Discovery Institute's Blog, page 73

Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Chances of Intelligently Designed Universe "May Be Very High"

That's right, but of course he was referring to the odds that the universe is an artificial computer simulation by advanced aliens. And that, as opposed to picturing an intelligent designer in more traditional terms or (as ID theorists prefer) simply leaving open the question of identifying the designer, makes the hypothesis compatible with science? It seems so.

Tyson spoke in the context of a debate on the question, "Is the Universe a Simulation?":

[A]strophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who...

The Cicada Challenge to Darwinian Evolution

They'll create quite a commotion next month, but they're mostly a harmless nuisance or a wonder of nature, depending on your outlook. They're the northeast brood of Magicicada, the so-called 17-year locusts. Smithsonian Magazine tells about them:

Residents in the Northeast U.S. waiting for warm temperatures may get a surprise along with their May flowers: When the soil reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit, they'll also get a visit from billions and billions of cicadas.

This latest brood is composed...

Tom Woodward and "DNA & Beyond"

For the evolution debate, the importance of the epigenome -- with its crucial role in gene expression -- is that it lies beyond the reach of the random genetic variation that supplies the raw material for natural selection to "select." But in concrete terms, understanding what that means is tough. Here's a clever solution.

As we mentioned earlier today, our friend Dr. Tom Woodward has just launched DNA & Beyond, a website devoted to showcasing new discoveries pushing the frontiers of what w...

For Darwin Advocates, Wistar Conference Remains a Pain in the Master Narrative

The 1966 Wistar Institute conference remains, fifty years later, a pain in the master narrative of Darwin advocates. According to their favored story, doubts about the evolutionary mechanism are the exclusive domain of, first of all, those seeking to uphold a particular interpretation of Genesis and, second, the scientifically ignorant. Today marks the anniversary of the conference's opening, April 25 in Philadelphia.

Certainly, so goes the cherished story, there would be nothing fundamental...

Human Language: Linguistic Ability by Saltation

Editor's note: In his new book Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton not only updates the argument from his groundbreaking Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985) but also presents a powerful new critique of Darwinian evolution. This article is one in a series in which Dr. Denton summarizes some of the most important points of the new book. For the full story, get your copy of Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis. For a limited time, you'll enjoy a 30 percent discount at CreateSpac...

Wistar and DNA Day: A 50-Year Fuse Under Neo-Darwinism

Today, as we noted on Friday, marks two momentous anniversaries -- of the elucidation of the structure of the DNA molecule by Watson and Crick (they published in the journal Nature on April 25, 1953), and that of the opening of the Wistar Institute conference on "Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution" (1966).

The latter, if only because fifty years is a nice round number and because Wistar is less familiar to the public, may for us be the more significant...

Wistar and DNA Day: A Fifty-Year Fuse Under Neo-Darwinism

Today, as we noted on Friday, marks two momentous anniversaries -- of the elucidation of the structure of the DNA molecule by Watson and Crick (they published in the journal Nature on April 25, 1953), and that of the opening of the Wistar Institute conference on "Mathematical Challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution" (1966).

The latter, if only because fifty years is a nice round number and because Wistar is less familiar to the public, may for us be the more significant...

Temperature Control: Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just Right?

Editor's note: Physicians have a special place among the thinkers who have elaborated the argument for intelligent design. Perhaps that's because, more than evolutionary biologists, they are familiar with the challenges of maintaining a functioning complex system, the human body. With that in mind, Evolution News is delighted to offer this series, "The Designed Body." For the complete series, see here. Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.

Since the body is...

Calculating the Maximum Number of Trials Evolution Could Have Performed

Countless people use the following rationale to justify saying there was no need for an intelligent designer behind life: evolution has had a near-infinite number of trials in which to create the full diversity of life, including its molecular machines, molecular computers, and digitally encoded genomes. Let's take an opportunity to examine these points more closely.

In other scientific disciplines, the first step one must take before figuring out a solution is to establish the boundary cond...

Darwin's Finches: The Hype Continues

Every few years we are treated to glowing news stories about "Darwin's finches." The latest, published today in The Washington Post, is titled "200 years after Darwin, this is how the iconic Galpagos finches are still evolving," and, as usual, it is full of hype.

When Charles Darwin visited the Galpagos Islands in 1835, he collected specimens of the local wildlife. These included some finches that he threw into bags, many of them mislabeled. Although the Galpagos finches had little impact on...