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Intelligent Design

SETI Calls Alien Signals Unnatural
September 29, 2010
It may be harder to find alien radio signals than thought.  If aliens follow the human technological path of progress, they will move from analog to digital broadcasting in a century or less.  In that case, it will be much more difficult to eavesdrop on intelligent signals, because digital signals tend to be more focused, […]
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Intelligent Design

SETI Uses Design Inference
September 29, 2010
Some astronomers are concerned that we may never detect aliens.  If alien civilizations “go digital” within a short time period, as humans have in a century since the invention of radio, the possibility of detecting their radio signals may be much smaller than earlier thought.  Zoe Macintosh wrote for Live Science, “Finding E.T. May Become […]
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Darwin and Evolution

Morphogenesis: Evolution of Form Solved?
September 28, 2010
The body plans of organisms are hard to account for in linear strands of DNA.  How do you get a backbone, vertebrae, and ribs out of a chain of nucleotides?  Recognizing the mystery of morphogenesis (the origin of form), the director of the Synthetic Life Lab in New York, Stuart Pivar, has published an “Innovative […]
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Darwin and Evolution

Documentary Ties Darwin to Disastrous Social Consequences
September 27, 2010
Todd Friel’s new documentary, What Hath Darwin Wrought (see trailer at WhatHathDarwinWrought.com), harps on the proverb, “Ideas have consequences.”  The twentieth century, “Darwin’s century,” saw some of the most horrendous ethical abuses the world has ever seen.  The documentary includes lengthy interviews with David Berlinski (mathematician, author), John West (ethicist and legal analyst) and Richard […]
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Cell Biology

Ethics Shmethics: Scientists Obsessed with Embryonic Stem Cells
September 26, 2010
With non-controversial adult stem cell research zooming along, like finding ways to prevent adult stem cells (ASC) from aging (PhysOrg), providing hope for leukemia patients (Science Daily) and giving mastectomy patients a chance for beauty once again (Science Daily), why are so many scientists adamant about keeping embryonic stem cell research on the public dole? […]
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Amazing Facts

Mere Biochemistry: Cell Division Involves Thousands of Complex, Interacting Parts
September 25, 2010
In biochemistry, the stem -mere means “part” (as in centromere, telomere) and -some means “body” (as in chromosome, ribosome).  Biochemists are learning that these cell organelles are not -mere bit parts, but -some fit bodies. Telomeres and chromosomes:  PhysOrg reported that the chemical “caps” on the end of chromosomes, called telomeres, have a special code […]
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Uncategorized

Scientists Pursue Natural Champions
September 24, 2010
Animals and plants have what scientists want.  They continue to pursue the technology inherent in some of the common organisms around us, hoping to lead to inventions to improve human life.  Certain champions keep showing up in reports over the years, but other new ones are joining the ranks. Spider power:  Several reports continued to […]
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Darwin and Evolution

The Evolution of Speech, and v.v.
September 23, 2010
The brain just got more complex – that is, the part that helps us speak.  “Complex brain landscape controls speech,” reported PhysOrg, discussing findings by German researchers that show Broca’s region, implicated in speech disorders when damaged, appears to be “a much more complexly structured centre of language than was previously believed.”  Not just a […]
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Birds

Evolutionists Promise Without Delivering
September 22, 2010
Some science news reports lead the reader to think that some major new understanding into evolution is under the headline, but they often fail to deliver.  Darwinian abomination:  Science Daily promised, “Toward Resolving Darwin’s ‘Abominable Mystery’: Patterns of Flower Biodiversity Point to the Importance of Having ‘Room to Grow’.”  The article was accompanied by a […]
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Darwin and Evolution

More Neanderthal Promotion
September 22, 2010
It’s a good time to be a Neanderthal.  You’ll get more respect than ever before from paleoanthropologists.  The latest example, published in PhysOrg, is headlined, “Neanderthals more advanced than previously thought.”  Julien Riel-Salvatore [U of Colorado at Denver] says he is “rehabilitating Neanderthals” by challenging a half-century of “conventional wisdom” that portrayed them as numbskulls.  […]
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Amazing Facts

Piston Engine Joins Rotary Engine in Cells
September 22, 2010
The rotary engine ATP synthase has been discussed frequently in these pages (e.g., 12/22/2003, 08/10/2004, 08/04/2010) as an exquisite “molecular machine” that produces the cell’s energy pellets (ATP) with a rotary, turbine-like mechanism.  Now, a piston-driven engine has been found at work in every cell’s energy factory.     ATP synthase operates at the end […]
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Bible and Theology

Exodus Theory Inherits the Wind
September 21, 2010
An old theory that the Exodus story occurred because of natural winds has surfaced again.  It seeks to provide a purely natural explanation for what the Old Testament records as a miracle.     Two atmospheric scientists from Boulder, Colorado, Carl Drews and Weiqing Han, referenced a theory by Doron Nof (see his website) that […]
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Amazing Facts

Synonymous Codons: Another Gene Expression Regulation Mechanism
September 19, 2010
Some words in English have alternate spellings, but sound the same.  If the sound is the same, how would a recording device tell them apart?  Would it make any difference?  It shouldn’t, but now scientists are realizing that genetic codons spelled differently can influence the protein formed – even when the spellings, called “synonymous codons”, […]
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Human Body

China Suffers 30 Years of Misguided Malthusian Idea
September 18, 2010
China has had a “one-child policy” for 30 years this week.  This policy has caused untold grief for many families desiring children, and has resulted in unexpected demographic problems – such as aging of the population, not enough brides for young men, and enormous numbers of abortions.  Two articles in Science this week explored the […]
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Solar System

Lunar Complexity Challenges Simple Theories
September 17, 2010
Tomorrow is “International Observe the Moon Night” according to Space.com, stimulating laypeople and astronomy neophytes to get outdoors to look at the moon with telescopes, binoculars, and the naked eye while the last-quarter moon is in convenient position for evening viewing.  Humans have contemplated the moon for millennia on such evenings and imagined all sorts […]
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