Monthly Archives: July 2009
Cambridge ‘Dissent over Descent’ Lecture
| July 24, 2009 | Posted by Steve Fuller under Culture, Education, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion, Science, The Design of Life |
My apologies for not posting more here recently. I now have a blog on my university’s website dedicated to the future of the university, where I have done a bit of posting. But mostly I have been trying to finish a new book on science as an ‘art of living’ for new series by the… more
Male sex chromosome losing genes by rapid evolution, study reveals
| July 23, 2009 | Posted by Mario A. Lopez under Eyes Rolling, Human evolution |
Friday, 24 July 2009 01:05 ALEXANDER CHIEJINA With Agency Report Scientists have long suspected that the sex chromosome that only males carry is deteriorating and could disappear entirely within a few million years. However, until now, no one has understood the evolutionary processes that control this chromosome’s demise. Now, a pair of Penn State scientists… more
Alfred Russel Wallace vs. Charles Darwin on cruelty in nature
| July 23, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
In World of Life, Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin’s co-theorist, directly addressed one of Darwin’s key reasons for rejecting design in nature, in a letter to American supporter Asa Gray: With respect to the theological view of the question; this is always painful to me.— I am bewildered.— I had no intention to write atheistically. But… more
Darwin the Musical
| July 23, 2009 | Posted by DonaldM under Biology, Darwinism, Humor, Science |
In this year of Darwin, I guess its only fitting that Darwin’s theory should be celebrated in song. So, Darwin scholar Richard Milner has done just that. Milner is now the official Darwin singin scholar. Where most scholars look for intellectual insights in their research, according to Milner, he looks for musical cues. Kinda makes… more
A Look Back At Brian Goodwin’s Organocentric View
| July 23, 2009 | Posted by Robert Deyes under Intelligent Design |
(Originally published on the Access Research Network on the 28th Aug, 2008 as  The Organocentric Illusion: The Biological Complexity Underlying Dynamic Systems) Brian Goodwin died last week at the age of 78 Today much of evolutionary biology has focused on trying to establish how genes may have provided the raw material for natural selection to run… more
Bradley Monton: Atheist argues that design is serious scientific theory
| July 22, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Apparently, atheist Bradley Monton has just published a book with Broadview Press: The doctrine of intelligent design is often the subject of acrimonious debate. Seeking God in Science cuts through the rhetoric that distorts the debates between religious and secular camps. Bradley Monton, a philosopher of science and an atheist, carefully considers the arguments for… more
Masquerades Unmasked And The Designed IQ
| July 22, 2009 | Posted by Robert Deyes under Intelligent Design |
Synopsis Of The Second Chapter Of Nature’s IQ By Balazs Hornyanszky and Istvan Tasi ISBN 978-0-9817273-0-1 Defense, Disguise, Perception is the descriptive title that Hornyanszky and Tasi have chosen for the second chapter of their book Nature’s IQ. And the delivery of the facts is as convincing and thought-provoking as ever. Coupled with its vivid… more
The Intelligent Design Of Animal Behaviors
| July 22, 2009 | Posted by Robert Deyes under Intelligent Design |
Synopsis Of The First Chapter Of Nature’s IQ By Balazs Hornyanszky and Istvan Tasi ISBN 978-0-9817273-0-1 Ethology, the field of biology that attempts to explain the origins of animal behavioral patterns, has traditionally focused on two possible sources for such patterns- those that are inherited and those that are environmentally induced. For the former of… more
Challenge to ID bashers
| July 22, 2009 | Posted by DLH under Intelligent Design |
At BeliefNet, David Klinghoffer has posted: A Challenge to Intelligent Design-Bashing Regulars on this Blog Tuesday July 21, 2009 Categories: Life’s Origins & Evolution You know who you are. Rather than go on grousing about how there’s no evidence for intelligent design, it’s not science, and so on and so forth, here’s my challenge to… more
One step at a time: Motor molecules use random walks to make deliveries in living cells
| July 21, 2009 | Posted by Mario A. Lopez under Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, Science |
Physorg.com – July 21st, 2009 Cells rely on tiny molecular motors to deliver cargo, such as mRNA and organelles, within the cell. The critical nature of this transport system is evidenced by the fact that disruption of motors by genetic defects leads to fatal diseases in humans. Although investigators have isolated these motor to study… more
Was Jupiter designed for terrestrial human existence?
| July 21, 2009 | Posted by DLH under Intelligent Design |
Descriptions of this week’s massive impact into Jupiter makes an interesting point on human existence relative to Jupiter: All Eyepieces on Jupiter After a Big Impact By DENNIS OVERBYE, New York Times July 21, 2009 Anybody get the number of that truck? Astronomers were scrambling to get big telescopes turned to Jupiter on Tuesday to… more
Harun Yahya rep gets into it with Futuyma and Ayala
| July 21, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution |
This is a bit dated. It took place at the Pontifical Gregorian University a few months back: SOURCE more
Scientific American quietly disowns Ida “missing link” fossil
| July 21, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Michael Bloomberg, check your messages. In “Weak Link: Fossil Darwinius Has Its 15 Minutes: Skepticism about a fossil cast as a missing link in human ancestry” (Scientific American, July 21, 2009), Kate Wong observes, And in an elaborate public-relations campaign, in which the release of a Web site, a book and a documentary on the… more
Darwinism and pop culture: Attempts to pretend that Darwin did not extend his theory to human society
| July 21, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Many attempts have been made recently to rescue Darwin from the charge of supporting social Darwinism, but as with the attempts to exonerate him from supporting racism, they only lead people to discover the documentary evidence for themselves. British physicist David Tyler reflects on this phenomenon. Just admitting it and getting past it would solve… more
Creation, the movie, is not about Creation, but it is a movie, at least.
| July 21, 2009 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Intelligent Design |
September 25 is the release date for the movie Creation in the UK, which tells the story of Darwin’s plight of being a perfectly innocent and doe-eyed scientist coming to grips with the unsavory religious implications of his perfectly honest science (the website claims artistic license in telling the story, and I take their word… more
Steven Pinker — Let’s show some proper deference to Darwin!
| July 20, 2009 | Posted by William Dembski under Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design |
Is this vapid appeal to authority all the Darwinians have left? Creationism piece no way to honor Darwin’s birthday July 20, 2009 Letter to BOSTON GLOBE SHAME ON you for publishing two creationist op-eds in two years from the Discovery Institute, a well-funded propaganda factory that aims to sow confusion about evolution. Virtually no scientist… more
The Good News guy faces tough questions now
| July 20, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Here’s my Mercator.Net story on Francis Collins as new NIH head: President Obama has chosen an evangelical Christian as the new head of the National Institutes of Health. He is coming under fire from both sides of the culture wars. [ ... ] Of course, his advocacy of faith as a public scientist has received… more
Darwinism and popular culture: Attacking Collins hurts science, Chris Mooney argues
| July 20, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under theistic evolution |
A friend draws my attention to “Defenders of the Faith: Scientists who blast religion are hurting their own cause.” by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum (Newsweek, July 14, 2009), in which they warn against new atheist attacks on Francis Collins: The critics, though, have it exactly backward: the United States needs more scientists like Collins—researchers… more
Uncommon Descent Contest 6 winner announced: Why waste a crisis, especially in genomics?
| July 20, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
This was the question: Here’s On the Epistemological Crisis in Genomics by Edward R Dougherty, which moved in Current Genomics, April 2008. Abstract There is an epistemological crisis in genomics. At issue is what constitutes scientific knowledge in genomic science, or systems biology in general. Does this crisis require a new perspective on knowledge heretofore… more
Extinction: A 62-million-year itch?
| July 19, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
At Seed Magazine (June 29, 2009), Adrian Melott of “The Big Idea” asks, “Sometimes, something kills nearly all life on the entire planet. But is there a regular cycle to this creation and destruction of Earth’s biodiversity?”, arguing, Fortunately, all known dips in biodiversity seem to be followed by periods of rapid diversification called radiations.… more