26Mar 2020 by Post

Ancestor of All Animals in 555-Million-Year-Old Ediacaran Sediments?

annelids, arthropods, bilaterian animals, Buddenbrockia plumatellae, burrowing, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, China, cnidarians, Deuterostomia, Ediacaran animals, Evolution, Germany, habitus, Helminthoidichnites, Ikaria wariootia, incertae sedis, microbial mats, mortichnia, Nephrozoa, PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Protostomia, Scyphozoa, South Australia, UC Riverside, University of California, Xenacoelomorpha, Yilingia spiciformis
For my series of articles about alleged Ediacaran animals predating the Cambrian explosion there is a new candidate that deserves a closer view: New research on Ediacaran fossils was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team of scientists from UC Riverside (Evans et al. 2020), and it has already made global news headlines including, “Ancestor of all animals identified in Australian fossils” (University of California 2020) and the even more sensational, “Fossil hunters find evidence of 555m-year-old human relative” (Davis 2020). What did those scientists discover and are their far-reaching conclusions really justified?  Grains of Rice The authors of this study looked at fossil layers from the National Heritage Nilpena site in the Flinders Range of South Australia, which are slightly older than…
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25Mar 2020 by Post

Are Humans “A Plague on the Earth”?

Center for Science & Culture, Charles Darwin, Culture & Ethics, Dallas Conference on Science & Faith, David Attenborough, Discovery Institute, Douglas Axe, Evolution, evolutionists, John West, morality, natural selection, plague, Sir David Attenborough, spirituality
Back in January in Dallas, Discovery Institute organized its major conference on science and faith, before a huge and appreciative audience. We are releasing videos of presentations from the Dallas conference, including today, John West, Associate Director of the Center for Science & Culture, on “Darwin’s Corrosive Idea.” This is well timed. I can’t help but think that how we respond to the present health crisis has a lot to do with how we, as individuals, saw reality before we gave a moment’s thought to the coronavirus. As Dr. West summarizes here, “Ideas really do have consequence.”  In the case of Darwin’s idea of unguided evolution and of a planet of life formed from blind, merciless material processes alone, West notes a range of consequences and impacts, on how we…
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24Mar 2020 by Post

Crisis in the Chemistry of Origins

biological information, biological molecules, biology, Charles Thaxton, chemical evolution, chemicals, Discovery Institute Press, DNA, Evolution, Francis Crick, James Watson, neo-Darwinian theory, nucleic acids, origins, prebiotic evolution, proteins, Roger Olsen, Stanley Miller, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, Walter Bradley
Editor’s note: As an alternative to what you are getting pretty much everywhere else in the media at the moment, Evolution News is proud to offer inspiration, pointing to purpose and meaning in life. The profoundest mystery and thus the deepest inspiration is life itself. Discovery Institute Press has just published a greatly expanded edition of the 1984 classic of intelligent design science literature, The Mystery of Life’s Origin. Below is an excerpt from the original introduction by Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olsen. Two monumental scientific reports appeared in 1953, both of which have subsequently received wide acceptance in the scientific community. One was the proposal by James Watson and Francis Crick of their double helical model for deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. According to their now-famous model, hereditary…
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15Mar 2020 by Post

Listen: Jay Richards on Distinguishing Science from Scientism

consensus, Discovery Institute, Evolution, Heritage Foundation, ID The Future, Jay Richards, March for Science, Podcast, science, scientism, skepticism, Washington D.C
On a classic episode of ID the Future, hear a talk by Jay Richards, a Discovery Institute Senior Fellow. given at a Washington, D.C., event entitled “March for Science or March for Scientism? Understanding the Real Threats to Science in America.” Download the podcast or listen to it here. The event was hosted by Discovery Institute and the Heritage Foundation. Listen in as Dr. Richards discusses the issue of consensus in science, and when to doubt such a consensus. Photo credit: Bradhoc, via Flickr. The post Listen: Jay Richards on Distinguishing Science from Scientism appeared first on Evolution News.
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14Mar 2020 by Post

Biophysicist and Philosopher Kirk Durston on Experimental, Inferential, and Fantasy Science

abductive reasoning, biological information, Evolution, experimental science, fantasy science, historical sciences, ID The Future, inference to the best explanation, Kirk Durston
On a new episode of ID the Future, biophysicist and philosopher Kirk Durston continues a discussion with host Andrew McDiarmid about three types of science — (1) experimental science, (2) inferential science, and (3) fantasy science. Download the podcast or listen to it here. In this second of three episodes, Durston recaps the three types but focuses on inferential science. He explains how it involves, in the historical sciences, abductive reasoning (inference to the best explanation). He also describes how such reasoning can be used as we consider the best explanation for the origin of biological information, in such a way that it is rooted in observation. Photo credit: Martin Adams via Unsplash. The post Biophysicist and Philosopher Kirk Durston on Experimental, Inferential, and Fantasy Science appeared first on Evolution News.
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08Mar 2020 by Post

Just the Facts? Michael Flannery on Charles Darwin and Materialism

atheists, Brian Miller, Edward Aveling, Evolution, ID The Future, Ludwig Büchner, materialism, Michael Flannery, Plinian Society, Podcast, University of Edinburgh
On a classic episode of ID the Future, host Brian Miller interviews Michael Flannery on how Darwin’s background conditioned him to materialism, and how this influence shaped his development of the theory of evolution. Listen in to learn more about Darwin’s experiences at the University of Edinburgh with the Plinian Society, and his interaction with prominent atheists Edward Aveling and Ludwig Büchner near the end of his life. Download the podcast or listen to it here. Photo: Mural portrait of Charles Darwin, Sidney Street, Sheffield cc-by-sa/2.0 © Neil Theasby via Geograph. The post Just the Facts? Michael Flannery on Charles Darwin and Materialism appeared first on Evolution News.
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04Mar 2020 by Post

Episode 4 of Secrets of the Cell — Broken Wolves and other Evolutionary Conundrums

biochemistry, biological information, broken wolves, creative power, DNA, Dogs, E. coli, Evolution, Evolution News, genes, genetic function, Intelligent Design, Michael Behe, mutations, polar bears, Richard Lenski, Secrets of the Cell, wolves
On a new episode of Secrets of the Cell with Michael Behe, the famed biochemist and intelligent design proponent briefly examines several evolutionary icons. These are living species that are considered by Darwinists as slam-dunk evidence of unguided evolution’s creative power, but that turn out to be just the opposite: Dogs, for one, in their great variety descend from wolves. Atheist biologist Richard Dawkins and others have pointed to man’s best friend as confirmation that evolution creatively builds new species. Behe explains, though, that when the cell’s secrets are considered — biological information at the DNA level — we discover that dogs are broken wolves. Of course that doesn’t make them any less loveable. They evolved largely by losing genetic functions through mutation. As Dr. Behe explains, “The mutations don’t…
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03Mar 2020 by Post

Is Joe Blow “Anti-Intellectual”?

AIDS, anti-intellectual, babies, climate change, conception, Darwinists, DDT, eugenics, Evolution, fossil fuels, gender, global cooling, global warming, Jeffrey Epstein, life, malaria, materialism, men, moral purity, Paul Ehrlich, polar bears, polar ice caps, schoolchildren, schools, science consensus, scientists, Skeptics, Steven Novella, truck driver, women, Y2K, Yale University
It’s a common claim among Darwinists that people who question “expert” scientific opinion on such topics as evolution, global warming, and the mind-brain relationship are “anti-intellectual” science deniers. Steven Novella, a Yale neurologist and credulous Darwinist and materialist makes the claim in a recent post: As science-communicators and skeptics we are trying to understand the phenomenon of rejection of evidence, logic, and the consensus of expert scientific opinion.  Ironically, Novella, who considers himself a skeptic, decries the skepticism of people who don’t agree with him. Purity and Consensus How can it be, scientific experts ask, that so many people doubt scientific experts? Novella: There is, of course, no one explanation — complex psychological phenomena are likely to be multifactorial. Decades ago the blame was placed mostly on scientific illiteracy, a…
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02Mar 2020 by Post

Bring “Visible Thinking” to Evolution Education

academic freedom, analysis, butcher paper, Center for Science & Culture, chalk talk, Discovery Institute, Education, elementary school, evaluation, Evolution, evolution education, Harvard University, Jay Labov, Jo Boaler, Karin Brodie, Karin Morrison, Making Thinking Visible, Mark Church, Project Zero, public schools, Ron Ritchart, scientific inquiry, students, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, visible thinking
Lately, I’ve been reading the book Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding and Independence for All Learners, by Ron Ritchart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison. It’s a tour de force, a practical handbook for fostering critical thinking in the classroom. This work reminds me strongly of the Center for Science & Culture’s emphasis on analysis, evaluation, and examining the evidence in public school evolution education. Project Zero Making Thinking Visible is connected to Project Zero, a research center in Harvard’s School of Education. The phrase “visible thinking” refers to helping students to see and understand their own thinking processes as they explore subjects. The authors identify several kinds of thinking (pp. 11, 13, 14): Observing closely and describing what’s there Building explanations and interpretations Reasoning with evidence Making…
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01Mar 2020 by Post

No Success Without Successors: John Mark Reynolds on the Legacy of Phillip E. Johnson

California, Center for Science & Culture, Constantine School, Discovery Institute, Evolution, Houston, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, John Mark Reynolds, materialism, Pajaro Dunes, Phillip E. Johnson, Podcast, success, successors, Suzanne Nelson, truth
On a new episode of ID the Future we hear John Mark Reynolds’s concluding comments at the November 2019 symposium in honor of the late Phillip E. Johnson. Download the podcast or listen to it here. Reynolds is a Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, president of the Constantine School in Houston, and a longtime friend of Phillip Johnson. Reynolds says he saw in Johnson a mind constant and relentless in the pursuit of truth, a man who refused to distort the truth to fit it into a materialist paradigm, and who passed along that mindset to as many as he could, for he knew there is no success without successors. Photo: John Mark Reynolds and Phil Johnson, Pajaro Dunes, California, June 1998, by Suzanne Nelson. The…
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