Discovery Institute's Blog, page 169

Life on Other Planets? A Writer at Slate Takes Us to Task

Over at Slate, Mark Strauss has contributed some comments about the possibility of life on other planets. His article, "God's Chosen Planet: Why Creationists are Praying We Never Find Alien Life," is a confusing rebuttal of sorts to the Rare Earth hypothesis, as well as to articles here at Evolution News & Views.

First, I must congratulate Strauss for actually reading our coverage at ENV, which not everyone who tries to answer us actually does. He understands the relevant arguments, and demo...

Atheist Matt Dillahunty Goes After Intelligent Design -- and Stumbles

I was recently directed to the above video featuring notable atheist Matt Dillahunty (with whom I have had interaction in the past). In it, Dillahunty makes a number of elementary mistakes that are quite common among popular-level criticisms of intelligent design. I thought it would be worthwhile to offer a short response.

Misrepresenting Intelligent Design

His first mistake is in representing the claims of the ID community. He claims that the "modern versions" of the design argument, "put f...

One-Third of Dutch GP Physicians Would Kill the Mentally Ill

Please! Don't tell me that euthanasia doesn't lead straight off a vertical moral cliff. A recent survey of Netherlander MD general practitioners found that very high percentages would kill cancer patients, and one-third would be willing to euthanize the mentally ill. From the PsychCentral story:

For mental illness, only 34 percent would consider helping the patient die, and 40 percent would help someone with early-stage dementia to die. The rate was slightly lower for late-stage dementia, at...

Listen: Casey Luskin on the Abrupt Appearance of Species in the Fossil Record as a Challenge to Darwinian Theory

On a new episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin continues his series discussing the top 10 problems with biological and chemical evolution:

The series is based on Casey's chapter in More than Myth, edited by Paul Brown and Robert Stackpole (Chartwell Press, 2014). In this segment, Casey discusses the fifth problem: how abrupt appearance of species in the fossil record does not support Darwinian evolution.

Understanding Respiration: Why Real Numbers Really Matter

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.

Since our body is made up of cells that con...

The Elegance of C. elegans: Classic Design in Miniature

What does it take to build an animal? Here are the job specifications. A single large cell front-loaded with information and enough energy to finish the job must be able to build an organism made of many diverse parts that all function together to solve the problems of getting resources, responding to the environment, disposing of waste, and reproducing itself.

To make it easy, let's say the animal is a worm with about one thousand cells. OK, go.

Can't do it? Neither could I. No one could, b...

From Developmental Biology, New Evidence for Intelligent Design: Two Videos Pose a Basic Challenge to Unguided Evolution

You'll find them in the compost heap in your backyard. But you will need a microscope to see them well. They are the roundworms known as C. elegans. Only a millimeter long, these tiny creatures are helping us to understand what it takes to build an animal starting from a single cell. Their development poses a fundamental challenge to the idea of undirected evolution.

Today Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture releases two new videos on YouTube that tell the amazing story of thi...

Animal Rights Opposes Successful Cancer Test

Dogs are amazing animals, intelligently designed by exceptional humans to serve us in many ways. In the course of that history, they have become our best friends, giving and receiving so much love and joy.

Dogs can detect cancer, and now one study shows an astonishing 90 percent success rate in sniffing out prostate cancer. From the story in The Guardian:

Hopes that man's best friend can help medics detect prostate cancer have been boosted by research suggesting that trained German shepherd...

Listen: Casey Luskin on Why Natural Selection Struggles to Fix Advantageous Traits in Populations

On a new episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin continues his series discussing the top ten problems with biological and chemical evolution. The series is based on Casey's chapter in the volume More than Myth, edited by Paul Brown and Robert Stackpole (Chartwell Press, 2014). In this segment, Casey discusses the fourth problem: that natural selection struggles to fix advantageous traits in populations.

Understanding Respiration: A Breath of Fresh Air, if You Please

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.

Since we live in the material world and our...