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Crystal Power Is Not Evolution

October 30, 2007

What would Max Planck think? The Institute named after him put out a press release, “Evolution in the Nanoworld,” that claims that synthetic molecules can organize themselves by an evolutionary principle of selection: The automatic molecular assembly and selection steps exhibited by the molecules, which start as random mixtures, demonstrates a fundamental step in the […]

Fossils

Amphibian Imprints Found

October 30, 2007

Full-body imprints of amphibians claimed to be 330 million years old have been reported from Pennsylvania. “The imprints show the unmistakably webbed feet and bodies of three previously unknown, foot-long salamander-like critters that lived 100 million years before the first dinosaurs.” The story in a press release from the Geological Society of America […]

Bible and Theology

Book: Intelligent Design Argument Turns Leading Atheist to God

October 29, 2007

“There is a God,” announces a former leading atheist on the cover of his new book. Antony Flew changed his mind a few years ago partly because of the design argument: the fine-tuning of the universe, according to the blurb on Amazon.com. New arguments by philosophical theists like Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne also played […]

Dumb Ideas

Machiavellian Monkeys Made Us Compassionate

October 28, 2007

Love, loyalty, patriotism – all the qualities that imbue a romantic novel with soul – came from Rhesus monkeys acting badly. This is the belief of Dario Maestripieri, a primatologist and Associate Professor in Comparative Human Development and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago, according to an article in Science Daily. Dr. […]

Amazing Facts

Fall Colors Have a Function

October 27, 2007

Deciduous trees have an investment decision to make when fall chill sets in: do they send their sunlight-produced nutrients to the roots early, and so risk damage to the leaves from autumn sunlight, or should they spend more energy creating a sunscreen that allows them to produce nutrients longer, and thereby increase food storage in […]

Amazing Facts

Cilia Are Antennas for Human Senses and Development

October 26, 2007

The little hair-like projections on cells, called cilia, have more functions than previously believed. A press release from Johns Hopkins University said that researchers found cilia are important for the sense of touch – particularly, for heat sensation. In fact, cilia are implicated in at least three of the five traditional senses. The […]

Early Man

Neanderthals Have Become Like Us

October 25, 2007

The change in attitude about Neanderthals is almost complete. The formerly brutish missing links were pretty modern after all. DNA sequencing of Neanderthal remains, along with new fossil discoveries, have made this subgroup of Homo sapiens for all intents and purposes the equivalents of us. For example: Talk to me bro: Neanderthals probably spoke languages […]

Intelligent Design

Evolutionary Science Reporting Battles Creationists

October 24, 2007

If creationism is so discredited as to not warrant any further discussion, some science writers are sure going out of their way to refute it. Some recent examples: Eye of the Hydra: Little sea creatures known as hydrae have light-sensitive molecules called opsins, reported Science Daily. Scientists think the opsin proteins, which exist all over […]

Bible and Theology

Jewish First Temple Period Uncovered

October 23, 2007

Artifacts dating from the First Temple period have been found in trenches illegally dug by Muslims on the Temple Mount: for the story, see the Jerusalem Post, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Bible Places. Dr. Leen Ritmeyer has diagrams of where the artifacts relate to the Temple position in his Ritmeyer Blog. […]

Origin of Life

Is Adenine Additive?

October 22, 2007

A paper in PNAS argues that adenine can form in plausible prebiotic conditions.1 Does this add to the story of chemical evolution leading to life on Earth? Some chemists at the University of Georgia explored the chemical steps necessary to form adenine (one of the bases used in DNA). Adenine has been found […]

Genetics

Searching for Natural Selection in a Wildflower

October 19, 2007

Evening snow (Linanthus) is an amazing little wildflower that adorns desert areas of southern California. Its blossoms open in the evening, spreading fragrance across a harsh landscape. Two varieties have been noticed; one with white flowers, and one with blue flowers. Scientists noticed that the white ones sometimes grow on one side of a ravine, […]

Amazing Facts

Mega-Dinosaur Found in Argentina

October 18, 2007

Check out this dinosaur: 105 feet long, 43 feet tall, having a neck 56 feet long. The spinal column alone probably weighed 9 tons. That’s Futalognkosaurus dukei, one of the largest dinosaurs ever found, recently reported from Argentina (see BBC News and PhysOrg). A single vertebral bone was nearly 3 feet long. National Geographic called […]

Early Man

Prominent Biologist Espouses Darwinian Racist Views

October 17, 2007

The history of evolutionary thought includes many aspects modern evolutionists would rather forget, such as racism and eugenics. Old ideas that blacks are evolutionarily inferior have cropped up again, though, not from some redneck schoolhouse but from the co-discoverer of the DNA structure. James Watson, outspoken secular humanist, let loose with some comments about racial […]

Solar System

Cassini Celebrates 10 Years in Space

October 16, 2007

The Cassini team is reveling in the outpouring of public praise for the mission. Launched on October 15, 1997, Cassini-Huygens has spent ten years in space and is over three fourths the way through its prime mission, to explore the Saturn system, its rings, moons, magnetic field and the large moon Titan (see ESA and […]

Bible and Theology

Sweden Bans Creationism

October 16, 2007

Creationism and intelligent design are being banned in Swedish schools, reported the English version of the Swedish news source, The Local. Intelligent design (ID) makes no claim about the Creator, but only the detectability of design; nevertheless, both were banned equally. This may not be unexpected after the Council of Europe resolution last […]

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