Page 220 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

The Errors of the American National Academy of Sciences

another by evolution. In conclusion, even if there were a fossil se-
quence in the Earth, as evolutionists claim, this would not consti-

tute proof of evolution.
The most important aspect of this is, without a doubt, the fact
that the evolutionary history referred to by the NAS does not exist.
The Cambrian explosion, which is known to have taken place some

550 million years ago, is a clear indication that life on Earth did not
come about through evolutionary development, but rather emerged
suddenly with all its complex forms of life already in existence. The
NAS authors fail to make a single reference drawing attention to the
Cambrian explosion. Yet this booklet claims to be a response to the
proponents of creationism. The Cambrian explosion heads the list of

subjects of interest to the proponents of creation, and is one of the
most important dilemmas facing the theory of evolution.
All the animal phyla known today emerged at the same time, in
the geological age known as the Cambrian Period. This lasted some 65

million years and took place some 570 to 505 million years ago.
The "Cambrian explosion" refers to a shorter time within the
Cambrian period, when the main animal groups suddenly emerged.
In an article from 2001, based on a detailed examination of the litera-
ture, Stephen C. Meyer, P.A. Nelson, and Paul Chien wrote,
"Cambrian explosion occurred within an exceedingly narrow win-

dow of geologic time, lasting no more than 5 million years." 1
In the fossil record before that period, there is no trace of life
other than single-celled creatures and a few very simple multi-celled
ones. Yet, all the animal phyla emerged suddenly, fully formed, in a

period as short as 5 million years (which is very short in geological
terms)! An article published in Science in 2001 said: "The beginning of

218