Discovery Institute's Blog, page 487

Biology and Mathematics

Perhaps mathematics can explain certain biological phenomenon.

While the chemistry and physics students suffered through semester after semester of mathematics, the biology students finished their calculus sequence and moved on. The idea was that biology does not lend itself to mathematical application in the same way chemistry and physics does, so students didn't need very much math. However, that may be old news. According to an article in New Statesman by Ian Stewart, biology may...

Has Forbes.com Critic of The Myth of Junk DNA Read the Book?

Over at his Forbes.com blog, John Farrell has written a critique of Jonathan Wells' new book The Myth of Junk DNA. The only problem is that many of the arguments Farrell critiques aren't ones that Jonathan Wells makes in the book. Below is a comment I posted on Mr. Farrell's blog in response:

Dear Mr. Farrell,

Have you read Jonathan wells' book The Myth of Junk DNA? I don't mean to be cheeky, but frankly, it doesn't seem like you have. The Myth of Junk DNA either doesn't make the arguments...

Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez on the Habitability of Gliese 581d

In case you haven't seen the news, reports on the recently discovered exoplanet Gliese 581d have some researchers claiming it might be habitable. Since astronomer (and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow) Guillermo Gonzalez is an expert on the subject, we interviewed him for the podcast. You might want to take a listen:

Click here to listen.

Have scientists discovered a planet with possible life on it? On this episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith interviews astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez...

Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez on the Habitability of Gliese 581g

In case you haven't seen the news, reports on the recently discovered exoplanet Gliese 581d have some researchers claiming it might be habitable. Since astronomer (and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow) Guillermo Gonzalez is an expert on the subject, we interviewed him for the podcast. You might want to take a listen:

Click here to listen.

Have scientists discovered a planet with possible life on it? On this episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith interviews astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez...

New York Times Article Refutes Conspiracy Theories About Why Synthese Opposed the Disrespectful Methods of Intelligent Design Critics

We've recently discussed how earlier this year, some leading intelligent design (ID) critics organized an issue of the philosophy journal Synthese using mockery, motive mongering, guilt-by-association, and other fallacious arguments to attack intelligent design (ID). For example, ID was called "irrational," or alternatively a "rational pathogology." It was also called a "threat" which academics should "combat," or a "weed" which academics should "pull." (Another suggestion offered to...

Karl Giberson and Francis Collins Commit Berra's Blunder While Arguing for Macroevolution

In their new book The Language of Science and Faith, Karl Giberson and Francis Collins argue that "the distinction between micro and macro evolution is arbitrary." (p. 45, emphases in original) As a result, they assert that "macroevolution is simply microevolution writ large: add up enough small changes and we get a large change." (p. 45) What's most incredible is not that they make this claim (which is common in evolutionary writings), but the examples--or lack thereof--they give to back ...

Convergent Genetic Evolution in Lichen Species

ScienceDaily has recently reported:

A Duke research team has found that lichen that seem identical in all outward appearances and produce the same internal chemicals are in fact two different species, one living in North America and one in Australia. They're an example of "convergent evolution," in which two species evolve separately but end up looking very similar, like the Tasmanian wolf and the American wolf.

So basically this is convergent genetic evolution such that two supposedly...

Previewing Metamorphosis: The Case for Intelligent Design in a Nutshell Chrysalis

The other night, I watched the latest production from Illustra Media, Metamorphosis, with our oldest kid, nine-year-old Ezra. Given that he pretty strictly requires that video entertainment involve robots flying around blowing things up, I expected him to scoff at a movie about caterpillars that crawl around, turn into butterflies then proceed to fly to Mexico. Conspicuously, on its remarkable unguided cross-continental journey, the luminous orange-and-black Monarch butterfly fails...

Catholics and Intelligent Design, Part Five

This is the fifth in a series responding to a handful of Catholic critics of intelligent design. In the previous installment, we considered two complaints against ID. The first was a simple misunderstanding. Some critics see ID as treating only "what science can't explain" as evidence for design. This is incorrect.

The second complaint--that modern ID arguments are different from arguments made by the Church Fathers and St. Thomas--is partially true, but also trivial and of no...

Junk DNA and the Darwinist Response so Far

Over the weekend, Jonathan Wells's The Myth of Junk DNA broke into the top five on Amazon's list of books dealing with genetics -- a list normally dominated at its pinnacle by various editions of Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. Not bad, Jonathan.

The juxtaposition with Dawkins' Selfish Gene is appropriate, notwithstanding the demurrals of biochemist Larry Moran et al. Dawkins and other Darwinists, such as Jerry Coyne, have indeed posited that neo-Darwinian theory predicts that swaths of...