22 August, 2015

Today's New Reason to Believe: Searching for Earth 2.0

Today's New Reason to Believe
August 17, 2015

Searching for Earth 2.0

By Dr. Jeff Zweerink
So read the headlines based on a NASA press release about the most recent "habitable planet" discovery. Here's what really happened:
NASA's press release actually contained more circumspect language in claiming to have "confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the 'habitable zone' around a Sun-like star." NASA did label Kepler-452b (the exoplanet under scrutiny) as Earth's bigger, older cousin, but clearly stated that the find represents an important milestone in the journey toward locating another Earth. The discovery of Kepler-452b demonstrates for the first time...

Dr. Jeff Zweerink

Jeff Zweerink thought he would follow in his father's footsteps as a chemistry professor until a high school teacher piqued his interest in physics. Jeff pursued a BS in physics and a PhD in astrophysics at Iowa State University (ISU), where he focused his study on gamma rays, messengers from distant black holes and neutron stars.
Read more about Dr. Jeff Zweerink.

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12 August, 2015

Last Chance! Classes begin August 17

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August 11, 2015

Running out of time!


Dear Anthony,
Only a few seats remain in our Creation vs. Evolution 8-week course and our World Religions and Science 15-week course! Don't miss your chance to learn how to use RTB's testable creation model approach to challenge the evolutionary paradigm and to put the world's major holy books to the test.
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September meeting for the Sydney Chapter for Reasons to Believe - Friday 4th September

The September meeting for the Sydney Chapter for Reasons to Believe will be on Friday 4th September.
 
Given so many people were unable to attend the July meeting, we didn’t watch the fourth session of Navigating Genesis. So we will dive into the fourth session of the Navigating Genesis small group study at the September meeting.
 
Details are:
 
Date: Friday, 4th September
Time: 8:00pm
Subject: Navigating Genesis – session 4
 
Hope to see you there!
 
Cheers and God bless,
Anthony

Charting the Slow Death of the Universe

Charting the slow death of the universe
 
 
Otis and Cynthia, two of RTB apologists buddies, note regarding this latest finding by the Astronomical Union general assembly:
 
This is the press release from the International Astronomical Union general assembly yesterday:
 
An international team of astronomers studying more than 200 000 galaxies has measured the energy generated within a large portion of space more precisely than ever before. This represents the most comprehensive assessment of the energy output of the nearby Universe. 
 
 
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Matt 24:35)
 
Cynthia
 
 
The results of this research are in close agreement with two important biblical concepts: (1) The natural world is tending toward decay, and (2) The flow of time is linear and irreversible.  Both of these concepts were unique to the Judeo-Christian worldview.  Physicist Paul Davies explains it this way:
 
"The Jews taught that the Universe unfolds in a unidirectional sequence – what we now call linear time – according to a definite historical process: creation, evolution, and dissolution.  This notion of linear time – in which the story of the Universe has a beginning, a middle, and an end – stands in marked contrast to the concept of cosmic cyclicity, the pervading mythology of almost all ancient cultures.  Cyclic time – the myth of the eternal return – springs from mankind's close association with the cycles and rhythms of nature, and remains a key component in the belief systems of many cultures today."
 
Once again we witness the truth that is found in the Bible.
 
Otis
 
If you are after the ScienceDaily article on this, you can find it here:
 
 

03 August, 2015

Would You Bet Your Species on "Earth-Like"?

Otis writes:

Here is an excerpt from the article in Science Daily that I think explains what is thought to happen when planets form:
 
 
"Planetary systems, including our own Solar system, are thought to form from hydrogen, helium and heavier elements that orbit their parent stars in a so-called protoplanetary disk. Dust and rocky material is thought to clump together over time, eventually forming rocky cores that go on to be planets. The gravity of these cores attracts hydrogen from the disk around them, some of which is stripped away by the ultraviolet light of the young star they orbit."
 
So as the protoplanetary rocky core forms it attracts hydrogen, methane and other gasses.  If the core is not too big, the hydrogen is stripped away by the host star's ultraviolet light.  For Earth, the hydrogen was stripped away long before the Moon-forming impact that further removed some of the Earth's atmosphere.  According to the recent work reported in Science Daily, if the rocky core is larger than about 1.15 Earth radius then the hydrogen sticks around on the planet and it turns into a "mini-Neptune."  The researchers do acknowledge that some unusual event (like the impact that formed the Earth-Moon) could remove the hydrogen from those 'super-Earths'.  
 
I think that the takeaway message is that Super Earths are not likely to be habitable.

Terms such as "Earth-like" and "Earth Cousins" are misnomers.  If you are not willing to go live there, then the exoplanet is NOT Earth-like.
 
 
Otis

01 August, 2015

Ancient lizards in amber amaze scientists

 
Ancient lizards in amber amaze scientists

 
 
A community of lizards from the Caribbean, preserved for 20 million years in amber, have been found to be identical to their modern cousins, say researchers.
 
20 million years and no evolutionary changes.... just saying...

29 July, 2015

Biblical text revealed from damaged scroll, 1,500 years old

 
For the first time, advanced technologies made it possible to read parts of a damaged scroll that is at least 1,500 years old, discovered inside the Holy Ark of the synagogue at Ein Gedi in Israel. High-resolution scanning a revolutionary virtual unwrapping tool revealed verses from the Book of Leviticus.
 
 
"The text revealed today from the Ein Gedi scroll was possible only because of the collaboration of many different people and technologies," said Seales, who is professor and chair of the UK College of Engineering's Department of Computer Science. "The last step of virtual unwrapping, done at the University of Kentucky through the hard work of a team of talented students, is especially satisfying because it has produced readable, identifiable, biblical text from a scroll thought to be beyond rescue."
 
Read more here:
 

Biblical text revealed from damaged scroll, 1,500 years old

 

27 July, 2015

'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough

Otis has pointed out a study a year ago that has a important influence on the discovery of Kepler 452b. This relates to the point I made in a previous post regarding the heavy atmosphere that Kepler 452b is most likely to have. Otis notes:
 
I would like to point to a study published last year that found that super Earths in the Habitable Zone are very unlikely to be habitable.  The reason is that any rocky planet that is larger than about 1.15 Earth radius will not lose its primordial hydrogen atmosphere.   The researchers even predicted that many planets will be found in the HZ like the one recently reported by NASA, but will have hydrogen-dominated atmospheres.  The recently found planet Kepler 452b has an estimated radius of 1.6 Earth's radius.
 
Here is an excerpt from the conclusions in the MNRAS paper:
"Therefore, we suggest that 'rocky' habitable terrestrial planets, which can lose their nebula-captured hydrogen envelopes and can keep their outgassed or impact delivered secondary atmospheres in HZs of G-type stars, have most likely core masses with 1 ± 0.5 M and corresponding radii between 0.8 and 1.15 R.  Depending on nebula conditions, the formation scenarios, and the nebula lifetime, there may be some planets with masses that are larger than 1.5M and lost their proto atmospheres, but these objects may represent a minority compared to planets in the Earth-mass domain. We also conclude that several recently discovered low density 'super-Earths' with known radius and mass even at closer orbital distances could not get rid of their hydrogen envelopes. Furthermore, our results indicate that one should expect many 'super-Earths' to be discovered in the near future inside HZs with hydrogen-dominated atmospheres."
 
Otis
 
The ScienceDaily article Otis refers to can be found here:
 
 

First evidence of farming in Mideast 23,000 years ago

And here is another cool discovery...
 
Until now, researchers believed farming was 'invented' some 12,000 years ago in an area that was home to some of the earliest known human civilizations. A new discovery offers the first evidence that trial plant cultivation began far earlier -- some 23,000 years ago.
 
The study focuses on the discovery of the first weed species at the site of a sedentary human camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel.
 
 
Cheers,
Anthony

25 July, 2015

More on that fine-tuned parameter for Earth’s plate tectonics

Here's a follow up on the Plate Tectonics article a few days ago. I was going to post this yesterday, but Kepler-452b (being 60% bigger than the Earth) go in the way :)

Otis, who first alerted me to the original article, comments on this also (see below)

Why we live on Earth and not Venus

 
Compared to its celestial neighbors Venus and Mars, Earth is a pretty habitable place. So how did we get so lucky? A new study sheds light on the improbable evolutionary path that enabled Earth to sustain life.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The first article did not explain why the amount of radioactive material was less than expected.  This article does.

This information identifies an example of "environmental fine-tuning."   As more is learned about the Earth, planetary formation, stars, climate, etc., more cases of environmental fine-tuning are continually being found.
 
Otis

24 July, 2015

Is Kepler-452b really Earth 2.0?

With all the hype in the media today around finding “Earth's Twin”, lets have a deeper look at what Kepler has discovered.
 
From the ScienceDaily article...

Bigger, older cousin to Earth discovered

NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the "habitable zone" around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another "Earth." 
 
The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone -- the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet -- of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.
 
"On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0."
 
Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky.

While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.  

__________________________________________________________________________________
 
 
A few thoughts come to mind about the discovery of Kepler-452b.
 
Firstly, it is a fantastic discovery and great to see we are close to detecting Earth sized planets. The majority of planets that have been detect are "Super Earths", Neptune sized or Jupiter sized. Roughly eight or so planets slightly smaller than Earth have also been discovered according to the Exoplanet Catalogue, but these are all either too close to their parent star, or too far away to be suitable to support life.
 
Finding a planet close the mass of Earth, in the zone where water (if present) can exist in liquid form, is a great discovery and full applause to NASA and the Kepler team.
 
So the big question is could Kepler-452b support life?

First up, scientists will need to determine if Kepler-452b is a rocky planet like Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury. If it is not, then no it can't support life.
 
If Kepler-452b is a rocky planet, then in Kepler-452b's favour that it could support life are the facts that it appears to have a fairly stable, circular orbit and that Kepler-452 (its parent star) is a Type G2 star which is a similar spectral class to our own Sun.
 
Not in Kepler-452b's favour is that it appears so far to be the only planet in the Kepler-452 system, its size is too big, and Kepler-452 is now likely more active that our Sun. These things don't bode well for advanced life. And also pose a real challenge to simple life, such as bacteria.

If Kepler-452b turns out to be the only planet in the Kepler-452 system, then it will not be protected like Earth is from regular asteroid or comet impact. Jupiter and the other gas giants in our system act like shields their mass, acting via gravity, to either deflect or absorb the vast majority of stellar debris (asteroids and comets) that would otherwise come in our direction.

Its uncertain at this time what mass Kepler-452b has. All we know so far is that its about 60% larger than our Earth. Such a large size will likely mean that Kepler-452b, if its a rocky planet, will have a greater mass than Earth. If so, then it would capture and retained a much thicker atmosphere than Earth and a much larger water content. Too much of both is not good for life, even simple life. Just a cursory look at Venus will show you that a thick atmosphere is not a good thing for life.

Originally when Earth formed it had an atmosphere of about 100 times thicker than our current atmosphere. By comparison, Earths original atmosphere would have been about 2 to 3 times thicker than Venus. Moreover, Earth originally would have had a water content of somewhere between 5% to 15% of the mass of the planet. The water content of the Earth by mass is now far less. As Universe Today notes '..while the oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface, they only account for 0.02% of our planet’s total mass. ' The reason Earth has a much thinner atmosphere and lower water content today is due to how the Moon was formed. And these are very important characteristics for life on Earth.

Kepler-452 is now in its older years. As Type G stars last for about 10 billion years, if Kepler-452 was a human, it would be in its sixties. Type G stars at this stage will be flaring more actively and that's not a good thing for life, especially advanced life. Its detrimental to an atmosphere especially if Kepler-452b has no or little magnetic field like Mars. UV radiation is also a killer to life. If there is no adequate ozone layer, the survivability of any life is not good. If we can get a spectral image of Kepler-452b scientist should be able to work out the primary chemical composition of its atmosphere, assuming it has one. If little or no oxygen is present in the atmosphere, then not only will this show there is no life on Kepler-452b, but also no ozone to protect life.

Another thing to consider about Kepler-452b is to ask if it has plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is essential for life, forming landmasses above the oceans, and burying excess carbon. For plate tectonics, you need lots of thorium and uranium to provide the heat that drives the mantle of the planet. You also need a strong magnetic field to i) prevent the atmosphere from being sputtered away in to space, and ii) protect the planet from solar and cosmic rays. Earth has a rich iron core that produces a long lived magnetic dynamo that protects life on our planet. Mar's magnetic field is almost non-existent. The reason Earth has such a core is due to the Moon formation event. Whether Kepler-452b has such a core will be an open question we may never be able to answer, but is one that is crucial to life.

Your also going to need a moon capable of stabilising the axial tilt of Kepler-452b and slow down it rotation rate enough in order to prevent if from having raging cyclonic storms always raging across most of the surface of the planet. Mars, because its two moons are too small, flip flops on its axis by 40 to 60 degrees off the solar plane. Earth by comparison oscillates by only a degree around its axial tilt of 23 degrees. This tilt and oscillation provides Earth with little variation in its climate extremes, put still permits seasonal variability between the hemispheres. A flip flopping axial tilt really complicates matters for life, and again, that's not a good thing.

I could go on with more examples but this post has gone on much longer than I wanted. So for the sake of brevity, I'll point you in the direct of a few books you can read at you leisure. And as always, the Reasons to Believe website has a plethora of articles about Exoplanets and the fine tuning of our Solar System and Earth that make it habitable.

So, for the above and other reasons, I doubt that Kepler-452b will be suitable for life, even simple life. More research into Kepler-452b over the coming years will help answer some of these points, either in the for or against camp.

The discovery of Kepler-452b is science at its best. And lets be excited about that. But in my opinion, its rather overreaching to call Kepler-452b Earth 2.0. The quest for an Earth twin continues, but I don't believe that we will ever find one.

Book resources:

Why the Universe is the Way it is

How to build a Habitable Planet

What if the Moon didn't exist?

Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe
 

23 July, 2015

Another fine-tuned parameter for Earth’s plate tectonics

Otis from the RTB Houston Chapter writes:
 
An article in Science Daily reports on research that has found another fine-tuned parameter that is necessary for Earth's plate tectonics.  Without plate tectonics there would be no carbon-silicate feedback loop that stabilizes global climate thereby allowing a planet to be habitable over billions of years.
 
There are two parts to this new research.  First, it was found that Earth's composition of uranium, thorium and potassium abundance should be reduced 30% from that of previous models.  Second, a model of Earth's geodynamics shows that the new reduced composition makes plate tectonics possible whereas the previously assumed composition does not.  In the words of one of the researchers, "The new compositional model gives Earth a sweet spot of its own where its interior is neither too hot nor too cold.  . . .  there's another dial that's important to turn."
 
I have not yet read the original research article which is in Nature Geoscience.  However, based on the Science Daily article, I think that the takeaway message is this: Earth is very special. Planetary habitability is very fragile and cannot be determined by simply computing a star's current heat flux on a planet.
 
Otis
 
You can read the Science Daily article via the link below.
 

18 July, 2015

Introducing On-Demand Courses

Reasons Institute
July 15, 2015

Reasons Institute Now Offering Courses
for Personal Enrichment


Dear Anthony,
Have you ever wanted to take a Reasons Institute course but didn't have the time? Check out our new line of flexible on-demand classes. These courses provide the same quality content but with less time commitment. Just listen and learn—there are no written assignments or homework!
Courses Offered
Questions? Contact us at (855) REASONS or via email at learning@reasons.org.
Here's to a great year!
Krista Bontrager
Dean of Online Instruction
PS - Are you a certified teacher or administrator through ACSI? These Reasons Institute courses also count toward Continuing Education Units (CEUs). If you would like more information about CEUs, we invite you to watch a short introductory video. Click on "Continuing Education Units (CEUs)."
 
(855) REASONS or (855) 732-7667   |  learning@reasons.org
  

12 July, 2015

Russell Moore on Evangelicals and Marriage

 
Here is a link to the best thing I've read so far in response to the gay marriage decision:
 

As the Culture Shifts on Marriage, Evangelicals Stand Firm

Why men, women, and sexual complementarity matter On Friday, when the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, Evangelicals issued a statement on their belief and teaching that marriage is between a man and woman. Russell Moore is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. We talk about marriage and its future. — KJL
 
 
 
 

08 July, 2015

Organisation of human brain is nearly ideal

Here's a neat little discovery reported on ScienceDaily.com
 
 

New research reveals that structure of the human brain has an almost ideal network of connections

The structure of the human brain has an almost ideal network of connections -- the links that permit information to travel from, say, the auditory cortex (responsible for hearing) to the motor cortex (responsible for movement).
 
The study continues...
 
Have you ever wondered why the human brain evolved the way it did? A new study by Northeastern physicist Dmitri Krioukov and his colleagues suggests an answer: to expedite the transfer of information from one brain region to another, enabling us to operate at peak capacity.
Putting aside the fact that the human brain has been the same since we first appeared on the planet, and that no evolutionary pathway has yet been clearly demonstrated from the hominids to us (for e.g.  we know humanity didn't descend from Neanderthals, Denasovans or Homo Erectus), and hence no macroevolution can be demonstrated from primates to hominids to us. And putting aside the assumption that macro-evolution is a fact and therefore a theory dependent pre-existed belief in the human brain having evolved from some hominid and primate ancestor, what this study reveals is pretty wonderful and, I believe, echoes the words of David in the Psalms:
 

Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
 
 
So remember, YOU ARE wonderfully made!
 
 
Cheers and God bless,
Anthony 

21 June, 2015

Did the Pope really say that? Thoughts on the papal encyclical on Climate Change

There has been a fair bit of hoo-ha in the media of late with the recent release of the papal encyclical on supposed "Climate Change".

The encyclical, titled 'A Cry for the Poor' is actually about the needs of the poor and only very briefly touches on environmental degradation issues (which includes climate as a potential issue) which have the capacity to effect the poor the most. That the Pope is concerned about the poor of the world is of no surprise, as the poor have been on his heart for his entire Catholic ministry.

So what did the Pope write in his encyclical?

Well a very balanced and brief enough article about the encyclical has been posted on Anthony Watts site Wattsupwiththat. The article is entitled 'Thoughts on the papal encyclical on environment'  written by Joe Ronan and contains a link the an English translation of the encyclical.

The article is well worth a read no matter what side of the Climate Change divide you sit on, and at the RTB Sydney Chapter here members hold very different positions on this issue but discuss the science, moral and economic issues of possible impacts from anthropogenic induced climate influences with respect towards one another, following the Golden Rule (Luke 6:31).

Its interesting to note, for example, that the Pope is on to those wishing to become billionaires through pushing carbon credit trading on the world. So check out the links and have a read of the encyclical for yourself. Don't just rely on media outlets to tell you what they want you to think and know. Be informed for yourself. We have nothing to fear from the truth.

Anthony

11 June, 2015

July meeting for the Sydney Chapter for Reasons to Believe - Friday 3rd July

The July meeting for the Sydney Chapter for Reasons to Believe will be on Friday 3rd July.
 
We will dive into the fourth session of the Navigating Genesis small group study.
 
Details are:
 
Date: Friday, 3rd July
Time: 8:00pm
Subject: Navigating Genesis – session 4
 
To find out more, contact us at Sydney.Australia@reasons.org 

07 June, 2015

Morling College - John Stackhouse - Apologetics for Postmodern Times - 13th July

Apologetics for Postmodern Times
 
Public Forum Day
“Why don’t my friends or family members want to talk with me about the most important things in life? What makes modern (and postmodern, and post-postmodern) culture so resistant to the gospel? How can I compel people to confront Jesus—or should I even try to do so?" Join us as we explore what we’re up against, and what we ought to be striving for, in defending and commending the gospel.
 
 

Location:

Morling College
120 Herring Road,
Macquarie Park, NSW, 2113.

Presenter:

John Stackhouse

Date:

Mon, 13/07/2015 - 09:00 to 16:00
 
 
Please note: All attendees should read "Humble Apologetics: Defending the Faith Today" by John Stackhouse prior to this Forum Day. Copies are available through online retailers in both print and e-book editions.
 
Professor John Stackhouse joins us from Regent University in Canada where he lectures in Theology and Culture. He has a BA (Queen’s), MA (Wheaton), and PhD (Chicago). He has given lectures at leading universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Edinburgh and Fudan, as well  as at institutions as varied as Seoul Theological University, the Elijah Institute in Jerusalem, Tyndale House in Cambridge, Brigham Young University, and the ACTS Institute in Bangalore. 

11 May, 2015

The GENESIS of LIFE is now available from Koorong

Alan Marshall, one of our Sydney Chapter members here, has just published a book called The Genesis of Life. It's a friendly and easy read so if your not scientifically minded, you will still very much enjoy it. Alan has gone to a lot of trouble to make this work very accessible.
 
I highly recommend this book to add to your list of apologetics reading. All the details are below.
 

Friends,


My new book, THE GENESIS OF LIFE: A PATHWAY FOM SCIENCE TO FAITH,

can now be ordered through the Koorong website. The price for the paperback edition is $21.99. If you have enjoyed reading the book, you might like to now recommend it by forwarding this email, with the attachments, to friends you think may be interested. (Koorong don't yet have any stock on their shelves, but I have ample to stock to fill their orders.)


God Bless,

Alan Marshall


Click here to find the book in the Koorong online store: https://www.koorong.com/search/product/the-genesis-of-life-alan-marshall/9781628716184.jhtml


Synopsis


The book aims to engage anyone with an interest in science and faith as it explores not only the origin of life, but the full range of nature's "big questions".


My starting point is that all life is based on information. By quantifying the amount of information needed for the simplest possible organism to grow and reproduce, I demonstrate that this is vastly more than could conceivably arise by random chance. Just as a computer program infers the existence of a programmer, so the elegance and mind-boggling complexity of DNA, and the biochemical machinery it creates, point to a creative intelligence.


Who is this creator? My book suggests he is the one known in the Bible as "I AM who I AM". I seek to lead the reader, assisted by scientific evidence and a series of logical propositions, down a pathway to a deeper faith. How far that pathway is travelled is up to each reader to decide.


Extracts from selected chapters can be read using the links below:


DNA - The Language of Life<http://thegenesisoflife.info/chapter1.htm>

In the Beginning<http://thegenesisoflife.info/chapter2.htm>

The Genesis of Life<http://thegenesisoflife.info/chapter3.htm>

The Genesis Creation Accounts<http://thegenesisoflife.info/chapter7.htm>

What Does It All Mean?<http://thegenesisoflife.info/chapter8.htm>


Author's website<http://thegenesisoflife.info>

What's the smartest animal on the planet? (excluding humans of course)

Intelligent Bird Solves 8 Step Puzzle

A friend just sent me a video clip of a Crow revealing their amazing abilities to problem solve.

Back in 2009 Reasons to Believe posted a Todays New Reasons to Believe article on the intelligence of Corvids. The Corvid family comprises Ravens and Crews. You can read the original post here: Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

Now a series from the BBC has captured the astonishing capabilities of the Crovids. You can see a short excerpt from the series on YouTube here:
Are crows the ultimate problem solvers? - Inside the Animal Mind: Episode 2 - BBC Two  

Corvids: The Birds Who Think Like Humans article from io9 may also help to show the amazing cognitive capabilities of the Corvids.

These are truly remarkable metal capabilities for an animal. Moreover, Chimpanzees are not able to accomplish this feat without significant teaching and training from humans first. Corvids are capable of problem solving like this directly from the wild.

As the TNRB article shows... Caledonian crows [though not quite matching ravens in intellectual prowess] outperform monkeys in their ability to retrieve food from a trap tube–from which food can be accessed only at one end.” They also refer to an experiment demonstrating that “crows can also work out how to use one tool to obtain a second with which they can retrieve food, a skill that monkeys and apes struggle to master.” Evidently, certain bird species exhibit greater powers of the mind than do apes. (See crows’ cognitive powers in action here.).

When it comes to which animal, between the Corvids or Apes, shows the closest metal capabilities to humanity, Corvids win hands (or wings) down.

Now that's a disconnect between Darwinian Theory and reality. Food for thought there!