08May 2025 by Post

Evolved or Engineered? A Geneticist Evaluates the Panda’s Thumb

bamboo, clumsy, Engineering, Evolution, evolutionary biologists, geneticists, giant pandas, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, mammals, mechanical systems, paleontologists, Panda's Thumb, Podcast, radial sesamoid, Stephen Jay Gould, Stuart Burgess, suboptimal, Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig, wrist bone
Giant pandas have an elongated wrist bone, the radial sesamoid, that allows them to handle and eat bamboo with great dexterity. Source
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21Feb 2025 by Post

Dawkins and Picard Win This Year’s Trotter Prize

affective computing, American Humanist Association, C.S. Lewis, Charlie Townes, clash, Culture & Ethics, Daniel Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, debates, Denis Noble, Denyse O'Leary, Faith & Science, Francis Collins, Francis Crick, Ide P. Trotter Sr., Intelligent Design, James Shapiro, Mendelian genetics, Micah Green, Michael Egnor, Miracles (book), MIT, Old Testament, qualia, Richard Dawkins, Roger Penrose, Rosalind Picard, Rudder Theatre, Santa Fe, Simon Conway Morris, Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Pinker, Steven Weinberg, Stuart Kauffman, Texas A&M University, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Blind Watchmaker, The End of Christianity, The Third Way of Evolution, Trotter Prize, Tufts University, violence, Zeitgeist
A reflection on the 2025 Trotter Prize Lecture delivered by Oxford's Richard Dawkins and MIT's Rosalind Picard. Source
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31Dec 2024 by Post

No. 2 Story of 2024: Darwinists Devolve

Ann Gauger, atheists, Brian Miller, Brown University, Casey Luskin, Charles Darwin, citation bluffing, Darwin Day, Darwin's Black Box, Darwinian materialism, Darwinian theory, Darwinism, Dave Farina, Debating Design, Douglas Axe, Emily Reeves, Ernst Mayr, Evolution, Finding Darwin’s God, Francis Collins, Guillermo Gonzalez, Icons of Evolution, Intelligent Design, Jerry Coyne, Jonathan McLatchie, Junk DNA, Kenneth Miller, Marcos Eberlin, Michael Behe, Nature’s Destiny, No Free Lunch, Oxford University, Oxford University Press, P.Z. Myers, Professor Dave, proteins, Richard Dawkins, Robert Laughlin, Signature in the Cell, Stanford University, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Meyer, The Design Inference, The Edge of Evolution, The Privileged Planet, Thomas Nagel, University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, What Darwin Didn’t Know
One sign of a robust scientific theory is the quality of its most prominent proponents. But serious advocates of Darwinism have become an endangered species. Source
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05Apr 2024 by Post

Gould’s God-Talk: Is the Panda’s Thumb Incompatible with ID?

Charles Darwin, creationism, devolution, Earth’s Catastrophic Past, Evolution, Faith & Science, harmony, Intelligent Design, John Calvin, Louis Agassiz, Natural Theology (book), panda, Panda's Thumb, Peter Van Inwagen, proportion, Religions (journal), St. Paul, Stephen Jay Gould, suboptimality, symmetry, theology, thumb, William Dembski, William Paley, Young Earth Creationists
Stephen Jay Gould was renowned as a paleontologist, not as a theologian. Yet perhaps his most iconic argument is theological in nature.  Source
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04Apr 2024 by Post

Is the Panda’s Thumb Suboptimal?

adaptationism, carnivores, common ancestry, computed topography, dexterity, digits, economy, efficiency, Evolution, evolutionists, George Schaller, Intelligent Design, leaves, live observation, magnetic resonance imaging, mammals, Panda's Thumb, pseudo-thumb, Religions (journal), shoots, Stephen Jay Gould, suboptimality, The Giant Pandas of Wolong
The basic argument is that “[o]dd arrangements and funny solutions” point to evolution whereas “ideal design” points to a “sensible God.” Source
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16Jun 2023 by Post

What Do We Know about the Origin of Rhinos?

African elephant, African savanna, biology, Ceratotherium simum, DNA, Donald R. Prothero, Evolution, fossil record, Intelligent Design, Microevolution, mutations, Niles Eldredge, rhinoceroses, Rhinocerotidae, rhinocerotids, Rhinocerotoidea, Stephen Jay Gould, superfamily, Teletaceras, Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig
Although they are not the handsomest or most graceful creatures in the animal kingdom, the Rhinocerotoidea (superfamily) are a fascinating group for research. Source
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01Dec 2022 by Post

“Lying on the Internet”? Debunking Dave Farina on Stephen Meyer

acritarchs, Avalon Assemblage, bilaterians, body plans, Cambrian Explosion, Carl Zimmer, Caveasphaera, China, Cladonia chlorophaea, Cloudina, cnidarians, Darwin's Doubt, Dave Farina, demosponges, Dickinsonia, Doushantuo fossils, embryos, Eumetazoa, Evolution, fossils, Gregory Retallack, Haootia quadriformis, Helicoforamina, homology, Ikaria, Intelligent Design, Internet, Joe Botting, Kimberella, Lantianella, Megasphaera, Metazoa, microfossils, Nama Assemblage, Namacalathus, New York Times, paleontology, Precambrian animals, Professor Dave, Spiralicellula, sponges, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Meyer, straw man, Tribrachidium, Vernanimalcula, White Sea assemblage, Xiuningella, Yilingia, YouTubers
A lot of nonsense gets published in peer-reviewed journals and it needs expertise to separate the wheat from the chaff. Farina lacks any expertise to do this. Source
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29Aug 2022 by Post

Rare Earth: How Vital Minerals “Evolve”

astrobiology, Astrobiology Magazine, biological activity, calcium, carbon, Carnegie Institute, chlorine, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, earth, elements, hydrogen, intelligence, Intelligent Design, magnesium, Mars, microbes, minerals, NASA, nitrogen, origin of life, oxygen, phosphorus, Physics, Earth & Space, potassium, Robert Hazen, selenium, Stephen Jay Gould, sulfur, The Privileged Planet, Titan, Washington State University
It's intriguing that life as we know it depends on a seemingly un-natural distribution of minerals. Source
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