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All You Wanted to Know About Spider Webs, Except Their Evolution

May 25, 2005

Each issue of Current Biology contains a Primer on some interesting subject. The May 24 issue had one about spider webs.1 Fritz Vollrath shared some amazing details about this unique product of the lowly spider, but gave a strange explanation for how the capability to spin strong-as-steel nets evolved. First, the factoids: Structure: …the… common […]

Education

Battlefield Dispatches

May 24, 2005

Reports from the evolution wars continue to come in. Here are more recent stories about the conflicts over the teaching of evolution and intelligent design: The race card: Fiona Morgan on Salon.com trashes those who try to link Darwin to racism. The cartoon shows Darwin with a dunce cap sitting in the corner, but Morgan […]

Cell Biology

Stem Cell Headlines

May 23, 2005

Research on embryonic stem cells is proceeding apace without an ethical anchor, and no clue where it will lead. News coverage of the debate accelerated with an announcement from South Korea. Match point: The BBC News and many other news sources published South Korea’s announcement that stem cells matched to the individual have been tailored […]

Early Man

Neanderthals and Modern Humans May Have Interbred

May 19, 2005

They lived together, they morphed into one another, so were members of Homo neanderthalensis really a separate species from Homo sapiens? Findings announced in Nature1 show a mixture of Neanderthal-like characteristics in modern human skeletons from Romania that led Science Now to state, “Oldest Europeans were swingers.” Because new radiocarbon dates of these skeletons put […]

Uncategorized

Christian Woman to Rebuild Iraqi Science

May 19, 2005

According to the Christian apologetics ministry Answers in Action, a woman – a Christian woman – will help rebuild Iraqi science from the ruins of Saddam Hussein’s evil empire: Ibrahim Jaafari, the prime minister of Iraq, has appointed Bassima Yousef Boutros, a 44 year old biochemist at Salah Eldin University in Erbil, Iraq as the […]

Intelligent Design

Nature Prints Anti-ID Letters

May 19, 2005

The May 19 issue of Nature1 printed seven letters responding to its editorial about the intelligent design movement (see 04/27/2005 entry). They were all critical of ID. Not one even tolerated Nature’s suggestion that scientists try to help students integrate their faith with science. Apparently, last month’s editorial was not sufficiently vicious against ID, says […]

Origin of Life

Mars Radiation Dosage Makes Life Improbable, Even with Global Flooding

May 18, 2005

An upcoming (June) paper in Icarus1 states, “ The biologically damaging solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation (quantified by the DNA-weighted dose) reaches the martian surface in extremely high levels.” Earth has an ozone layer and global magnetic field to shield out the damaging rays, but Mars has no known atmospheric filter. “Therefore, the existence of life […]

Uncategorized

Time for Titan to Shine

May 18, 2005

Fans of Titan, the large moon of Saturn, are swimming gleefully in scientific reports from Cassini, and it’s only just the beginning: there are at least 39 more orbits planned of this strangest moon in the solar system. There are too many recent reports to condense into one entry – take your pick: ESA published […]

Education

Intelligent Design and the Nature of Science

May 18, 2005

John Hanna’s Associated Press article, “Kansas debate focuses on defining science,” has fingered a basic issue: what is science? The Darwinists argue that ID by its very nature cannot be scientific. Rob Crowther on Evolution News counters that Kansas is the only state that does not have a traditional definition of science, such as Science […]

Health

Exercise May Reduce Colon Cancer Risk

May 18, 2005

Risk of incidence and recurrence of colon cancer appears to be reduced with exercise, according to a report by the American Society of Clinical Oncology reported in EurekAlert. Data now supports what was once just a good idea. Make exercise a part of your routine. Your body needs it in more ways than one. This […]

Cell Biology

Design Language Gushes Out of Article Describing Cell Quality Control

May 18, 2005

Here are the design words found in a press release from Michigan State describing the editing mechanisms of the cell DNA-to-RNA transcription process: high fidelity, quality control, inner workings, genetic coding, exquisite nanotechnology in living systems, genetic control, blueprint for life, industrial assembly line, conveyor belt, preloading, criteria, backs up to correct the error, sensed […]

Dinosaurs

Stegosaur Plates Were for Decoration

May 18, 2005

Berkeley scientists are disputing the notion that the rows of plates on the backs of stegosaurs served as heat exchangers. Instead, they were for show. EurekAlert and Science Daily explain that this was probably true of other dinosaur decorations: “The team’s analysis of stegosaur plates lends support to a growing consensus among paleontologists that the […]

Cell Biology

Rotary Clock Discovered in Bacteria

May 17, 2005

What could be more mechanical than a mechanical clock? A biochemist has discovered one in the simplest of organisms, one-celled cyanobacteria. Examining the three complex protein components of its circadian clock, he thinks he has hit on a model that explains its structure and function: it rotates to keep time. Though it keeps good time, […]

Mammals

New Rodent Discovered in Southeast Asia

May 16, 2005

“To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary,” says Dr. Robert Timmons of a stubby-legged, hairy rodent discovered in Thailand. “For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered.” It’s not exactly like a squirrel, rat, chinchilla or guinea pig: it belongs in […]

Cell Biology

Can Gene Duplication Promote Evolution?

May 15, 2005

Imagine you had no mouth but needed to eat. A hamburger comes flying at you. When it hits your body, your skin folds around it and pinches off, sealing it inside. Dozens of 3-armed parts form a geodesic dome around it and carry it to the stomach. Once delivered, all the parts are recycled for […]

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