Is there really a difference between observational science, which examines facts in the present, and historical science, which draws conclusions about the past? Not everyone thinks so. The answer has major implications for critical thinking, so let’s unpack the definitions for these two types of ...

“Evolution is supported by an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence.” At least, that’s what a first-year biology textbook said, citing natural selection in soapberry bugs as the first example of such evidence. Let’s apply the 7 Checks of Critical Thinking to see whether this claim is true.

Textbooks often call antibiotic-resistant bacteria prime “evidence for evolution.” Based on a real textbook example, let’s use Critical Thinking Checks #1-5 to look at what’s really going on in the observational science of bacteria resistance. There’s a lot more to the story than what many textbo...

Textbooks often call antibiotic-resistant bacteria prime “evidence for evolution.” Based on a real textbook example, let’s use Critical Thinking Check #6 to look at what’s really going on in the observational science of bacteria resistance. There’s a lot more to the story than what many textbooks...

Do creatures with similar-looking features share the same evolutionary ancestor? Textbooks often say so, but let’s see how to think critically and biblically about such arguments.

A classic argument for evolution says that different creatures have similar embryos and therefore share an evolutionary ancestor. 19th-century biologist, Ernst Haeckel, famously forged drawings making embryos appear more alike than they are and believed embryos re-enact evolution. While most scie...

A classic argument for evolution says that different creatures have similar embryos, and therefore share an evolutionary ancestor. 19th-century biologist Ernst Haeckel famously forged drawings making embryos appear more alike than they are, and believed embryos re-enact evolution. While most scie...

Vestigial organs are structures in living things which supposedly had a function in their evolutionary ancestor, but now have ‘no function’—or at least, different or reduced functions. Whether the appendix, the tailbone or wisdom teeth, ‘vestigial’ structures are often considered evidence for evo...

A textbook argument against creation is that nature includes “bad designs” which point to evolution rather than a Creator. For example, food and air both pass through the pharynx, which can lead to choking, and a small blind spot exists in the human eye. Let’s apply some critical thinking checks ...

Biogeography, the study of living things’ geographic distributions, supposedly supports evolution. But is that true? Let’s apply some Critical Thinking Checks to the popular claim that marsupials (like kangaroos) live only on southern continents because their ancestors evolved there.

Endosymbiosis is the story of how ‘complex’ cells supposedly evolved from ‘simpler’ ones. The cells considered most complex, like animal and plant cells, are called eukaryotic, while cells like bacteria are prokaryotic. How did eukaryotic cells get some of the structures prokaryotes lack? Textboo...

Transitional fossils supposedly represent animals in some intermediate stage of evolution—for example, between fish and land creatures, dinosaurs and birds, or ape-like ancestors and humans. Museums and textbooks cite various “transitional” fossils as rock-solid evidence for evolution. Here’s how...