2014

The neutral theory of evolution appears to have won out over its rival, neo-Darwinian selection theory (see here and here). However, the neutral theory makes a very specific prediction about the rate at which mutations are fixed in a population, which I think warrants more testing and scrutiny. The evidence for this prediction which I’ve seen to date is frankly underwhelming. What is the neutral theory of evolution? Let’s begin with a few definitions. What is the neutral theory of evolution? Here’s a short definition given by Professor Terry Speed, formerly of Berkeley University: The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution (Kimura) states, in essence, that most of the variation seen at the molecular level is selectively neutral — that is, Read More ›

I’ve found it helpful to UD to post a thread where people can vent some of their off-topic ideas and thus keep off topics out of other threads. As long as you aren’t being confrontational and are family friendly, you are free to speak their mind. Here are my off Topics: “dogmatic opponents of design who demanded that the Center be shut down have met their Waterloo. Baylor University is to be commended for remaining strong in the face of intolerant assaults on freedom of thought and expression.” Bill Dembski Here is a good documentary on Waterloo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4K3vjCprE8 And another off-topic. This is the account of someone having the sort of change of heart that might make them open to Read More ›

In the OOL post below a commenter named Okfanriffic writes: Hi guys. I work as a biochemist and like most biochemists we are concerned with understanding biology so that we can combat disease. An important part of science is understanding the underlying processes. Think about quantum electrodynamics,that advance in understanding spawned all of electronics including the computers we are communicating on! Science works, guys! Understanding origins and fundamentals has always proved productive and as such research into life’s origins is reasonable.Remember most people who call themselves christian accept the bible as metaphorical and accept that their god creates using natural processes (the entire catholic and anglican communion of 1.3 billion christians)So all science is doing is uncovering how your god Read More ›

I have created a video which makes my June 2013 Biocomplexity paper “Entropy and Evolution” even easier to understand. The extent to which materialism has corrupted science today will be clear to anyone who reads this paper or views the video, and readers will wonder, why would smart people like Asimov, Styer and others make arguments so transparently bad that a child can see the problems? The answer is, they have to, their commitment to materialism leaves them no choice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ea5s1pnigk

the department chair took me aside and shared with me the results from the latest standardized testing of the senior biology majors. The test splits up their scores in four categories: cell, organismal, genetics, and evolution. To my absolute delight, Bryan College students scored in the 99th percentile – in the evolution category! That was their highest category too. Uh oh! Who’s been teaching them evolution? Well, that would be me. The class I’m teaching this semester is called “History of Life,” which is just a euphemism for evolutionary biology. I teach straight from Freeman and Herron’s Evolutionary Analysis, and we read Darwin’s Origin of Species during the class. The students know my position on origins, and when appropriate, I Read More ›