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Paleoanthropologists Announce the Middle Man

April 12, 2006

In unison, the news media joined the most recent chorus over alleged fossil human ancestors: “Fossil find improves knowledge of human origins” (Live Science): “Fossils fill gap in human lineage,” (BBC News); “Ancient fossils fill gap in early human evolution” (Yahoo News); “Fossil discovery fills gap in human evolution” (MSNBC News, which adds, ‘We just […]

Genetics

Few Mutational Pathways Lead to Darwinian Evolution

April 12, 2006

Mutations may not be as helpful for neo-Darwinian evolution as expected, say researchers from Harvard. Let’s say five mutations need to occur for a bacterium to gain resistance to an antibiotic, and there are 120 ways to get these mutations. They found that only about 10 of the pathways could be selected by natural selection. […]

Genetics

Isolated DNA Bases Are Destroyed Quickly

April 11, 2006

Without water, DNA bases fall apart quickly. Any origin-of-life models expecting the building blocks of DNA (nucleotides) to stick around for long are going to suffer, say researchers from Oregon State University. The molecules can enter a “dark state” in which they are highly vulnerable to UV radiation. This idea was once considered “scientific heresy” […]

Birds

Imaginary Feathers Found on Turkey Dino

April 10, 2006

Last month, we reported on announcements of a dinosaur fossil with imaginary feathers (02/08/2006); at least, all the news stories mentioned feathers and some had pictures of them, but the original paper said nothing about feathers. Now, National Geographic has done it again: “Giant Turkey-Like Dinosaur Found in Utah,” the title reads, with a picture […]

Media

Gospel of Judas TV Documentary Sells Gnosticism to the Public

April 9, 2006

National Geographic aired its long-awaited documentary Sunday night about the discovery, restoration, and translation of a Gnostic manuscript found in 1970, the Gospel of Judas (see next entry). The trailers had titillated audiences that this was an explosive document that would call our deepest beliefs into question. The content of the documentary clearly gave better […]

Media

Can You Trust the Bible Skeptics?

April 7, 2006

Ever since National Geographic announced the completion of a translation of the Gospel of Judas (a 2nd-century apocryphal gospel attributed to, but not authored by, Judas), the news media have been abuzz with speculations that it provides a clearer view of Jesus from Judas’ point of view, and that the early church leaders suppressed it. […]

Dumb Ideas

The Evolution of Irreducible Complexity

April 6, 2006

It must be open season on Intelligent Design (ID). Yesterday, Nature tried defense with a new missing link claim (04/06) and today, Science is printing a story to tackle ID’s offensive line, irreducible complexity (see U of Oregon press release and EurekAlert). The Discovery Institute immediately jumped to the match, with Mr. Irreducible Complexity himself, […]

Fossils

Fish-o-pod Missing Link Discovered: Media Goes Nuts

April 6, 2006

Evolutionists could hardly feel more relieved. Just when anti-evolutionary sentiment is on the rise, a new fossil has been announced that gives pro-evolutionists a missing link to run up the fishpole, and boy, did the media salute. Neil Shubin (U of Chicago) and two partners found a “tetrapod-like fish” fossil on a Canadian island. It […]

Biomimetics

Experimental Biologists Look to Animals for Inspiration

April 5, 2006

Whether insects, fish, birds or mammals, animals have a lot to teach scientists and engineers. Here are some recent stories that begin to answer, “How do they do that?” with hopes that humans might be able to mimic their feats. Hard sponges: Aimee Cunningham in Science News (03/25/2006; 169:12, p. 184) described the astonishment Joanna […]

Education

The Class Struggle: Students Challenge Teachers Over Evolution

April 5, 2006

Teaching uncooperative teenagers has always been challenging, but some of today’s biology teachers may feel nostalgic for the days when rowdy students whacked the bulletin boards with real spitballs instead of verbal ones. Now, dodging student challenges to evolution is getting downright exhausting. Students used to just accept what the teacher said about the subject […]

Origin of Life

Fertile Imagination Envisions Life on Titan

April 4, 2006

The dramatic landing of the Huygens Probe on Titan over a year ago (01/14/2005, 01/21/2005, 12/05/2005) is finally getting some overdue notice from the media. The PBS science series NOVA just aired a new program on Cassini-Huygens, “Voyage to the Mystery Moon” (see your local PBS station for rebroadcast times), and Astronomy Magazine’s May 2006 […]

Dumb Ideas

Scientist Tries to Explain Away Miracle of Jesus Walking on Water

April 4, 2006

Easter is approaching. That must mean it’s the season for skeptics to try their hand at debunking the miracles of Jesus. The first entry this year seems to be one by Doron Nof of Florida State University who claims Jesus walked on ice, not on water. He came up with an explanation for how parts […]

Education

War Stories: Darwinism vs. ID

April 3, 2006

How are things going in the Darwin Wars? The rhetoric is still flying, and there have been gains and losses on both sides. Here are assorted war stories from battle stations and strategic summits: Golden Rule at Hahvahd: The Harvard Gazette held a panel discussion on “How Do We Teach Evolution.” Richard Lewontin sees the […]

Politics and Ethics

Scientists Cheer Theoretical Holocaust

April 2, 2006

Popular science reporter Forest Mims III heard a chilling round of applause at a meeting of scientists, reported World Net Daily. When lizard expert Eric R. Pianka suggested it would be a good thing if airborne ebola killed off 90% of the human population, he got a standing ovation – and an award. At a […]

Fossils

Can Delicate Fossil Embryos Survive 570 Million Years?

April 1, 2006

Scientists and English and American universities are trying to understand how to preserve biological embryos such as those found in Cambrian rock claimed to be 570 million years old, reports a press release from Indiana University. Normally, such soft tissues would disappear within a month. “It’s like trying to fossilize soap bubbles” they said. “Some […]

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