Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Researchers: Horizontal (lateral) gene transfer among grasses is widespread

Researchers: Overall, we showed that LGT is a widespread phenomenon in grasses that has moved functional genes across the grass family into domesticated and wild species alike. Successful LGTs appear to increase with both opportunity and compatibility. Read More ›

“Ultra light bosons” explanation for dark matter doesn’t pan out either

At Universe Today: So once again, a search for dark matter has shown us not what dark matter is, but what it isn’t. It’s extremely frustrating, and potentially exciting because we are quickly running out of options for dark matter. Read More ›

Giant corpse flower has lost most of its genes, grabbed some from its plant hosts

At Quanta: "Davis’ team estimated that at least 1.2% of the plant’s genes came from other species, particularly its hosts, past and present. That might not sound impressive, but this kind of horizontal gene transfer is considered exceptionally rare outside of bacteria. So even a single percent of genes arising this way raises eyebrows." Researchers are still trying to figure out why the parasitic plant has such a huge genome. Commendably, they are not claiming it’s all junk. Read More ›

Biologist tackles “evolution” and racism with commendable zeal…

... but varying results. The awkward problem with Smith's approach is that, to most people, evolution means Darwinism, period. And until comparatively recently, the “less evolved” stuff was what Darwin’s followers genuinely did believe. It wasn’t an extrapolation, it was part of their global belief system — as it was of Darwin’s. It’s no use looking hither and yon for how that “less evolved” idea got started. At one time, racism was based on a variety of folklore grounds; Darwin came along and made it sound scientific. Read More ›

L&FP 41: George Barna helps us to understand the worldviews chaos we must address

Barna has issued new survey results that paint a stunning picture of the bellwether United States, as an utterly confused, conflicted nation, with 88 percent defaulting to incongruous worldview components, with the single largest bloc being 39% inclined to “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” Of course, actual full adherence is at the 1% level. Biblical theism comes first on full adherence, at 6% but that is itself a radical shift of worldviews, probably reflecting the impact of generations of cultural elites hostile to the Gospel and Gospel ethics (most often articulated in terms of its being anti-Science, outdated and intellectually indefensible . . . the standard media and “education” narratives). Such elites have long since sought to overthrow the influence of the Read More ›

Claim: We are making headway with the origin of life

The article is an interesting summary of the various hypotheses on offer but it’s not like there are any big breakthroughs. However, actual breakthroughs are hardly the point. From a materialist perspective, the point is to keep up the pursuit of a random, non-intelligent origin of life. That’s all the success that is really required. Read More ›

Science writer critiques the “many worlds” (multiverse) fantasy; Rob Sheldon weighs in

But the multiverse isn’t really about evidence or falsifiability. The theory is held in defiance of the demand for evidence and believed in such a way as to make falsifiability sound unCool. As Ball perceptively notes, “Even though most physicists dismiss or even deride it, it is often eagerly embraced by physics popularizers and their audiences.” Perhaps it is best described as a lifestyle choice. Read More ›

William Dembski: Artificial intelligence understands by not understanding

Dembski continues to reflect on Erik J. Larson’s new book, The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do (2021). He recalls his experiences learning to write boilerplate for a psychology chatbot back in 1982. Read More ›

Physicist and philosopher Bruce Gordon asks, IS the moon there if no one looks?

Gordon on one experiment: What did the experiment do? Well, it sent the position of neutrons along one path and their spins along a separate path. Read More ›

Bruce Gordon: In quantum physics, “reality” really IS what we choose to observe

Gordon: The very fact that we can make a causally disconnected choice of whether wave or particle phenomena are manifested in a quantum system essentially shows that there is no measurement-independent and causally connected, substantial material reality at the micro physical level. It is created by the measurement itself. Read More ›