Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 31, 2021
Categorized
Genetics, Intelligent Design
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A zoologist on that microbe that copies its DNA in a way “unknown to science”

Denyse O'Leary
March 31, 2021
Genetics, Intelligent Design
Tim Standish: Simpler systems do not necessarily come first because simple can be a lot harder to come up with than complex. Yes, that seems counterintuitive, but the history of technology bears that out. In some ways you could say the same about art. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 30, 2021
Categorized
Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Physics
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Does DNA really have a “half life”? Physicist Rob Sheldon is skeptical

Denyse O'Leary
March 30, 2021
Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Physics
Sheldon: "As a physicist, I would like to point out that biologists are misusing the word "half-life". DNA does NOT have a half-life of 521 years. Radioisotopes have a half-life, because the nucleus is unstable to natural decay through the weak force (for isotopes of interest)." He goes on to say that the weak force of the universe "is unaffected by temperature, pressure, time, or chemicals." Not so for DNA. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 30, 2021
Categorized
Cell biology, Genetics, Intelligent Design
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At New Scientist: “single-celled organism that lacks most of the molecular equipment needed to kick-start DNA replication”

Denyse O'Leary
March 30, 2021
Cell biology, Genetics, Intelligent Design
It's a protist? “Protists are a group of loosely connected, mostly unicellular eukaryotic organisms that are not plants, animals or fungi. There is no single feature such as evolutionary history or morphology common to all these organisms and they are unofficially placed under a separate kingdom called Protista.” In short, just the sort of life form that might be doing something really different. Because nature is full of intelligence, there are probably many alternative programs out there. It all didn’t just somehow happen randomly once. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 30, 2021
Categorized
'Junk DNA', Intelligent Design
Tagged
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Discovery of useful “junk DNA” “has outstripped the discovery of protein-coding genes by a factor of five…

Denyse O'Leary
March 30, 2021
'Junk DNA', Intelligent Design
At Nature: "Likewise, the number of publications about such elements also grew in the period covered by our data set. For example, there are thousands of papers on non-coding RNAs, which regulate gene expression." We also learn the possible origin of the term "junk DNA." Read More ›
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 30, 2021
Categorized
Intelligent Design, Mathematics, Naturalism
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Math paradoxes show us that the world we live in is not and cannot be purely naturalist

Denyse O'Leary
March 30, 2021
Intelligent Design, Mathematics, Naturalism
Robert J. Marks sometimes uses the paradox of the smallest “uninteresting” number to illustrate proof by contradiction — that is, by creating paradoxes Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 29, 2021
Categorized
'Junk DNA', Intelligent Design
Tagged
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Did beliefs about junk DNA hinder the Human Genome Project?

Denyse O'Leary
March 29, 2021
'Junk DNA', Intelligent Design
But wasn’t a vast pile of junk DNA supposed to be one of the Great Proofs of Darwinism in the DNA? Funny, no one suggests that the constant diminution of the pile is evidence against the theory that its presence was supposed to be evidence for. Now why do you think that might be? Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 28, 2021
Categorized
Intelligent Design, Mind, Psychology, Science
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When psychology tries to be a science instead of a mythology…

Denyse O'Leary
March 28, 2021
Intelligent Design, Mind, Psychology, Science
Gabriel encourages us to see psychology as a mythology and, of course, he is right: “Sigmund Freud’s theories were largely unfalsifiable, and the promissory note that the mind is the brain has yet to be cashed in.” The idea that the mind is just the brain is unfalsifiable too. Beliefs that do not originate in fact are impervious to evidence. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 27, 2021
Categorized
Culture, Darwinism, Genetics, Intelligent Design, Tree of life
Tagged
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Dawkins’s claim: “every gene delivers approximately the same tree of life” contested at Nature Portfolio Ecology & Evolution

Denyse O'Leary
March 27, 2021
Culture, Darwinism, Genetics, Intelligent Design, Tree of life
You know, Dawkins may be losing his shine. New Scientist was making similar types of noise last October. It's now okay to say when there's something wrong with this stuff. Read More ›