VIEW HEADLINES ONLY
Politics and Ethics

Journals Consistently Tout Embryonic Stem Cells, Criticize Bush
July 31, 2006
This is not news.  It just bears repeating that the Big Science journals continue to push embryonic stem cell research and criticize Republicans.  The latest case in point was President Bush’s veto of the stem cell bill July 19, that led to a flurry of articles and editorials in the leading British and American science […]
CONTINUE READING
Education

Education & Political News
July 22, 2006
What’s been happening in school boards about evolution and intelligent design?  Here are some recent stories about politicians, reporters and ordinary citizens: Kansas Grass Roots:  Candidates vying for school board seats in Liberal, Kansas squared off over the evolution issue: see Hutchinson News. Ohio Rematch:  Despite an earlier loss, Darwin critics in Ohio are hoping […]
CONTINUE READING
Intelligent Design

How Atheistic Is Darwinism?
July 12, 2006
Many evolutionary biologists argue that the theory of evolution is religiously neutral.  Why then, does Nature, arguably the most widely read pro-evolution journal in the world, seem to go out of its way to glorify atheism and present religion as an evolutionary artifact?  Clearly, whatever evolved as an adaptation by an unguided process cannot have […]
CONTINUE READING
Politics and Ethics

Science Attacked by Mother Nature of the Spiritual Left
July 10, 2006
“Think only the religious right is anti-science?  How about the spiritual left?” asks Lee M. Silver in The Scientist.  His article details the holistic thinking invading much of popular culture and university student minds, that pictures nature as a benevolent super-organism (with usually feminine characteristics).     The article is an excerpt from his book […]
CONTINUE READING
Education

Darwinists Foment Civil Disobedience Against Questioning Darwinism
July 8, 2006
The new science standards in Kansas require students to learn more about evolution, including evidence for and against it (see Discovery Institute press release).  The standards specifically exclude the teaching of intelligent design theory.  To some activist groups, however, this requirement is so intolerable, they want teachers to disobey it.  According to Evolution News, there […]
CONTINUE READING
Politics and Ethics

Nature of Peer Review Undergoing Review at Nature
June 13, 2006
The science cops are on trial.  Peer review, the process that many are led to believe enforces objectivity and validity in scientific papers, has come under fire lately (see 03/17/2006, 02/05/2006, 01/31/2006, 01/09/2006).  In response to scandals and criticisms that the peer review as practiced is no guarantee against fraud, Nature is stepping out into […]
CONTINUE READING
Bible and Theology

Update:  Iraq Marshlands Recovering Quicker Than Expected
June 6, 2006
How is south-central Iraq doing?  Recall that Saddam Hussein nearly obliterated, intentionally, one of the world’s premier wetlands (05/01/2003, 02/18/2005).  His fall from power enabled scientists to measure the damage and estimate hopes for recovery.  The outlook was pretty bleak at first.  Now, after two seasons of above-average rainfall upstream, fresh water has again been […]
CONTINUE READING
Health

Doctors Deny Darwin
May 5, 2006
Doctors and medical professionals may comprise the largest block of scientists with qualms about evolution.  According to a Finkelstein poll, an average of 60% of doctors, depending on religious demographics, reject the completely unguided Darwinian evolutionary explanation for life.  A new organization, Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity (PSSI), has begun a website Doctors Doubting […]
CONTINUE READING
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 […]
CONTINUE READING
Intelligent Design

Can Scientific Journals Perpetuate False Ideas?
March 17, 2006
An unusual paper appeared in PNAS this week.1  Four social scientists from Columbia and Yale argued that scientific papers can actually perpetuate false ideas rather than correct them.  The abstract says that an influential paper can generate momentum that becomes merely cited as fact by subsequent authors: We analyzed a very large set of molecular […]
CONTINUE READING
Politics and Ethics

Lest We Forget: Website Recalls Horrors of Eugenics
February 28, 2006
The American Holocaust Museum has a website, “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race.”  It discusses how Hitler’s Germany depended on currently popular scientific ideas of eugenics to try to create a master race, and in the process, eliminate the unfit – millions of them.  The website was mentioned in Science this week. The website profiles […]
CONTINUE READING
Birds

March of the “Selfish Darwinians”?
February 23, 2006
Penguins: are they moral models, or evolutionary examples?  Ever since last year’s surprise blockbuster documentary March of the Penguins, the well-dressed seabirds and their harsh lives have provoked empathy and commentary.  Marlene Zuk (UC Riverside) took issue in Nature1 with those who try to moralize about monogamy from taking their cues only from the movie.  […]
CONTINUE READING
Dumb Ideas

More on “Literary Darwinism”
February 7, 2006
Harold Fromm in Science1 reviewed Gottschall’s new book on literary Darwinism (see 01/27/2006 entry).  Like Gottschall, he argued that an evolution-informed approach to literary criticism is superior because it provides quantifiable certitude: For years, scholars in the literary humanities have struggled to achieve at least a semblance of the certitude possible in the sciences, although […]
CONTINUE READING
Bible and Theology

Science Seeks Integrity After Scandals
February 5, 2006
The Hwang scandal (01/09/2006) has prompted a good deal of international soul searching about scientific ethics.  (Now, it appears that Hwang also corrupted officials with monetary gifts; see New Scientist).  Some journals are preaching ethics like an old time revival is in session.  This raises an interesting question: what is the source of ethics?   […]
CONTINUE READING
Bible and Theology

Ruse Gives Dennett Poor Grade on “Evolution of Religion” Book
February 2, 2006
Daniel Dennett is one of those Darwinists not shy about getting in the face of religious people, particularly Christians.  Philosopher and pro-Darwinist historian Michael Ruse, on the other hand, has spent enough time around theologically-inclined people to give them a more sympathetic hearing.  Ruse has regularly appeared on panels and in debates with leaders of […]
CONTINUE READING
All Posts by Date
[archives type="yearly" cat_id="21"]