Category: Design inference
The standard genetic code is “optimized” to reduce costly errors
| August 15, 2018 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Design inference, Genetics, Intelligent Design |
An interesting new paper on how the genetic code minimizes the impact of mistranslations: Statistical and biochemical studies of the standard genetic code (SGC) have found evidence that the impact of mistranslations is minimized in a way that erroneous codes are either synonymous or code for an amino acid with similar polarity as the originally […]
Decidedly unDarwinian admissions re proteins
| August 15, 2018 | Posted by News under Cell biology, Design inference, Intelligent Design, Physics |
Philip Cunningham writes to note for us such moments in the literature: Abstract: (open access) Why life persists at the edge of chaos is a question at the very heart of evolution. Here we show that molecules taking part in biochemical processes from small molecules to proteins are critical quantum mechanically. Electronic Hamiltonians of biomolecules […]
Researchers: Program for limb development may have been in “in the bilaterian common ancestor”
| August 8, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Evolution, Genetics, Intelligent Design |
What? Doug Axe draws attention to a new paper at Evolution News and Science Today which suggests that “the genetic program for limb development predates limbs.” Abstract: Cephalopod mollusks evolved numerous anatomical innovations, including specialized arms and tentacles, but little is known about the developmental mechanisms underlying the evolution of cephalopod limbs. Here we report that […]
Researchers: Jumping genes time their activity, await opportunity
| July 30, 2018 | Posted by News under Cell biology, Design inference, Genetics |
From ScienceDaily: Researchers have developed new techniques to track the mobilization of jumping genes. They found that during a particular period of egg development, a group of jumping-genes called retrotransposons hijacks special cells called nurse cells that nurture the developing eggs. These jumping genes use nurse cells to produce invasive material (copies of themselves called […]
If we are alone in the universe, shouldn’t that make us feel more special?
| July 26, 2018 | Posted by News under Cosmology, Design inference, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Philosophy |
Instead of meaningless? How exactly did we get from “Alone” to “Meaningless” via eloquence from tenured pundits? Where do we buy return tickets? A blogging neurologist asks this obvious question. From Steven Novella at The Ness: Until, however, we detect actual aliens or their signals, the rest of the factors in the equation are likely […]
Is ID-friendly bioengineer a heretic or just a minority reporter?
| July 24, 2018 | Posted by News under Culture, Darwinism, Design inference, Intelligent Design |
From Denyse O’Leary at Salvo, a look at Matti Leisola’s book, Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design Matti Leisola, a gifted Finnish bioengineer, started out as a good Darwinist. But he could not avoid the massive pushback from the evidence of design he found in nature. A specialist in enzymes and rare sugars, […]
How do cells interpret the “dizzying” communications pathways in multicellular life forms?
| July 23, 2018 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Design inference, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
From ScienceDaily: Wnt is ancient pathway, whose evolutionary appearance dates back to the emergence of multicellular animals. It plays pivotal roles in cell to cell communication and governs several aspects of embryonic development and tissue homeostasis. When dysfunctional, Wnt signaling can be at the origin of many diseases, in particular several cancers. With 10 receptors […]
Atheists sense design in nature?
| July 22, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Design inference, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
From Clay Routledge at National Review: As I discuss in my new book, Supernatural: Death, Meaning, and the Power of Invisible World, the decline of any particular religion does not reflect a decline in people’s orientation toward supernatural questions, curiosities, and beliefs. Most people still believe in God or a universal spirit. The majority of […]
Auto mechanic: Berra’s blunder splutters … yet again?
| July 16, 2018 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Design inference, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity |
Some things can’t change. From a piece at ENST, A Classic Evolutionist’s Error, Berra’s Blunder Revs Up Again Tim Berra had tried to compare biological evolution to the evolution of the Corvette. In his book Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, Johnson aptly pointed out the intuitively obvious difference: Of course, every one of those Corvettes […]
Researchers: Extreme fluctuations in oxygen levels, not gradual rise, sparked Cambrian explosion
| July 6, 2018 | Posted by News under Cambrian explosion, Design inference, Intelligent Design |
Explanations of the dramatic Cambrian explosion of life forms (540 million years ago) are a cottage industry, with arguments about oxygen a staple of the discussion. See, for example, Maverick theory: Cambrian animals remade the environment by generating oxygen Did a low oxygen level delay complex life on Earth? There was only a small oxygen […]
“Bad design” of the human mouth enables us to speak
| July 6, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Human evolution, Intelligent Design |
From Philip Lieberman at The Scientist: In On the Origin of Species, Darwin noted “the strange fact that every particle of food and drink which we swallow has to pass over the orifice of the trachea, with some risk of falling into the lungs.” Because of this odd anatomy, which differs from that of all […]
External testicles as poor design? The few mammals that don’t have them turn out to have lost them, say gene researchers.
| June 29, 2018 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Design inference, Intelligent Design, Naturalism |
From ScienceDaily: In almost all adult mammals, testes are located either in a scrotum or in the lower abdomen. But testes initially develop deep inside the abdomen at a position close to the kidneys, as seen in mammalian embryos. The final testicular position is the result of a descent process that occurs during animal development. […]
William Lane Craig takes on Adam and Eve
| June 17, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Genetics, Human evolution, Intelligent Design, theistic evolution |
It’s risky. The church splitter (fundamentalism) vs. the church closer (theistic evolution). William Lane Craig writes: Two challenges to this doctrine arise from modern science, one fairly old and the other very recent. … I am currently exploring the genetic evidence that is said to rule out an original pair of modern humans. In talking […]
At Psychology Today: Opponent asks, does ID have a valid point about agency?
| May 24, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Psychology, Science |
It goes downhill from there. If I were a Darwinian, I would be embarrassed by this stuff. From Jeremy E Sherman at Psychology Today: I’m an atheist with a PhD. in evolutionary theory. I spend much of my time encouraging a new relationship with religion and spirituality modeled on our relationship with fiction. For example, […]
Does Nathan Lents, author of a “bad design” book really teach biology? A doctor looks at his claims about the human sinuses
| May 23, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Human evolution, Medicine |
From Nathan H. Lents at Skeptic: From neurosurgeon Michael Egnor at ENST: Lents writes: One of the important drainage-collection pipes is installed near the top of the largest pair of cavities, the maxillary sinuses, located underneath the upper cheeks… Putting the drainage-collection point high within these sinuses is not a good idea because of this […]
External testicles another instance of bad design?
| May 20, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Evolution |
From Nathan H. Lents, author of Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes, at Undark: Of course there’s an explanation (sperm like to develop at lower temperatures). But really: What intelligent designer could have come up with this? It sounds as though Lents has never heard of the concept […]
Michael Medved discusses intelligent design theory with Darwin’s Doubt author Steve Meyer
| May 17, 2018 | Posted by News under Cambrian explosion, Design inference, ID, Intelligent Design |
Darwin’s Doubt deals with the Cambrian explosion of life forms about 550 million years ago. Philip Cunningham, who forwarded this link, notes, Stephen Meyer joins Michael to discuss the origins of life and the biology’s big bang, the Cambrian explosion. Animal forms come and go, but what links them as “acts of mind” (as […]
Biogeography: Life before ecology, when Canadian beavers overran Tierra del Fuego
| May 15, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Ecology, Intelligent Design |
A long time ago, everyone thought that nature was just a big, easily tinkered machine, there was a fad for transporting awesomely successful life forms across the globe (which they would not usually do themselves*). From Daniel Martins at the Weather Network: If you’re wondering what in blazes Canadian beavers are doing so far away from […]
Jonathan Wells on Lents’s claim that the human eye is wired backwards
| May 12, 2018 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Design inference, Human evolution, Intelligent Design |
From Jonathan Wells at ENST: … Dr. Lents just published his own book titled Human Errors, in which he repeats on page 5 his claim that the human eye is badly designed because the photoreceptor cells “appear to be installed backward.” Over thirty years ago, Richard Dawkins had used this claim as an argument for […]
SETI seeks to rebrand its goals, in pursuit of funding from the U.S. Congress
| May 11, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From Marina Koren at the Atlantic: As recently as January of this year, Tarter suggested a rebranding for seti. “Seti is not the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We can’t define intelligence, and we sure as hell don’t know how to detect it remotely,” she said. Seti “is searching for evidence of someone else’s technology. We […]
