In October 2025, the Genesis Fund supported Dr. Todd Wood and Paul Garner as they traveled to the Czech Republic to see the most famous fossil skeleton in the world. Dubbed “Lucy”, it is the remains of an Australopithecus afarensis. The two scientists were accompanied by Todd’s research assistant, student Peter Brummel.
Discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, Lucy caused ripples in the scientific community. It appeared to be a fossil of an ape with some characteristics of modern humans. Naturally, scientists suggested that Lucy was an early human ancestor, showing the transition from a primitive primate to the much more modern Homo sapiens.
Creationists have long been divided about how to interpret the Lucy fossil. Just this past summer, for example, I attended the Creation Research Society conference in St. Louis. In one session, I watched back-to-back presentations about Lucy. The first speaker argued that Lucy was an upright-walking “pygmy” human, while the second speaker thought Lucy was a quadrupedal (four-legged) ape. Still other creationists take the middle ground, suggesting Lucy was an ape that probably walked upright like a human, but does not belong in the human kind.
Interpretations of the Lucy fossil are based on replications and images of the Lucy bones. But in October of this year, the original Lucy fossil was on display in Prague, allowing Todd Wood and Paul Garner to make first-hand observations of the skeleton.
Their objective was to observe the real skeleton of this famous creature and confirm that their fossil casts and secondhand knowledge are accurate. This was an important mission given the ambiguity and controversy surrounding the skeleton in creationist circles.
The trip was a rousing success. There were no major complications, and the team made the best of their time making a host of observations and recording lots of notes.
The scholars reviewed fossils at the National Museum of Prague over a dozen times, both confirming some things about the Lucy fossil while being surprised by other details. It will be fascinating to see what conclusions they make about these important fossils, which included many more hominid fossils than just the famous Lucy skeleton.
I anticipate creationists will be eager to hear what these scientists observed about the real Lucy fossil. Until now they have been working with artificial casts and secondhand publications of the skeleton.
In addition to the National Museum, Paul, Todd, and Peter visited Brno, Czechia to visit significant archaeological and paleontological sites as well as the monastery where Gregor Mendel discovered the laws on inheritance by growing pea plants. The entire trip went exactly according to plan, and an abundance of creation content is on its way because of this one productive trip.
These notes and observations will translate into accessible content very soon. Todd and Paul recorded three episodes for their popular “Let’s Talk Creation” podcast to debut in December, while research student Peter Brummel (a New Creation blog writer) filmed lots of shorter content for the New Creation website (his article will be published in early 2026). Todd Wood has already published a “teaser” to these episodes on his blog here.
The Genesis Fund is proud to have been the primary sponsor of this research trip. Creation scientists are not able to do what they do without these funds. In this one trip, two veteran scientists got a chance to shed light on a creation controversy, and a paleoanthropology student got to experience a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a famous skeleton. One of our goals is to continue funding current research and to inspire the next generation of creation scientists. We can only do this with continued support from donors like you.
Thank you for your partnership to keep creation science going. If you would like to make an end-of-the-year donation to our work, you can do so at the link below.
Jake Ramgren
Genesis Fund Project Coordinator
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1)