Origins – Page 271

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SETI Researchers Affirm Planetary Privilege Criteria

June 24, 2005

In the weekly SETI Thursday column on Space.com, Douglas Vakoch corroborated two claims made about the habitability of planets in the film The Privileged Planet (shown at the Smithsonian last night – see 06/09/2005 story): namely, (1) smaller stars have smaller habitable zones or “Goldilocks” zones where life can exist, and (2) planets within the […]

Education

Battlefront Dispatches

June 22, 2005

Activities in the Darwin-vs-Design controversy continue generating national news: War of the museums: The Sternberg Museum in Kansas is trying to reinforce arguments for evolution, according to Voice of America news. Proud of his T. rex display, curator Greg Liggett claims that “if the school curriculum changes to include theories such as Intelligent Design, critical […]

Origin of Life

Miller Time Party Drags On

June 16, 2005

Astrobiologists threw a party when a team of researchers decided there was more hydrogen in the early earth’s atmosphere than thought (see “In the beginning, hydrogen: was it Miller Time?, 04/22/2005). While this was good news for those wishing for better conditions on the early earth for chemical evolution, a few are staying sober enough […]

Cell Biology

Cell Wonders Accelerate

June 14, 2005

Scientific papers on cell biology continue to uncover amazing things as techniques improve to peer into the workings of these units of life. Here are our Top Ten from the last few weeks: Immunity Tunes: A press release from Johns Hopkins talked about how, unlike other cells, immune cells undergo a “dizzying loop of activity” […]

Intelligent Design

Smithsonian Reversal Over ID Noticed by Big Science

June 9, 2005

Both Nature1 and Science2 noticed the Smithsonian’s flip-flop over co-sponsoring The Privileged Planet at their Natural History Museum this month (see 06/01/2005 entry). Both noted the quandary that the Smithsonian found itself in. They could not back out because of a contract, but under pressure from evolutionists, did not want to appear to endorse intelligent […]

Education

Kansas Debate Over ID Reverberates in Holland

June 3, 2005

“Is Holland becoming the Kansas of Europe?” asked Martin Enserink in Science this week.1 All that education minister Maria van der Hoeven wants to do is have some public debate about intelligent design, but the suggestion has caused an uproar among scientists who claim she wants to take Holland back to the Dark Ages. On […]

Darwin and Evolution

He’s Ba-a-a-ck: Lamarck Puts Pressure on Darwin – and ID, Too?

June 3, 2005

To historians of evolutionary theory, Lamarck is a 19th-century loser. His hypothesis of “inheritance of acquired characteristics,” according to high school textbooks and common knowledge, was debunked by experiment, and overturned when Darwin proposed natural selection as a mechanism for evolution. Why, then, does Massimo Pugliucci (Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New […]

Intelligent Design

ID Film To Be Aired at Smithsonian

June 1, 2005

The intelligent-design film The Privileged Planet will be shown at the Smithsonian on June 23. See story on The Ames Tribune. Pam Sheppard at AIG has a report also. Following the showing at the National Museum of Natural History, the film will air on PBS stations around the country. Update 06/02/2005: The Smithsonian appears to […]

Education

Can the Courts Define Science?

May 27, 2005

Last December, the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania against the Dover Area School District that was considering adding intelligent design material to the curriculum. The lawsuit attempts to define intelligent design as “inherently religious” and therefore unacceptable in science classrooms. The move appears aimed at […]

Intelligent Design

Nature Prints Anti-ID Letters

May 19, 2005

The May 19 issue of Nature1 printed seven letters responding to its editorial about the intelligent design movement (see 04/27/2005 entry). They were all critical of ID. Not one even tolerated Nature’s suggestion that scientists try to help students integrate their faith with science. Apparently, last month’s editorial was not sufficiently vicious against ID, says […]

Origin of Life

Mars Radiation Dosage Makes Life Improbable, Even with Global Flooding

May 18, 2005

An upcoming (June) paper in Icarus1 states, “ The biologically damaging solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation (quantified by the DNA-weighted dose) reaches the martian surface in extremely high levels.” Earth has an ozone layer and global magnetic field to shield out the damaging rays, but Mars has no known atmospheric filter. “Therefore, the existence of life […]

Education

Intelligent Design and the Nature of Science

May 18, 2005

John Hanna’s Associated Press article, “Kansas debate focuses on defining science,” has fingered a basic issue: what is science? The Darwinists argue that ID by its very nature cannot be scientific. Rob Crowther on Evolution News counters that Kansas is the only state that does not have a traditional definition of science, such as Science […]

Cell Biology

Design Language Gushes Out of Article Describing Cell Quality Control

May 18, 2005

Here are the design words found in a press release from Michigan State describing the editing mechanisms of the cell DNA-to-RNA transcription process: high fidelity, quality control, inner workings, genetic coding, exquisite nanotechnology in living systems, genetic control, blueprint for life, industrial assembly line, conveyor belt, preloading, criteria, backs up to correct the error, sensed […]

Cell Biology

Rotary Clock Discovered in Bacteria

May 17, 2005

What could be more mechanical than a mechanical clock? A biochemist has discovered one in the simplest of organisms, one-celled cyanobacteria. Examining the three complex protein components of its circadian clock, he thinks he has hit on a model that explains its structure and function: it rotates to keep time. Though it keeps good time, […]

Education

Heat and Light Emitted in Collisions of Darwin vs ID

May 13, 2005

Rhetoric over evolution is increasing in the media largely because of the school board debates in Kansas (see 04/29/2005 entry and previous Education links). The largely pro-Darwin press seems to be giving a little more coverage to the ID side; the anti-Darwin alternative media are getting more bold about asserting their views. MSNBC News says […]

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