Discovery Institute's Blog, page 474

When a Consensus -- on Science or Anything -- Masks "Groupthink"

A brief item in the New York Times offers an intriguing antidote from ancient history to the timeless problem of subtly enforced conformity of opinion.

One of the most influential theories in the behavioral sciences in recent decades is "groupthink." Developed by the psychologist Irving Janis in the early 1970s, the groupthink theory describes how a tight-knit, smart and well-informed group can suppress dissent and make disastrous decisions because of the pressure to agree.

Hm, that...

On Washington Post "On Faith" Page, Jay Richards Sets Evolution "Researcher" Straight

The Washington Post's On Faith page featured a strange and rambling article recently by "independent researcher in sociology and evolution" Gregory Paul chiding conservatives for doubting Darwin even as they supposedly push what Paul caricatures as an Ayn Randian "Social Darwinist" capitalism. Paul wants to know why conservative Christians in particular fail to champion Marxism since communists drew their inspiration from the early Christian Church. Christianity, not Darwinism, is...

Butterfly Wings Become Design Templates

A team in China has succeeded in making metallic butterfly wings -- not from scratch, or by imitation, but by actually depositing metal onto the wings and removing the original organic substance. This technique not only promises interesting optical materials; it assumes a good design is worth copying.

We earlier described how precise geometric patterns on butterfly wings produce brilliant colors. These patterns, called photonic crystals, are highly desirable in a number of human...

The Kinesin Motor: A Stunning Example of Cellular Nanotechnology

One of the most amazing examples of cellular nanotechnology is a molecular motor protein known as kinesin. Kinesin is responsible for transporting molecular cargo -- including chromosomes (e.g. during cell division), neurotransmitters and other important material -- along microtubule tracks from one region of the cell to another. It is driven by ATP hydrolysis, thereby converting chemical energy into mechanical energy which it can use for movement. A kinesin molecule typically...

This Octopus is Color-blind...

By the way, can you find the camouflaged animal? It blends in so perfectly that -- watch the video -- when it suddenly appeared, the Woods Hole marine biologist who was filming screamed in shock. The octopus may at will blend into a variety of color schemes the differences among which it cannot, for its own part, actually perceive.

Amazing what a process of blind evolutionary groping can do, isn't it? We feel tempted to call it ingenious. But that would be wrong.

"Dominionist" Darwinism

Our friend and colleague Nancy Pearcey has a good piece in Human Events taking off from a New Yorker attack piece on Michele Bachmann who, for reading and admiring Nancy's book Total Truth, is smeared as a Christian "dominionist." The word is a made-up term, hitherto unfamiliar to Pearcey or to me. It's intended to cast an innocent idea championed by Pearcey -- that Christianity (or one might add, Judaism) describes a holistic worldview rather than just a "religion" -- into a...

What Drives Darwinian Scientists to their Fury

You may have wondered why Darwinists in academia get so worked up about intelligent design. Reading what they write about our scientists and their work, you picture these guys turning red and sweating a lot. Alternatively, they try to mask their rage by getting all sarcastic and pseudo-witty -- a man of mature age like Larry Moran, for example, calling other adults "IDiots."

Clearly, it's irrational because anger is almost always irrational. (I should know.) But even irrational fury t...

Metamorphosis: The Reminder

Butterflies are joining the ranks of the icons of intelligent design. If you're in the Seattle area, don't forget Saturday night's Pacific Northwest premiere of Metamorphosis, August 13, 7:30 pm at the Seattle Art Museum. Join us in the Plestcheef Auditorium. Tickets are $10. More information here.

Yes, parking can be tricky in downtown Seattle but remember there's ample space in the convenient lot under SAM.

The Mystery of Bach's Genius? Solved! It's All in the Ink

J.S. Bach wrote his musical scores with iron gall ink, which was in standard use in Europe at the time. The ingredients include tannic acid from oak galls, a hypertrophy growing on the sides of oak trees, and gum arabic, from the sap of the acacia tree. Imagine if a musicologist claimed that the mystery was fast being solved of how Bach composed music of such towering genius, since a "relatively simple combination of naturally occurring substances offers a plausible route to the...

A Theoretical Astrophysicist Illustrates Why There Are Almost No Genuine Atheists

I propose this as a rule of thumb: You can say you're an atheist if you want, but the rest of us have no warrant to call you that until you can show some evidence that you know something about the God you claim to reject. Perhaps there should be some sort of qualifying exam.

I've long been struck by how reliably the self-described atheists among our professional scientists turn out, on inspection, to reject not belief in God -- no God that I would recognize, anyway -- but a cartoon of ...