Bogus Claim #6: Evolution is false because it can't explain how life appeared on earth.
As other statements we have already examined, this one is also a misunderstanding of what evolution does and does not claim. The theory of evolution does not, and I repeat, DOES NOT have anything to do with how life APPEARED. It has to do with how life EVOLVED, or changed over time. The scientific search for the beginning of life on our planet is called Abiogenesis. Even if we come to find out that the origin of life does not have a natural explanation, it would not change the fact of evolution.
I would like to point out that scientists are very close to causing non living matter to spontaneous convert into living matter. This has been done by exposing certain elements to certain conditions. Biochemists are learning more and more about how the primitive building block of life could have formed and organized themselves into self-replicating, self-sustaining units. In fact, here is an article showing how scientists have caused the building blocks of life to come into existence. Yet even though the scientific origin of life remains a mystery, it does not count against the theory of evolution, since evolution does not seek to explain how life came about, but only how it has changed and developed.
Bogus Claim #7: The Second Law of Thermodynamics disproves evolution.
I feel like a broken record here, but once again, this claim arises from a misunderstanding of basic science. The argument usually goes something like this: "The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that systems become more and more disordered over time. This means that 1) Abiogenesis will never be proven, because living cells could not have arisen from inanimate chemicals, and 2) unicellular life could not have evolved from simple cell life. I have made a distinction here between Abiogenesis and evolution, but as we just previously seen, these two are usually conflated into one argument by creation "science".
If the creation "science" interpretation of TSLOT is correct, then this means that not even mineral crystals and snow flakes could form, since they too are complex structures that arise from a bunch of disordered parts. TSLOT actually states this: "The total entropy of a closed system (a closed system is a system in which no matter or energy leaves or enters) cannot decrease. " What is entropy? Entropy is basically a physical concept that is often referred to as "disorder". The use of the term "disorder" means something different than the way we often use it in day to day conversation. By "disorder", what is usually meant is a losing of energy. However, what creation "science" doesn't tell people is that TSLOT also means that though parts of a closed system may lose entropy and move to "disorder", this can only happen as other parts of the system experience an offsetting increase. This means that even though you can place a car in a scrap yard and see it deteriorate over time, our planet and all life can continue and increase because the sun pours heat and light into it. This means that the nuclear fusion that the sun creates more than rebalances the scales of the entropy lost. This makes it possible for simple organisms to fuel their rise towards complexity by absorbing other forms of life and nonliving materials.
Bogus Claim #8: Evolution claims that mutations are "essential," but mutations can only eliminate traits, not produce new features.
Yeah, you already guessed what I was going to say, and yest, you are right. This statement is another misunderstanding of what evolution is, as well as either an ignorance or denial of the evidence. Evolutionary biology has chronicled many traits produced by "pointless" mutations. The changes, or mutations happen at precise positions in the DNA. One simple example is a bacteria's resistance to antibiotics.
Another thing we need to consider is what is called the Hox. There are certain mutations that arise in the Hox, or "homebox" family of development. Hox genes direct where wings, leg, body segments, etc. should grow. Mutations arise in these regulating genes for no apparent reason. For example, let's look at fruit flies again.
The mutation called Antennapedia causes legs to sprout where antennae should grow. These antennae are not functional, but there very existence shows that genetic mistakes can produce complex structures.
In the lab, molecular biologists have discovered certain mechanism that cause genetic change that go well beyond point mutations. These changes expand in ways which cause new traits to appear. They have also been able to splice genes, as well as discover how whole genes can be duplicated in an organisms DNA. These new duplicates then mutate into other new genes, forming more complex features. Therefore, the claim that mutations can only eliminate traits is just not true.
For the sake of brevity, I will save the final two claims for another post.