I got a chuckle (make that a bellylaugh) out of this article: http://foxnews.webmd.com/content/article/120/113762 Get out your notepad and check off the evolutionary presuppositions, like the notion that laughter predates speech. Make special note of speculation presented as fact. Be aware that the Provine mentioned in this article is not William, but Robert. Here are some Read More…
Month: March 2006
Good Democracy, Bad Democracy, and No Democracy
Henry Neufeld is entitled to an opinion. So are all these people: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=581 Only 12% of the adults in the U.S. think Darwinian evolution should be taught in a vacuum. Biblical creationism is out on establishment clause grounds but ID is neutral on the nature of the intelligence and widely supported as contrast for unintelligent Read More…
Origin-of-life problem just went from bad to worse
(University of Bath) Scientists discovered the minimal genome size needed for the first life increased by a factor of 2. That may seem like a modest rise in complexity, but consider that a target of just 10 bits growing in specificity to 20 bits (a factor of 2) implies that the target is now 1024 Read More…
No More Establishment Clause for PZ Myers
Myers whines about Witt’s rhetoric comparing evolution, Castro, and popularism. Meanwhile, Myers is perfectly happy to defend evolution via judicial fiat. When a scientist needs to play the constitution card to censor criticism of his pet theory you can rest assured the theory is one that’s in crisis.
Survival of the Fittest Golfer
This just in. My morning paper reports that LPGA pro Natalie Gulbis has an extra vertebra in her back that enables her to bring her club so far around she has her back to the target. The random mutation that led to Ms. Galbis’ extra vertebra apparently confers a golfing advantage on her, which in Read More…
ID vs. evolution debate enters beer market
Is this a kind of Darwinalia, or should I say, Darwin Ale Ia? Evolution Amber Ale (Hat Tip: David Coppedge, Creation Safaris)
Evolution in free-fall
Does Lynn Margulis’s endosymbiosis story resolve evolution’s deep problems? Apparently its resolution of the prokaryote-eukaryote transition is far from secure. The paper below notes that with advances in research “the evolutionary gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes is now deeper.” Eukaryotic evolution, changes and challenges T. Martin Embley and William Martin Nature 440, 623-630 (30 March Read More…
Finally, Nick Matzke Finds An Opponent That Makes Him Look Smart
I’d like to be the first to congratulate Nick Matzke on finding an adversary that makes Nick look well versed in science by comparison. It’s about time. Maybe if Nick starting fisking nursery rhymes for bad science he could appear even smarter than he does now.
Flew wins Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth — Who said ID doesn’t pay?!
Press release issued today from Biola University: Former Atheist Receives Award From Intelligent Design Community 29 March 2006 La Mirada, Calif.  British philosopher Antony Flew, once considered the most prominent defender of atheism in the English-speaking world, will accept the Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth on May 11 from Biola University, Read More…
www.4truth.net
About a year ago I was asked to commission and collect 30 or so articles on science for an apologetics website run by my denomination, the SBC. The URL for this apologetics website as a whole is www.4truth.net and for the science section is www.4truth.net/site/c.hiKXLbPNLrF/b.786349/k.CAAC/Science.htm. I want to call your attention to two particularly insightful Read More…
Junk DNA — is it really?
Junk DNA May Not Be So Junky After All 3/23/2006 Researchers at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins have invented a cost-effective and highly efficient way of analyzing what many have termed “junk” DNA and identified regions critical for controlling gene function. And they have found that these control regions from different Read More…
Yet another feather in natural selection’s cap — now Boolean logic! What hasn’t NS accomplished?
Mutations Change the Boolean Logic of Gene Regulation Richard Robinson DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040064 Published: March 28, 2006 It is easy to think of a gene acting like a light bulb, switching either on or off, remaining silent, or being transcribed by the RNA-making machinery. The region of DNA that controls the gene’s output is called its Read More…
A Reply to Robert T. Miller
This is a letter I sent to First Things today. Dear Editors of First Things: Robert T. Miller argues that Judge Jones’ decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District was correct even though Miller admits that Intelligent Design (ID) is not religion (Darwin in Dover, PA, April 2006). Miller’s conclusion is plainly a non Read More…
It’s Only Fundamentalist Christians They Hate
Arden Chatfield explains that the Darwinian narrative apologists don’t hate all Christians. That would be wrong says he. They only hate fundamentalist Christians and that’s okay because the fundamentalists, he explains, desire to enslave and dominate others.
Baylor shafts Beckwith
March 27, 2006 First Things Joseph Bottum Down in Waco, Texas, there is a Baptist school called Baylor University. It was never a major player in American academics, and with the strained situation in which American colleges found themselves at the end of the baby boom, Baylor had problems figuring out what it should do. Read More…