Discovery Institute's Blog, page 78

A Telling Habit of Darwin's Advocates

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The other day I congratulated Tom Gilson, proprietor of the Thinking Christian blog, for summarizing in a paragraph the gist of Stephen Meyer's case in his debate with Lawrence Krauss. Gilson also said:

Krauss, eager to do battle with a straw man..., insisted that ["God of the gaps"] was what ID was about, and ridiculed Meyer (and all of ID) for it. Krauss made the same kind of mistake repeatedly. For example, after Meyer made the point -- absolutely uncontroversial among mainstream biologis...

New Poll Reveals Evolution's Corrosive Impact on Beliefs about Human Uniqueness

From the earliest days of civilization, humans have considered themselves exceptional among living creatures. But a new survey by Discovery Institute of more than 3,400 American adults indicates that the theory of evolution is beginning to erode that belief in humanity's unique status and dignity.

According to the survey, 43 percent of Americans now agree that "Evolution shows that no living thing is more important than any other," and 45 percent of Americans believe that "Evolution shows th...

Biomimetics -- Where the Action Is, Continued

We pick up where we left off last week ("Biomimetics -- Where the Action Is") with more examples of design-based science from around the world.

Gecko astrobot. Get a grip! NASA just launched a space hero to the International Space Station. You could call him Supergecko. Actually, it's a new material inspired by this superhero among animals, the lizard that can cling to anything. New Scientist says, "In a few years, the exterior of the International Space Station could be crawling with geckos...

"Anti-Science" Revisited as Adult Stem Cells Prevent Heart Failure Deaths

Remember when adult stem cell advocates were called "anti-science" by the embryonic stem cell lobby for arguing that we could have our regenerative medicine and non-contentious ethics too?

I do. Well, the so-called anti-scientists had it far more right than their accusers. Adult stem cells from patients' own bodies have been shown in studies to halve deaths from heart failure in comparison to patients receiving placebo. From the Telegraph story:

Stem cells can repair a damaged heart and pote...

Probability Mistakes Darwinists Make

Several years ago I delivered a lecture at the University of Maine, showing how advances in science increasingly point to an intelligent mind behind biological life. During the question period a professor in the audience conceded that the probability of evolution "discovering" an average globular protein is vanishingly small. Nonetheless, he insisted we are surrounded by endless examples of highly improbable events. For example, the exact combination of names and birthdates of the hundred or...

Two Days Left to Apply for Discovery Institute's Summer Seminars -- Deadline Is April 7

Are you the type to leave things, even important things, to the last minute? Don't feel bad. You've still got two days to apply to join us for one of two tracks in the Summer Seminars on intelligent design. Offered by the Center for Science & Culture between July 8-16 in Seattle and organized with undergraduates and grad students in mind, the seminars convey everything about ID, in a scientific and humanistic context, that gets left out of the curriculum at most universities.

The deadline i...

Darwinism and Humanity: A Matter of Life and Death

In his recent book, Faith vs. Fact, evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne echoes an ominous sentiment that is becoming more and more prevalent in our society: He argues that we would be better off if we began treating humans like animals. In his zeal to promote death via assisted suicide he states, "Although it's seen by nearly everyone as humane -- and even moral -- to end the life of our terminally ill pets, it's regarded as murder to make the same decision for ourselves." He scoffs at the id...

It's Time to Shudder

For years, I have documented the growing calls within bioethics and organ transplant medicine to kill the "dead donor" rule to allow live organ harvesting. Over at First Things, I note that euthanasia and organ harvesting have been conjoined in Belgium and Netherlands (and probably soon, Canada).

And now, some doctors for those countries want to skip the lethal injection and kill the patient by removing organs. From the piece in the Journal of Medical Ethics:

The dead donor rule states that...

"Never Mind What You're Saying. What I Say You're Saying Is Stupid" -- Tom Gilson Nails It

Someone in the media or science worlds correctly characterizing ID is such a rare occurrence that when it happens, I get a surreal feeling, as if it were all just a sweet dream that will soon dissipate with the crowing of the alarm clock. That was my response on reading Tom Gilson's post at The Stream, commenting on the recent debate at the University of Toronto between Stephen Meyer and Lawrence Krauss. Check this out:

In his opening statement Meyer defined ID as the idea that certain featu...

Taking the Intimacy Out of Family Creation

The intellectual class drives our public policy discussions. Perhaps that is why there is such a push for eugenics in reproduction.

The latest example comes from Stanford bioethicist Hank Greely, writing in The Guardian. Greely enthusiastically predicts that future children will routinely come into being in the lab rather the bedroom. Better, from his utilitarian perspective, parents will quality-control their children -- discarding embryos deemed of lesser eugenic value.

From "Who Needs Sex...