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More Functional Non-Coding DNA Found

March 12, 2009

Another finding undermines the concept of “junk DNA.” A team of scientists in Massachusetts found over a thousand functional RNA transcripts from intergenic sequences. These RNA transcripts, coming not from genes but from regions earlier thought to be non-functional, take part in diverse functions from stem cell pluripotency to HOX gene developmental processes to cell […]

Education

Scientists Crave Integrity: Can They Evolve It?

March 12, 2009

An important item not found on lab shelves or test tubes has been appearing in science news stories recently: integrity. That’s a word about character: moral rectitude, honesty, accountability, uprightness, the ability to resist temptation. It’s the kind of word one might hear in a sermon. For those who follow Darwin, how did integrity evolve? […]

Biomimetics

See Like a Bee, Fly Like a Fly

March 11, 2009

An aerospace engineer in Australia was inspired by insects to design a better way for missiles to find their targets. Aviation Week reported on work announced by the Australian Government Department of Defense. “Bioseeker,” a new guidance system for smarter weapons, was inspired by insect navigation. The Hon. Warren Snowdon, on his website as Minister […]

Dumb Ideas

Ye Are the Salt of the Evolution

March 11, 2009

Salt is good, the good book says (Mark 9:50). Another good thing it may do for you, according to Science Daily, is act as “Nature’s Antidepressant.” Presumably it’s hard to have a good mood about a steak with no salt on it. In the midst of this article about the mood-enhancing effects of salt, an […]

Early Man

Gobekli Tepe: What Mean These Ancient Stones?

March 10, 2009

Imagine stone carvings and monuments whose age make the pyramids and Stonehenge look like artifacts of modern history. Such monuments exist on a hill in Turkey at a site called Gobekli Tepe. Squared-off limestone blocks stacked like the letter T, arranged in circles, with ornate animal carvings on them, have been baffling archaeologists for the […]

Fossils

Permian Extinction: The Origin of Specious Geological Events

March 9, 2009

The Permian extinction – one of the most dramatic events in the history of life on Earth, in which some 90% of species went extinct – lay people assume scientists can back up this story with evidence from geology and fossils, but where is it? Whatever happened at the prime site in South Africa, from […]

Cell Biology

Elect Obama, Get Embryonic Stem Cells

March 8, 2009

President Obama is about to fulfill of his campaign promises: lifting restrictions on creating new embryonic stem cell lines (see Fox News). The question now is, are they really needed? They have yet to show any successes, while adult stem cells are enjoying an accelerating boom of amazing discoveries that could provide hope for some […]

Bible and Theology

Kepler On the Way to Search for Earth-Size Planets

March 7, 2009

The long-awaited launch of the planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft was successful Friday night, announced the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Named for the 17th-century German astronomer-mathematician Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft will stare at 100,000 stars for over three years, looking for variations in their light that indicate the presence of planets. Follow-up studies may determine if some of […]

Dumb Ideas

The Evolution of Creationism and Other Intangibles

March 6, 2009

If you are a creationist, you can’t help yourself, because evolution made you that way. It might have also made you moral and religious, especially if you are a woman. These and other evolutionary stories are making the rounds. Evo-creationism: New Scientist says humans may be primed to believe in creation. Studies show that humans […]

Dumb Ideas

Are You Cereous? Life Came from an Asteroid?

March 5, 2009

Ceres is an icy asteroid way out in space that has a lot of ice. The DAWN spacecraft is heading there. When it arrives in 2015, maybe it will find out if a substantial part of the water is in liquid state under an ice crust. Say the word water, and some think… life. […]

Genetics

Darwin Had Genetic Blinders

March 4, 2009

Darwin was a contemporary of Mendel, so why did he get inheritance wrong? That question was addressed on Science Daily by Jonathan Howard of the University of Cologne, Germany. His thesis is that Darwin had philosophical blinders on that prevented him from recognizing the significance of evidence before him. “Why Didn’t Darwin Discover […]

Dumb Ideas

Using Engineering to Prove Evolution

March 3, 2009

David Deamer smiling at a tide pool: is there an evolutionary connection? The picture accompanies an article on Science Daily about Deamer’s latest thinking on the origin of life. He’s going to share his ideas at a symposium in Oakland, California, organized by Eugenie Scott of the NCSE. According to Deamer, life began with complex […]

Early Man

Tracking Human Ancestors

March 2, 2009

“Earliest human footprints found,” the BBC News announced, and National Geographic echoed, “Oldest Human Footprints With Modern Anatomy Found.” Presumably these are to be distinguished as human rather than pre-human. What was discovered? A photo of a modern-looking footprint accompanies the two articles. The print was found in volcanic ash in Kenya dated […]

Astronomy

Star Children for Darwin

February 28, 2009

Why should we be looking for alien intelligence around other stars when it is right behind your eyeballs? You may not have known that you are a star child, but that’s what a leading astronomer called you. As a good star child, you need to pay tribute to Charles Darwin. In New Scientist, […]

Amazing Facts

Cell Motors Play Together

February 27, 2009

If one molecular machine by itself is a wonder, what would you think of groups of them playing in concert? Recent papers and news articles are claiming that’s what happens in living cells: molecular motors coordinate their efforts. Science Daily led off a story on this by saying, “Even within cells, the left […]

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