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Genetics

Tuatara Genes Are Running in Place
March 24, 2008
One would expect a living fossil to show extreme stasis at the genetic level.  Not so for the tuatara, a New Zealand reptile, reported EurekAlert: researchers found that “although tuatara have remained largely physically unchanged over very long periods of evolution, they are evolving – at a DNA level – faster than any other animal […]
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Genetics

How to Translate Darwinese
March 6, 2008
A unique culture has sprung up around evolutionary biology.  Since evolutionary theory encompasses far more than just change in living species (touching on, for instance, ultimate origins, the nature of humanity and the destiny of the universe), its supporters sometimes get a little carried away in their language.  The tendency in science reporting to embellish […]
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Early Man

Evolutionary Theory Can’t Handle Language
February 21, 2008
Did a gene turn on speech?  Five years ago, evolutionary geneticists were claiming that mutations in a gene called Foxp2 were the key to human language (see 08/15/2002, 05/26/2004).  This was based on two observations: chimps do not have these mutations, and people with alterations to Foxp2 have language impediments.  This idea is very unlikely […]
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Genetics

Animals from Junk by Chance
February 12, 2008
How to build an animal: throw junk DNA at it.  That seems to be the latest idea on where higher animals came from.  A press release from University of Bristol posted on Science Daily and EurekAlert announced, “‘Junk DNA’ Can Explain Origin And Complexity Of Vertebrates, Study Suggests.”     The basic idea, coming from […]
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Genetics

Of All the Nerve: Functional Intron Discovered
February 6, 2008
An intron vital to the production of nerve cells has been discovered, reported Science Daily.  It acts as a “gatekeeper” to guide the messenger RNA for local control of gene expression in dendrites, the spindly arms of neurons.  The discovery was made by a research team at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.     […]
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Genetics

Hidden Messages Found in DNA
January 29, 2008
DNA contains the language of life, but what would happen if someone found hidden messages in the genetic code?  Such a thing actually happened, reported the New York Times.  When Craig Venter’s lab produced an artificial organism, they inserted hidden “watermarks” into the genome: his name, the names of co-workers, and the name of the […]
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Genetics

Molecular Phylogeny Is a Mess of Uncertainty
January 26, 2008
Genomes galore – a great opportunity to study evolution, right?  Think again.  A paper in Science by Wong et al1 revealed systematic uncertainty in the way genomes are compared, leading to bias that makes genetic comparisons essentially useless.  Antonis Rokas, in the same issue,2 began his commentary on this problem thus: Darwin relied on fossils, […]
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Dinosaurs

Backtracking on Darwinian Claims
January 21, 2008
Evolutionary theory evolves.  Since Darwinists no longer consider evolution progressive, it follows that evolutionary theory is also not necessarily progressing.  The following stories show evolutionary biologists backtracking on earlier claims. The pig is falling.  “Darwinian evolutionary theory proposes that the phenotype of a creature is an adaptation to the particular demands of the ecological situation […]
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Dumb Ideas

Mouse Grows Long Finger, Takes Off Like a Bat
January 18, 2008
When does humor in a scientific journal cross the line of scientific objectivity?  You be the judge.  Science magazine, in its “Random Samples” news featurette, said this in the Jan. 18 issue: Over the past 100 million years or so, bats have evolved many features that distinguish them from their mammalian cousins.  One is long, […]
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Genetics

Blind Cave Fish Can See Again
January 8, 2008
Can blind cave fish get their lost eyes back?  Yes, if they hybridize with other cave fish that lost them due to different mutations.  An article on Science Daily described experiments at New York University that showed that the progeny of two independent cave populations could have fully functioning eyes.  Why?  Because “the genetic deficiencies […]
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Cosmology

What Materialist Science Still Can’t Figure Out
December 21, 2007
Darwin called the origin of flowering plants an “abominable mystery,” but it is not the only one.  The scientific materialism that strives to explain all reality by “natural” causes without resource to a designing intelligence has a long way to go.  Occasionally, major gaps in cosmic evolution and biological evolution become evident in scientific papers […]
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Amazing Facts

DNA Translation Has Codes Upon Codes
December 17, 2007
The DNA code is protected by another code, and is read with a machine that reads a third code.  This is an emerging picture from ongoing research into DNA transcription, as reported in Science.1     In the 1950s, scientists were astonished to find a code at the genetic basis of life.  DNA’s four-letter alphabet, […]
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Cell Biology

Will Adult Stem Cells Cure Sickle Cell Anemia?
December 9, 2007
It’s been just weeks since two labs announced success harvesting pluripotent stem cells from skin cells (11/20/2007), and already beneficial applications are in sight.  Science Daily and Live Science reported on initial tests that show the new “induced pluripotent stem cells” offer hope for millions afflicted with sickle-cell anemia.  Though it’s too early to tell […]
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Darwin and Evolution

Flowering Plants Do Big Bang in Darwin’s Face
December 1, 2007
There’s a big bang in botany.  The flowering plants, reported Science Daily, “evolved very quickly into five groups.”     The claim is based on the investigation of plant genes by scientists in Florida.  Their work “showed that a stunning diversification of flowering plants they are referring to as the ‘Big Bang’ took place in […]
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Fossils

Darwin As Prognosticator
November 15, 2007
How good was Darwin at making predictions?  A good scientific theory should make predictions, at least according to a common assumption about science.  PBS thinks Darwin hit a home run, according to an interactive feature on the website for Judgment Day, the documentary about evolution vs intelligent design shown on Nova this week (11/14/2007).  The […]
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