Category: Biology

760 million year old animal found in South Africa

“a 150 million years earlier than when other animals emerged in the fossil record.” more

Latest issue of Synthese: Should scientists even try to define life?

“I conclude that scientists, philosophers, and ethicists should discard the project of defining life.” more

ID Foundations, 15(a): A Testable ID Hypothesis — Front-Loading, part A (a guest-post by Genomicus)

(Series on Front-loading continues, here) As we continue the ID Foundations series, it will be necessary to reflect on a fairly wide range of topics, more than any one person can cover. So, when the opportunity came up to put Front-Loading on the table from a knowledgeable advocate of it, Genomicus, I asked him if… more

Another biologist steps out of line …

Most biological students think that adaptive radiations and Darwinism go together, and that the mechanisms of genetic mutation and natural selection explain all the data. … However more

New biology journal to be researcher-run, not editor-run

“The top tier publications are often run by professional editors who do not work in a lab, and who do not moderate the peer-review process.” more

Researchers hope butterfly genome sequence explains migration – but their approach raises a critical question

It will be most interesting if the mechanism indeed turns out to be fundamentally the same for butterflies, birds, and turtles. What would such a finding imply? more

Vid: Yes, these ARE birds …

And you have never seen anything like it. more

Great TED Talks vid: Human life from conception to birth

Top life sciences micro photo: The rotifer, filtering water for food, like a vacuum cleaner

You can see a brick of the shelter the rotifer builds around it, ready to be added, in the winning photo. more

Ten best microscopic pictures from the life sciences 2011

Here. more

Irrational reasons for refusing to consider design …

From our moral and intellectual superiors, no less. more

Paul Nelson to speak in Toronto, Saturday, November 5, 2011

Plus the Ontario premiere of Metamorphosis – the film on why butterflies make nonsense of Darwinism. more

Cell biology: A “spindle checkpoint” mechanism prevents cancer cells in a variety of life forms, humans to yeast

“Amazingly” crops up as often in cell biology these days as “groovy” used to among hippies. more

An interesting way of visualizing cell design

“The algorithms organize the intertwined 3D surface-contour data into simplified orthogonal cell abstractions and the components can be sorted to emphasize particular comparisons with proximity. ” more

Cash awards available for research or essays on the uses and abuses of biology

Preliminary application form deadline October 31, 2011 more

Wanted: Developmental biology postdoc. Your mission: produce a chicken-a-saurus

From Thomas Hayden, “How to Hatch a Dinosaur” (Wired September 26, 2011): Human beings are almost indistinguishable, genetically speaking, from chimpanzees, but at that scale we’re also pretty hard to tell apart from, say, bats. Yeah, it figures. Batman. Hints of long-extinct creatures, echoes of evolution past, occasionally emerge in real life—they’re called atavisms, rare… more

Retroviruses and Common Descent: And Why I Don’t Buy It

Those of you who have been following this blog, as well as Evolution News & Views, for some time, will be aware that I have previously discussed, across multiple articles, the phenomenon of endogenous retroviral inserts into the genomes of primates. Those familiar with the debate over origins will also be familiar with the various… more

ID guys greeted at biology meeting with “friendly, open-ended questions, curiosity, and meaningful exchanges”?

ID guys greeted at biology meeting with “friendly, open-ended questions, curiosity, and meaningful exchanges”? more

Another Mars Mystery – Design, Natural or Hoax?

Fox news reports that an armchair astronomer, David Martine, claims that he’s discovered evidence of intelligent life on Mars. In this YouTube video Martine speculates that it could be a bio lab, or a dwelling or garage (he hope’s its not a weapon. NASA is investigating. So, is this evidence of intelligent design? Is it… more

Another windy day in the junkyard …

From Jason Palmer at BBC News (19 May 2011), we learn, “Protein flaws responsible for complex life, study says.” This time mistakes produce more functional proteins: Tiny structural errors in proteins may have been responsible for changes that sparked complex life, researchers say.A comparison of proteins across 36 modern species suggests that protein flaws called… more

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