From Table 7 of the Harris Poll
Belief in Evolution doubles from 17% to 35% as education goes from high school to postgrad.
Belief in ID triples from 6% to 17% as education goes from high school to postgrad.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/war.shtml (Yes, that’s me.)
And now for another amazing example of what natural selection can accomplish (or not):
Press Release
Heidelberg, 22 January 2006
http://www.embl.org/aboutus/news/press/2006/press22jan06.htmlThe closest look ever at the cell’s machines: The first genome-wide screen for protein complexes is completed
“To carry out their tasks, most proteins work in dynamic complexes that may contain dozens of molecules,” says Giulio Superti-Furga, who launched the large-scale project at Cellzome four years ago. “If you think of the cell as a factory floor, up to now, we’ve known some of the components of a fraction of the machines. That has seriously limited what we know about how cells work. This study gives us a nearly complete parts list of all the machines, and it goes beyond that to tell us how they populate the cell and partition tasks among themselves.” The study combined a method of extracting complete protein complexes from cells [tandem affinity purification, developed in 2001 by Bertrand Séraphin at EMBL], mass spectrometry and bioinformatics to investigate the entire protein household of yeast, turning up 257 machines that had never been observed. It also revealed new components of nearly every complex already known. Read More ›
Richard Dawkins should be very pleased that his efforts at educating the British public have met with such overwhelming success. He has much to look forward to in his retirement:
Britons unconvinced on evolution
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4648598.stmOver 55s were less likely to opt for evolution than other groups
More than half the British population does not accept the theory of evolution, according to a survey.
Furthermore, more than 40% of those questioned believe that creationism or intelligent design should be taught in school science lessons. Read More ›
University of Pittsburgh Professor of Anthropology Jeffrey H. Schwartz has consistently swum against the neo-Darwinian mainstream, and this new 30Jan2006 paper in the New Anatomist with University of Salerno Professor of Biochemistry Bruno Maresca is no exception. The starting point of their argument is clear: Neo-Darwinism has failed and does not fit the evidence. For instance, in the section titled “Molecular and Morphological Contradiction” (pp. 39-40), Maresca and Schwartz write: Read More ›
Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA
by William A. Dembski and Michael Ruse (Editors)
Cambridge University Press, 2004Review by Gal Kober on Jan 22nd 2006
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2982The anatomy of man is a key to the anatomy of ape.” Karl Marx (Introd. to a Contrib. to a Critique of Polit. Economy, 1957)
Intelligent Design and the war waged by its proponents against evolutionary biology and the naturalistic practices of science are more a matter of public affairs than they are philosophical or scientific issues. Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA, a volume recently published by Cambridge University Press, aims at providing “a comprehensive and even-handed overview of the debate concerning biological origins,” and specifically, the more vocal aspects of this ‘debate’, namely, the conflict between evolutionary biology and supporters of intelligent design. Although it succeeds in doing that, it also has a seriously negative side. Read More ›
Science and the Church: What it means to question Darwinism
by Herbert Londonhttp://www.cruxproject.org/ScienceChurch.htm
Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, the Catholic archbishop of Vienna, recently
caused a firestorm in intellectual circles when he made the rather obvious
argument that Darwinism has many unexplained characteristics. The New York
Times responded reflexively by suggesting that the Church was turning away
from “modern science.†Read More ›
Michael Ruse has the unique distinction of contrbuting essays both to Phillip Johnson’s Festschrift (see here) and to that of Richard Dawkins — and both in 2006. The latest Oxford U Press catalog of new & recent titles in philosophy has the following entry: Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think, edited by Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley. Essays by Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, James Watson, Simon Blackburn, Michael Ruse, Michael Shermer, and the Bishop of Oxford (!), among others.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4620922.stm
Lead researcher Dr Tania Singer said: “Men expressed more desire for revenge and seemed to feel satisfaction when unfair people were given what they perceived as deserved physical punishment.
“This type of behaviour has probably been crucial in the evolution of society as the majority of people in a group are motivated to punish those who cheat on the rest.
“This altruistic behaviour means that people tend to protect each other against being exploited by society’s free-loaders, and evolution has probably seeded this sense of justice and moral duty into our brains.”
My optimism that the “Vise Strategy” would eventually supersede the notorious “Wedge Strategy” is finally finding some justification (for the Vise Strategy, go here). It appears that the Vise Strategy is now beginning to get its proper due:
It’s possible for Christians to render unto God and unto Darwin
By David HawpeSunday, January 22, 2006
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KentuckyMy guess is that the recent forum on intelligent design at Broadway Baptist Church did not satisfy William Dembski’s preference for a “vise strategy,” in which the apostates who believe in evolution are hauled before tribunals to answer.
Let’s accept the fault line between faith and science
By Edward O. Wilsonhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-01-15-faith-edit_x.htm
If the perennial culture war between science and fundamentalist Christianity about evolution seems insoluble, the reason is that it is insoluble. Read More ›
http://www.uctv.tv/library-human.asp?series=show&summary=show&seriesID=Focus_on_Origins&sort=
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2006-01-03-infidelity-study_x.htm
Some men cheat on their partners. So do some women. Now researchers say it is more than a wandering eye that might cause a woman to stray.
This conclusion was based on two studies of college men and women using questionnaires where the test group was asked how they felt (how scientific) about other men/women outside of their steady relationships. Read More ›
Evolve yourself intelligently to the new and more successful you. . . .** For some time now I’ve been wanting to complement Darwinalia, Inc. (which will soon be in operation — I have three partners and we own www.darwinalia.com) with an ID-based success and motivation course (complete with infomercials). I had been thinking about something like “Designed for Success” or “Designed to Flourish.” But the more I thought about it, especially with intelligent design taking the hits it has lately, it’s time simply to co-opt the language of evolution and interpret it in an ID-friendly way (in this vein, recall my post about intelligent evolution on this blog some months back — go here). Yes, ID is itself evolving! I Read More ›
Ed Brayton posts this seemingly virtuous opinion that anonymous ID proponents should not have their real names exposed. Yet among my first experiences with Ed Brayton was him exposing my real name in a public comment on Panda’s Thumb. Ed lifted my real name from a private email I sent to him. I don’t particularly try to hide my real name, which is why Ed got it in a private correspondence, but I don’t advertise it either. Now I ask you, when you catch a guy redhanded in such duplicity how far can you trust him in other matters? About as far as I can throw the Oskaloosa High School Football Team…
