ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast
Author

Günter Bechly

Namacalathus_and_Cloudina
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Günter Bechly
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January 4, 2021
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A Paleontologist Buries Another Proposed Cambrian Precursor

Günter Bechly
January 4, 2021

On this ID the Future, German paleontologist Günter Bechly explains why the Precambrian fossil Namacalathus fails as a transitional precursor to the Cambrian explosion. Darwinists want to find transitional precursors to the Cambrian animals to minimize how poorly the Cambrian explosion fits with Darwinism’s story of a gradual evolutionary development. Dr. Bechly gives other examples of such efforts as well and shows how each fails. As he says, the more we learn about the Cambrian and Precambrian, the more dramatic the Cambrian explosion appears and the poorer it fits with modern evolutionary theory. As he also notes, the points he makes in this episode have been made by mainstream evolutionary paleontologists. He differs only in stepping back from the larger pattern and arguing for intelligent design as a far better explanation than any version of blind evolution. His conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid pivots off of two articles Bechly wrote at Evolution News, here and here.

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Cloudina Carinata, early metazoan worn-shaped
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Günter Bechly
Date
October 5, 2020
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The Demise of the Artifact Hypothesis

Günter Bechly
October 5, 2020
paleoentomologist Günter Bechly makes the case that recent findings have put the nails in the coffin of this “artifact hypothesis.” He goes on to argue that these findings are “not just a tiny problem but a fatal problem” for modern Darwinism. Read More ›
Creative background, white domino, on brown wooden background. Concept of domino effect, chain reaction, risk management, copy space.
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Günter Bechly
Date
April 8, 2020
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Günter Bechly: Still More Evidence Against Darwinian Gradualism

Günter Bechly
April 8, 2020

On this episode of ID the Future, paleontologist Günter Bechly speaks again with host Andrew McDiarmid about the growing case against Darwinian gradualism. Bechly points out two more cases where fossil discoveries refuted Darwin’s prediction of gradualism in species transitions. In one of the classic showcases for such alleged transitions, between two species of deep-sea protists called foraminifera, more recent research showed their speciation to be abrupt and not an ancestor-descendent sequence. And fossil freshwater snails from Germany, once viewed as another textbook example of gradual speciation, were discovered not to be separate species at all. Is there a paradigm change coming in evolutionary studies? Nothing fits the data better than intelligent design.

Pure sulfuric acid puddle in the Dallol
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Author
Günter Bechly
Date
April 6, 2020
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Günter Bechly Says Goodbye to Darwinian Gradualism

Günter Bechly
April 6, 2020

On this episode of ID the Future, paleontologist Günter Bechly and host Andrew McDiarmid discuss Bechly’s article “Ape-Man Waves Goodbye to Darwinian Gradualism.” Bechly touches on the oldest australopithecine fossil skull ever found, from 3.8 million years ago. The researchers behind the find are confident of its age but puzzled because the discovery undercuts one of the best examples of alleged gradual transition between two hominid species, and it also doesn’t fit well with common theories of phylogenetic relationship. The evidence poses a significant problem for the Darwinian mechanistic paradigm, but can be readily explained with an intelligent design approach.

Callao Cave
Penablanca, Cagayan Province, Philippines: Near the entrance to the limestone Callao Cave with a church built in the first chamber
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Author
Günter Bechly
Date
May 1, 2019
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Günter Bechly on the Latest Fossil Find Confusing the Human “Evolutionary Tree”

Günter Bechly
May 1, 2019

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid interviews paleontologist Günter Bechly about the latest hominin fossil that’s once again “rewriting human evolutionary history.” News of the find reached the media early this month. Dubbed homo luzonensis due to discovery on the Philippine island of Luzon, it poses yet another challenge to neo-Darwinian theory. A fossil like this one should have been found in Africa, not the Philippines. It should have been a lot older than it is, and it confuses the human evolutionary tree even more than before. “Darwinian theory predicts there should be one true tree of life that should converge,” says Bechly, “but the fossil record respectfully disagrees, again and again.”

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Günter Bechly
Date
March 20, 2019
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Günter Bechly: Human Evolution’s Once ‘Indisputable Facts’ Now “Dead Theory”

Günter Bechly
March 20, 2019

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid interviews paleoentomologist Günter Bechly about human evolution, and how the story keeps getting rewritten. The “out of Africa” story was once “indisputable,” but recent evidence has overturned it; it’s now “dead.” The human phylogenetic tree is riddled with question marks. An original human pair is no longer out of the question. So much weakly founded evidence has been oversold in the past, says Bechly, it’s still wise to apply a healthy dose of skepticism toward today’s “indisputable facts” of human evolution. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

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brown lacewing imprisoned in baltic amber
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Author
Günter Bechly
Date
March 11, 2019
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Günter Bechly: Rich Fossil Record Says No to Insect Evolution

Günter Bechly
March 11, 2019

On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. Günter Bechly, paleoentomologist and former curator for amber and fossil insects for the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany, talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about evidence for macroevolution among insects. The fossil record is “saturated,” Bechly says. By that he doesn’t mean there aren’t new fossil forms to discover. Bechly himself has discovered several. He means we have an extensive enough sampling to confidently discern the major patterns of change and stasis in the history of life. And it shows no sign of insect evolution. It shows no transition from marine arthropods to terrestrial insects, none from wingless insects to winged insects, and no gradual evolution to insects (such as beetles and butterflies) that go through a metamorphosis that includes a pupal stage. And evidence for common ancestry is either contradictory or missing. In short, Bechly argues, the insect fossil record is much better explained by intelligent design than blind evolution.

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Günter Bechly
Date
May 14, 2018
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Living Fossils Really Do Live — and Pose Problems for Evolution

Günter Bechly
May 14, 2018

On this episode of ID the Future, German paleo-entomologist Dr. Günter Bechly explains the real, living problem of living fossils — a term resisted by evolutionists though coined by Darwin himself and undeniably a living reality. These plants and animals have remained unchanged over eons: in the case of the horseshoe crab, nearly half a billion years through enormous upheaval.

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Günter Bechly
Date
May 7, 2018
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Scientist Names Dragonfly Species after Michael Behe. Gets Roasted. Shrugs.

Günter Bechly
May 7, 2018

On this episode of ID the Future, paleoentomologist Günter Bechly discusses the new dragonfly fossil that he discovered, described, and named after intelligent design theorist Michael Behe — Chrismooreia michaelbehei. Bechly describes what’s remarkable about this stunning fossil, explains some problems dragonflies poses for Darwinism, and shares some of the strangely uninformed criticisms he’s received for naming the species after Behe.

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Günter Bechly
Date
April 23, 2018
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A Paleontologist on Why the “Cambrian Explosion” Label Persists

Günter Bechly
April 23, 2018

On this episode of ID the Future, Sarah Chaffee interviews German paleo-entomologist Günter Bechly on the Cambrian explosion, the relatively sudden appearance of new body plans in the fossil record an estimated 550 million years ago. Dr. Bechly explains how the Cambrian explosion has been challenged by non-experts with an anti-ID bias, yet remains very much a real event in the opinion of specialists in the field — and with the continuing failure of Darwinian explanations, a strong source of evidential support for intelligent design.

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