Discovery Institute's Blog, page 452

Darwin on Trial: The Implications for Neuroscience and Ethics

The past week here at ENV we've been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Phil Johnson's Darwin on Trial. An angle on the subject as yet unexplored is Johnson's chapter on "The Rules of Science" and how it relates to neuroscience and to ethics.

That important chapter discusses certain assumptions underlying the scientific endeavor. With reference to Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Johnson takes a step back from the details of his case study and the...

The Perverse Logic of Jet Propulsion Laboratory's "Origins Program"

In case anyone wonders whether NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab fired David Coppedge because his sharing ID-related videos with coworkers somehow interfered with JPL's work and mission -- well, take a look at the Lab's own description of its research in the field of life's origins. JPL has an Origins Program and here's what, in JPL's own words, it focuses on:

How did we get here? How did stars and galaxies form? Are there other planets like the Earth? Do other planets have conditions suitable for...

Why Did NASA's JPL Discriminate Against David Coppedge and Why Does It Matter?

As we noted here previously, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) first demoted and then terminated employee David Coppedge, a 14-year veteran of system administration at JPL. The case is now going to a jury trial. Why did they fire him?

Because Coppedge shared pro-intelligent design (ID) videos with coworkers. ID is a scientific theory that helps explain key events in the long history of life but, after receiving an unfounded complaint, JPL decision-makers reflexively labeled ID a mere...

From Conception to Birth: The Math and the Marvel

Mathematician and medical image maker Alexander Tsiaras offers a stunning visualization of the process that in nine months takes an emerging human life from conception to birth. He speaks of "the marvel of this information," "the mathematical models of how these things are done are beyond human comprehension," "even though I look at this with the eyes of mathematician I look at this and marvel. How do these instruction sets not make mistakes as they build what is us?"

A good ...

Better Electronics with Butterfly Technology

Butterfly wings have already inspired engineers looking for advances in optical surfaces that can reflect brilliant colors (see here). Now they are inspiring materials scientists wanting to create better waterproof surfaces for electronics.

An article on Science Daily, "Butterfly Wings Inspire Design of Water-Repellant Surface" (note the word "Design"), begins:

The brilliant blue wings of the mountain swallowtail (Papilio ulysse) easily shed water because of the way ultra-tiny structures in...

"No Designer Worth His Salt"? At the University of Chicago, Gregory Radick Critiques the Theology of Darwinism

Gregory Radick of the University of Leeds gave the final lecture in the fall semester "Debating Darwin" series at the University of Chicago earlier this month. The video is now up and it's well worth watching. His topic, "Lessons of the Galapagos," addressed what Radick calls the "No Designer Worth His Salt" argument, namely, that certain biological phenomena are inconsistent with our conception of the actions of a wise and benevolent designer. Thus, goes this often heard line of...

Jerry Coyne Hasn't Understood a Word David Berlinski Said

Are living things designed or not? It's an obvious question, with what should be an obvious answer. Darwin wrote a whole book, On the Origin of Species, to argue that the design was apparent, not real. The argument was that a simple process, natural selection acting on random variation, was capable of producing the amazing things we see in biology today. Perhaps the idea was plausible when Darwin proposed it, but it has since ceased to be credible, given what modern molecular biology has...

Judge Sends NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab to Jury Trial for Firing Employee Who Discussed Intelligent Design

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that a jury will decide whether NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) unlawfully discriminated against a former employee for discussing the scientific theory of intelligent design (ID) at work.

David Coppedge, a 14-year JPL veteran and team lead computer administrator on the Cassini Mission to Saturn, was demoted for lending ID-related DVDs to coworkers, behavior that one JPL complainant called "harassment," and another branded "pushing...

For Anyone Who Enjoys Pondering the Protean Flexibility of Evolutionary Theory...

Here's a passage of scientific prose to savor:

It was widely thought that de novo evolution of genes was quite rare, because the proteins they code for are often large and complex -- most fail to function properly if a single key component is out of place, so randomly evolving a working gene seemed implausible.

When an international team of researchers scanned the human genome for de novo genes, however, they putatively uncovered 60, three times more than once estimated.The source? Scientific...

Miniaturization and Design: The Case of the Fairy Wasp

William Dembski has noted that among the "criteria by which we identify and assess the intelligence responsible for contrivance," along with "functional interdependence of parts, elegance, reliability, complexity and redundancy," we shouldn't overlook miniaturization. The skill to contrive a computer that sits comfortably on your lap overshadows the skill it once took to build one, of lesser computing power, that took up an entire room's worth of space.

It's interesting to note, in this...