Discovery Institute's Blog, page 157

The Death of Darwin

As a young man Charles Darwin loved music, had a fondness for art, and appreciated fine literature. But as the world would come to know him, Darwin became devoted to science, and aboard The Beagle his pursuit of studying nature would become a passion. After this he would quietly develop his theory of evolution by natural selection, unveiled to the Linnean Society on July 1, 1858. From that point forward Darwin continued to expand on his explanation for the diversity of life by first presenti...

Now It's Plant "Intelligence"

Good grief, here we go again. I wrote previously about a professor (of course!) in the New York Times advocating "pea personhood."

Switzerland includes the "intrinsic dignity" of individual plants in its Constitution.

"Nature rights" is the law in two countries, more than thirty U.S. municipalities, and is supported by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

Now they are promoting "plant intelligence." From "Why Don't We Consider Plants Smart?" in the New Scientist:

Clearly, we...

New Metaphors for Non-Junky Genetics and Epigenetics

Having left "junk DNA" in the rearview mirror, molecular biologists are finding new treasures in the non-coding parts of the genome -- creating a need for new ID-friendly metaphors.

The Action Hero with Decoder Ring

You might have to be of a certain age to remember the old TV series Jonny Quest for this metaphor: the secret decoder ring that allows you to decrypt a hidden message. This is the word picture a new items from New York University uses to describe "powers" in micro RNA.

MicroRNA c...

Wall Street Journal: Coyne's Atheist Tract Is a "Splendid Specimen of Scientism"

I wouldn't advise any book author to take a negative review too much to heart. However a really singeing one like science writer John Horgan's takedown of Jerry Coyne's atheist tract, Faith vs. Fact, must hurt.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal ("Preaching to the Converted"), Horgan agrees with evolutionary biologist Coyne about some things that might have made you expect a more positive response:

I share his enthusiasm for science -- as a source of both truth and power over the world -- a...

How to Teach the Evolution Controversy

If you are a biology teacher who feels that Darwinism should not enjoy special legal protection from scientific criticism in the classroom, here is an idea for you. I suggest you distribute the news story below to your students, word for word. You then have two alternatives:

Identify the report as a 1980 New York Times News Service article (a photocopy is here). If you identify the source, you may be safe from direct persecution, in which case you have found a way to "teach the controversy"...

Meet the Souped-up Version of ATP Synthase

A vacuole. No big deal. A bubble inside a bigger bubble, the cell. A storage place for fats, perhaps. One could be forgiven in Victorian days for being so dismissive. Now we know better. Who ever would have dreamt that turbo-charged rotary engines line the membranes of vacuoles, setting the acidity inside to tightly regulated specifications?

Our popular video on ATP synthase illustrates one variety of rotary motor in the cell: the F-type ATPase. These molecular marvels, a tenth the size of t...

No, Academic Freedom Laws Do Not Authorize Teaching about Intelligent Design

It's a pleasure to welcome our new colleague Sarah Chaffee, who wrote on Friday about an academic freedom bill in Alabama. As she points out, neither that proposed law nor similar laws in Louisiana and Tennessee do what some critics claim. Those laws do not permit teaching the religious doctrine of creationism in public school science classes, nor do they give sanction to teaching about the scientific theory of intelligent design.

We've explained many times why a law that explicitly rejects...

Fighting Cancer with Intelligent Design

Antibiotic resistance is a real example of Darwinian evolution at work in nature. However, it typically entails small-scale change and a fitness cost -- the breaking of useful molecular mechanisms in a cell. It is a form of evolution, but it doesn't show significant creative evolution. So how do we fight it?

In my recent article "Does Medical Science Need Evolutionary Science?," I discussed how we fight antibiotic resistance by using intelligent design principles, namely the fact that there...

Group-Funding to Pay for Swiss Suicide?

Have we become such a degraded and life-disaffirming culture that an Internet fundraising site is hosting a request to group-fund a one-way trip to a Swiss suicide clinic?

Apparently so. From the pitch at the site, to which I won't link, since I don't want to indirectly aid this effort:

I am 66 years old and now disabled, with debilitating pain which was caused by having a tumour removed from my spine, permanently damaging my nervous system. Medical experts have advised me that there is no l...

Listen: Intelligent Designs in Nature Make Engineers Envious

On an episode of ID the Future, learn about some of scientists' latest attempts to copy sophisticated designs found in the natural world.

As Robert Crowther explains, this emerging science of imitating nature, known as biomimetics, has attracted extensive research and led to new technologies. As uniform experience has shown, such good design comes not from blind processes, but from a good mind.