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Life Crams Stuff on the Long Road
March 7, 2010
This quote from UC Berkeley wins Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week: In the long evolutionary road from bacteria to humans, a major milestone occurred some 1.5 billion years ago when microbes started building closets for all their stuff, storing DNA inside a nucleus, for example, or cramming all the energy machinery inside mitochondria. Any […]
Natural Wonders Can Be Useful
March 6, 2010
To find great ideas, look to nature. Many plants and animals are as useful as they are ornamental. They can show the way to solve problems of great interest to humans. Mussel power: Want an abrasion-resistant, highly-extensible coating? PhysOrg reported that mussels are providing inspiration to materials scientists. They build a byssus, or network of […]
Dinosaur Evolution Is Relative
March 5, 2010
The science news media are all reporting that the “oldest known dinosaur relative” has been found. The artist reconstructions of Asilisaurus kongwe, found in middle Triassic layers in Tanzania, make the creature look quite dinosaurian; at least it was dog-sized and walked on thick legs under its body like its famous brethren did. Its early […]
Atheism in a Test Tube
March 4, 2010
Conflicting views on atheism by scientists show that deducing the intellectual status of atheism is not an exact science. Are such questions even approachable by the scientific method? What conclusions could be drawn? National Geographic reported Kanazawa’s theory that liberals and atheists are smarter (02/27/2010) without much criticism. Reporter Maggie Koerth-Baker only said […]
Cold Castles: Bad Climate for Imperial Science
March 4, 2010
To some people, the world would be a better place if ruled by scientists. They could be like a benevolent oligarchy, employing the knowledge gained by the scientific method for the good of the people. A recent editorial might shake that belief. In Nature News this week,1 Daniel Sarewitz had some sobering thoughts […]
Ida Not a Human Ancestor
March 3, 2010
If Ida known then what I know now: the media-frenzied presentation of Ida (Darwinius masillae) as a distant relative of human beings last year has been debunked. “Many lines of evidence indicate that Darwinius has nothing at all to do with human evolution,” said Chris Kirk (U of Texas) in an article on Science Daily. […]
Flight Design: Flies and Birds Get it Wright
March 3, 2010
Parse the following sentence for logical consistency: “Just as the Wright brothers implemented controls to achieve stable airplane flight, flying insects have evolved behavioral strategies that ensure recovery from flight disturbances.” That is the first sentence from a paper in PNAS yesterday about the stabilizers in fly wings.1 Ristroph et al just compared design principles […]
Origin of Life: Claiming Something for Almost Nothing
March 2, 2010
Getting life to emerge from nonliving chemicals is either a cinch or the most impossible thing in the universe, depending on whom you ask. Let’s look at a couple of recent papers that suggest the origin of life was no big deal. A press release from the University of Colorado advertised a paper […]
Swinging at Saturn’s Moons: Keep Your Eye on the Ball
March 1, 2010
To avoid being misled by planetary scientists, keep your attention focused on the age issue.
Depressed? Believe in a Caring God
February 28, 2010
“Belief in a Caring God Improves Response to Medical Treatment for Depression, Study Finds.” That’s what Science Daily said. The statement assumes, of course, that psychiatry knows what depression is. Another story on Science Daily worried that “Psychiatry’s Main Method to Prevent Mistaken Diagnoses of Depression Doesn’t Work.” It makes sense that diagnosis […]
How to Call Your Opponent Stupid Using Evolution
February 27, 2010
It may be that Professor Kanazawa was intending to be compassionate by couching his assessment in the language of evolutionary theory, but he essentially made a categorical judgment that conservatives and Christians are stupid, and atheists and the sexually promiscuous are smart. How could he say such a thing? He could dodge the charge of […]
Life Leads the Way to Invention
February 26, 2010
Here’s a factoid for the party: a cell is 10,000 times more energy-efficient than a transistor. PhysOrg tells us that “ In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming chemical reactions, which altogether require about one picowatt (one millionth millionth of a watt) of power.” This and other amazing facts lead to an […]
Making Evolution Simple
February 25, 2010
Getting the vast diversity of highly complex creatures seems an impossible task for evolutionary theory, but some recent stories claim it’s not so hard. Beak of the finch: Darwin’s finches keep pecking their way into the media. A new study claims that the wide diversity of beak shapes that have evolved can be explained by […]
Spider Hair: The Perfect Water Repellant Surface
February 24, 2010
To keep dry, make like a spider. “Engineering researchers have crafted a flat surface that refuses to get wet,” began a press release from University of Florida. “Water droplets skitter across it like ball bearings tossed on ice. The inspiration? Not wax. Not glass. Not even Teflon.” The audience waits breathlessly for the answer. “Instead, […]
Hopeful Monsters and Other Tales: Evolutionists Challenge Darwin
February 24, 2010
Two recent articles show that Darwin is not invincible. On one side he is being attacked by hopeful monsters. On the other, he is being attacked by an atheist truth-seeker. Neither of these attacks are coming from creationists. Return of the hopeful monster: Tanguy Chouard raised eyebrows in Nature News with a headline that sounds […]
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