Discovery Institute's Blog, page 475

In Praise of Jacques Barzun

Historian Jacques Barzun was born on November 30, 1907, at Créteil, France, when Darwin's theory was still very fresh in the collective mentalité of the Western world. Indeed Joseph Dalton Hooker, Darwin's close confidante was still alive, as was the co-discoverer of natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace. Living in retired comfort at Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset, England, Wallace still had yet to write his grand evolutionary synthesis, The World of Life, three years later and...

Darwinism and Its Discontents

A thoughtful and honest essay ("Is That All There Is? Secularism and Its Discontents") by James Wood in The New Yorker confronts the anguished disappointment of secularism, which, it's implied throughout, is disproportionately a gift of our Darwinian cultural heritage. I take away from the piece that much as Darwinian apologists would like us to think that the view they evangelize for includes its own comforts and sources of awe, enchantment and illumination, this is largely bunk for ...

Redefining "Science Literacy" As "Acceptance of Evolution"

A recent news article in the journal Science asks the question "Can a person be scientifically literate without accepting the concepts of evolution and the big bang?" and makes the observation that "To many scientists and educators, the answer to that question is an unqualified 'no.'"

Now I accept Big Bang cosmology, and "evolution" too when it is defined as "change over time." But if one defines evolution as meaning "universal common ancestry" or the idea that "natural selection...

Slugs in Love

Nature as the product of random, mindless natural evolutionary forces? See this quite beautiful and truly balletic nature video of slugs mating. This is as lovely as any dance I've seen enacted by human beings recently. The adjective I would apply to it is "luminous." H/T PZ.

Darwinists Driven to the Edge of Madness by...Cars 2

Pixar is one of our favorite movie studios in history. That said, we missed both Cars and Cars 2 and a friend advised us, regarding the latter, that he found it so boring he walked out halfway through. Boring or not, this pair of seemingly harmless animated films about anthropoid automobiles has pushed some Darwinists to the edge of madness.

How so? A good question and one whose answer we're still not sure we entirely grasp. Reportedly there is some extremely subtle nod to...

The Awe-Inspiring "Divine Beauty" of Flagellar Assembly

Several months ago, I published an article here exploring the breath-taking complexity and elegance of bacterial flagellar assembly.

Since that time, I have been directed to the following stunning animation of flagellar assembly. Though it barely scratches the surface of this intricate process, this video will give you a taste of just how fantastically sophisticated flagellum biosynthesis really is.

One of my favorite resources on flagellar assembly is the book Pili and...

Tisha b'Av: Mourning the Veil over Nature's Design

Today is the 9th day in the Hebrew month of Av, a mourning day in Judaism called Tisha b'Av, meaning simply "9th of Av."

It's a fast day, meaning one without food or drink for a little over 24 hours. We've got another few hours to go and I am thirsty. Generally, the day is explained as commemorating the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem, which both fell on this day centuries apart, along with other tragedies like the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 which also...

The Human Kidney, By Design

Another item for the "Everything You Thought You Know About Food Isn't So" file: Scientific American reports on research in the American Journal of Hypertension debunking the notion that high sodium intake leads to high blood pressure ("It's Time to End the War on Salt"). But note this interesting observation by Albert Einstein College of Medicine epidemiologist Michael Alderman. Explaining why different people respond differently to salt, he attributes this to the design -- note...

Metamorphosis Will Have Northwest Premiere in Seattle, Saturday, August 13

The new Illustra Media film Metamorphosis will have its premiere here in the Pacific Northwest this Saturday, August 13, 7:30 pm at the Seattle Art Museum. Join us in the Plestcheef Auditorium. Tickets are $10 (including a dessert reception).

Metamorphosis gorgeously documents the beauty and mystery of butterflies. Throughout history, butterflies have fascinated artists and philosophers, scientists and schoolchildren with their mystery and beauty.

Now you can explore their remarkable...

Butterfly Patterns: Convergent Evolution or Design?

Some butterflies are expert mimics of other species. Evolutionists call this "convergent evolution." Recently a single gene was found responsible for the red colors in one genus. Does this strengthen the case for convergent evolution, or any kind of evolution? As usual, what is left unexplained is far more important.

Members of the Heloconius genus of butterflies (also called passion-vine butterflies) are renowned for the brilliant red patterns on their wings. Some of them can even m...