2015

And when I say deadly, I do not mean “potentially deadly.”  I mean the environmental movement’s junk science has already resulted in the death of tens of millions. Some years ago I spent some time working in Kenya’s bush country.  The experience was heart rending.  I will never forget one man in particular pleading with me to give him ten dollars for malaria medicine for his daughter. Why did this man’s daughter have malaria, a disease that has been all but eradicated in the developed world?  Because after we eradicated the disease in the rich West through the use of DDT, we took steps that prevented poor Kenya from doing the same thing. But Barry, haven’t you forgotten that in Read More ›

From time to time I write in these pages concerning the concept of “materialist poofery” otherwise known as “emergentism.”  Today I noticed an article by DBH on the subject: [An] emergent reality is [according to sociologist Christian Smith] one that, though remaining ever dependent upon the native properties of the elements composing it, nevertheless possesses new characteristics that are wholly “irreducible” to those properties.  But this is certainly false. At least, as a claim made solely about physical processes, organisms, and structures—in purely material terms—it cannot possibly be true. If nothing else, it is a claim strictly precluded by most modern scientific prejudice. From a genuinely “physicalist” perspective, there are no such things as emergent properties in this sense, discontinuous from Read More ›

In the comment thread to a recent post we were discussing the following biological design inference Dr. Moran had made: Moran: Craig Venter and his colleagues constructed a synthetic genome and inserted it into a cell. The DNA determined the structure and properties of the organism that grew and after many subsequent generations we have a new species that behaves exactly like it was supposed to based on the genes that the scientists built. Barry: Now Dr. Moran, suppose that new species escaped the lab and was captured by a researcher who had no idea about Venter’s work.  Suppose further that researcher concluded that the genome of the creature had been intelligently designed.  Would that researcher’s design inference be the Read More ›

That’s what driving while “intexticated” seems to be: An auto safety site in the United States claims that 23% of auto accidents in 2011 involved a cell phone. If correct, that should be no surprise. The minimum distraction is 5 sec, which is just enough to close the “window of opportunity” that our driving instructors told us about—the few seconds when we can avoid an anticipated crash. Fifty-five percent of young adult drivers think it is easy to text while driving, but 10% were found, when studied, to be driving outside their lane at the time. No wonder they call it “driving while intexticated”: Social media addiction comes, like other addictions, with a free I-deny-I-have-a-problem package. A problem yes. But Read More ›

From Mental Floss: From the outside, Elena del Peral seems to be like any other high-achieving college senior. She goofs around the campus quad of Massachusetts’ Curry College with her classmates and posts pictures on Facebook of birthday drinks with girlfriends. She holds a philanthropic job at a childhood cancer foundation and is on the dean’s list. She’s friendly, bright, and fit. Outwardly, perhaps the most provocative thing about her is that she’ll wear both a Yankees cap and a Red Sox jersey at the same time—a peacemaker among the long-standing rivals. But beneath her cap is one remarkable mind. Elena del Peral has only half a brain. She was born with very severe epilepsy which not only destroyed the Read More ›

From Smithsonian: Ancient volcanic rocks may have preserved tiny samples of the planet’s original moisture A new analysis in Science suggests that at least some of Earth’s current moisture derives from water-soaked dust particles trapped deep inside during the planet’s formation. … The ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in the universe was fixed shortly after the Big Bang. But various processes can alter that ratio in certain locations. On Earth, hydrogen can be stripped out of the atmosphere by the solar wind, and deuterium can be added through cometary impacts. More. In the most ancient rocks, researchers found some of the lowest ratios of deuterium to hydrogen ever recorded, suggesting that water was there from the beginning. From New Scientist: Read More ›

Recently, Karl Giberson, author of Saving Darwin and former BioLogian, claimed the following in the Huffington Post, about the Seattle-based Discovery Institute: In their minds the possibility that the earth is 10,000 years old is an open question, even though geologists settled that one in the 18th century. They still think that Adam and Eve were real people and Noah may have rescued all the animals in the ark — claims settled in the 19th century. But most of their energy is spent promoting the idea that Darwin’s theory of evolution is implausible nonsense or, at best, a controversial theory with widespread scientific dissent. Why on earth would anyone write such obvious nonsense? As John West observes at Evolution News Read More ›

Leah Libresco, here, including: Both my parents don’t believe in God, so I was raised as an atheist. We had a Christmas tree, but my parents were definitely upfront about the fact that they thought religions weren’t true. I was the kid in high school who worked to get us to stop doing a toy drive for Samaritan’s Purse (which uses the toys to evangelize to poor children). And, post-conversion, I still think that’s a wildly inappropriate charity for a public school to partner with. I grew up on Long Island, where the vast majority of my classmates were secular Jews, so between that and my family, I thought of religion as something that was not only wrong, but wrong Read More ›

We’ve followed the adventures of the Pastafarians with some interest because of the strange turns they take. Originally a concept invented by new atheists to mock the growing evidence against Darwinism as their creation story, pastafarianism has seemingly morphed into ridicule of actual religions by insisting on getting one’s face on a driver’s licence while wearing a spaghetti strainer. And so now, from Masachusetts: The Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles is allowing a Pastafarian woman to wear a colander in her driver’s license picture. This comes after The American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center’s attorneys were enlisted to assist with the woman’s appeal after she was denied the right to wear it in her license photo by the RMV. Read More ›

… by wiping out the dinosaurs Just as, we are told, climate change jump started evoltion and fast food is derailing it, we learn from a “leading Harvard physicist” a radical new theory, courtesy Yahoo News: Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist at Harvard University, has a different, and novel answer, which she describes in her latest book, “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs.” … In her latest book, she posits that the extinction of the dinosaurs — necessary for the emergence of humans — is linked to dark matter. Dark matter is the mysterious, invisible matter that astronomers estimate makes up 85% of all matter in our universe. … In her book, Randall describes a dark, pancake-shaped patty of densely packed dark Read More ›

Just as, we are told, climate change jump started it: From Nautilus: Burgers and fries have nearly killed our ancestral microbiome. No wonder I keep running into people who are nearly 100 years of age. (True, I spend a fair bit of time at a local retirement residence, but there was a time when you wouldn’t meet nearly as many people well over 90 anyway. – O’Leary for News ) A group of Italian microbiologists had compared the intestinal microbes of young villagers in Burkina Faso with those of children in Florence, Italy. The villagers, who subsisted on a diet of mostly millet and sorghum, harbored far more microbial diversity than the Florentines, who ate a variant of the refined, Read More ›

… which is why it isn’t really a science. From Tim Hartsfield at RealClearScience: Statistics Shows Psychology Is Not Science Alex [Berezow] and I have previously detailed what we believe are the requirements for calling a field of study science: clearly defined terminology, quantifiability, highly controlled conditions, reproducibility, and finally, predictability and testability. The failure of psychology (and indeed many other so-called social “sciences”) to meet these criteria often manifests as an obvious symptom: lousy statistics. Statistics is just a language. Like other languages it can be harnessed to express logical points in a consistent way, or it can demonstrate poorly reasoned ideas in a sloppy way. Statistical studies in psychology limp off the runway wounded by poor quantifiability, take Read More ›

Consider this chart: 95% of the models failed, including 100% of the models that predicted catastrophic runaway warming.  If the NY AG is going to prosecute climate scientists for getting the science wrong, shouldn’t he be prosecuting the ones who actually, you know, got it wrong? UPDATE: alanbrad’s comment is so good it deserves to be highlighted: Suppose 95% of weather men predict it will rain 5 inches tomorrow. 2% predict it will rain less than 5 inches, and 3% predict it will sprinkle for a little while. The 95% are saying that you should spend $1000 each on flood insurance. The 3% are saying its not necessary. The 95% are saying the 3% aren’t real scientists, and their research Read More ›

Dr. Moran has asked me to respond to some technical questions over at Sandwalk.  When I started writing this response I intended to put it in his combox.  Then I realized there is a lot in it that is relevant to our work at UD.  So I will put it here and link to it there. Dr. Moran, before I answer your technical questions, allow me to make one thing perfectly clear.  I am not a scientist, much less a biologist.  I am an attorney, and being an attorney has some pluses and some minuses insofar as participating in the evolution debate goes.  Like many people in the last 25 years, I was inspired to become involved in this debate Read More ›

In a recent post I described a scenario and asked a question to Dr. Moran as follows: In a comment to a prior post Larry Moran writes: Craig Venter and his colleagues constructed a synthetic genome and inserted it into a cell. The DNA determined the structure and properties of the organism that grew and after many subsequent generations we have a new species that behaves exactly like it was supposed to based on the genes that the scientists built. Now Dr. Moran, suppose that new species escaped the lab and was captured by a researcher who had no idea about Venter’s work.  Suppose further that researcher concluded that the genome of the creature had been intelligently designed.  Would that researcher’s design Read More ›