Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community
Category

Evolution

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 20, 2021
Categorized
Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design
Tagged
, ,

Why do one-celled organisms undergo programmed cell death? A real evolution puzzle

Denyse O'Leary
August 20, 2021
Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design
Researchers: "In unicellular organisms, however, programmed cell death (PCD) poses a difficult and unresolved evolutionary problem. " It’s not clear just how the researchers think they have answered the question. Claiming that some types of PCD are “true” and others are “ersatz” doesn’t seem to answer the central question — why programmed death occurs at all. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 13, 2021
Categorized
Evolution, Intelligent Design
Tagged
, , ,

Chase Nelson at Inference Review: Reconstructing ancestral proteins

Denyse O'Leary
August 13, 2021
Evolution, Intelligent Design
Nelson: "... it is only possible to scratch the surface of evolutionary history—only those proteins which diverged relatively recently remain similar enough to compare with confidence. The deepest questions about the origins of novel gene families remain shrouded in mystery." Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 4, 2021
Categorized
Evolution, Intelligent Design
Tagged
, , ,

Why is an elaborate system for keeping populations in check supposed to be “evolutionary chaos”?

Denyse O'Leary
August 4, 2021
Evolution, Intelligent Design
The caterpillar-wasp-virus predation system is complex but there is no reason to think it is chaos. It’s just more complex than humans might have expected it to be and perhaps more complex than we could design. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 2, 2021
Categorized
Evolution, Intelligent Design, Religion
Tagged
, , ,

What’s wrong with a popular theory of the evolution of religion

Denyse O'Leary
August 2, 2021
Evolution, Intelligent Design, Religion
Generally, monotheism is favorable to a high level of organization, including complex theologies that don’t just morph a lot but are only changed with much deliberation or controversy. But did that state of affairs evolve so as to foster “cohesive unity,” as Harari suggests? Hard to say. Religion — especially propositional religion, like the monotheisms — can foster either unity or disunity. Monotheism has not been a force for unity in Northern Ireland or the Middle East. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 1, 2021
Categorized
Atheism, Evolution, Intelligent Design
Tagged
,

Steven Weinberg on atheism, evolution, and such

Denyse O'Leary
August 1, 2021
Atheism, Evolution, Intelligent Design
A reader sends this interseting clip from 2004 in which he spells out his views on “evolution, George Bush, religion in America versus Europe, the utility of belief irrespective of whether it’s true or not, the response to science within Muslim countries, and whether or not Stephen liked God and religion in a personal sense. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 29, 2021
Categorized
Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life
Tagged
, , ,

Have we found the earliest evidence of animal life at 890 million years ago?

Denyse O'Leary
July 29, 2021
Evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life
At The Scientist: "Now, in a study published today (July 28) in Nature, Elizabeth Turner, a geologist at Laurentian University in Canada, identified structures in 890-million-year-old fossils of organisms similar to modern bath sponges, potentially pushing back the emergence of the animals to at least that long ago." Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 23, 2021
Categorized
Evolution, Intelligent Design
Tagged
, , ,

Douglas Axe vs Joshua Swamidass…

Denyse O'Leary
July 23, 2021
Evolution, Intelligent Design
Axe: First and foremost, Swamidass dislikes the “confrontational approach” that he thinks I promote and exemplify, along with other ID proponents. In his words: “Doug Axe in Undeniable and also in the recent Crossway book on theistic evolution talks about how there’s a need to have a confrontational approach to evolutionary science.” Swamidass must be feeling threatened. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 18, 2021
Categorized
Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design
Tagged
,

At Mind Matters News: Claim — “Evolution” explains near-death experiences

Denyse O'Leary
July 18, 2021
Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design
Some researchers believe that near-death experiences are a biological mechanism like the fight-or-flight response, a means of pretending death to avoid a predator. They call it thanatopsis: … Two problems arise from this analysis. Read More ›