Category: Ecology
The paper: Life forms can’t digest wood: Why this is a problem for Darwinism
| July 3, 2012 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Design inference, Ecology, Intelligent Design |
“The peculiar properties of lignin therefore make perfect sense when seen as part of a coherent design for the entire ecosystem of our planet. ” more
UD Commenter Nick Matzke in Prestigious Scientific Journal Nature Again
| June 17, 2012 | Posted by scordova under Ecology, extinction, Global Warming, Media, Peer review, Science |
I believe this is already the 2nd time that Nick has graced the pages of the world’s leading science journal. See: Predicting a state shift in the biosphere, and communicating it. Looks like it is the cover story too! Nick and I have been opponents in the ID / Evolution debate for years. I’m glad… more
Ancient bacteria resisted antibiotics they’d never met – jumping genes implicated
| September 5, 2011 | Posted by News under Ecology, horizontal gene transfer, News |
In “Antibiotic resistance found in ancient bacteria” (CBC News, Aug 31, 2011), Emily Chung reports, The same genes that make disease-causing bacteria resistant to today’s antibiotics have been found in soil bacteria that have remained frozen since woolly mammoths roamed the Earth. “We’ve shown for the first time that drug resistance is a really old… more
Bring back natural history, say biologists
| September 1, 2011 | Posted by News under Culture, Ecology, News |
Fully urban students who grow up watching nature documentaries about faroff exotic animals don’t know much about the life forms that comprise their own ecology. Many could recite school facts who have never lived with those facts. more
Scientific American sort of agrees with UD News?
| August 18, 2011 | Posted by News under Ecology, Intelligent Design, News |
Many “urban leaders’” environmental regulations are just plain stupid but local people (intelligent agents) – who know the regs are stupid – monitor them. That beats remote bureaucracy cold. Dead. more
Invasive species: When environmentalists shove Darwinism under the bus
| August 2, 2011 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism, Ecology, Human evolution |
Anyone who has witnessed one of these popular non-native species eradication programs (the author mentions a local “Operation: No More Water Chestnuts” as a case in point) is put in mind of traditional groups conducting a ritual hunt for “evil.” more
You should have had more faith in cod.
| July 29, 2011 | Posted by News under Ecology |
This encouraging story from CBC News, “East Coast cod found to be recovering” (Jul 27, 2011), shows why ecology is a science and apocalypse isn’t. more
One reason why the “fittest” don’t necessarily survive
| June 28, 2011 | Posted by News under Ecology, Natural selection |
At ScienceDaily we learn, “Scientists Uncover an Unhealthy Herds Hypothesis” (June 24, 2011), Biologists worldwide subscribe to the healthy herds hypothesis, the idea that predators can keep packs of prey healthy by removing the weak and the sick. This reduces the chance disease will wipe out the whole herd, but could it be that predators… more
Darwinian deadliness?
| February 15, 2011 | Posted by O'Leary under Darwinism, Ecology, Evolution |
No, this isn’t about what you think. For once, we are talking about frogs and newts. A friend notes that an evolutionary biologist puzzles as follows: “One of the most puzzling paradoxes in the evolution of toxins is why organisms evolve to be deadly – contrary to venoms, for which deadly effects have a clear… more
Intelligent design and ecology: Environmental change via biosphere feedback mechanisms
| December 12, 2009 | Posted by O'Leary under Ecology |
British physicist David Tyler writes at Access Research Network (10 December 2009): With millions of eyes on Copenhagen, this seems an appropriate time to ask whether ID thinking has any relevance to understanding the Earth’s environment. Can design concepts help us weigh the diverse and often conflicting messages? I think ID is helpful, because features… more