Functionally specific, complex information and associated information [FSCO/I]  — especially, digitally coded FSCI [dFSCI] — are seen as two of the strongest signs of design as cause. For instance, when you see this post, you do not wonder or debate the odds of different letters being strung by chance [e.g. e in English is typically about 1/8 of the text], you intuitively immediately know that this is best explained as the work of an intelligent, purposeful agent acting towards a goal and based on his knowledge of the language, codes and topic in question. And, analytically, we can substantiate that intuition. That brings us to a significant comment exchange in the current hybridisation as explanation for origin of complete Read More ›

Okay dudes, no more talk about my abandonment of atheism. Here’s some science and engineering talk. I know something about computer simulations. In fact, I know a lot about them, and their limitations. Search algorithms (and especially AI-related search algorithms) are a specialty of mine, as is combinatorial mathematics. The branching factor (the average number of moves per side) in chess yields approximately 10^120 possible outcomes, but the number of legally achievable positions is approximately 10^80 — the estimated number of elementary particles (protons and neutrons) in the entire known universe. Compare this to the branching factor of nucleotide sequences in the DNA molecule. Do the math. Finite element analysis (FEA) of nonlinear, transient, dynamic systems, with the use of Read More ›

From “Scientists Release Most Accurate Simulation of the Universe to Date” (ScienceDaily, Sep. 30, 2011), we learn, The Bolshoi supercomputer simulation, the most accurate and detailed large cosmological simulation run to date, gives physicists and astronomers a powerful new tool for understanding such cosmic mysteries as galaxy formation, dark matter, and dark energy. In one sense, you might think the initial results are a little boring, because they basically show that our standard cosmological model works,” said Joel Primack, distinguished professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “What’s exciting is that we now have this highly accurate simulation that will provide the basis for lots of important new studies

Just in at PhysOrg.com. Non-dividing brain cells quickly undergo epigenetic changes. “It was mind-boggling to see that so many methylation sites — thousands of sites — had changed in status as a result of brain activity,” Song says. “We used to think that the brain’s epigenetic DNA methylation landscape was as stable as mountains and more recently realized that maybe it was a bit more subject to change, perhaps like trees occasionally bent in a storm. But now we show it is most of all like a river that reacts to storms of activity by moving and changing fast.” So much for the view that the genome is rather static, and that the major dynamical changes to it involve random Read More ›

From Rachel Kaufman, National Geographic News (September 29, 2011): The planet Mercury is dotted with holes that appear to be unlike any other landform yet seen in the solar system, new pictures show. And just think, that little fryball is the last place you’d expect the unexpected, too …

As readers of UD know, Elizabeth Liddle is convinced that in any population there are neutral versions of the genome that have every needed variation an organism must have. Change the environment, and, lo and behold, the organism changes. But what has happened here? Let’s quote the article: H5N1 evolved in poultry in east Asia and has spread across Eurasia since 2004. In that time 565 people are known to have caught it; 331 died. No strain that spreads readily among mammals has emerged in that time, despite millions of infected birds, and infections in people, cats and pigs. Efforts to create such a virus in the lab have failed, and some virologists think H5N1 simply cannot do it. Where Read More ›