'll-believe-it" logic throughout the chapter
in question, setting out their so-called proofs one after the other.

he Purported Evolutionary Relationship
T Th e P u r r p o r r t t e d E v o l l u t t i i o n a r r y R e l l a t t i i o n s h i i p
h
a
n
u
p
y
T The Purported Evolutionary Relationship
e
P
u
o
R
d
n
o
s
p
E
h
a
o
e
e
o
v
e
etween Whales And Hippopotamuses
B Be t t w e e n W h a l l e s s A n d H i i p p o p o t t a m u s e s
e
A
n
u
m
a
s
e
s
o
p
H
d
p
o
p
e
e
B Between Whales And Hippopotamuses
w
h
a
W
n
At the end of the chapter "New Proofs from Molecular Biology," a
claim is made that flies in the face of the scientific facts. The NAS
claims that comparisons of certain milk protein genes show that the
ancestor of the whale is the hippopotamus, and that this claim is also
supported by the fossil record. The truth, however, is that the scien-
tists who actually carried out this research, as well as experts on the
origin of whales, do not share the views of the NAS. Scientists at the
Tokyo Institute of Technology who carried out the research, which
was published in the August 14, 1997, issue of Nature, wrote at the
end of their article that the hippopotamus origin of the whale is in-
compatible with both the fossil record and morphological compar-
isons:
The conclusions from our retropositional analysis are inconsistent
with earlier morphologically based hypotheses. Paleontological and
morphological data suggest that modern whales originated from the
Archaeocetes (primitive aquatic cetaceans), which first appeared in
the early Eocene epoch. The Archaeocetes are believed to have origi-
nated from mesonychians [a family of odd-toed ungulates], which ap-
peared before the Eocene. However, the most primitive artiodactyls
[even-toed ungulates] (Dichobunids) first appeared in the early
Eocene, and the origin of nearly all the families of artiodactyls can only
be traced back to the middle or the late Eocene. Such a sequence of
appearance of these animals is inconsistent with our molecular
data... We believe that recent molecular data will lead to the reinter-
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