Natural selection comes in two forms, positive and negative. Positive selection is supposed to improve species, but Dr Rob gives a clear example where bad mutations are amplified. Negative selection is supposed to keep species from degrading, but Dr Rob uses the same example to show how it occurs too late. Based on an article from Creation.com.

Notes and links:

• Original Article: creation.com/en/articles/two-forms-natural-selection
• Dr Rob’s bio: creation.com/en/people/dr-robert-carter
• Main Citation: Neville, M.D.C. et al., Sperm sequencing reveals extensive positive selection in the male germline, Nature 2025 | DOI:s41586-025-09448-3 Link: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12611758
• Edwards, C.J. et al., Ancient hybridization and an Irish origin for the modern polar bear matriline, Curr. Biol. 21(15):1251–1258, 2011.

Scientist throw around words and phrases that are sometimes hard to understand. This is not one of them. Genetic drift is an easy concept. Dr Rob brings up the example drift among of human mitochondria, perhaps the most extreme form anyone has ever seen. And, since natural selection is generally weak, genetic drift overwhelms selection at critical junctures during development. This has profound implications for the creation-evolution debate, but first, the explanation…

Source paper under discussion: Árnadóttir et al. 2024, The rate and nature of mitochondrial DNA mutations in human pedigrees, Cell 187(15):3904-3910.

Fig 1: Mutant mitochondrial frequencies in child (y) vs mother (x), from the supporting data of the paper above.

Fig 2: Histogram of frequency changes from mother to child, same source as above.

Fig 3: Histogram data for each frequency bin in the mother (legend) vs child (x). Same source as above.

One woman is the ancestress of all living people. They call her Eve. Is she the Eve of the Bible? How long ago did she live? Join Dr Carter as he explains how scientists struggle to assign a date to Eve. It may come as a surprise, but the ‘date’ is based on questionable assumptions and debatable philosophy. All we can know is that the mutation rate is quite high and the mutation removal rate is quite low. Thus, science tells us that Eve lived not many thousands of years ago.

Note and links:

• Carter, 2025, When did Eve live? creation.com, 18 Sep 2025.
• Carter, 2025, The continuing saga of Mitochondrial Eve, bibicalgenetics.com.
• Stern-Cardinale, 2025, I BLUNDERED! A Response to Dr. Rob Carter (he agrees with me), youtube.com.
• Cann et al., 1987, Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution, Nature 325:31–36. [I accidentally said “1981”]
• Carter, 2007, Mitochondrial diversity within the modern human population, Nucleic Acids Res 35(9):3039–45.
• Carter et al., 2008, The “Eve” mitochondrial consensus sequence, Proc 6th ICC, pp. 111–116.
• Bandelt et al., 2014, The case for the continuing use of the revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS) and the standardization of notation in human mitochondrial DNA studies, J Hum Genet 59(2):66–77.
• Gibbons, 1998, Calibrating the mitochondrial clock, Science 279(5347):28–29.
• Wieland, 1998, A shrinking date for Eve, J Creation 12(1):1–3.
• Árnadóttir et al., 2014, The rate and nature of mitochondrial DNA mutations in human pedigrees, Cell 187(15):3904-3918.e8.
• Carter, 2019, Patriarchal drive in the early post-Flood population, J Creation 33(1):110–118.
• Carter, R., Genealogical vs phylogenetic mutation rates: answering a challenge, 9th ICC:68–180.
• More references can be found in the original article on creation.com.

Even though it was completed a quarter century ago, geneticists still struggle to estimate the number of genes in the human genome. They went from ‘hundreds of thousands’ to “22 thousand”, then more recently to “about 19,500”. The number, however, has just exploded. Tens of thousands of new genes with important functions were discovered hiding in the ‘junk DNA’. Dr Rob explains what these new findings mean to the creation-evolution debate.

Links and notes:

• Carter 2025 The dark proteome https://creation.com/dark-proteome
• Carter 2024 The incredible shrinking human genome, https://biblicalgenetics.com/shrinking-genome/
• Amaral et al. 2024 The status of the human gene catalogue, Nature 622(7981):41–47; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37794265/
• Prensner et al. 2024 What can Ribo-seq and proteomics tell us about the non-canonical proteome? https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.16.541049v1
• Pennisi 2024 ‘Dark proteome’ survey reveals thousands of new human genes, Science 386(6725):951–952; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39607933/
• Podcast: https://biblicalgenetics.com/contra-creation-myths
• Carter et al. 2004 Cloning of anthozoan fluorescent protein genes, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part C 138:259–270; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15533784
• Matz et al. 1999 Fluorescent proteins from nonbioluminescent Anthozoa species, Nature Biotechnology 17(10):969–973; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10504696/

In a recent presentation on human-chimp similarities to LOGOS Research Associates, I made the (correct) claim that most new mutations are lost. An opponent attempted to make hay of this, claiming it disproves the ‘creationist’ calculations of the time to Y Chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve. What he failed to understand, however, is that the Y and mt chromosomes are haploid and behave very differently to the rest of the genome. In fact, mutations occur in them in a ratchet-like manner and no degree of natural selection can change that. Do you want a lesson in population genetics? Tune in!

Notes and links:

• My presentation to LOGOS Research Associates: “Chimp and Human (Dis)similarities by Dr. Robert Carter“
• Dan’s attempt at a rebuttal: “Professional Creationist Makes Huge Admission” by Creation Myths
• An older video where I answer the same claims (Creation Myths ignores other people!): Genealogy vs Phylogeny: The War Continues
• Rupe and Sanford (2013) Using Numerical Simulation to Better Understand Fixation Rates, and Establishment of a New Principle: Haldane’s Ratchet
• Carter (2023) Genealogical vs Phylogenetic Mutation Rates: Answering a Challenge
• Fixation (population genetics) on Wikipedia
• A shrinking date for Eve
• Natural Selection in Paradise
• The ‘two circles‘ illustration

In a recent Creation magazine article, I talked about an interesting new case study done on one of the world’s most favorite cheeses, Brie, and its relatives Camembert and Roquefort. A long time ago, cheesemakers unknowingly selected non-sexually reproducing fungal lines for these cheeses. Now, many decades later, mutations have built up in this lines to the point where they are starting to have trouble reproducing. Rescue efforts are underway, but in the meantime this gives us an object lesson about the impossibility of evolution, specifically the survival of the first organisms, which would not have been able to go through sexual recombination.

Links:
The Creation magazine paper: creation.com/cheese-verge-of-extinction
Signup for Creation magazine here: creation.com/en-us/creation-magazine
The original research: Harmi, M., French cheese under threat, news.cnrs.fr, 16 Jan 2024.
Additional info on Muller’s ratchet: dl0.creation.com/articles/p145/c14588/j29_2_70-77.pdf
About Dr. Robert Carter: creation.com/dr-robert-carter-cv

Gregor Mendel was the father of modern genetics. He wrote his most important papers on the topic just a few years after Darwin published the Origin of Species. What people don’t realize is that Mendel’s papers did not only describe how traits are passed down. He also explained how his ideas of genetics lead directly to an explanation of the origin of species. Was Mendel directly and purposefully contradicting Darwin?

Links and notes:

• Crompton et al. 2024 Mendelian speciation, part 1—what is the abundant source of significant biodiversity, J Creation 37(3):110–120, 2023.
• Crompton et al. 2024 Mendelian speciation, part 2—latent genetic information, J Creation 38(1):77–86, 2024.
• Crompton et al. 2024 Mendelian speciation, part 3—fixation and reproductive isolation, J Creation 382):97–104, 2024.
• Crompton et al. 2024 Mendelian speciation, part 4—adaptive radiations and cis-evolution, J Creation 38(2):105–112, 2024.
• Gregor Mendel on Wikipedia
• “They believe in bigger miracles than I do” on YouTube.com
• Species were designed to change on BiblicalGenetics.com
• Species were Designed to Change on Creation.com
• Arguments we think a creationist should not use on creation.com
• Wort und Wissen

Dr Carter spent some time recently in New Zealand. While there, he stopped by a giant colony of gannets. These sea birds number in the millions but they create a bit of a taxonomic mystery. Are three living species of gannets and the eight living species of booby one ‘created kind’? What about the cormorants? Should they also be included? Baraminology has not revealed the limits of the created kinds, so we have much work still to do.

Notes and links:

• Species were designed to change, part 1
• God Deliberately Engineered Life to Change, but How Much Change is Allowed?
• Biblical Biology 101 (my new book!)