Discovery Institute's Blog, page 192

Comparing the Odds: The Seahawks Game Versus...Evolution?

Even the most die-hard Seattle fans would agree that the odds of last week's Seahawks win were quite small. They had to come back from a 12-point deficit in the last three minutes of the game. At that point the odds for a win were only 0.1 percent.

CBS Sports said:

According to the win probability graph from ProFootballReference.com, the Seahawks only had a .70 percent chance of winning the game after Wilson's pick [interception at 5:04 to go] -- that's less than one percent.

Believe it or n...

Biologic Institute's Groundbreaking Peer-Reviewed Science Has Now Demonstrated the Implausibility of Evolving New Proteins

Ann Gauger already provided an excellent series of articles discussing her recent paper co-authored in BIO-Complexity. She explains why it is important for demonstrating intelligent design (see here, here, here, here, and here). However, I wanted to give a slightly different framing of the new data. My purpose here and in a follow-up post will be to explain how this latest ID research (as well as prior work in the field) addresses fundamental questions in the debate over Darwinian evolution a...

It Takes Great Faith to Be an Astrobiologist

NASA's Astrobiology Magazine, funded with taxpayer dollars, illustrates the mystical view -- what else to call it? -- of nature in the astrobiologist community. In Elizabeth Howell's article, "How the Code of Life Passed Through Primitive Kinds of Cells," we see Harold Fellerman of the University of Denmark showing his mystical streak:

"I'm very interested in the creative potential of nature," he said. "Nature in general seems to be fertile with creativity that outperforms any human imaginat...

Darwin's Doubt Hits the 600 Review Mark on Amazon

At the turn of the New Year, just over 18 months after its release, Stephen Meyer's provocative bestseller Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design garnered its 600th Amazon review.

Based on my survey of similar titles, that makes Darwin's Doubt the most reviewed book on the topic of biological origins among those listed on the Amazon website. It has now surpassed in number of reviews the most popular books representing the other major perspectiv...

Nothing Could Be Finer than Studying Intelligent Design, in Seattle in July: Summer Seminars Are Coming

Global warming got you down? Don't let it.

Arguably, no season anywhere on the planet is more lovely than summer in the Pacific Northwest. That's why each year Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture sponsors two intensive nine-day seminars, combining intellectual stimulation at the highest level with an idyllic seasonal setting, right here in Seattle.

Our next summer seminars are from July 10-18, 2015. If you're a match for this outstanding program, consider applying now.

The semin...

Geese Can Fly Over Mt. Everest without Oxygen Tanks

An ascent of Mt. Everest is one of the supreme physical challenges for a human being. Imagine arriving at the summit to be greeted by a flock of geese flying overhead.

If you've seen Flight: The Genius of Birds you may remember the data loggers that uncovered the pole-to-pole migration of the Arctic tern. Researchers are increasingly using these devices on migratory animals to uncover their secrets. One of the most recent experiments revealed some astonishing secrets of the Asian banded goose...

In Holland, "Extreme" Ringing in the Ears Is Grounds for Euthanasia

Now, in the Netherlands, a woman was lethally injected because of severe tinnitus. From the DutchNews.nl story:

A special clinic in The Hague, set up to help people whose doctors do not support euthanasia, has been reprimanded for helping a 47-year-old woman with chronic tinnitus to die, broadcaster Nos says on Monday. The independent commission charged with monitoring how Dutch euthanasia rules are applied recognises that extreme tinnitus could be a reason for mercy killing but said Gaby Ol...

The Goalposts of Intelligent Design: Explaining Innovation

Everyone in Seattle is Seahawks-crazy now, so the football reference is well timed, at least. A reader points out the following from a post by biochemist Larry Moran, "Ann Gauger moves the goalposts":

What she and Doug Axe were really trying to do was to intelligently design an entirely new enzyme.

It seems Moran himself is the one who did the shifting, given the content of my previous post, but he may have inadvertently said something true.

The subject under discussion was our recently publi...

A Stable Atmosphere: Another Reason Our Planet Is Special

Editor's note: As a series at ENV, we are pleased to present "Exoplanets." Daniel Bakken is anengineer who teachesastronomy at the college level, and an entrepreneur in compound semiconductor crystal growth. In a series of articles he critically examines recent claims about exoplanets beyond our solar system, asking whether our own planet Earth is a rarity, or common, in the cosmos.

David Waltham's central argument in Lucky Planet is that the geological evidence shows the Earth has had a "sur...

At BioLogos, Stephen Meyer Clarifies the Disagreement Separating Intelligent Design from Theistic Evolution

The theory of intelligent design has supporters and detractors both among religious believers and among atheists and agnostics. An atheist sympathizer like Thomas Nagel, the renowned New York University philosopher, is an interesting case. No less so are those Christians and Jews who dislike the idea, despite the fact that traditional theism prompts us to expect objective evidence of design in nature.

Regarding the latter and their style of critique when it comes to ID, I think you could advan...