Discovery Institute's Blog, page 57

Physical Fitness Test Found in the Spleen

What's a spleen good for? Is it just something to vent when angry? No, it's an organ under the rib cage that can be removed surgically in extreme circumstances. But you should hang onto yours as long as you can. Located just left of the stomach, the spleen serves several functions: filtering blood, recycling old blood cells, fighting certain kinds of bacteria, and storing parts of the immune system including white blood cells and platelets.

Now, a new function discovered at MIT bears the ha...

The Best Thing About Neil Tyson's #Rationalia?

That would have to be the rational response to it, which has been almost pure derision, much of it quite amusing. As Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist says:

There's hope for humanity RT @TJBreen: I genuinely cannot find any takes on #Rationalia that don't consist of brutal mockery.

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 29, 2016

Agreed. Other highlights:

In actual #Rationalia, nobody comes up with creepy fascist ideas like "Rationalia"

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) June 29, 2016

#Rationalia this has...

#Rationalia? Neil deGrasse Tyson's Authoritarian Daydream

Dr. Tyson of Cosmos fame has come in for mockery after proposing a "virtual country" called #Rationalia.

Earth needs a virtual country: #Rationalia, with a one-line Constitution: All policy shall be based on the weight of evidence

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 29, 2016

He's even got some pictures of friends posing in what looks like a mash-up between police mug shots and The Hollywood Squares. That's Dawkins at two down, three across, as a "Citizen of #Rationalia."

Are you a citize...

UCLA Team Turbo-Charges Berra's Blunder

Berra's Blunder has long been a prime example of how some evolutionists don't understand their own theory. It started back in 1990 when Tim Berra illustrated Darwinian evolution by showing how Corvettes showed "descent with modification" between 1953 and 1955. Phillip Johnson was quick to point out that "every one of those Corvettes was designed by engineers."

Far from illustrating naturalistic evolution, he argued, they illustrate "how intelligent designers will typically achieve their pur...

Listen: William Dembski Offers a Grand but Concise Overview of Intelligent Design

A great thing about The Design of Life by Dembksi and Wells is the way it presents intelligent design in the form of a sweeping yet concise overview of the theory and its evidences. That's unique in the library of works on ID.

When it was published by the Foundation for Thought and Ethics, it provided an occasion for co-author William Dembski to talk with our friend and (alas) former colleague Casey Luskin about the book in a similarly sweeping fashion. It's an excellent interview with Case...

Behold, an Article on Faith and Evolution with No Axe-Grinding; Congratulations to Tyler O'Neil

Let's offer a word of congratulation to PJ Media and its assistant editor Tyler O'Neil. His article up today is "4 Reasons Christians Can Believe in Evolution." As a non-Christian who has surveyed a fair amount of Christian thinking about evolution, I worry when I see a headline like that. I would anticipate no less trouble from an article titled "4 Reasons Jews Can Believe in Evolution."

What you expect is a very partial and superficial presentation of relevant science and theology, likely...

Whale of a Tale: Straining at Mutational Gnats While Swallowing Genetic Camels

If there was ever a prime hunting ground for evolutionary evidence in the genes, it should be in the relationship between land mammals and marine mammals. Think of the obvious differences between a four-footed ancestor and a whale: the scope of the genetic changes necessary to transform one into the other in a relatively short time would be staggering.

According to Darwin's theory, furthermore, it happened three times! Cetaceans (dolphins and whales), pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruse...

For Lack of Self-Awareness, This Evolutionist Deserves (Another) Prize

This should win Jerry Coyne a prize -- not our Censor of the Year award, because Professor Coyne has already won that -- but some type of recognition for sheer lack of self-awareness. Writing at Why Evolution Is True, Coyne fulminates in favor of...free speech.

Free speech? Jerry Coyne?

There's hardly anything to disagree with in what he says, but surely the hero who succeeded in suppressing free speech at Ball State University can find other topics to comment on.

The outspoken evolutionary...

You Might Think Twice Before Signing Up for a "Skeptics" Conference

Thoughtful reader Steve noticed this on the website of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), which recently merged with the Richard Dawkins Foundation. Steve asks, "I'm curious. Do ID [intelligent design] conferences ever have to post something like this?"

He's referring to the "Policy of the Center for Inquiry on Hostile Conduct/Harassment at Conferences." Now I'm aware, obviously, that every community of likeminded individuals is subject to the familiar human frailties. But we also know, as noted...

In The Design of Life, Dembski and Wells Offer a Powerful Survey of the Case for Intelligent Design

To really appreciate the evidence for intelligent design, do you ever get the feeling you need several shelves of weighty tomes by design theorists, a great deal of time for reading and understanding them, and a PhD in biology, math, or philosophy wouldn't hurt either?

At the same time, the question of whether life's history bears the imprint of purposeful guidance is an ultimate question. Perhaps the ultimate question for every person to consider.

Shouldn't weighing the inference to design...