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Brian Thomas
| The divine comedy Creationism |
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Brian Thomas is science writer at the Institute for Creation Research and young earth creationist. He is the originator of much of the content that comes out of the Institute's website on a day-to-day basis, not including their various magazines and other content. He has a Ph.D. in paleobiochemistry from the University of Liverpool.[1]
Specialities[edit]
According to his official bio, Thomas specialises in:
- Biology
- Problems in evolution
- Origin of life
- Dinosaurs
Astronomy and cosmology also feature prominently in his writings.
Role[edit]
Thomas has apparently been working for the Institute since sometime in 2008. He does various jobs for the ICR, both online and in real life.
ICR News[edit]
Thomas' primary contributions to the ICR's website is his (alleged) "Daily Science Updates," or alternatively "ICR News," which is nearly identical in content. These articles are an attempt to cover (stale) news that can be messily shoehorned into supporting creationism, often to much hilarity.
Thomas' first article for "ICR News" was published on the ICR's website on June 4, 2008, and was called Synthetic Life "Breakthrough" Just Demonstrates Design.[2] Daily Science Update articles from him have appeared more-or-less regularly since.
Articles tend to come out around a fortnight after both the news item originally broke and the access dates given for webpages in the 'references,' for reasons unknown. As of March-April 2012, publishing rates have dropped from the usual 5 per week to only 3. Articles are typically - though not always - made available online at midnight Dallas time. A complete list of all Daily Science Updates can be found here.
The content of Thomas' articles suggest that he does very little research on a topic beyond a few news items and the original scientific paper.[note 1] For example, his April 4, 2012 article Distant Watery Planet Looks Young[3] questioned whether the red dwarf-orbiting exoplanet Gliese 1214 b
could have held on to its atmosphere for billions of years against the solar wind[note 2] while orbiting so close to the star. He then stated:
“”The scientific literature typically does not ask questions like these.
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This is despite the fact that a simple google search of “red dwarf solar wind” would turn up articles like Living with a Red Dwarf which very much suggests that he is dead wrong in his claim: the matter has indeed been considered and the planet could have held on to its atmosphere for the time required. Further evidence of the lack of research on Mr Thomas' part comes in the form of a minor change to the opening lines where he had erroneously stated that the planet had been "studied for about a decade" to saying that it had been "studied since 2009".[4]
Similar problems can be found in most, if not all of his articles. One of the few known times that he has been right about anything was in his article More Earthquake Data Does Not Mean More Earthquakes,[5] arguing against the idea of imminent apocalypse due to the apparently increased number of earthquakes.
Acts & Facts[edit]
The 'best' (or rather, a small subset) of Thomas' articles are sometimes rewritten with the help of fellow science writer Frank Sherwin and appear in the ICR's monthly newsletter, Acts & Facts. The results tend to have a slightly more general topic than the original, news item-focused article, but are no better when it comes to scientific accuracy and the other problems that Thomas' articles suffer from.
Speaking[edit]
Thomas is listed as one of the ICR's speakers,[6] and he does seem to do this from time to time. But the ICR's speakers rarely go far from Dallas, and do not seem to appear often—Thomas seems to be no different.
External links[edit]
- Collagen remnants in ancient bone, Thomas' doctoral thesis
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ ICR: Ten ‘Fake Facts’ of Evolution. sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com, 1 May 2019.
- ↑ Synthetic Life "Breakthrough" Just Demonstrates Design
- ↑ Distant Watery Planet Looks Young
- ↑ Two screenshots showing the change.
- ↑ More Earthquake Data Does Not Mean More Earthquakes
- ↑ Speaker's page.