Peter’s Corner
The world’s oldest biological colour is pink. Bright neon pink. Or so the scientists announced in 2018, describing research done at the ANU in Canberra. They had extracted organic molecules called porphyrins from marine black shale rocks from Mauritania in Africa — shales that were well known as containing microbial fossil cyanobacteria. Porphyrins are ring molecules important for the colour of biological substances such as hemoglobin and chlorophyll. On this occasion the porphyrins had a purple colour, which becomes pink if diluted.
The scientists were awestruck thinking that these colour molecules could survive for such a long time. How long? 1,100,000,000 years. That is the alleged evolutionary age of the Precambrian strata in which the shales with the fossils, were positioned.
But that age is impossible for any organic substance. The laws of chemistry dictate that organic substances will gradually decompose — even in the fridge, that KFC chicken left over from the party last week is going to break down quite soon.
Under ideal conditions, some organics may last up to 20,000 years. That is way too short, at best 0.002% of the alleged age. The difference is like comparing an ant making an 11 metre walk to your letterbox, to the ant making a 600 km walk from Kalgoorlie to Perth! Impossible.
Question: Which is correct, the laws of chemistry, or the enormous age of the colour molecules? Answer: The law — it always wins, every time. The evolutionary age is very wrong, but a short Biblical age fits the evidence perfectly. Sorry to disappoint, but pink may not in fact be the oldest colour after all.
Again, time after time, the real credit goes to God, not man.
There are many examples of how creation makes very good scientific sense. I hope these words help you, as they have me, in your journey to surely trust the Creator. I gratefully acknowledge the below references for background information for this article.
Creation Magazine 41(1) 2019, p47.
Henriques-Gomes, L., Scientists discover world’s oldest colour – bright pink, theguardian.com, 9 July 2018.
Creation 41(2):9, 2019.
Peter Mikula is a mining engineer in Kalgoorlie who loves stargazing and talking with others about Jesus.