Discovery Institute's Blog, page 127

Can Sex Explain Evolution?

Last time out, we looked at Darwin's theory of natural selection, alleged by some to be the single best idea anyone ever invented. The mere process of eliminating unfit examples of a type in a given environment builds up information over time, resulting in huge new layers of complexity.

But if no one can say what is fit or unfit according to natural selection, because nature has no direction, why must we pay attention to claims about natural selection? Why is there supposed to be anything to...

Stephen Meyer Speaks at College of the Ozarks

This past weekend, the College of the Ozarks hosted the Pensmore Dialogues on Faith and Science. More than 1,000 enthusiastic attendees heard lectures from Dr. Meyer on The Signature in the Cell, Dr. Lennox on "What Science Is, and What it is Not," and Father Spitzer on "New Evidence for the Existence of God." Dr. Meyer also presented in a breakout session on Darwin's Doubt, which was very well received, with many hanging out afterwards to engage with Meyer in further conversation.

Attendee...

Dr. Stephen Meyer Speaks at College of the Ozarks

This past weekend, the College of the Ozarks hosted the Pensmore Dialogues on Faith and Science. More than 1,000 enthusiastic attendees heard lectures from Dr. Meyer on The Signature in the Cell, Dr. Lennox on "What Science Is, and What it is Not," and Father Spitzer on "New Evidence for the Existence of God." Dr. Meyer also presented in a breakout session on Darwin's Doubt, which was very well received, with many hanging out afterwards to engage with Meyer in further conversation.

Attendee...

Doctor Sued for Saying No to Euthanasia

I have been warning (with increasing intensity) about a pending medical martyrdom -- forcing doctors to choose between killing and continuing in their profession -- both from the contexts of statutory law and professional discipline.

Now, in the Netherlands, we see a doctor reported to the medical board -- essentially for malpractice -- for recommending against a euthanasia killing.

Milou de Moor had lupus and depression and wanted euthanasia. After apparently receiving permission, the kill...

The Crowd Cheers Living Waters at Southern California Premiere

Congratulations to our friends at Illustra Media! The Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton was filled to near capacity on Saturday night for the Southern California premiere of Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth. The film looked and sounded great on the large screen in this classic 1930s theater, and when the credits began to roll, the audience of a thousand-plus erupted into enthusiastic applause and cheers.

After the showing, producer Lad Allen invited three of the f...

Junk Science at Smithsonian's Hall of Human Origins

This past week I was in Washington, DC (no, not to see the Pope) and had the opportunity to spend a couple hours at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. I had long looked forward to seeing its David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins.

Ever since the hall opened in 2010, I'd been hearing that the exhibit was not just biased in favor of evolution, but had an unabashed evangelical motive to promote evolution to the public. In fact, in 2010 I heard Rick Potts (director of...

Listen: Daniel Shechtman, Nobel Prize Winner Who Challenged the "Consensus"

On an episode of ID the Future, David Boze recounts the plight of Dr. Daniel Shechtman, 2011 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals, who had previously suffered rejection and ridicule for threatening the scientific establishment.

Boze considers the parallels between Shechtman's once-heretical science and the modern-day scorn directed at the ID movement.

Image: Daniel Shechtman, Technion/Israel Institute of Technology (File:Shechtman_(2).jpg) [CC BY-SA 3...

Does Sexual Selection Explain the Long-Necked Giraffe?

On an episode of ID the Future, hear the final segment of Casey Luskin and Wolf-Ekkehard Lnnig's discussion of the long-necked giraffe.

Dr. Lnnig examines sexual selection as a potential evolutionary explanation of the long-necked giraffe and considers intelligent design as an alternate explanation.

Image credit: Clmence Delmas (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

At the United Nations, Francis Appears to Teeter Toward "Nature Rights"

Pope Francis's strong environmental emphasis is teetering toward a dangerous cliff. Today at the United Nations, he seemingly implied that nature has rights.

The left-wing Guardian celebrates:

The Pope demanded justice for the weak and affirmed the rights of the environment on Friday in a forceful speech to the United Nations that warned against "a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity".

A day after making history by becoming the first pope to address Congress, Franc...

Self-Image as a Bulwark of Darwinian Orthodoxy

Carrying on the wonderful legacy of the noble Chuck Colson, the guys at BreakPoint -- John Stonestreet and Eric Metaxas -- are some of the more insightful commentators we know on the passing scientific scene. Stonestreet has a nice one this week ("Sensationalist Science"), noting the distorting role that pride plays in research, leading to some recent embarrassments.

Last month, psychology suffered a major blow when it was reported how often studies in the field fail the test of reproducibi...