Mario A. Lopez

Our universe is perfectly tailored for life. That may be the work of God or the result of our universe being one of many. by Tim Folger Discover published online November 10, 2008 A sublime cosmic mystery unfolds on a mild summer afternoon in Palo Alto, California, where I’ve come to talk with the visionary physicist Andrei Linde. The day seems ordinary enough. Cyclists maneuver through traffic, and orange poppies bloom on dry brown hills near Linde’s office on the Stanford University campus. But everything here, right down to the photons lighting the scene after an eight-minute jaunt from the sun, bears witness to an extraordinary fact about the universe: Its basic properties are uncannily suited for life. Tweak the Read More ›

In case you missed it in the news or in SciAm: Mystery of the Montauk Monster is making the headlines.             Arthur Spiderwick’s Spitting Gargoyle               Man Bear Pig Chimera (art)           You decide.  🙂

Published online 9 July 2008 | Nature 454, 150 (2008) A former Texas official is suing the state’s education agency, saying that its policies passively endorse creationism. In a complaint filed with a district court on 1 July, Christina Comer, a former director of state science education, alleged that officials tacitly condone the teaching of creationism through a policy of neutrality. Comer oversaw Texas’s science curriculum until last November, when she was forced to resign for circulating a notice of a talk entitled “Inside Creationism’s Trojan Horse”. In her termination notice, Comer was told that the education agency endeavoured to “remain neutral” on the issue of creationism. Comer’s complaint argues that board neutrality violates the separation of church and state. Read More ›

BOOK REVIEWED–In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA by James Schwartz Harvard University Press: 2008. 384 pp. Fruitful collaborations were formed in Thomas Hunt Morgan’s fly genetics lab. When I was a student, ‘doing genetics’ meant crossing two different strains or species. Now it means sequencing DNA, preferably human. Between these two poles lies the history of genetics, a pathway fraught with sharp turns, steep gradients and dead ends — and engagingly recounted in James Schwartz’s new book. Despite its subtitle, In Pursuit of the Gene is not a comprehensive history of genetics, but focuses solely on classical genetics. Schwartz, a science writer, begins with Charles Darwin’s ill-fated ‘pangenesis’ theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, and runs Read More ›

Flagella-like Propulsion for Microrobots Using a Nanocoil and a Rotating Electromagnetic Field Bell, D.J.   Leutenegger, S.   Hammar, K.M.   Dong, L.X.   Nelson, B.J.   Inst. of Robotics & Intelligent Syst., ETH Zurich Abstract A propulsion system similar in size and motion to the helical bacterial flagella motor is presented. The system consists of a magnetic nanocoil as a propeller (27 nm thick ribbon, 3 mun in diameter, 30-40 mum long) driven by an arrangement of macro coils. The macro coils generate a rotating field that induces rotational motion in the nanocoil. Viscous forces during rotation result in a net axial propulsion force on the nanocoil. Modeling of fluid mechanics and magnetics was used to estimate the requirements for such a system. The Read More ›

From Darwin and design: historical essay: “The only distinct meaning of the word ‘natural’ is stated , fixed or settled ; since what is natural as much requires and presupposes an intelligent agent to render it so, i.e. to effect it continually or at stated times, as what is supernatural or miraculous does to effect it for once.”  second edition of Origin of species (1860) Read More…   

 From Nature: A religious group has had its application to offer Master of Science degrees rejected by Texas authorities.  The Institute for Creation Research— which backs a literal interpretation of the Bible, including the creation of Earth in six days — was seeking a certificate to grant online degrees in science education in Texas (see Nature 451, 1030; 2008).  But the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board voted unanimously last week not to grant the institute’s request, following the recommendation of Raymund Paredes, the state’s commissioner of higher education.  “Religious belief is not science,” Paredes said in his recommendation. “Science and religious belief are surely reconcilable, but they are not the same thing.”  The institute has 45 days to appeal or Read More ›

John Wakeley1 Abstract Arising from: N. Patterson, D. J. Richter, S. Gnerre, E. Lander & D. Reich Nature 441, 1103–1108 (2006); Patterson et al. Genetic data from two or more species provide information about the process of speciation. In their analysis of DNA from humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and macaques (HCGOM), Patterson et al.1 suggest that the apparently short divergence time between humans and chimpanzees on the X chromosome is explained by a massive interspecific hybridization event in the ancestry of these two species. However, Patterson et al.1 do not statistically test their own null model of simple speciation before concluding that speciation was complex, and—even if the null model could be rejected—they do not consider other explanations of a Read More ›

Here is a gem for you:   The idea of nanotechnology is founded in the premise that it will be possible to construct machines with atomic scale precision (Feynman, 1961; Drexler, 1981; Drexler, 1986). Biology provides many examples that this is possible; we “merely” need to learn what has been achieved by evolution and copy it. But eventually we must determine what the engineering limitations of molecular machines are. [emphasis mine]   (Thomas D. Schneider. Nanotechnology. )   Here are some examples of scientists attempting to emulate the engineering marvels of ID (Oops! I meant EVOLUTION):     (Small Visions, Grand Designs) I am wondering why evolution has not already produced a bacterial propeller such as the one engineered by Read More ›

These interviews were originally conducted by Mario A. Lopez, with collaboration from Eduardo Arroyo Pardo for the Pro-ID Spanish website, Ciencia Alternativa. http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1438 http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1451 http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1449   These also appear in El Manifiesto from Madrid, Spain: http://elmanifiesto.com/articulos.asp?idarticulo=808 http://elmanifiesto.com/articulos.asp?idarticulo=1396 Enjoy!