I've been reading this book and its absolutely scrumptious if you like reading about animals and life on our little blue planet. He gives a thousand and one examples of how evolution theory falls short in really explaining all the missing links between the so-called creation of superior species. Personally, i don't think this necessarily rules out the possibility of evolution, just that there are too many loopholes to account for the vibrant life we can see here. This book promotes Intelligent Design (not necessarily a "God" of any sort) and makes quite a persuasive argument. Here are some highlights.
excerpts from Billions of Missing Links, by Geoffrey Simmons M.D.
As "science", Darwinism must be subject to the scrutiny of the scientific method. The Scientific Method requires essentially 4 steps:
(1) Observation
(2)Hypothesis Formulation
(3) Prediction
(4) Testing of Predictions
from page 18 This is not about the faster rabbits escaping predators more easily, or the breeding of different dogs into another shape, size, trait, quality or look. Genetically speaking, a rabbit is still a rabbit, and a dog is still a dog. Survival of the fittest, on a short time line, is universally accepted. This is more about major transitions. No scientist has ever observed [...] a clam escaping from its shell and becoming an octopus, or a fish evolving into anything remotely similar to an amphibian, or a bear developing a blowhole on the top of its head and an anus along its belly as it went for a millennium-long swim (This blogger's note: This is one of the examples Darwin gave to support his theory). If Darwinian research cannot get past step 1, then step 4 can never be fulfilled. Even if fossils can be counted as step 1, there are no proven transitional species - and therefore still no step 4.
Often, millions of steps - links - are needed to compete a process or move a species to a more complex level. Where are these missing links?
from page 29 The bombardier beetle, for example, has many unexplained coincidences. This African insect can fire off two chemicals, hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone, from separate storage tanks and rear jets. When the chemicals combine, they form a new chemical that burns the predator. The beetle can shoot these chemicals with an uncanny accuracy, as well, to either side, backward, or even forward, by swinging its tail under its abdomen. [...] Yet these chemicals are benign when stored separately at the back end of these beetles. How did this happen by accident? "Oops those two chemicals didn't work" (spoken by an intermediate species). "Mind if i try two others before you eat me?" Or "Could you stand a little taller so I can get you with my nozzles?" Keep in mind there are hundreds of thousands of chemicals on this planet to choose from, And even if the combo turned out to be perfectly right the first time, the beetles still needed a way to make them, store them, and fire them off.
The real links seem to be missing.
