The Humanity and Personhood of an Embryo

Alabama Supreme Court, biology, colon, Culture & Ethics, death, doctors, egg, embryos, fetuses, human beings, human rights, ideology, in vitro fertilization, independence, IVF, Judeo-Christian tradition, Medicine, newborn baby, newborns, personhood, petri dish, pregnancy, reproduction, right to life, sentience, sperm, Steven Novella, womb, Yale University, zygotes
A sperm and an egg separately constitute a potential human. But when they unite, the result is a human being from the moment of fertilization. Source
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Transformative: “Mary,” a PhD Biochemistry Student, on the Summer Seminars on ID

biochemistry, biology, Brian Miller, careers, Center for Science and Culture, curiosity, Education, elegance, Emily Kurlinski, Emily Sandico, friendship, humanities, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, interview, Natural Sciences, natural world, nature, order, Podcast, pseudonym, Research, science, Summer Seminars on Intelligent Design
Why does she use a pseudonym in the interview? You may be able to guess, but listen in to hear her explanation. Source
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Up from Dawkins: Summer Seminars Were a Turning Point for Me

academics, alumni, biology, Center for Science and Culture, Colorado Springs, Discovery Institute, Education, Engineering, Evolution, evolutionary, Glen Eyrie Castle, Human Errors, Intelligent Design, mathematical biology, misinformation, molecular biology, Nathan Lents, paleontology, population genetics, professionals, researchers, Richard Dawkins, scientific enterprise, scientists, students, Summer Seminars, The Blind Watchmaker, Unlocking the Mystery of Life
I wanted to determine whether I was, as Richard Dawkins asserted, an accident of nature. Or was I created by God? Source
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To Dance at Two Weddings: Rope Kojonen’s Evolutionary Quest

bacterial flagellum, biological complexity, biology, Brian Miller, Casey Luskin, causes, convergent evolution, Darwinian evolution, David Glass, design detection, Emily Reeves, Evolution, Evolution News, explanatory value, fine-tuning, fitness landscapes, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, Michael Behe, mutations, preconditions, Rope Kojonen, The Compatibility of Evolution and Design, The Compatibility of Evolution and Design (series), tinkering, weddings, Zygon
According to a proverb, you can’t dance at two weddings at the same time. Dr. Kojonen believes that you can. Source
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Denis Noble in Nature: “Time to Admit Genes Are Not the Blueprint For Life”

agency, BioEssays, biology, blueprint, Brian Miller, Bruce Alberts, Cell (journal), computers, Denis Noble, Dennis Venema, diseases, DNA, Douglas Axe, Evolution, factory, genes, genomes, How Life Works, Intelligent Design, intrinsically disordered proteins, Junk DNA, machines, Nature (journal), organisms, paradigm shift, Philip Ball, proteins, purpose, RNA genes, traits, transformers
In his review, Noble comes right out and says that “Classic views of evolution should also be questioned.” Source
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Fruit Fly Eyes and More Surprises for Darwin

apoptosis, biology, body systems, Charles Darwin, circulation, convergent strategies, courtship, Current Biology, descending neurons, digestion, Drosophila melanogaster, Evolution, feedback control, fine control, Flight, fluctuating asymmetry, fruit flies, Hermann J. Muller, Intelligent Design, jointed appendages, Marco Milán, muscular, natural selection, neurons, Nobel Prize, odors, ommatidia, PLOS Biology, reproduction, saccades, sharp turns, Stephen Crane, timing, visual system
Don’t swat too quickly! There’s more awe in that little fly than might be apparent from  a cursory glance. Source
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Bad News for the “Theist on the Street”

Big Bang, biology, Brian Miller, Casey Luskin, common sense, continuity, cosmology, design detection, Douglas Axe, eagle eye, Emily Reeves, Evolution, fauna, fine-tuning, flora, hummingbird, Intelligent Design, intuition, laws of nature, non-agent cause, Rope Kojonen, The Compatibility of Evolution and Design, The Compatibility of Evolution and Design (series), theist on the street, theistic evolution
On Rope Kojonen's model, she no longer has grounds to trust her common-sense intuition of the design of the eagle’s eye. Source
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Sex Is a Spicy Problem for Evolutionary Theory

biologists, biology, Charles Darwin, complementarity, Evolution, evolutionary theory, flagellum, genotype, head, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, Jonathan McLatchie, males, meiosis, middle piece, mitosis, modifications, Podcast, reproduction, sex, sexual reproduction, sperm cells
Could sex be the product of a gradual evolutionary process, one dictated by “numerous, successive, slight, modifications,” as Darwin himself put it? Source
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Physics and Chemistry Could Not Give Rise to Biology

behavior, Big Bang, biological complexity, biology, Brian Miller, Casey Luskin, Chemistry, convergence, death, Diversity, Douglas Axe, electrostatic laws, environmental conditions, enzymes, equilibrium, Evolution, evolutionary algorithms, first law of thermodynamics, George Ellis, gravity, initial conditions, Intelligent Design, laws of forms, laws of nature, leaves, mass-energy, material mechanisms, natural selection, Nature (journal), nucleotide sequences, periodic table of elements, phenotypic plasticity, physics, proteins, quantum physics, Rope Kojonen, Second Law of Thermodynamics, stem cells, Stephen Dilley, structuralism, The Compatibility of Evolution and Design, The Compatibility of Evolution and Design (series)
The laws of nature provide stable conditions and physical boundaries within which biological outcomes are possible. Source
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