The first sentence of a recent popular science article is a perfect example of the difference between observational science (testable, observable, and repeatable) and historical science (an interpretation of the past based on worldview—a belief). See if you can catch the switch between observational and historical science in this story about brain similarities between turtles and humans.
The article is titled, “Israeli researchers find humans and turtles, share key brain function going back 320 million years.” The first sentence reads,
Israeli scientists have discovered, through research on living turtles, that the brain’s ability to distinguish between new objects and the same object seen from different angles likely evolved at least 320 million years ago, when mammals and reptiles split from a common ancestor, according to a recently published study.
Did you see it?
Observational science is directly testable, observable, and repeatable—it’s science done in the “here and now.” So the researchers’ study of the living turtles’ brains is observational science. Here’s how they did it:
By recording neural activity in the turtles and tracking their eye movement with specially developed cameras, the researchers . . . were able to examine how the turtle brain responded to repetitions of the same visual stimulus and the introduction of a new stimulus, as they moved their eyes, and the stimuli fell on different parts of the retina.
But then the researchers quickly move into historical science, where they take their evolutionary worldview and apply it to the observed evidence, jumping from observations of turtles’ cognitive ability to the assumption that it evolved 320 million years ago. Obviously, they did not observe that. It’s an assumption they made because of their beliefs about the past.
Both classes of creatures [mammals and reptiles] evolved from a common ancestor that left the water and moved onto land. It is thought that this ancestor had a three-layered cerebral cortex (turtles still have three, while mammals now have a six-layered one) and visual abilities that far exceeded those of fish and other marine creatures, which can only see short distances.
Turtles having a three-layered cerebral cortex and the ability to distinguish objects from multiple angles is observational science. The supposed idea that humans and turtles share this ability because of a common ancestor from 320 million years ago has not been observed—it’s their (faulty) worldview being applied to the evidence.
It’s vital that everyone understand the difference between historical and observational science—and the ultimate foundation of the competing worldviews of creation and evolution. It’s really God’s Word vs. man’s word!
It’s vital that everyone understand the difference between historical and observational science—and the ultimate foundation of the competing worldviews of creation and evolution.
So did researchers demonstrate that turtles and humans share a key brain function because of shared ancestry? No, not at all. They simply demonstrated that turtles have the ability, like we do, to distinguish the same object from multiple angles. In a biblical worldview, we know that’s because God designed the brains of both humans and turtles and gave us both what we need to survive and thrive in our fallen world.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
