The four-winged fruit fly stands alone among the evolutionary icons debunked by Jonathan Wells, author of the new book Zombie Science. Since he upended it as “evidence” for Darwinian macroevolution, it has actually proliferated in science textbooks.

In a new video conversation, Dr. Wells recounts the progress of this lab experiment and its transformation in the hands of Darwin apologists. The unfortunate fly has trouble flying and would be doomed in the wild. It is, in addition, really an example of intelligent (if perhaps cruel) design by skilled researchers, not unguided evolution.

Pivoting, Dr. Wells also tells the story of the eighteen-winged dragonfly, invented by scientist and textbook author Donald Prothero as more proof of Darwinian theory. Says Wells, “In just four years, the eighteen-winged dragonfly evolved from a thought experiment into a real fossil. Such is the power of Zombie Science.”