Origins – Page 262

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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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Origin of Life

Is Adenine Additive?

October 22, 2007

A paper in PNAS argues that adenine can form in plausible prebiotic conditions.1 Does this add to the story of chemical evolution leading to life on Earth? Some chemists at the University of Georgia explored the chemical steps necessary to form adenine (one of the bases used in DNA). Adenine has been found […]

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 […]

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, […]

Astronomy

Dust Became Knowledge

October 11, 2007

The Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week award goes to an Associated Press article reporting on a finding from the Spitzer Space Telescope. It began in a very matter-of-fact manner, claiming that the one of the biggest questions of philosophy is being answered by dust. Astronomers have taken a baby step in trying to […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Amazing Facts

Molecular Machines Under the Nanoscope

September 28, 2007

Seeing machines just billionths of a meter long seems impossible, but cell biologists are now routinely looking into the cellular black box. Using indirect but powerful methods, they can actually begin to visualize the gears and wheels and cogs of the protein machines that make life possible. Some of our favorite cell gadgets were examined […]

Origin of Life

Mars Was and Is Dry

September 21, 2007

The cover story of Science this week has bad news for those hoping for Martian lakefront property. A series of articles by planetary scientists who studied images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter casts strong doubt on the presence of water on Mars, even in the planet’s early days. The overview article by Richard Kerr in […]

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