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Melissa Travis has an interesting blog post at her new “Science, Reason & Faith” website, “Caribbean Reef Squid: A Conundrum for Neo-Darwinian Evolution?”: My all-time favorite form of recreation is coral reef snorkeling. For me, there is NOTHING that compares to the thrill and wonder of floating above a spectacular reef, observing all of the colorful sea life that dwell in and around it. I recently visited reefs in the Virgin Islands, where I encountered beautiful creatures such as parrot fish, butterfly fish, needle fish, and a rainbow variety of corals. I was once again struck by the magnificence of God’s underwater creation. How could any intelligent person believe such wondrous living beauty and symbiosis came about without conscious foresight and design? Read More ›

60 years ago today, 28th February 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick elucidated the double-helical structure of the DNA molecule. Happy Watson & Crick day!

A new paper in Nature reports on the discovery of a fossil revealing one of the world’s earliest nervous system and limbs used for feeding. Reports the abstract, The organization of the head provides critical data for resolving the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of extinct and extant euarthropods. The early Cambrian-period fuxianhuiids are regarded as basal representatives of stem-group Euarthropoda, and their anterior morphology therefore offers key insights for reconstructing the ancestral condition of the euarthropod head. However, the paired post-antennal structures in Fuxianhuia protensa remain controversial; they have been interpreted as both ‘great appendages’ and as gut diverticulae. Here we describe Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis sp. nov. andFuxianhuia xiaoshibaensis sp. nov. from a new early Cambrian (Stage 3) fossil Lagerstätte in Yunnan, China. Numerous specimens of both species Read More ›

An old debate, featuring Dr. Kenneth Miller and Dr. Paul Nelson, has found its way onto YouTube. The debate took place at the time of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial in Pennsylvania in 2005. Moderated by Sally Satel at the American Enterprise Institute, it focuses on the question of teaching evolutionary theory and intelligent design in science classrooms. Ken Miller’s presentation is predictable: He talks about the type III secretion system and the fusion origin of chromosome 2; about how ID is allegedly nothing more than a negative argument against evolution and really a form of disguised creationism. His arguments have been so thoroughly responded to at ENV and elsewhere that further discussion is unnecessary. I do, however, want to draw attention to a Read More ›

For all you bibliophiles out there, I want to draw your attention to a new book on the Cambrian explosion, by Douglas Erwin and James Valentine. I haven’t read it yet, so I cannot comment on the contents. Carl Zimmer reviews the book here, however, and it appears to have some stunning art work. The book is priced on Amazon at $55.99, although sadly it is not currently available on kindle (so we’ll have to make-do with the hard copy). Purchase your copy here!

This week’s Science carries an interesting article by Maximilian Telford on animal phylogeny, noting many cases of incongruity between trees drawn from morphology and those inferred from molecular studies. Download the article here.

Max Andrews, a blogger and student of philosophy well known to many of us in the ID community, has launched a graduate/postgraduate peer-reviewed journal, which is scheduled for quarterly release and has the stated purpose “to invite dialogue concerning philosophy, theology, and science.” People of any religious affiliation or metaphysical persuasion — including Christians, theists, agnostics and atheists — are invited to submit articles to the journal.  You can download the first issue of the journal here.

Today is academic freedom day (February 12th). Share this graphic on your facebook page or blog and help raise awareness of academic freedom issues in the US and elsewhere.

Here’s a recent lecture given by Bill Dembski at a recent conference back in June of 2012. Enjoy!