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Historic Scopes Trial Photos Uncovered
December 28, 2005
Dozens of photos of the 1925 Scopes Trial, never before published, were uncovered in Smithsonian archives by independent historian Marcel C. LaFollette, reported Science News.1  One photo shows the famous scene of Clarence Darrow interrogating William Jennings Bryan on the witness stand; another shows a close up of John Scopes.  LaFollette is writing a new […]
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Evolution of the Christmas Tree:  Firs Tie Oaks in Fitness Race
December 24, 2005
In the struggle for existence, the conifers should have lost, because when angiosperms appeared, they had fancier valve jobs.  That’s the feeling of a story introduced by Elizabeth Pennisi on Science Now.  “Those of us who celebrate Christmas tend to take fir and spruce trees for granted around the holiday season,” she quipped, “But without […]
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Mars Water Evidence Evaporates
December 23, 2005
The strongest evidence for water from the Mars rovers has been called into question.  Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder believe that the observations of sulfates and concretions are better explained by fumaroles in volcanic ash deposits (see also EurekAlert).  Their paper in Nature1 explains that the model means high temperatures: “Consequently, the […]
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A New Way to Make Stars, Or One Old Way Discredited?
November 18, 2005
Several news sources sounded a rather triumphant note that astronomers are figuring out how stars form.  In actuality, the paper by Krumholz, McKee and Klein in Nature1 did more to discredit a competitive theory than to establish their own.  That competitive theory, ironically, is called “competitive accretion” and posits that clumps of material add up […]
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Winter Plant’s Thermostat Keeps It Cozy As a Skunk
November 17, 2005
Skunk cabbage.  Pew.  Do you like the meditative name “Zen plant” better?  Well, meditate on how this amazing plant keeps warm while it emerges through the last snows of winter.  Skunk cabbage is one of two plants known to regulate its body temperature.  Science Now reported on research by Japanese scientists who studied its thermostat.  […]
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Blurb Face-Off
November 17, 2005
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Darwinian Fitness/Selection Studies Lack Real-World Experimental Verification, Produce Contradictory
October 26, 2005
“Evolution: Do Bad Husbands Make Good Fathers?” is the provocative title of an article in Current Biology1 that conceals the real subject.  The first paragraph of the article by David J. Hosken and Tom Tregenza explains the title: Males sometimes harm their mates as they seek to maximise the number of offspring they sire.  But […]
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Debate Sampler
October 13, 2005
The debate between Darwinism and Intelligent Design (ID) continues unabated.  Here are samples of recent reasonings, harangues and actions in the news: Separate Ain’t Equal:  Dave Dentel in the York Daily Record argued that making science and religion separate domains is about as effective as Plessy vs. Ferguson. Old Time Evolution:  When The New Republic […]
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Darwinian Phylogenetic Tools Are Mathematically Flawed
October 1, 2005
Many evolutionists use software tools to construct evolutionary trees from genetic data.  Two mathematicians have just reported in Science1 that several popular “tree-building” algorithms can give misleading results: Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms play a critical role in the Bayesian approach to phylogenetic inference.  We present a theoretical analysis of the rate of convergence […]
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Grand Canyon Still an Unsolved Puzzle
September 16, 2005
Arguably the best-known geological landmark on the planet, Grand Canyon has been scrutinized and “geologized” for well over a century, yet remains an enigma, according to the title of a new book by James Lawrence Powell, Grand Canyon: Solving Earth’s Grandest Puzzle (Pi Press, 2005).  The book was reviewed by John C. Schmidt (Utah State) […]
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Shark Glows in the Dark
September 13, 2005
The “Eye-in-the-Sea” infrared camera (see 08/26/2004) found all kinds of exotic life in the Gulf of Mexico, reported EurekAlert with pictures.  The submersible with its dark-light camera is able to sneak up on organisms without scaring them.  The team from Harbor Branch had to dodge Hurricane Katrina, but scored on its second annual mission with […]
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Planets Can Form Rapidly
September 12, 2005
Observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope, announced in a JPL press release, “pose a challenge to existing theories of giant planet formation, especially those in which planets build up gradually over millions of years.”  Three young stars show clearings in dust disks surrounding them, suggesting that gas giant planets inhabit the clearings and must have […]
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Mars Joins Active Volcano Club
September 6, 2005
Mars may join Earth and Jupiter’s moon Io in having active hot-lava volcanos, says a report on BBC News.  A field of smooth volcanic cones near the north pole show no sign of impact craters or wind-blown features, suggesting they could have erupted recently.  If so, Mars could still be geologically active. At half the […]
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Briefly Noted
August 31, 2005
Human Body – You Smell Like a Dog:  Bloodhounds, we know, are good at telling the direction of a scent, but it turns out that humans have that ability, too.  Researchers at UC Berkeley did experiments with human subjects to see if they could tell which direction a scent came from.  Functional MRI (fMRI) was […]
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Do Fossil Counts Match Sediment Counts?
August 25, 2005
If evolution is true, the number of species coming and going should track the number of rock layers in which they are fossilized, at least roughly.  The more sediments per unit time, the more new genera should arise within them.  Shanan E. Peters (U of Michigan) decided to test this “novel” approach with marine fossils […]
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