Casey Luskin broke the bombshell story that a Nature paper published in April had overturned an evolutionary icon: the endlessly repeated statistic that human and chimp DNA are separated by a difference of just “1 percent” or so. Science media and educators brandish the figure to show that human beings are little more than just fancy chimpanzees. In fact, buried deep in the Supplemental Data of the paper (“Complete sequencing of ape genomes”) was the reality that the difference is more like 15 percent.

Journalist Elizabeth Shenk at World Magazine interviewed Dr. Luskin, the CSC’s Associate Director, alongside a co-author of the study, University of Washington geneticist Evan Eichler. Luskin has written to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, asking that that the misleading signage (e.g., “You and chimpanzees [are] 98.8% genetically similar”) be corrected to match the new data.

A Reasonable Request

That seems like a reasonable thing to ask of the country’s top science museum. But as Shenk notes, the Smithsonian has dodged the request. From, “Architect or ancestry? New research casts scientific doubt on traditional evolutionary theory”:

Casey Luskin, a geologist and lawyer at Discovery Institute, says this disproves the theory of a 1% difference. He added that the gap between the human genome and the chimp genome is “basically representing sections of the genomes that are so different that you can’t align them together to figure out exactly what is the percent difference.” Now Luskin and Discovery Institute are demanding the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History take down displays using outdated research arguing for common ancestry. The Smithsonian replied that, if it ever updates its numbers, it will take the study into account.

Luskin doesn’t see the similarities between human and ape DNA as proof of common ancestry. He explained how computer programmers borrow code and engineers use car wheels for planes — all to serve a specific purpose. “It’s a good design principle to reuse parts that work in different designs. The fact that we share a lot of similar DNA with the chimp could simply reflect the fact that we are built upon a common blueprint,” Luskin insists. “It shows common design, which could explain those similarities just as well as common descent. [Emphasis added.]

Note to the President

Ah, so to a plea for scientific accuracy, the nation’s own museum has replied by providing a meaningless non-answer. Dr. Luskin’s letter, republished here at Evolution News, documents the inaccurate signage. Another display repeats the falsehood: “There is only about a 1.2 percent genetic difference between modern humans and chimpanzees throughout much their genetic code.” Note to President Trump: I find it pretty disrespectful to the people who pay the bills at the Smithsonian (namely, American taxpayers) to refuse to provide a meaningful reply when questioned on a scientific point with profound implications. Don’t you?