Politics and Ethics – Page 80

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Who Wants Embryonic Stem Cells?

December 17, 2008

Amazing treatments continue to spring forth from adult stem cells – the stem cells with no ethical qualms attached. With adult stem cells easy to obtain doing so much good, why would anyone want embryonic stem cells (the stem cells with ethical qualms attached), when no usable treatments have yet been found? Here are some […]

Education

Expel the Creationists

December 16, 2008

Apparently Eugenie Scott of the NCSE is feeling no remorse from her appearance in Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, where she defended the actions of those who ruined careers, denied tenure, and deprived students and teachers of their academic freedom because they dared to question Darwin. Her latest piece in Scientific American is […]

Cell Biology

Far-Out Science

November 25, 2008

The following list of bizarre stories coming from science news outlets is jarring on two fronts: it shows how little scientists understand, and calls into question what counts as science these days. Some stories illustrate one or the other; some both. Roar of the aurora aura: Both Saturn and Mars turned up auroras that are […]

Intelligent Design

Nature Cannot Wait for Darwin Day

November 23, 2008

Darwin Day (Feb. 12, 2009) is months away, but Nature devoted a special issue to it this week. The cover story, Darwin 200, includes 15 articles and features, some of which are available to the public. Features include a list of celebrations and exhibitions around the world, including a re-enactment of Darwin’s voyage on a […]

Dumb Ideas

Selfishness and Responsibility Are Just a Game

November 22, 2008

It’s become increasingly common for evolutionists to explain human behavior in terms of games. Another entry in this genre was published by Science Daily, which began, “‘Game theory’ is used to predict the behaviour of individuals when making choices that depend on the choices of others. First developed as a tool for understanding economic behaviour, […]

Politics and Ethics

Is Darwinian Environmentalism an Oxymoron?

November 21, 2008

There’s something magnetic about letters to the editor. We feel attracted to the responses of readers to what magazines print – especially when a mini-debate takes place and the author of an article replies. In PNAS this week,1 two scientists aired a friendly squabble about the meaning of “biodiversity” and whether humans should defend it. […]

Human Body

Defining Nature Produces a Dilemma

November 9, 2008

The evolution wars often revolve around the word “nature.” Evolutionists insist that science must use natural instead of supernatural explanations. It seems obvious that before arguing such issues, one must first define nature. That is not easily done, wrote a scientist at the University of Bergen in a letter to Nature.1 Fern Wickson’s […]

Education

What an Obama Presidency May Mean for Origin Science

November 5, 2008

Needless to say, the scientific institutions are thrilled that their favorite candidate won. Editorials in both Nature and Science showed little objectivity about politics in the last few weeks. Part of this is due to Obama’s promises to fund science heavily, including $150 billion to fight global warming with alternative energy (see Nature News). Another […]

Dinosaurs

Nonsense and Nonscience

October 17, 2008

For an enterprise that prizes itself on objectivity and careful thought, science occasionally makes some outlandish claims. Here are some things that slipped past the scientific method into the popular news media. As good as it gets: Steve Jones says men have stopped evolving. Better enjoy what you have, because it’s not going to get […]

Cell Biology

Selling Stem Cells to Voters

October 15, 2008

If you thought embryonic stem cell research became moot after researchers found they could induce skin cells to become pluripotent, these news stories show the push is still on to open up more funds for embryonic stem cells. A ballot measure in Michigan is a bellwether for how scientists still feel about these tantalizing objects […]

Politics and Ethics

Are We Getting Biased Science?

October 7, 2008

Much more scientific research is being done than ever gets reported, say three researchers in a story reported by Science Daily. High-impact journals tend to report selectively from a large field of medical and laboratory research. As a result, “only a small proportion of all research results are eventually chosen for publication, and these results […]

Education

Darwinists Root for Obama

September 28, 2008

Ministers in churches are not allowed to promote political candidates, even though they do not take government money.1 Scientists, who often do take federal money in the form of grants, openly take positions on the presidential candidates they feel will further their interests. Is this proper? Both Nature and Science this week did […]

Dumb Ideas

Liberals Less Skittish than Conservatives, Study Claims

September 19, 2008

A study by scientists at University of Nebraska claims that conservatives are more easily startled than liberals, reported National Geographic News. The results, partly funded by the National Science Foundation and published in Science,1 referenced a 2006 paper from Evolution and Human Behavior that had claimed “feelings of disgust and fear of disease have been […]

Dinosaurs

Is Dinosaur Diversity an Artifact of Headline-Hunting?

September 17, 2008

Many dinosaurs classed as different species are actually the same animal with different names, a publication of the Royal Society announced. Read two news reports on this, however, and you will get two different opinions about how serious the problem is. Rex Dalton in Nature News sounded the alarm: “One hundred and thirty-five […]

Bible and Theology

Naturalism and 9/11

September 11, 2008

It’s been seven years since the horrific terrorist attacks in America woke up everyone to the reality of evil. Secular, naturalistic evolutionists must of necessity explain evil as an artifact of pointless, aimless, purposeless acts of nature. Did the September day that changed the world change the aims or rhetoric of the scientists and educators […]

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