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Mr. Clean Is Sick

March 9, 2008

Do you get sick too easily? Did you grow up with allergies? One reason might be your home environment is too clean, says a story on PhysOrg. The “hygiene hypothesis” asserts that our immune system over-reacts to lack of stimulation by turning on itself – producing autoimmune diseases and allergies. It “blames increased […]

Uncategorized

Revolt in the Darwin Camp

March 7, 2008

With minor skirmishes, the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis (natural selection acting on random genetic mutations) has held sway in evolutionary theory since the 1930s. Now, discontent with the pre-eminence of natural selection is leading to a major skirmish between evolutionists to be fought at a conference this summer. Susan Mazur calls this the “Woodstock of Evolution” in […]

Genetics

How to Translate Darwinese

March 6, 2008

A unique culture has sprung up around evolutionary biology. Since evolutionary theory encompasses far more than just change in living species (touching on, for instance, ultimate origins, the nature of humanity and the destiny of the universe), its supporters sometimes get a little carried away in their language. The tendency in science reporting to embellish […]

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Grand Canyon: How Do You Get a River Over a Mountain?

March 5, 2008

One would think that the Grand Canyon, one of earth’s most prominent geological features, studied by geologists for 140 years, would be well understood. Wrong. “The Colorado River’s integration off the Colorado Plateau remains a classic mystery in geology, despite its pivotal role in the cutting of Grand Canyon and the region’s landscape evolution.” That’s […]

Birds

Darwin for the Birds

March 4, 2008

Here’s a flock of bird stories that have Charles Darwin on stage or in the wings, so to speak. Was Darwin wrong? Yes! Contra National Geographic (10/24/2004), the science news outlets are all saying today that Darwin was wrong – but only about the origin of chickens (see EurekAlert #1, EurekAlert #2 and Science Daily). […]

Amazing Facts

The Root Route

March 4, 2008

Why don’t roots push a plant right out of the ground? It’s a question only a scientist or an 8-year-old kid would ask. The answer is more amazing than either would have realized. Root hairs feel their way around obstacles and find the openings, in the dark, by means of a complex interplay of proteins […]

Uncategorized

Wallace for Darwin Running Mate

March 3, 2008

Shouldn’t Darwin Day be named Darwin-Wallace Day? After all, Alfred Russell Wallace is by most accounts the co-discoverer of natural selection. Papers by Wallace and Darwin were read together at the Linnean Society meeting of 1858, over a year before Origin of Species was published. Some groups are seeking to give Wallace his due in […]

Education

Polls Produce Politically-Incorrect Results

March 2, 2008

Polls are like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get. In a survey conducted by the Channel One Network, a broadcast service for public schools, students were asked if they thought schools should teach only intelligent design, teach only evolution, or teach both. A majority (52%) responded for teaching […]

Amazing Facts

Cool Bat Tricks

March 1, 2008

Bats put on a dazzling air show. Science Daily revealed that the acrobatic mammals have magnetic instruments. Somehow, they are able to use the magnetite in their cells as navigational aids. Scientists from Leeds University and Princeton conducted experiments on large brown bats. They were able to steer the bats off course by issuing magnetic […]

Bible and Theology

The Fruits of Two Worldviews

February 29, 2008

Of all the arenas of state-sponsored genocides of the 20th century, the Killing Fields of Cambodia were among the most disturbing. There, in a massive social engineering project, a radical communist government systematically starved, tortured and murdered nearly two million people with the brutal efficiency of an assembly line operation. The regime outlawed all religions. […]

Astronomy

Is Cosmology Getting Wimp-y?

February 28, 2008

Physics and astronomy are usually thought of as the “hard” sciences, where empiricism is king. Read the following excerpts from a story on the BBC News science page with that in mind (suggestion: replace “dark matter” with “mysterious unknown stuff”). The first stars to appear in the Universe may have been powered by dark matter, […]

Amazing Facts

Why Blood Clots Are Stretchy

February 27, 2008

A team of biophysicists at University of Illinois ran a computation for six months to find out why blood clots are stretchy. The primary protein in the clot, fibrinogen, can stretch two to three times its resting size. By studying the force on every atom in the protein, Science Daily said, they produced a force […]

Amazing Facts

Sea Monsters Were for Real, and Other Wonders Under the Sea

February 26, 2008

National Geographic News published a story about a real sea monster. A fossil pliosaur nearly 50 feet in length, the largest marine reptile ever found, was discovered in permafrost just 800 miles from the North Pole, on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. Scientists estimate it had such strong teeth and muscles […]

Amazing Facts

Prevent Drought: Hire a Beaver

February 25, 2008

“Beavers can help ease drought,” say scientists from University of Alberta. EurekAlert published a press release about a 54-year study that showed beaver kept open water wetlands available. They seem to even mitigate the effects of global warming. “Climate models predict the incidence of drought in parts of North America will increase in frequency and […]

Early Man

Paleofantasy: Brain Evolution Is Mere Storytelling

February 22, 2008

When it comes to explaining the brain, evolutionists are completely in the dark. That was the surprising message in a presentation to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science by Harvard evolutionist Richard Lewontin. James Randerson blogged the presentation in the UK Guardian, beginning, “We know nothing about brain evolution. […]

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