Issues – Page 243

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Grand Canyon Creation Book Stays on Shelves

October 14, 2004

The ruckus over a creation-oriented geology book on Grand Canyon at the Visitor Center (see 01/18/2004 headline) is back in the news. The Environmental Media Services reports that plans for a review have been shelved by the park: Despite telling members of Congress and the public that the legality and appropriateness of the National Park […]

Health

Another Thing to Worry About: Synthetic Biology

October 11, 2004

Philip Ball is no alarmist, but as consultant editor of Nature,1 he had sobering words last week about things that could go wrong in the new field of synthetic biology, where scientists are tinkering with cells to create artificial life forms: The expanding toolbox of ways to re-engineer microbes – and even construct new ones […]

Politics and Ethics

Do ES Stem Cells Prevent Heart Disease?

October 8, 2004

The promise of stem cells, whether embryonic or adult, is in their power to differentiate into any type of somatic cell. Although adult stem cells have racked up an impressive number of therapeutic successes,* embryonic (ES) stem cells have only been promised to do so – until now. In Science Oct. 8,1 Cornell scientists coaxed […]

Politics and Ethics

Big Science Portrays Embryonic Stem Cell Issue as Political Litmus Test

September 27, 2004

The number of articles in scientific journals on embryonic stem cell research (also called “therapeutic cloning”) has been on the rise, particularly those referring to Britain’s or John Kerry’s support of it (see 08/11/2004 editorial), and Germany’s or Bush’s opposition to it. Though science journals are expected to be above politics, on this issue their […]

Politics and Ethics

Clean-Air Laws and Tree-Planting Cause Increased Air Pollution?

September 24, 2004

A major source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), precursors of ozone pollution, is tree leaves, says a report in EurekAlert. Surprisingly, the increase in trees due to abandoned farms has worsened the pollution. Industry-caused nitrogen-oxygen (NOx) compounds also lead to ozone, and it is not clear how these sources interact. Nevertheless, it appears that reductions […]

Education

Recounting the Risks of Critiquing Darwinism

September 12, 2004

Lynn Vincent has an article in World Magazine This Week recounting the tribulations suffered by Roger DeHart when he tried to include material critical of Darwinism in his high school biology classroom in Burlington, Washington. (His story is featured in the film Icons of Evolution.) It tells how the NCSE pressured two schools to forbid […]

Politics and Ethics

Letter: The Case Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research

September 3, 2004

Sometimes the letters to the editor are the most interesting parts of a magazine. Read what John T. Durkin says about embryonic stem cell research in response to an April letter by another scientist: In his Letter “Human being redux” (16 April, p. 388),2 M. S. Gazzaniga constructs his defense of human embryonic stem cell […]

Bible and Theology

SETI Needs to Read, Not Listen

September 1, 2004

What technology would an extra-terrestrial intelligence use to communicate with us? For fifty years, the search has presumed that an ET would use radio waves to announce “we’re here.” Not a good idea, says a professor of computer and electrical engineering at Rutgers. He thinks investors on distant planets would put their money not on […]

Politics and Ethics

Adult Stem Cells Might Restore Hearing

August 27, 2004

A report from Marine Biological Laboratory found that adult stem cells show promise for restoring inner ear hair cells (see 08/09/2004 headline). The tests, done on mice, might lead to treatment of hearing loss and balance disorders that affect 28 million Americans. A few days earlier, Jonathan Knight, in Nature, worried over the […]

Bible and Theology

What Would a Man Born Blind See With New Eyes?

August 26, 2004

The Bible records an instance of a man born blind miraculously healed, who was immediately able to walk and recognize things. Scientists had doubted whether a blind person suddenly able to see would understand the world of vision at all, or be able to make any sense of his new sense. Then a real world […]

Politics and Ethics

Interview

August 24, 2004

Lest anyone suspect that atheism is no longer an issue, it’s “Reign of Terror Week” on The History Channel. No fictional horror film could match what this series is revealing. The episode Inside North Korea is a must see about the unbelievably horrible atrocities going on now in one atheist regime under the […]

Bible and Theology

Biblical History Artifacts Falling Prey to Looters

August 23, 2004

The plunder of antiquities in Iraq and Israel continues, forever diminishing the ability of archaeologists to recreate the Biblical past, say Newsweek reporters Melinda Liu and Christopher Dickey in MSNBC News. Neither the new government in Iraq nor coalition troops are able to guard the many sites at which looters, in full daylight, dig up […]

Bible and Theology

Newton Believed in Absolute Truth

August 19, 2004

One would think by now everything written by or about Isaac Newton has been printed. Not so; Nature1 reports August 19 that a commentary on the Apocalypse (Revelation) by Newton was published for the first time just last month by The Newton Project online. Newton’s commentary holds “radical” views that the Pope was the personification […]

Education

Kansas Elects Two ID-Friendly School Board Members

August 6, 2004

According to John Calvert writing for Access Research Network, Kansans defeated two pro-evolution candidates for the state school board, electing instead Kathy Martin and Steve Abrams who both oppose the “evolution-only” policy. Martin won against Bruce Wyatt, an incumbent who based his entire campaign on the need to keep intelligent design or creation […]

Education

In the Last Days There Shall Be Scoffers

July 28, 2004

Current Biology this week contains two entries either attacking creationism or exalting Charles Darwin.1,2 Nigel Williams reports on the 100th birthday of Ernst Mayr (see 07/02/2004 headline), and his “tireless campaign against creationism”: Ernst Mayr, the renowned evolutionary biologist and champion of Darwin, celebrated his 100th birthday earlier this month by leading a scathing attack […]

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