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Specious Theories Obey the Law of Inertia
January 15, 2010
Last March, scientists publishing in Geology falsified the so-called “Permian Extinction,” calling it a “non-event.” (see 03/09/2009). Not only was there no smoking gun of a catastrophe in the rocks, the scientists said that the “claims of rapid vertebrate recovery… also must be called into question.” Our commentary at the time wondered how long it […]
Arctic Tern Maintains World Record Title
January 14, 2010
The arctic tern makes a marathoner look like a wimp. This little bird has been confirmed as the migratory bird with the longest route, flying annually from pole to pole. A team of international scientists obtained the results by using an implanted geolocator on several birds, and tracking their actual path. The story is told […]
What Value Do Evolutionary Explanations Provide?
January 13, 2010
We want value for our science dollars. We know artists are into self-expression, but scientists need to offer more than just artistic prose: they are supposed to be in the knowledge generation business. So we expect to gain one of two things from their scientific explanations. One, we would like to gain practical knowledge that […]
To Advance Technology, Make Like Nature
January 12, 2010
Scientists and engineers continue to find the most elegant solutions to practical problems by looking at plants and animals. Here are a few of the recent examples. Wet computing: Cells and brains do a superior job of complex processing, so why are our current computers singing how dry I am? Not for much longer. Science […]
Computer Keeps Enceladus Old
January 11, 2010
There’s a new theory for how Enceladus can be so active but still be 4.5 billion years old. It erupts only every billion years or so. This was explained on PhysOrg. Heat builds up slowly then is “released as one catastrophic event around every billion years or so.” The scientists already knew that […]
Neanderthals Admired Beauty
January 10, 2010
This may be the last evidence needed to debunk the image of Neanderthals as dim-witted brutes: they wore make-up. The BBC News reported the discovery of their cosmetics containers: seashells with pigments kept for the purpose of improving their self-image. If that is not a human characteristic, what else is? The shells contained […]
Bad Math Gets a Pass When Its Naturalistic
January 8, 2010
“Now we know our place in the universe,” gloated Ohio State University astronomer Scott Gaudi, who told the science press that 15% of solar systems in the universe are like ours. “Solar systems like our own are not rare, but we’re not in the majority, either.” His calculation was based on how many relatively earthlike […]
Best Look Ever at Lifes Smallest Rotary Motor
January 7, 2010
All cells trade in energy currency called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). The molecular energy pellets are produced in profusion by molecular machines with rotary engines. The engines contain all the standard parts: rotor, stator, energy input, and torque production. They are embedded in the membranes of mitochondria and run on proton motive force. We’ve reported many […]
Oldest Hebrew Text Deciphered
January 7, 2010
Finally, some news from the ancient Hebrew pottery inscription that was found in 2008 (11/16/2008, bullet 1). The inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa, dating from the time of David and Solomon, has been deciphered and announced on Yahoo News, PhysOrg, and EurekAlert, which has a copy of the script and the translation. Science Daily posted a […]
Flying Fossils Found
January 7, 2010
A population of insects called “living fossils” has been located in Australia. These tiny insects, called ancient greenling damselflies, have no living relatives. Their closest relatives disappeared from the fossil record 250 to 300 million years ago in the geological column, according to The Age and Heidelberg Leader. The wingspan of the insects is only […]
Tiktaalik Demoted to Has-Been
January 6, 2010
The highly-publicized tetrapod missing link or “fish-a-pod” that made headlines in 2006 (05/03/2006) has been dethroned by new findings in Poland. Trackways said to be 18 million years older than Tiktaalik, showing digits and alternating steps, were announced today in Nature.1 The authors said, “They force a radical reassessment of the timing, ecology and environmental […]
It Takes More than Eyes to See
January 6, 2010
We think of eyes as objects that see, but vision requires a whole system of parts. One of the most important is the brain. Without your thalamus, vision would be a hopeless jumble of jerky signals, reported scientists from the National Eye Institute. Writing in PNAS,1 Ostendorf, Liebermann and Ploner found that the […]
Metabolism-First Origin of Life Wont Work
January 5, 2010
Evolutionists believe it is necessary to get chemicals up to the point of replication before Darwinian evolution can come into play to build them into giraffes and eagles (given millions of years, of course). But because it is difficult to imagine a chance formation of nucleic acids (the “genetics first” theory), it has become popular […]
Evolutionists Caught in the Act of Exaggerating
January 4, 2010
A headline on Science Daily and PhysOrg announced breathlessly, suggested that mistakes are a gold mine for creative Darwinian power: “Mutations are the raw material of evolution.” The press release went on to glorify Darwin: “Charles Darwin already recognized that evolution depends on heritable differences between individuals: those who are better adapted to […]
DNA Repair Requires Teamwork
January 3, 2010
As if the genetic code itself was’t incredible enough, researchers have been finding systems that repair it. There are numerous pathways the cell can embark on to fix DNA errors. Two key players were recently described in more detail in the journal Science.1 A damaged genetic code is worse than a book with […]
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