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Media

Can Scientists Conspire to Mislead?
November 26, 2009
Scientists are only human.  Objectivity may be a noble aspiration; empiricism a worthy goal – but recent scandals illustrate the propensity for large-scale manipulation and misdirection by the very people supposedly devoted to intellectual integrity.  Though off-topic for Creation-Evolution Headlines, the flap over stolen documents that appear to reveal collusion to support anthropogenic global warming […]
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Darwin and Evolution

Ardi Party Is Over
November 25, 2009
The hubbub over Ardipithecus (10/02/2009) may have been premature.  Despite 600 pages of material submitted to Science in October, many doubts and questions remain about the status of this hominin, or hominid, or whatever it was (the nomenclature is confusing and inconsistent even among paleoanthropologists).  In an article by Katherine Harmon in the pro-evolutionary magazine […]
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Uncategorized

Last of the Darwin Celebrations
November 24, 2009
On the 24th of November 1859, 150 years ago today, Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection and the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life sold out.  Biographer Janet Browne (03/07/2009) explained in the bonus features of the film The Voyage that Shook the World (see Resource of the Week […]
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Amazing Facts

Hammerhead Sharks Have 360-degree Stereo Vision
November 23, 2009
Scientists at Florida Atlantic University have found that the strange heads of hammerhead sharks give them exceptional binocular vision.  This has long been debated.  By placing electrodes in the eyes of three hammerhead species, and comparing the visual overlap they obtain compared to other sharks, the scientists confirmed that there is a “massive 32-degree overlap” […]
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Amazing Facts

Giraffe Has Supercharged Heart
November 22, 2009
In many ways, the giraffe has been an icon of evolution.  Why, and how, did it get its long neck?  These questions have often been the focal point of a clash of Darwinian and Lamarckian explanations.  Today, many just assume it evolved somehow.  For instance, BBC News article stated flatly, “A giraffe’s heart has evolved […]
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Birds

Evolutionary Explanation Is Always a Work in Progress
November 19, 2009
As evolutionary biologists examine diverse plants and animals, it seems they are never able to give a definitive answer as to how they got that way.  Their work merely begins or continues to search for clues.  Like mothers, their work is never done.  At least this provides them job security. Box jellyfish:  There are about […]
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Health

Consequences of Bad Choices: Well, Duh
November 18, 2009
Responsibility – integrity – honesty – respect – healthy choices.  Those are the values of a bygone generation.  Do we need science to tell us that our grandparents were right?     PhysOrg reported that “Teen sexual activity and gambling [is] associated with taking nonprescribed medications to get high.”  And Live Science reported, “Coed Dorms […]
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Early Man

In Brains, It’s Quality, Not Quantity, that Counts
November 17, 2009
Most anthropologists are obsessed with brain size.  How many cc’s (cubic centimeters) of brain could fit in the skull of this or that hominid?  PhysOrg reminds us that “Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains.”  Here’s a shocker from scientists at Queen Mary University: “Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger […]
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Biomimetics

New Word Means Green Living: Bioplastics
November 17, 2009
Did you know that 10% of America’s oil consumption goes into making plastic?  The plastic products from oil pollute our landfills and harm the environment.  Next month, a company founded by a biology professor from MIT is going to make plastic from something green: corn.     Anthony Siskey and Oliver Peoples, according to PhysOrg, […]
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Early Man

Darwinizing Everything
November 16, 2009
150 years after The Origin of Species, it’s clear that Darwin succeeded in one thing: granting biologists free rein to speculate about how everything under the sun evolved.  Anything not understood, or seemingly contrary to the law of natural selection, or to previous speculations, can be shuttled off to future research. Noble amoebas:  You may […]
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Amazing Facts

Insect Wing Photocopied for Good
November 15, 2009
Biomimetics is the new science of imitating nature – but why not save a step, and just copy the design directly?  That’s what Aussie and British researchers did.  They wanted a self-cleaning surface that could repel moisture and dust, so they made a template of an insect wing.  And why not?  “Insects are incredible nanotechnologists,” […]
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Astronomy

Is the Universe Evolving Upward?
November 13, 2009
It’s intuitively obvious that to get from a big bang to intelligent astronomers looking for evidence of the bang through telescopes, the amount of organization in the universe must increase over time dramatically.  Lately, astronomy has uncovered much more dynamism in space than previously recognized – but much of it seems destructive, not creative. Orion […]
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Bible and Theology

Where Chairman Mao and Teenage Nihilists Got Their Motivation
November 12, 2009
What propelled Mao Zhedong to become the biggest mass murderer in world history?  Let a professor of Chinese history answer the question.  James Pusey (Bucknell U), writing in Nature this week for a series on “Global Darwin,”1 was explaining the vacuum left by the collapse of the reform movement in the early 20th century.  A […]
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Uncategorized

Leaping to Evolutionary Conclusions
November 11, 2009
In classical science, researchers were reluctant to announce bold conclusions without sufficient data.  These days, it seems that science reporters are quick to announce sweeping conclusions that go far beyond the evidence – especially if they appear to support some sort of evolution. Planet magic crystal:  Where to find intelligent life?  Look for stars depleted […]
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Dumb Ideas

Darwin Marketed to Kids
November 10, 2009
There’s a move on to get Darwin’s ideas taught to tots.  Britain is giving a “birthday present to Darwin,” wrote Andrew Copson for The Guardian, in the form of national curriculum for primary schools that will mention evolution for the first time – and prohibit teaching of creationism or intelligent design in science lessons.   […]
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