Discovery Institute's Blog, page 125

Gate-Crashing the Nuclear Pore Complex

Who would have thought a hundred years ago that a simple fungus contains high-tech security gates guarded by agents that authenticate cargo before letting it through? That's what advances in imaging are allowing scientists to observe. We must be among the most privileged in history to witness the foundations of biological life coming into focus in all their glory!

You got a simplified glimpse of this gate 13 years ago in the film Unlocking the Mystery of Life. It's that circular portal that...

Introducing The Information Enigma -- Intelligent Design in a Nutshell

Intelligent design, or ID, may be the most misunderstood scientific idea ever. That's why we are delighted today to unveil an easily accessible twenty-minute crystallization of ID's major argument in the form of a beautifully produced video from Discovery Institute, The Information Enigma. I'm proud to have drafted the script, but the stars are philosopher of science Stephen Meyer and molecular biologist Douglas Axe. See it here:

ID stands out from other scientific ideas in a couple of ways...

Listen: Felipe Aizp��n on Design, Teleology, and Philosophy

On a new episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin talks with Felipe Aizpn, author of The Fifth Way and Intelligent Design (La quinta va y el diseo inteligente) and prolific writer on ID and the debate over origins.

Aizpn explains how intelligent design is both a scientific and philosophical argument, and discusses misguided opposition to ID from some Thomist philosophers.

Image: Supermoon eclipse over Washington Monument, via NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.

Confirmation that Assisted Suicide Increases Other Suicides

I have long suspected that pushing suicide in some situations would increase suicides in others. For example, Oregon has the second highest suicide rate in the country -- and that doesn't include its assisted suicides.

Between 1999 and 2010, the suicide rate among men and women aged 34-65 spiked nearly 50 percent in Oregon, compared to 28 percent nationally. I believe that assisted suicide advocacy pushes suicide generally because it communicates the message that self-termination is an accep...

Putting Scientism in Its Place

Nautilus has a brief and elegant essay, "Why Science Needs Metaphysics," extracted from a forthcoming book by Oxford philosopher Roger Trigg.

He concludes:

There is such a thing as scientific progress, and it happens through systematic trial and error or, in Karl Popper's terminology, conjecture and refutation. A "scientific realist" has to be wary, though, about how such realism is defined. A realism that makes reality what contemporary science says it is links reality logically to the huma...

Living Waters Enthusiastically Received in Georgia

An enthusiastic crowd of about 425 came to the Kristi Lynn Theater on the campus of Mt. Paran Christian School in Kennesaw, GA yesterday evening to see the Atlanta area premier of Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth. Cheers and applause at the end of the film gave testimony to the quality of the film and its incredible story and photography.

Discovery Institute Fellow Dr. Paul Nelson was on hand after the showing to make some comments and engage in a lively Q&A sess...

Low Blood Pressure and Evolutionary Biology

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." Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.

The body is made up of trillions of cells w...

Thinking Critically about Opposition to Teaching the Controversy

Solid reasoning is key to scientific inquiry. But Smithsonian Magazine's recent article, "See Where Climate Science Conflict Has Invaded U.S. Classroooms," is filled with flawed logic and the same rhetorical tactics used to discount bills that permit teaching the controversy over evolution.

The article tries to connect teaching climate change disagreements to teaching both sides of evolution. Reporter Powell notes, "Conservative legislators with a history of targeting evolution education ha...

Could We All Get Together and Evolve as a Group?

In our quest to understand how evolution happens, we have looked at horizontal gene transfer and epigenetics, each of which gives a small amount of genuine, though generally unheralded, change.

Natural selection and sexual selection are widely publicized theories, developed in detail by Darwin. They became iconic, in part one must think, because of the instant media recognition. The subtle self-flattery that comes of thinking that one is naturally or sexually selected to survive.
The evidenc...

Listen: The Positive Case for Intelligent Design

On an episode of ID the Future, listen to the first part of a recent talk that Casey Luskin gave on ID and law where he discusses the definition of intelligent design.

As Luskin points out, ID involves much more than just a critique of Darwinian evolution; it uses reasoning to recognize patterns that point to life's intelligent origins, similar to methods to those employed in archaeology and forensic science.

Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.