The Creation Podcast (ICR):

Episode: Christian PhDs: 5 New Discoveries That Have Atheists SCRAMBLING
Date: March 26, 2026
Host: Mary Claire (The Institute for Creation Research)

Episode Overview

This episode of The Creation Podcast counts down the five most significant scientific discoveries of 2025 that, according to the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), challenge conventional long-age evolutionary views and align with the biblical account of origins. Four ICR PhD scientists—Dr. Jake Hebert, Dr. Jeff Tompkins, Dr. Tim Clary, and Dr. Brian Thomas—discuss research in astrophysics, paleontology, genetics, geology, and paleobiochemistry, each presenting evidence they argue supports a young Earth and the global flood framework described in Genesis.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mature Galaxies and the James Webb Space Telescope

Guest: Dr. Jake Hebert, Physicist
Segment Start: [02:13]

• Discovery: The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is detecting "mature" galaxies at extreme distances, i.e., very soon after the Big Bang by secular chronology.

  • Quote (Dr. Hebert, [02:55]):
    "What appear to be very mature galaxies at extreme distances, and they were not expecting that... they believe it takes hundreds of millions of years for these galaxies to form.”
  • Specifically, a confirmed galaxy is placed just 280 million years after the Big Bang, pressing the limits of the existing model.
  • Attempts to resolve this include proposals to "double the age of the universe" ([04:13]), revealing the fragility of model assumptions.

• Implications: Such findings challenge the slow, gradual processes of the Big Bang model and suggest that if timelines can be arbitrarily extended, the current scientific confidence in those timelines is questionable.

  • Quote (Dr. Hebert, [04:13]):
    "If you can just snap your fingers and double the age of the universe, how seriously should we be taking these ages?"

• Biblical Context: Dr. Hebert argues that these discoveries don’t contradict the biblical account and that Christians should notice when data is troubling to evolutionary cosmologists.

  • Quote (Dr. Hebert, [05:22]):
    "The scientists were so bothered by this... there was one astronomer who said that he was lying awake at night wondering if everything he had believed up to that point was wrong."

2. Revised Growth Rates in Dinosaurs—T. Rex and Sauropods

Guest: Dr. Jake Hebert
Segment Start: [05:41]

• Discovery: New analysis suggests Tyrannosaurus rex may have matured over 40 years (up from the previously believed 25 years). Sauropods like Apatosaurus could have taken up to 100 years.

  • Method: By aligning partial growth curves from multiple specimens, researchers created a "super growth curve" ([06:20–08:10]).
  • Quote (Dr. Hebert, [09:58]):
    "A delayed or prolonged maturation interval is strongly associated with greater longevity... animals were living a long time."

• Biological Significance: Large animals typically mature slowly and live longer. This fits a pre-flood world as described in Genesis, where longevity was common.

  • Quote (Dr. Hebert, [10:08]):
    "Unless you want to say that longevity was supernatural... there just seems to have been something about the pre-flood world that normally allowed people to live longer."
  • Dr. Hebert connects this to Genesis, arguing that if humans lived longer, so did animals, including dinosaurs.
  • Emphasizes that soft tissues in dinosaur fossils—chemically unstable over millions of years—add to the case against deep-time evolutionary scenarios ([11:35–12:06]).

3. Human–Chimp DNA Similarity: A Reassessment

Guest: Dr. Jeff Tompkins, Molecular Biologist
Segment Start: [12:17]

• Discovery: Contrary to the oft-quoted 98-99% DNA similarity, end-to-end genome comparisons in recent studies show only 84–85% similarity between humans and chimps.

  • Early estimates relied on cherry-picked, protein-coding fragments and used methodologies that biased the numbers upward.
  • Advances in long-read sequencing and removal of human DNA contamination from chimp datasets provide more accurate, lower similarity figures.
  • Quote (Dr. Tompkins, [19:30]):
    "It was 84 to 85% similar... it validated my research that I had completed seven years before."

• Broader Relevance: The lower similarity is problematic for the standard evolutionary models, which require ~99% similarity for their timelines and mechanisms to work.

  • Quote (Dr. Tompkins, [22:33]):
    "When you throw in numbers like 84%, it totally wrecks the whole paradigm... throws evolution out the door."
  • Tompkins emphasizes the theological implications—if humans are not biologically close relatives to chimps, the biblical teaching on the uniqueness of humanity stands reinforced.

4. Sedimentary Rock Forms Rapidly, Not in Millions of Years

Guest: Dr. Tim Clary, Geologist
Segment Start: [24:37]

• Discovery: A 2025 study documented the full cycle of sedimentary rock formation—from source material to cemented rock—occurring in just 35 years, as verified by historical artifacts embedded in the rock.

  • Natural case study: Industrial slag from the England-Scotland border formed sedimentary rock layers with modern objects (1934 coin, post-1989 can tab) trapped within them ([27:47–29:51]).
  • Quote (Dr. Clary, [27:01]):
    "They can make sedimentary rock in a matter of decades... all within 35 years or less."

• Significance for Flood Geology: The event shows a modern analogue for rapid sedimentation and lithification—processes proposed for the global Flood—but previously dismissed by conventional geologists as requiring immense timescales.

  • Quote (Dr. Clary, [31:19]):
    "Day in and day out, we're finding evidence of rapid sedimentation, rapid erosion, rapid transport, and now rapid sedimentary rock formation, all within a matter of just decades."
  • Dr. Clary argues this vindicates the biblical Flood narrative and the young-earth geological models.

5. Original Proteins Found in Dinosaur Fossils

Guest: Dr. Brian Thomas, Paleontologist/Biochemist
Segment Start: [32:15]

• Discovery: Publication of collagen protein sequences from an Edmontosaurus fossil in the high-impact journal Analytical Chemistry. Five analytical techniques confirmed the presence of these proteins, with measured quantities of hydroxyproline.

  • Quote (Dr. Thomas, [34:46]):
    "We described collagen protein sequence from an Edmontosaurus fossil... five different analytical techniques... Each one says the same message: This is really collagen."

• Challenge to Long-Age Timelines: Collagen and other proteins have well-established decay rates (hundreds of thousands of years maximum, even under best conditions). Their existence in purportedly multimillion-year-old fossils directly contradicts deep-time models.

  • Quote (Dr. Thomas, [38:32]):
    "It can last thousands of years, but it can't last a million."

• Mainstream Response: Many secular scientists dismiss such findings out-of-hand or simply avoid engagement with the data.

  • Quote (Dr. Thomas, [40:31]):
    "'Oh, that's all bad science.'... What a silly thing to say. But it reveals... 'I don't want to know because that's too threatening to what I believe.'"

• Faith Integration: Dr. Thomas emphasizes, as do other guests, that these scientific discoveries should embolden Christians to trust the biblical narrative, including the global Flood and special creation.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dr. Hebert on Astronomers’ Reactions:
  "There was one astronomer who said that he was lying awake at night wondering if everything that he had believed up to that point was wrong." ([05:22])

• Dr. Tompkins on the DNA Data Shift:
  "It validated my research that I had completed seven years before..." ([19:30])
  "When you throw in numbers like 84%, it totally wrecks the whole paradigm." ([22:33])

• Dr. Clary on Geology Education:
  "Day in and day out, we're finding evidence of rapid sedimentation, rapid erosion, rapid transport, and now rapid sedimentary rock formation, all within a matter of just decades." ([31:19])

• Dr. Thomas on Peer Review:
  "We tick all the boxes, we get the peer review, and then we finally get it into print. Then we can talk about it." ([36:33])

• Dr. Thomas on the Broader Scientific Resistance:
  "If you take the time out of that geologic column... there's no time for evolution. So there's a lot of beliefs that are at stake." ([41:09])

Key Timestamps

• [02:13] – Dr. Jake Hebert on galaxy maturity and JWST
• [06:20] – Dr. Hebert on dinosaur maturation findings
• [12:17] – Dr. Jeff Tompkins on human-chimp DNA similarity
• [19:29] – 84–85% similarity number revealed in Nature's supplemental material
• [24:37] – Dr. Tim Clary on rapid sedimentary rock formation
• [27:01] – Study showing entire sedimentary rock process within 35 years
• [32:15] – Dr. Brian Thomas on dinosaur proteins published in Analytical Chemistry
• [38:32] – Collagen decay rate: can’t last millions of years
• [41:09] – “No time for evolution”
• [43:06] – Why these discoveries matter for Christian faith

Final Takeaways

• Consistent Theme: Across diverse fields—cosmology, paleontology, genetics, geology, and biochemistry—recent discoveries are presented as being more compatible with a biblical worldview than with secular evolutionary timelines.
• Science & Scripture: The recurring assertion is that the conflict is not between science and the Bible, but between data and the philosophical assumptions imposed on them.
• Encouragement: Listeners are encouraged to trust Scripture where it speaks on origins, as the hosts argue that mounting scientific evidence continues to align with and affirm the biblical narrative.

For Listeners

If you haven’t heard this episode, this summary captures the major arguments and scientific developments discussed, the reasons why ICR scientists believe these are “game-changing” for their perspective, and provides direct insight and quotes from the PhDs themselves—helpful for those exploring the science–faith conversation from a creationist standpoint.