Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Karsten Pultz comes to the defense of the Elsevier editors who say they did not know that the Hossjer–Thorvaldsen paper was ID-friendly

The editors need not, of course, sympathize with the ID perspective to think that evidence for it should be permitted to be discussed. At one time, that was a conventional intellectual position. But the Darwinians, as we’ve said here earlier, are an early flowering of Cancel Culture. No evidence may be discussed that may be thought to favor an Incorrect view. Read More ›

Could symbiosis with bacteria play a role in the widespread use of magnetic navigation in animals?

Evolution News and Science Today describes the idea as “little more than a hunch” but one worth pursuing. It involves endosymbiosis and horizontal gene transfer. Its a start towards a reasonable explanation and way better than classic Darwinism. Read More ›

Advice to experts on humility

Ballantyne is known for the concept of “epistemic trespassing,” where a scholar, convinced that his thesis explains the universe, invades other disciplines like the mad bull charging into the literary tearoom. Read More ›

Newly discovered lizard skull is “perplexing” Its place in Tree of Life uncertain

So the “tree of life” is now a “forest of possibilities.” Researcher: The case of where exactly to put the perplexing lizard highlights an important lesson for paleontologists: just because a specimen fits in one place doesn't mean that it won't fit equally well into another. Read More ›

Massive new study shows that height is largely inherited

From the story, we count 50% of human height as explained by genetics, at least in persons of European ancestry. But apparently it takes 9,900 DNA markers to account for something as straightforward as height. And all that just happened randomly, we are told… Read More ›

In addition to other weird characteristics, the platypus has biofluorescent fur

Talk about convergent evolution. And if the timing of the split is correct, 150 million years was the amount of time available, not half a billion years. ... at least one species of tardigrade lights up as well. One wonders how exactly the individual species of tardigrade (water bear) began to do that. What was the time frame there? Read More ›

There is now a philosophy of plant biology—and a call for abstracts

Everyone knows plants don't have minds but they do have a lot of intelligence. Just an accident or part of the intelligence massively inherent in nature? From what source? Darwinism grows increasingly difficult to believe. Read More ›

The philosopher and the biologist offer a “fantasy” of how Darwinism can create minds

The problem isn’t with their believing that cells feature lots of intelligence but with their effort to equate human and cellular intelligence. Human intelligence is something quite different. Read More ›

UD LIVE EVENT — US Election Nov 3, 2020: predictions, tracking live, projections, reflections/thoughts

This election in the US is at a kairos for not only the US but our civilisation. What do you think, why? (Recall, UD makes no endorsements and no “un-dorsements” either, but we are aware that the seven mountains of power and influence strongly interact with worldviews and cultural agendas raising issues of alternatives.) So, as I am primarily a visual thinker, let’s start with: Are we facing this? Or, is this more relevant? Is this colour revolution issue — courtesy a framework developed by the US Special Operations Command — relevant? Framework of thought is always an issue: Here, is a provocative projection that runs counter to the current of the usual polling and punditry that were so spectacularly Read More ›

New England Journal of Medicine joins the chorus, demanding that Americans vote Trump out of office

Doubtless, the science journal editors believe that Trump will be defeated and they will claim some credit for that. Fair enough. But it’s possible that Trump will be reelected. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all served two terms each. And Trump won the last election despite all the polls that announced he would lose. Should that happen, the journal editors will be in the unhappy position of being widely seen to be ignored. Read More ›