Author: johnnyb

Mung had asked me to do a thread on common descent and common design. So, anyway, I’ll get things started by stating my own thoughts on these ideas. I intend this to be an open discussion, but I also find having a starting idea tends to help get things started. So, as I have maintained Read More…

So, we’ve been talking about directed mutations a bit the last few days, whether reactivating pseudogenes, or recognizing that cells can direct mutations to genes that need mutating. The point that I made to Bob was that there is a middle ground between “general mutation rate” and “mutations going to a specific base pair that Read More…

One thing that I’ve found interesting is how ignorant many people – even many biologists! – are about the mutational processes in the cell. The idea that mutations come from copying “errors” is so embedded in our collective consciousness, that it is hard to get people to even fathom alternatives. Thinking of mutation as a Read More…

This is an old paper, but it is surprisingly little-known: Pseudogenes: Are They “Junk” or Functional DNA?. It’s a review paper of pseudogene function. My favorite example in the paper is the antigenic variation. Essentially, the pseudogenes store alternative configurations of parts of genes. The organism can quickly reconfigure itself by swapping various parts in Read More…

I found this paper fascinating: “Pseudogene repair driven by selection pressure applied in experimental evolution.” There is also a news article about it which explains what is going on in less technical detail.

I wish I were kidding. But I’m not. You must listen to the whole thing. Outnumbered: Stephen Meyer Debates a Chemist and a Biologist

If you haven’t picked up a copy of Naturalism and Its Alternatives in Scientific Methodologies, now is your chance to do so. The Kindle version has been made free until Wednesday, so, if you’re interested, pick it up now! If you have been curious about the question of methodological naturalism, and wondered what the alternative Read More…

I did a podcast on whether or not naturalism has historically been of benefit to science. The *actual* interaction of naturalism with science is both drastically different and more interesting than what is presented in most science classes and books. Podcast information available here.

Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection has done a lot to convince many professional academics of the truth of Darwinian evolution. The theorem states that the rate of increase in fitness of any organism at any time is equal to its variance in fitness at that time. In other words, fitness must go up! Because Read More…

I just started a podcast that explores various ideas, including Intelligent Design, from a conservative viewpoint. Episode 4 is out now, which is a short introduction to Intelligent Design. I hope you take a moment to subscribe! iTunes Podcast Link

It turns out that biological fine-tuning goes to the very extremes of physics. In this lecture, William Bialek shows that eyes can detect individual photons, and a number of other phenomena where biology operates on the very edge of what is possible in physics. View Video Here

Early this year BIO-Complexity published a paper of mine titled “Measuring Active Information in Biological Systems” which showed how some ID concepts such as Active Information can be directly applied to biology. Essentially, it seems that in some situations, organisms direct their own mutations/evolution. This has not always been noticed because we don’t have a Read More…

My latest paper, “Measuring Active Information in Biological Systems,” was released today at BIO-Complexity. Read on for more information about the paper, what it means, and why it is important.