Discovery Institute's Blog, page 496

Behe's Critics Use Faulty Logic to Allege Creationist Connections to the Origin of Irreducible Complexity

Quarterly Review of Biology (QRB) published an error-filled article attacking Michael Behe and intelligent design (ID) as penance for publishing Behe's article. So much for the claim from critics that Behe's QRB paper had nothing to do with ID.

In any case, the critical article by Maarten Boudry, Stefaan Blancke, and Johan Braeckman uses fallacious logic to attempt to connect Michael Behe's arguments from irreducible complexity to young earth creationism. There argument seems to...

NPR Describes Way it Covers Science

NPR is taking it licks for the surreptiticiously recorded conversation two of its top officers had with men pretending to be part of a Muslim Brotherhood-funded foundation. There are now hundreds of news reports and commentaries on the story, and even the ones on NPR, in the New York Times and in the Washington Post are damaging to the proposition -- if it still is believed anywhere -- that NPR is objective and unbiased.

In the course of a long lunch in Georgetown, NPR's Sr. Vice President...

Quarterly Review of Biology Publishes Outlandish Rhetoric Against Intelligent Design as Penance for Behe's Paper

As we discussed, Michael Behe published a peer-reviewed paper in the December, 2010 issue of Quarterly Review of Biology (QRB), a prominent biology journal.

Critics have claimed that Behe's paper had nothing to do with intelligent design (ID) -- but the paper sought to establish that Darwinian mechanisms tend to not generate new functional molecular features, which seems very much like an argument relevant to ID. The editors of QRB apparently disagreed with those critics, as they felt...

Did DNA Evolve? Watch Part 2 of Stephen Meyer's Series on the John Ankerberg Show

As science has progressed, scientists have realized the cell is more complex they they'd ever imagined. What is behind the origins of the cell's complexity? What naturalistic theories have been proposed? What is the possibility of the precise genetic information in DNA evolving by chance? Watch as Stephen Meyer answers these and other questions.

Has Francis Collins Changed His Mind On "Junk DNA"?

I am currently in the process of reading Francis Collins' most recent book, The Language of Life -- DNA and the Revolution in Personalised Medicine.

I have to confess to an element of surprise when I read the following statement on page 6 of his book:

The discoveries of the past decade, little known to most of the public, have completely overturned much of what used to be taught in high school biology. If you thought the DNA molecule comprised thousands of of genes but far more "junk DNA"...

Stephen Hawking's Materialist Logic: "We Don't Understand How Life Formed," but It "Must Have Spontaneously Generated Itself"

In a documentary from the Discovery Channel on the search for extraterrestrial life, Stephen Hawking provides an extraordinarily candid example of the fallacious materialist logic for why extraterrestrial life "must" be possible.

Around 1:15 of the clip below, Hawking states:

The life we have on earth must have spontaneously generated itself. It must therefore be possible for life to be generated spontaneously elsewhere in the universe.

The gaping hole in Hawking's logic should be...

How the Science Teachers' Lobby Keeps Its Constituents in the Dark on Evolution

One of the most powerful education organizations in the country is the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), which stands alongside the rest of the Darwin lobby in holding that neo-Darwinian evolution should be taught in a one-sided, pro-evolution-only fashion.

This is an extreme position, as it seeks to ban scientific criticisms of evolution. Due to its exclusive and dogmatic nature, the NSTA's position is analogous to the extreme position advocated by some religious...

Want a Good Grade in Alison Campbell's College Biology Course? Don't Endorse Intelligent Design

Why do we need academic freedom legislation like Tennessee's HB 368? In case biology lecturer Alison Campbell decides to relocate to the United States. Sadly, even if she remains in New Zealand, there are already people here who don't allow for the free flow of ideas, especially when it comes to discussion of evolution.

Biology lecturer Alison Campbell at the University of Waikato in Hillcrest, New Zealand, exemplifies a mindset that is tragically common in academia. She openly...

Want a Good Grade in Allison Campbell's College Biology Course? Don't Endorse Intelligent Design

Why do we need academic freedom legislation like Tennessee's HB 368? In case biology lecturer Allison Campbell decides to relocate to the United States. Sadly, even if she remains in New Zealand, there are already people here who don't allow for the free flow of ideas, especially when it comes to discussion of evolution.

Biology lecturer Allison Campbell at the University of Waikato in Hillcrest, New Zealand, exemplifies a mindset that is tragically common in academia. She openly...

Biology Teacher Survey Authors Want Darwin-Doubting Teachers "To Pursue Other Careers"

A survey in the journal Science hopes that teachers who doubt Darwinism will "pursue other careers." Is this proof of institutionalized discrimination at work?

"Honey, why are you seeking this promotion? Do you really want to swim with us big boys in management? You just stay in your place, sweetie." If such words were spoken to a female employee in any American corporation, she would immediately be entitled to file a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination -- and rightfully so....