Discovery Institute's Blog, page 482

Darwinian Medicine and Proximate and Evolutionary Explanations

This post is a continuation of my reply to Jerry Coyne's post on Darwinian medicine.

Evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr asserted that there are two ways to understand biology: proximate explanations and evolutionary explanations.

Proximate explanations are the description of the process itself. A proximate explanation of type 1 diabetes is that it is caused by lack of insulin. A proximate explanation of Duchenne muscular dystrophy is that it is a recessive X-linked genetic disease that causes m...

Evolution as a Political Speed Trap

Two kinds of issues are tough to handle in politics: ones where people use the same words to mean different things and ones where there are issues wrapped within issues. Evolution is both of those things, and also can be emotional--rather than logical--for both atheists and theists alike.

Today's American Spectator contains a column by Jay Richards and David Klinghoffer on "the speed trap" of presidential politics. Their advice is sympathetic and sound.

Continue reading here.

Texas Reviewers Reject Accurate Evolution Curriculum Because It "Contradicts Biology Textbooks"

In our recent report on proposed Texas teaching materials, we found that many of the materials on evolution were full of errors. Not only did some of the materials include Haeckel's embryo drawings, they also included inaccurate claims about supposed "vestigial" organs, and myths about the Miller-Urey experiment. Nearly all of the proposed materials present evolution in a one-sided fashion, entirely ignoring the following requirement of the Texas Science Standards (called "TEKS"):

(3) (A...

Jerry Coyne on Why Darwinian Medicine Is so...so...Amusing

Jerry Coyne has a post on his recent conversion to Darwinian Medicine:

If you've followed this website, you'll know that I was once down on the practical uses of evolution: I thought of the discipline more as a way to understand the world than to improve it. But I've changed my mind, largely at the instigation of Dave Hillis at the University of Texas at Austin, who has enlightened me about the real applications of evolution in medicine.

Coyne, a man not easily converted, was led to the...

Optimistic Optics: Scientific American Makes Bold Claims About the Origin of the Eye

A couple of weeks ago, an interesting article appeared in Scientific American, titled "Evolution Of The Eye." The subheading of the article makes the bold claim, "Scientists now have a clear vision of how our notoriously complex eye came to be." When I saw that this article had been published, I was immediately filled with a sense of intrigue. I looked forward to reading a proposed solution to a fiendishly vexing problem. What the article actually provided, however, was largely...

Jerry Coyne and Darwinian medicine

Jerry Coyne has a post on Darwinian medicine, which is a new branch of evolutionary biology that studies the evolutionary causes of disease and claims to provide evolutionary insights that are of therapeutic value.

I'm a professor at a medical school and I have several decades of experience teaching medical students. As you might imagine, I am quite skeptical about the value of Darwinian medicine in medical education. In this post and in posts to follow, I'll briefly summarize my reasons...

Revisiting Those Early Developmental Stages: A Response to PZ Myers

Last week, I published a review and critique of a lecture which I attended by developmental biologist PZ Myers, of the University of Minnesota Morris. Since that time, PZ Myers has published a response on his blog. This is my rebuttal to that response.

For those who want the bottom line, here it is. Myers thinks I'm worried about Haeckelian recapitulation. But that's completely wrong. Neo-Darwinism itself predicts that early development, starting with fertilization, should be conserved....

Rate My Professors: P.Z. Myers

Is this how they educate young people at the Morris campus of the University of Minnesota? Touring Scotland, atheist biologist and blogger P.Z. Myers spoke to the local "skeptics" society in Glasgow. After the talk in the Q&A, which you can and should watch here starting at 3:44, a young man questioned Myers on homology and the evolution of developmental pathways, to which the biologist responded with a string of angry abuse:

Aren't you a little bit ashamed to have been responsible for this...

My Reply to Ben on Atheist Ennui

Blogger Ben had a thoughtful comment on my post Jerry Coyne on the Banality of New Atheism.

Ben:

Debate over Theistic Evolution Heats Up, as Does Interest in the God & Evolution Anthology

The debate among evangelical Christians over Darwin's theory of evolution has returned to front stage this summer with the publication of two separate cover stories on the issue by leading Christian magazines. Christian news magazine World has announced that it will name two books critiquing "theistic evolution" as its "Books of the Year" in its upcoming July 2 issue. World called the evolution debate in churches and religious colleges "the biggest current battle both among...