Hormone Research Unwittingly Corroborates Biblical Kinds | The Institute for Creation Research

Hormone Research Unwittingly Corroborates Biblical Kinds

Hormones are small chemical switches that turn on or off different cellular systems. They are tissue-specific, most often produced by the tissue of one organ, distributed in mammals via the bloodstream, then received by precise protein receptors found elsewhere in the body. They are like keys made at the hardware store, distributed via street traffic, then received by precise locks elsewhere in the city. Each specific hormone’s meaning is interpreted by the cell, which responds appropriately. Thus, hormones are essential to the regulation of body processes such as digestion, reproduction, temperature and hydration levels, and a fight-or-flight metabolism.

While studying the causes and effects associated with hormones in the wild, San Francisco State Biology Professor Jan Randall found that different kinds of animals have unique solutions to the technical issues regarding body process regulation. To understand how social animals regulate one of these processes—the stresses from overcrowding—she collected and analyzed feces from the Uzbekistan great gerbil and the California kangaroo rat for six years.

In an SF State news release, Randall said that “we must rethink our evolutionary models of hormones” because “we see species specific adaptation of control systems.”1 Darwinian evolution would predict that once a hormone control system evolved in a common ancestor, that system should be retained in its descendants—the creatures that are alive today. But this is not what scientists have observed. The same hormone does not produce the same effect in similar tissues of different species, or kinds.

What would the survival advantage be for an organism to spend its precious energy inventing new solutions to technical problems that are already solved by the functional hormonal control systems it currently possesses? And yet, if evolution is true, that must have happened multiple times.

Randall found distinct hormone control systems within distinct kinds, just as the creation model would predict. Each hormone switches on or off a certain cellular process, and that process only makes sense in the context of that animal kind’s overall physiology. Like other foundational concepts provided by God in His Word, the principle of kinds reproducing according to their basic forms has never been invalidated by scientific observation.2

References

  1. Findings raise new questions about evolution of hormones in mammals. San Francisco State University press release, February 13, 2009.
  2. Genesis 1:24-25.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer.

Article posted on March 5, 2009.

The Latest
NEWS
Marine Mammals: Designed for Deep Diving
While you’re reading this, hold your breath. What is now happening is your blood is delivering the last of oxygenated blood cells to your tissues...

CREATION PODCAST
Humanity's Demise at the Hands of Genetic Entropy | The Creation...
Welcome to the fourth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
''Inside-Out'' Fossil is Amazingly Preserved
It is widely known that vast numbers of fossils—vertebrate and invertebrate—have been discovered incredibly well-preserved.1,2...

NEWS
The Resurrection and the Origin of Life
At Easter time we focus on the cardinal Christian doctrine of the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, Christianity is a sham. The truth that Jesus...

NEWS
Is an Ancient Extinct Tree-Dweller Our Relative?
Human evolution has always been hazy with seemingly as many attempted explanations for how we evolved from animals as there are paleoanthropologists. Evolutionists...

NEWS
The Return of the Dire Wolf?
There’s been much recent excitement about the birth of three dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) puppies by a Dallas-based biotech company: Colossal Bioscience....

CREATION PODCAST
Cracks in the Layers: Lake Suigetsu and the Old Earth Illusion...
Welcome to the third episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
Fish Fossil Vomit
A rather unsavory news story recently appeared regarding fossilized vomit. Although it’s hardly dinner table conversation, it nonetheless supports...

NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...

NEWS
April 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things...