So what, exactly, is this “false and illusory” view of our universe? Is this short essay another veiled “correct” assault on the fact of the fine-tuning of the universe for life? There seems to be a lot of that out there these days. Orthodox science is now in a deadly conflict with facts… There can only be one outcome.
Researchers study why many life forms discard pieces of their DNA as they develop
Researchers: “A surprisingly wide array of creatures, all the way up to some vertebrates, dump significant stretches of DNA during early development, so the stretches don’t end up in most of their body cells.” [Only in the germ cells they pass on.]
Design theorist Eric Anderson on claims for a self-replicating machine
Anderson: “The Cornell molecubes didn’t build themselves. Instead, they were built by intelligent researchers using other tools and systems — by a separate “factory” so to speak — that was, in turn, built by other tools and systems, and so on. Yet beyond the observation of this uncomfortable regress, there are several additional instructive issues we need to examine if we are to really appreciate what self-replication entails.”
Darwinian evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne learns s thing or three about censorship – when he’s not doling it out
The explanation for Coyne’s sudden support for academic freedom might be fairly simple: He thought that Cancel Culture would only ever be deployed against people who think that nature shows evidence of design. He never expected it to come for people HE values.
Is it the “junk DNA” that makes us human?
Researchers: “This suggests that the basis for the human brain’s evolution are genetic mechanisms that are probably a lot more complex than previously thought, as it was supposed that the answer was in those two per cent of the genetic DNA. Our results indicate that what has been significant for the brain’s development is instead perhaps hidden in the overlooked 98 per cent, which appears to be important. This is a surprising finding.”
At Cosmos Magazine: Why viruses are considered non-living
It doesn’t help settle the ongoing debate that there is no single definition of life. Or that giant viruses like the mimivirus blur the line. Or that viruses share some genetics with host cells. Also, we often hear about the “strategies” of viruses. Which raises the question: If information had a physical form, would it be like viruses?
Oldest human-like footprints are 2.5 million years older than the ones attributed to “Lucy”
Re footprints in Crete: “The tracks are almost 2.5 million years older than the tracks attributed to Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy) from Laetoli in Tanzania,” says study co-author Uwe Kirscher, an expert on paleogeography at the University of Tübingen, in a statement. [Crete?!]
New findings on the devolution of tuskless elephants
Why were two-thirds of the tuskless babies females? “They also suspected that the relevant gene was dominant – meaning that a female needs only one altered gene to become tuskless — and that when passed to male embryos, it may short-circuit their development.”
Only at Salon: The human neck is an evolution mistake
It is, on the whole, a mistake to get human evolution news from a glitzmag. Engineer Walter Myers III offers some alternative thoughts.
Crab trapped in amber at 99 million years ago is remarkably similar to modern crabs
But by now we know enough to expect that, don’t we?
At YouTube: Jonathan Wells on Human Evolution, Darwinism, and Media Coverage of Fossils
In under six minutes. Iconic uber-fossil Lucy is among the topics discussed.
At Mind Matters News: What can mapping the whole brain tell us about ourselves ?
Researchers attempting to map the brain must contend with massive complexity at every level, as a report in Nature shows. The proposed whole brain map will shed light on many of these situations. If it doesn’t shed light on some of them, we are probably looking at a new frontier.
Here’s a lay-friendly explanation of the critical role “junk DNA” plays in mammalian development
Odd, isn’t it, that ancient invading viruses would turn out to be critical for survival.
And now … Transposable elements (junk DNA) shape the evolution of mammalian development
No wonder people are backing away from the Darwinian staple of junk DNA. We wonder, when will the pop science articles start to appear, claiming that junk DNA was never really an argument used by Darwinian evolutionists in support of their cause and that, in any event, they were right to use such an argument.
Here’s more on Canceled prof Dorian Abbot’s talk on climate and exoplanets — Thursday
Abbot: “Whether a planet could be habitable is determined primarily by the planet’s climate. This lecture will address insights we’ve gained from studying Earth’s climate and how those have been used to make predictions about which exoplanets might be habitable, and how astronomical observations indicate the possibility of new climatic regimes not found on modern Earth…” [The Woke are, of course, welcome to scream, assault passersby, and torch cars and buildings in the comfort of their own Zoom meeting at the same time.]