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Education

Judgment Day:  Will it Be the New Inherit the Wind?
November 14, 2007
The PBS-Vulcan film Judgment Day just aired on national TV (see 10/12/2007) and is sure to represent a new rallying point for both sides of the ongoing controversy over Darwinian evolution that has raged for 148 years.  For material on both sides, see the PBS website, which put Intelligent Design on trial, and the responses […]
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Intelligent Design

Evolutionary Algorithms Improve on Plants
November 12, 2007
A press release from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign talks design, but it’s really about evolution, but then really about design.  Confused?  So is the author of the press release, entitled “Researchers successfully simulate photosynthesis and design a better leaf.” University of Illinois researchers have built a better plant, one that produces more leaves and […]
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Human Body

The Brain Evolved!… Didn’t It?
November 9, 2007
Evolutionary neurologists are so absolutely sure the human brain is a product of evolution from lower primates over millions of years, they are able to talk openly and frankly about problems with the particulars.  But in reading some of their own reviews of current ideas, it is not clear which has been evolving: the brain […]
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Bible and Theology

Science Journals Rally Anti-ID Army
November 8, 2007
Language in science journals is typically restrained, genteel and erudite.  Editorials value diversity and inclusion, rarely painting any issue black or white.  There are two issues, though, that let loose the raging bull: (1) policies that jeopardize funding, and (2) creationism.  As illustrations of reactions to the latter, consider two articles this week that snort […]
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Intelligent Design

When Bad Religion Confronts Good Science, and Vice Versa
October 31, 2007
A spooky Halloween thought: there are still witch doctors in the world today.  If they were harmless spooks, they could be dismissed as kooks, but they can have a devastating impact on the ecology as well as the souls of men.  National Geographic had a disturbing story this month about the witch doctors of Uganda, […]
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Dumb Ideas

Crystal Power Is Not Evolution
October 30, 2007
What would Max Planck think?  The Institute named after him put out a press release, “Evolution in the Nanoworld,” that claims that synthetic molecules can organize themselves by an evolutionary principle of selection: The automatic molecular assembly and selection steps exhibited by the molecules, which start as random mixtures, demonstrates a fundamental step in the […]
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Bible and Theology

Book: Intelligent Design Argument Turns Leading Atheist to God
October 29, 2007
“There is a God,” announces a former leading atheist on the cover of his new book.  Antony Flew changed his mind a few years ago partly because of the design argument: the fine-tuning of the universe, according to the blurb on Amazon.com.  New arguments by philosophical theists like Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne also played […]
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Amazing Facts

Cilia Are Antennas for Human Senses and Development
October 26, 2007
The little hair-like projections on cells, called cilia, have more functions than previously believed.  A press release from Johns Hopkins University said that researchers found cilia are important for the sense of touch – particularly, for heat sensation.  In fact, cilia are implicated in at least three of the five traditional senses.     The […]
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Intelligent Design

Evolutionary Science Reporting Battles Creationists
October 24, 2007
If creationism is so discredited as to not warrant any further discussion, some science writers are sure going out of their way to refute it.  Some recent examples: Eye of the Hydra:  Little sea creatures known as hydrae have light-sensitive molecules called opsins, reported Science Daily.  Scientists think the opsin proteins, which exist all over […]
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Bible and Theology

Sweden Bans Creationism
October 16, 2007
Creationism and intelligent design are being banned in Swedish schools, reported the English version of the Swedish news source, The Local.  Intelligent design (ID) makes no claim about the Creator, but only the detectability of design; nevertheless, both were banned equally.     This may not be unexpected after the Council of Europe resolution last […]
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Education

Microsoft Billionaire Puts His Money Where His Darwinism Is
October 12, 2007
Paul Allen is spending millions on humanitarian causes: not the cure of disease or the end of poverty, but on helping humans recognize that they evolved from space dust (see next entry).  This, presumably, brings enlightenment.     Shortly after 9/11, the PBS series Evolution made its debut, thanks to a large endowment from Allen, […]
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Darwin and Evolution

Will Darwinism End With a Big Bang?
October 8, 2007
We may be seeing the end of Darwinism as we know it.
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Education

European and American Politicians Attack Creationism
October 6, 2007
Actions of political bodies on both sides of the Atlantic have revived questions about the roles of science, politics and religion in public discourse and policy.     The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly voted 48 to 25 to accept a resolution denouncing creationism and intelligent design, according to European Observer and Reuters.  The non-binding […]
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Biomimetics

New Atomizer Mimics Bombardier Beetle
October 2, 2007
There’s a new technology coming to market, thanks to a little bug.  The bombardier beetle has long been used by creationists as a creature with a weapon against evolutionary theory.  Its tightly-integrated combustion apparatus would be useless or dangerous to the beetle unless all the parts worked together from the start.  This, creationists argue, is […]
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Cosmology

Astronomy Columnist Tackles Naturalism vs. Intelligence
September 29, 2007
Bob Berman is an unusual columnist for a science magazine.  He’s independent-thinking, unafraid to tackle big questions and criticize powerful institutions, but all the while able to keep a sense of humor.  In his monthly column “Bob Berman’s Strange Universe” in the November issue of Astronomy (p. 10), he took a moment from munching on […]
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