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Kinder, Gentler Dinosaurs Envisioned
October 6, 2010
See if this statement by Tim Rowe [U of Texas at Austin] meets your mental picture of dinosaurs after a lifetime of movies: “We used to think of dinosaurs as fierce creatures that outcompeted everyone else,” he said. “Now we’re starting to see that’s not really the case. They were humbler, more opportunistic creatures. They […]
Cosmology Faces More Chaos
October 5, 2010
Most of us have experience with orderly things going to chaos: an unkept room, the garden, our list of things to do. We all work hard to overcome that universal tendency. Clara Moskowitz reported on two cosmologists who think the universe went the other way. She wrote in Space.com, “The universe was in chaos after […]
Big Gains for Adult Stem Cells Announced
October 4, 2010
Ever since Shinya Yamanaka figured out how to coax skin cells to become pluripotent stem cells in 2007 (something for which he is being considered for a Nobel Prize, see PhysOrg), other researchers have been improving on his idea. Three big gains were announced recently. PhysOrg and New Scientist reported work by Derrick […]
Cosmic Accidents Are Not Scientific Explanations
October 3, 2010
Sunday Meditation Oct 3, 2010 — The classic understanding of science is that it explains things with reference to natural laws, makes predictions, is testable, quantifiable, and falsifiable. Depending on the branch of science, many researchers still attempt to hold to those ideals. Eugenie Scott put it this way: “modern science operates under a rule […]
Galileo Affair: Plenty of Blame to Go Around
October 2, 2010
What is the true account of Galileo Galilei’s troubles with the Catholic church? We may never know. Complex historical events are often difficult to interpret, and new details sometimes shed different light on commonly-accepted views. One thing does seem certain, according to Thomas Mayer, historian at Augustana College, Illinois: “The notion that Galileo’s trial was […]
Super Penguin: Seeing Is Believing, But Is It Understanding?
October 1, 2010
Another fossil of a giant penguin in Peru has been found (cf. 06/26/2007). It apparently had reddish-brown underwings and stood as tall as a man. It must have been a strong swimmer. Nicknamed “water king,” the mammoth penguin was placed at the 36 million mark on the evolutionary timeline. One remarkable feature of this fossil, […]
Fruit Flies Not Evolving
September 30, 2010
A long-running experiment trying to get fruit flies to evolve has failed. A research team forced selection on the flies to explore the limits of natural selection. Only minor changes were detected after 600 generations. The research team was disappointed and surprised; there was even less evolution in these sexual organisms than in similar experiments […]
Probability Life Not Found on Exoplanet: 100%
September 29, 2010
Headlines are screaming that an earthlike planet in its star’s habitable zone has been found. Many sources, though, are claiming that life must certainly exist on this planet. Their hubris stems from the words of Steve Vogt, an astronomy professor at UC Santa Cruz. “Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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? […]
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 […]
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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David Coppedge, B.S. Education, B.S. Physics, founded Creation-Evolution Headlines in late 2000 as a way to share science news he was encountering at NASA. It has grown into a highly-trusted source of news and commentary critical of the pro-Darwin consensus, providing analysis of breaking news of interest to creationists and evolutionists, without the Darwin spin. He has authored over 7,000 entries at CEH since its inception.
