Discovery Institute's Blog, page 102

Using David Bowie to Promote Assisted Suicide

From all accounts that I have read, David Bowie died naturally of cancer. But writer Ann Neumann in The Guardian strives mightily to tie his demise to assisted suicide. From "David Bowie Planned His Death":

Bowie may have been a profoundly unique musician, but his secrecy regarding his terminal condition is increasingly common. Death, particularly for those in Bowie's generation, is becoming something to control -- an event to arrange and manage.

He kept his health condition private. And I a...

Reviewing The Evolution Revolution, the NCSE Offers Uninformed Criticism that Misses the Point

Editor's note : We are pleased to welcome a new contributor, Lee M. Spetner. Dr. Spetner holds a PhD in physics from MIT and is the author of The Evolution Revolution (reviewed by Casey Luskin here) and Not by Chance .

As readers of Evolution News likely know, the National Center for Science Education is an organization dedicated to dismissing all scientific criticism of Darwinian theory. Recently the group's bimonthly publication, Reports of the National Center for Science Education, reviewed...

What's the Difference Between a Buckyball and a BMC?

We've all seen geodesic domes that were intelligently designed by humans. The inventor, the great designer Buckminster Fuller, might have been quite surprised to learn that nature got there first. Two years after his death in 1983, a new form of carbon was discovered: C60, a geodesic-dome shaped molecule that was named buckminsterfullerene in his honor. Since then, numerous other "fullerenes" have been discovered, comprising shapes of spheres, ellipsoids, and rods. The carbon nanotubes we he...

Author Explains Why "Evolution" Has a Bone to Pick with Donald Trump

Whoever said intelligent design advocates don't make falsifiable predictions? I've got one right here. I stumbled on a new book by History News Network editor Rick Shenkman, Political Animals: How Our Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics, that offers to reveal political insights based on evolutionary knowledge of human origins. Shenkman and his book are receiving respectful discussion in the media.

Now this is a little unfair to Mr. Shenkman since I have not read his book, but I have read...

Shark Knows with Its Nose Where It Goes in the Dark

As Illustra Media showed in Living Waters by taking viewers inside the nose of a salmon, the olfactory (smell) organs of fishes are stupefyingly complex. A mainframe computer network could hardly surpass the computing power packed into the tiny space of a fish nostril. Similar complexity has been demonstrated recently in cartilaginous fish such as sharks, which would only be distantly related to bony fish in the evolutionary scheme.

"The ability of sharks to navigate the vast and seemingly f...

From Guantanamo, a Bioethics Furor

The world of bioethics is aglow with righteous outrage that military doctors are ordered to help force-feed Guantanamo inmates who are on hunger strikes. I have written before that doing so is right and proper. These inmates do not have autonomy to the same extent as those not detained, and moreover, the force-feeding is done to maintain their health and welfare. It is not intended to inflict pain or coerce information from them -- a different issue entirely.

Now, three bioethicists, writing...

The Myth of the Objective Scientist

Though rare, it's gratifying to see someone in the media pulling back the covers that normally hide the fact that passions and prejudices can drive scientists just like everyone else. Writing about a recent book by Alice Dreger, Toby Young in the London Spectator considers the career of anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon who was long vilified by his colleagues (though more recently rehabilitated). His offense? He cast doubt on what Young calls the "myth of the noble savage," a bedrock notion of...

Common Sense Design Principles and the Real World

A recent paper in PLOS Genetics considers the origins of new "genes" in humans and chimps. By comparing RNA sequences, researchers identified over 600 transcriptionally active "genes" that appear to be present only in humans and not in chimps or the other mammal species tested. They claimed that these "genes" were the product of evolution from previously non-coding, untranscribed DNA. They argued that some of the "genes" are made into proteins and perhaps may be subject to selection, meaning...

Defending the City: The Body's Two-Pronged Defense Strategy

Editor's note: Physicians have a special place among the thinkers who have elaborated the argument for intelligent design. Perhaps that's because, more than evolutionary biologists, they are familiar with the challenges of maintaining a functioning complex system, the human body. With that in mind, Evolution News & Views is delighted to present this series, "The Designed Body." For the complete series, see here. Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.

Let's r...

Defending the City: The Immune System's Irreducibly Complex System

Editor's note: Physicians have a special place among the thinkers who have elaborated the argument for intelligent design. Perhaps that's because, more than evolutionary biologists, they are familiar with the challenges of maintaining a functioning complex system, the human body. With that in mind, Evolution News & Views is delighted to present this series, "The Designed Body." For the complete series, see here. Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.

Let's r...