The many advances in computer technology have convinced many people that AI is real and it is coming soon. This article focuses on the concept of creativity, and what that means for the question of whether someone can actually build an “artificial intelligence” with computers. Read More

Scientists have examined the ability of the human eye to detect single photons. It turns out that they can. Previously it was thought that the eye could detect as few as five to seven, but the present study shows that they human eye is capable of detecting a single photon: this is really a remarkable feat. Here’s what one of the authors had to say: “If you imagine this, it is remarkable: a photon, the smallest physical entity with quantum properties of which light consists, is interacting with a biological system consisting of billions of cells, all in a warm and wet environment,” says Vaziri. “The response that the photon generates survives all the way to the level of our Read More ›

From Salvo: An entertaining but revealing development in science culture in recent years has been the intentionally nonsensical academic paper. Earlier this year, political scientist Peter Dreier admitted at Prospect that his abstract for a panel of six years ago, “On the Absence of Absences,” was “academic drivel”: I tried, as best I could within the limits of my own vocabulary, to write something that had many big words but which made no sense whatsoever. I not only wanted to see if I could fool the panel organizers and get my paper accepted. . . . Well, not only was it accepted, but he was also invited to join fellow academics in Tokyo at the annual international conference of the Read More ›

At “New Scientist peddles Darwinism even now. Weeds grow,” we learned, The work of Charles Darwin showed, irrefutably, that humans are just another animal occupying a small branch on a vast tree of life. No divine spark is needed to explain our existence and traits. bornagain77 writes, Perhaps by irrefutable proof’ he means the fact that Darwinian evolution is impervious to falsification by empirical evidence since it has no demarcation criteria based in mathematics to make it scientific? With no demarcation criteria you simply can’t straight out refute Darwinian evolution by empirical observation! i.e. it is irrefutable! Yes. And in sociologist Steve Fuller‘s memorable phrase, Darwinism is beginning to collapse into the mess that floored astrology. It is principally a Read More ›

Can anyone believe this? From John van Wyhe at New Scientist: Evolution is the most revolutionary concept in the history of science. Nothing else has more radically changed our understanding of the natural world and ourselves. Nothing? The work of Charles Darwin showed, irrefutably, that humans are just another animal occupying a small branch on a vast tree of life. No divine spark is needed to explain our existence and traits.More. That’s so obviously untrue it is just ridiculous. Yet New Scientist wants us to pay to read more. Why? If we wanted religious Darwinism, we could get it at BioLogos for free. The real action, to the extent that it can get going in a world fumbled by New Read More ›

  People know American author Tom Wolfe best for Bonfire of the Vanities and Radical Chic. He coined phrases for people who sense that something is wrong with the decades-long descent. Many probably don’t know that he doubted Darwin’s hegemony would last ages before the Royal Society began to wonder. He gave it forty years. A trend spotter, he has a nose for that kind of thing. From his forthcoming book promo, The Kingdom of Speech: The maestro storyteller and reporter provocatively argues that what we think we know about speech and human evolution is wrong. Tom Wolfe, whose legend began in journalism, takes us on an eye-opening journey that is sure to arouse widespread debate. THE KINGDOM OF SPEECH Read More ›

From Ethan Siegel at Forbes: The first test was performed first, and came back negative. The second test was next, and also came back negative. By time the third test was performed, with both landers in situ, the prospects were pretty grim, but the data was taken anyway. To the surprise of almost everyone, both Viking 1 and 2 detected metabolized, radioactive carbon-14 as part of the carbon dioxide emitted. They even took their samples from different locations: one from soil in direct sunlight, the other from soil found under a rock. In both samples, the carbon dioxide emission was immediate and sustained after the first injection. To great excitement and fanfare, the team led by Gilbert Levin thought they Read More ›

From Special Issues in Education, including Research in Science Education. Hat tip: Pos-Darwinista (Just think, one of the biggest Portuguese language blogs is a Brazil-based ID site.)

We have been talking a bit about Rope Kojonen this last week, with his presentation at the AM-Nat conference and his recent paper on methodological naturalism in the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. Now he has a new book out covering a philosophical perspective on the Intelligent Design debate.
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From BBC: Quantum processes may occur not quite so far from our ordinary world as we once thought. Quite the opposite: they might be at work behind some very familiar processes, from the photosynthesis that powers plants – and ultimately feeds us all – to the familiar sight of birds on their seasonal migrations. Quantum physics might even play a role in our sense of smell. In fact, quantum effects could be something that nature has recruited into its battery of tools to make life work better, and to make our bodies into smoother machines. It’s even possible that we can do more with help from the strange quantum world than we could without it. More. What? “Nature has recruited Read More ›

In the recent thread “That’s gotta hurt” Bill Cole states: I think over the next few years 3 other origins (my note: together with OOL), will start to be recognized as equally hard to explain: The origin of eukaryotic cell: difficult to explain the origin of the spliceosome, the nuclear pore complex and chromosome structure. The origin of multicellular life: difficult to explain the origin of the ability to build complex body plans. The origin of man: difficult to explain the origin of language and complex thought. That thought is perfectly correct. There are, in natural history, a few fundamental transitions which scream design more that anything else. I want to be clear: I stick to my often expressed opinion Read More ›

From ScienceDaily: The constant battle between pathogens and their hosts has long been recognized as a key driver of evolution, but until now scientists have not had the tools to look at these patterns globally across species and genomes. In a new study, researchers apply big-data analysis to reveal the full extent of viruses’ impact on the evolution of humans and other mammals. Their findings suggest an astonishing 30 percent of all protein adaptations since humans’ divergence with chimpanzees have been driven by viruses. … “We’re all interested in how it is that we and other organisms have evolved, and in the pressures that made us what we are,” said Petrov. “The discovery that this constant battle with viruses has Read More ›

From RealClearPolicy: Consuming butter does not increase the risk of heart disease, a recent study found. Those who believed in the accuracy of U.S. government dietary guidelines — which for decades have demonized saturated fats — were doubtless taken by surprise. But for those of us who follow nutrition and politics, it’s just another government nutritional “gospel” that science has revealed to be misguided. Yet, government agencies continue to spend millions to nudge consumers into following guidelines that may do little to improve health for most and may even result in harm. For nearly half a century, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have put out dietary guidelines telling Americans Read More ›

From ScienceDaily: Early life forms on Earth are likely to have mutated and evolved at much higher rates than they do today, suggests a new analysis from researchers at the University of North Carolina. In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Richard Wolfenden, PhD, and his colleagues found that the rate of a certain chemical change in DNA — a key driver of organisms’ spontaneous mutation rates and thus of evolution’s pace — increases extremely rapidly with temperature. Combining that finding with recent evidence that life arose when our planet was much warmer than it is now, the scientists concluded that the rate of spontaneous mutation was at least 4,000 times higher Read More ›

From ScienceDaily: In a piece of Baltic amber about 50 million years old, research has uncovered an exoskeleton similar to that of a modern-day “walking stick” — evidence of an insect that literally was frightened out of its skin, and made its way to freedom just as it was about to become forever entombed by oozing tree sap. “From what we can see in this fossil, a tiny mushroom was bitten off, probably by a rodent, at the base of a tree,” Poinar said. “An insect, similar to a walking stick, was probably also trying to feed on the mushroom. It appears to have immediately jumped out of its skin and escaped, just as tree sap flowed over the remaining Read More ›