The axolotl is a Mexican mole salamander, about 15-45cm in length, and one of the cleverest critters you're ever likely to meet. If the axolotl loses a limb, it will grow another. If it loses a certain part of its brain, it will grow that back, too.
Tests have shown that it will happily accept transplants from other axolotls, including eyes and portions of brain, and rewire them to work perfectly. Because of these amazing powers of regeneration, some axolotls swim about with several more limbs than are strictly necessary.
Also see:
This is article great, loved how it was written. 5 stars. Witty is the way to be.
Nice article, but nothing about the Leafy Sea Dragon was "designed", it evolved to look the way it is through natural selection, the process by which heritable traits that allow for higher fitness of an individual thus increasing the likelihood of their survival and successful reproduction, resulting in certain traits to become more common in a population over successive generations.
Even if a case is made for limited evolution of the same species, you still need a realistic explanation for how the "parent" species got here. The Big Bang? That's like saying that a home builder was getting several truckloads of materials delivered to the site on the same day... they all crashed into each other, and poof... a completed house. They would lock you up in the loony bin if you tried to defend such a story, yet my example is several billion times more likely, statistically (you know the numbers if you have even a high-school education) than a Big Bang, Primordial Amino Acid Soup, or any other "explanation" proposed by scientists. Your watch had to be made by someone. Even if you bought all the parts (designed and built by someone) and put them in a jar and shook it for 100 years, you would end up with nothing more than the same jar of parts, and certainly not a watch. How much more so did our universe and everything in it need a designer. I suppose you're going to tell me that pure chance is responsible for our solar system? Us being EXACTLY the right distance from the sun, at EXACTLY THE RIGHT TILT for seasonal changes? Oh, and let's not forget the water and air cycles, and EXACTLY the right mixture of elements in our air to sustain life? Chance right? Don't be a fool. Open your eyes--read your bible, starting in Genesis. The explanations there make much more sense than any scientific theory.
If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? If all life came from the oceans, why are the oceans still teeming with life? ...I suppose a case could be made that SOME OF US did come from monkeys... (those who defend ignorance)
Yes, I am religious, as you seem to be? Yes there are noble scientists. In the field of biology, however, no room is left for a creationist explanation. You are forced to accept evolution. If I study a great piece of architecture, I invariably learn more about it's creator or architect. Why do these people who study the greatest "architecture" of all--our natural world--fail to accept or credit a designer?
Science can be good, when not used as a blind for ignorance (of God). The theory of evolution needs to be regarded as just that--a theory! There are so many gaps, missing links, holes, etc. in it's explanations, that to proclaim it as fact is irresponsible and a supreme act of arrogance.
Believe evolution if you want to, but I want to be free to accept the truth of creationism. I want my children to be able to believe what they want, and not be chastised for it in school. The educational system needs to accept this right, and stop forcing the issue of evolution.