Monthly Archives: February 2010
Jerry Coyne’s “The Templeton Bribe”
| February 28, 2010 | Posted by William Dembski under Evolution, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science |
According to Jerry Coyne, atheistic evolutionists and ID proponents have at least this in common — they can expect no bribes from the Templeton Foundation. Read Coyne’s post on the topic here. more
The Real Conflict Between Science and Religion
| February 28, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
The supposed conflict between science and religion is not only bad history, it also goes unsupported by on-going polls of the religious beliefs of scientists. As the story goes, empirical science uncovers inconvenient truths that religious people resist in a losing battle. But if there was a conflict between science and religion, and furthermore if… more
Just Whose Science Is Todd Wood Stopping?
| February 27, 2010 | Posted by Paul Nelson under Intelligent Design |
Yours? His? Theirs? Anyone’s? I’ve known Todd since we were graduate students in the 1990s, and have a hardbound copy of his UVA dissertation (Theory and Application of Protein Homology, 1999) sitting on my office shelves. Todd knows more evolutionary biology than many evolutionary biologists. Yet, perversely, or inexplicably, in the eyes of his critics… more
Primordial soup is “well past its sell-by date”
| February 27, 2010 | Posted by David Tyler under Intelligent Design |
It is well known that Darwin speculated on what might happen in “some warm little pond”. But it was not until 1929 that J.B.S. Haldane developed a testable hypothesis involving a “prebiotic broth, or primordial soup”. He proposed that organic compounds were made when methane, ammonia and water reacted as a result of energy supplied… more
GATA-1: A Protein That Regulates Proteins
| February 27, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
Proteins are the cell’s special machines that perform a variety of tasks. Some of them help to regulate the production levels of other proteins by influencing the transcribing of the DNA genes that code for the proteins. New research is investigating how one such transcription factor, GATA-1, works and, as usual, it isn’t simple. Read… more
The Infinite Headaches Of The Adjacent Impossible
| February 27, 2010 | Posted by Robert Deyes under Intelligent Design |
Santa Fe Institute economist Brian Arthur believed that much of what we see in global economic patterns can be explained by a process of ‘locking in’ of historical events (1). Notably, the success of the QWERTY keyboard or the increased sales of the VHS video system over its arch rival Beta Max did not depend… more
Garter Snake Immunity, Sodium Channels, and Evolutionary Expectations Dashed Again
| February 26, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
Certain species of garter snake are remarkably immune to tetrodotoxin, a deadly compound that paralyzes and kills. That’s fortunate because the newt, one of the snake’s favorite meals, is loaded with the toxin. The resistance of these lucky snakes is due to tiny adjustments in a protein segment which otherwise is highly conserved across a… more
Origin of Everything
| February 26, 2010 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Intelligent Design, Science |
I would like to direct our wonderful readers here at UD to an interesting new website www.originofeverything.com. Their purpose: “Origin of Everything is dedicated to providing leading viewpoints, evidence and arguments for both Intelligent Design and Scientific theories associated with the origin of the universe, life and related subjects. Origin of Everything is designed to… more
Can you distinguish photoshopping vs nature?
| February 25, 2010 | Posted by DLH under Design inference, Intelligent Design, Just For Fun |
RomanM has a fascinating challenge. Out of seven photos at: MyPics Which one was not manipulated by Photoshop? more
QUESTION TO UD READERS: Professors of Highest Caliber Who Are Also Christian
| February 25, 2010 | Posted by William Dembski under Culture, Education |
I’m trying to determine which Christian faculty would be regarded as absolutely tops in their respective disciplines but which would also be completely up front about their Christian worldview. Who would be on your top ten list? Of those on the list, how many would be supporters of or at least sympathetic to ID? Please think objectively… more
Pius XII would be turning in his grave
| February 25, 2010 | Posted by clivecopus under Intelligent Design |
I’ve been trying to obtain a full transcript of last year’s Vatican conference on evolution, if only to confirm my fears that it had been hijacked by the ‘Darwin was right but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist’ brigade. So far I have had to make do with a summary of the papers presented… more
A New Evolutionary Mechanism Based on Inefficient Selection
| February 25, 2010 | Posted by Cornelius Hunter under Intelligent Design |
The origin of complexity is a key problem in evolutionary theory. How did the blind process construct so many precise and elaborate biological designs? The evolutionary expectation has always been that Darwin’s process of natural selection is the driving force that creates everything from biosonar to the brain. But new research indicates that much of… more
Richard Dawkins Receives Rabid Response From His Faithful Followers
| February 25, 2010 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Culture, Darwinism |
Richard Dawkins, so he says, wants to improve the forums on his website by implementing some new changes. He wants to keep it “scientific” and “rational”. The forums had, apparently, become a safe haven for Darwinians and atheists to post whatever uninteresting and vile subject matter their atheistic and Darwinian philosophy saw fit. So Dawkins… more
Discovery Institute: 2010 Summer Seminars in Seattle
| February 24, 2010 | Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design |
Discovery Institute Announces the 2010 Summer Seminars on Intelligent Design Click here to listen. This episode of ID the Future features a special announcement from Discovery Institute announcing the 2010 Summer Seminars on Intelligent Design. Discovery Institute has two intensive summer seminars on intelligent design, science, and culture from July 9-17, 2010 in Seattle. The first seminar is for students… more
Political ID
| February 24, 2010 | Posted by Robert Sheldon under Intelligent Design |
Stanley Fish, that noted literary theorist and Post-Modern reader-response relativist, has posted a review of Steven Smith’s new book, The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse. I thought I was going to disagree with Fish, but I found myself in complete agreement (which might actually be Smith). Morality is “smuggled” into secular debate, into the “naked public… more
ID, Atheism, and Theistic Evolution
| February 24, 2010 | Posted by William Dembski under Atheism, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, theistic evolution |
A famous theism-vs.-atheism debate between William Lane Craig and Frank Zindler took place in 1993 at Willow Creek Church and was published as a video by Zondervan in 1996 (under the title Atheism vs. Christianity). The debate is available on YouTube here (in 15 parts). It is available in full here. In that debate, Zindler,… more
“Ruining the top online community for atheists …” — Peter Harrison
| February 24, 2010 | Posted by William Dembski under Atheism |
The “Oasis for Clear-Thinking,” otherwise known as RichardDawkins.net, still exists but seems to have dried up. For details, read the following lament by Peter Harrison: Death of the Dawkins forum – The world’s busiest atheist forum closes February 23, 2010 in Atheism | Tags: andrew chalkley, forum, josh timonen, rdfrs, richard dawkins, wankery of the… more