The Malthus Effect on Politics and Economics
June 5, 2007
In 1798, Thomas Malthus published an essay that had a profound impact on Charles Darwin and others. But it was flawed.
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Molecular Motors Move You
May 30, 2007
The realization that cells are filled with molecules that move like machines fascinates many people. Students who grew up thinking of chemistry as bouncing molecules that did little more than link up and separate have a whole new paradigm to consider: molecules that walk, fold and unfold, spin and operate like ratchets, robots, wrenches and […]
Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week: Design by Darwin
May 24, 2007
Can Darwin get credit for intelligently-planned research? Apparently John Chaput thinks so. A press release from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University states this: Nature, through the trial and error of evolution, has discovered a vast diversity of life from what can only presumed to have been a primordial pool of building blocks. Inspired […]
OOL Study Substitutes Computer for Chemistry
May 15, 2007
Upon reading a recent origin-of-life paper in PNAS,1 you might think the authors ran experiments with real chemicals and real deep-sea rocks. A more careful look, however, reveals that their model only worked in cyberspace. This raises interesting questions about the ability of simulations to substitute for empirical evidence. Their claims were dramatic […]
Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week: Design without a Designer
May 10, 2007
Apparently Francisco Ayala (UC Irvine) thinks that just stating something dogmatically is enough to end all discussion. The scope of his paper in PNAS is grandiose and sweeping, enough to keep philosophers and theologians from around the world busy for years, but Ayala just put out his opinions without any hint of dispute, and stamped […]
More Optical Design in Eye Retina Than Seen Before
May 2, 2007
For decades, evolutionists have used the vertebrate retina as an example of poor design (dysteleology). They have mocked how any designer could have been so unintelligent as to get the wiring backwards – with the photoreceptors behind a jumble of light-scattering cells. Creationists have countered that despite the arrangement, it works well.1 Now, they may […]
Can the Miller Experiment Be Revived?
April 4, 2007
Jeffrey Bada at the Scripps Institute is finding more interesting stuff in Stanley Miller’s spark-discharge tubes – with a little tweaking of ingredients. Scientific American acknowledges that the famous experiment fell into disrepute when scientists used a more realistic atmosphere: “It seemed to refute a long-cherished icon of evolution—and creationists quickly seized on it as […]
Is Hardy Life Evidence of an Evolutionary Origin?
March 29, 2007
Salt-tolerate species of unicellular organisms are found in all three kingdoms of life, says an article on Space.com. “Astrobiologists, those cross disciplinary scientists dedicated to investigating the broad question of life in the universe,” writes Lisa Chu-Theilbar of the SETI Institute, “often study extremophiles, organisms that live at the edges of what life is known […]
Can the Interior Design Itself?
March 26, 2007
Calling all interior designers: has Darwinism rendered you superfluous? J. Scott Turner thinks so. He wrote a book called The Tinkerer’s Accomplice: How Design Emerges from Life Itself (Harvard, 2007). It was reviewed by Claus Wedekind in last week’s Nature with the title, “The interior designer.” This does not imply that interiors need an exterior […]
Free Speech? Not When Darwin Is at Stake
March 25, 2007
Radicals get away with saying or doing almost anything on campuses these days. There’s one “radical” view, however, that even though believed by a majority of Americans, is sure to be met with outrage: creationism. It doesn’t even have to be creationism. Just to suggest that Darwin and his views might not be infallible is […]
Is a 100-Year Misunderstanding about Plants Solved?
March 15, 2007
Part of “one of the biggest misunderstandings in botanical history,” a plant has moved from an upper part of the family tree down to the bottom. Trithuria submersa, an underwater flowering plant from India and Australia that was thought to be a monocot is really not a cot at all, says Science Daily reporting on […]
Darwinists Blur Science with Fiction
March 9, 2007
One would think make-believe is for kids, and science is for adults. Some recent evolution stories, however, seem to portray a seamless continuum between imagination and testable scientific hypotheses. You be the judge: Darwin in cyberspace: If it happens in a computer simulation, is it really evolution? National Geographic reported on a new computer game […]
Deconstructing Darwinese: Delighting in Ignorance
March 8, 2007
When is ignorance a good thing? When is confidence in one’s answers a bad thing? One science writer expressed his desire for mystery over explanation – as long as the mysterious allowed room for lucky breaks without design. Science writer Ben Shaberman got to share his views on the last page of the […]
History Highlight: The Two Wilberforces
February 25, 2007
Those seeing the new movie Amazing Grace (opened Feb 2, 2007) about England’s long political battle to end slavery may not realize the family connection of the film’s hero with the controversy over Darwinism. William Wilberforce, the champion of abolition who brought an end to the slave trade as depicted in the film, had a […]
Extrasolar Gas Giants Turn Up Dry
February 22, 2007
A “dramatic step” led to a “big surprise”, said a press release from Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was able to capture the first spectral information from two planets orbiting other stars. HD 209458b and HD 189733b are so-called “hot Jupiters” – similar in size to our gas giants, they orbit much closer […]