08Jun 2025 by Post

Engineered Complexity in the Microbial World

adaptations, bacteria, biology, Carolyn Hovde, Conference on Engineering in Living Systems, Dustin Van Hofwegen, E. coli, engineered complexity, Engineering, Evolution, evolutionary leap, genetic mechanisms, ID The Future, innovation, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Witt, Journal of Bacteriology, microbes, Podcast, Scott Minnich, University of Idaho
On a classic episode of ID the Future, host Jonathan Witt speaks with molecular biologist and professor Dustin Van Hofwegen about his research into the engineered complexity in microbial life. The two sat down at the yearly Conference on Engineering in Living Systems to discuss the event, which brings together biologists and engineers to study how engineering principles can be applied to living things, as well as Hofwegen’s article in the Journal of Bacteriology, co-authored with Carolyn Hovde and Scott Minnich, based on research conducted at the University of Idaho.  Hofwegen shares his research on the famous decades-long E. coli evolution experiment conducted by Richard Lenski, which showed the sudden appearance of an ability to utilize citrate after many generations. However, Van Hofwegen’s own Read More › Source
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31Mar 2025 by Post

Hysteria in the Science Sector Over DOGE

Bethesda (magazine), bioethics, censorship, COVID-19, DOGE, Donald Trump, Francis Collins, free speech, hormone injections, hysteria, ideology, innovation, Jay Bhattacharya, layoffs, Medicine, National Institutes of Health, PhD students, Reform, research funding, respondents, scientific debate, scientists, Trump Administration
Whatever problems now exist for the public medical research funding sector, the disappointing Francis Collins helped create them. Source
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27Jul 2024 by Post

Responding to Lee Cronin: A Modular Theory of Assembly

aggregates, assemblages, Assembly Theory, Carliss Baldwin, complex systems, Complexity, Design Rules: The Power of Modularity, designers, economic efficiencies, engineers, Evolution, Harvard Business School, innovation, Intelligent Design, John Holland, Kim Clark, Lee Cronin, MIT Press, modular operators, modularity, modularity theory, PlayStation, Windows PCs
Despite its fatal defects, Assembly Theory does raise the prospect of what a successful theory of assembly might look like. Source
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20Dec 2023 by Post

The Rocks Cry Out — Looking Back on My Year

Center for Science and Culture, Christmas, colleagues, Colorado Springs, conference center, corporate world, Creativity, Discovery Institute, Faith & Science, innovation, Intelligent Design, leadership, Meaning, purpose, rocks, scholarship, scientists, Seattle, students, Summer Seminars on Intelligent Design
We enjoyed our staff Christmas lunch yesterday at Ivar’s in downtown Seattle and a number of colleagues spoke movingly. Source
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31Mar 2023 by Post

Dangerous Skating: Kauffman, Jaeger, and Roli on the Need for a New Teleology

agency, Andrea Roli, biology, computer science, economy, ecosystems, Engineering, Evolution, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, innovation, Intelligent Design, Johannes Jaeger, mechanistic science, naturalism, ontology, Philosophy of Science, scholars, scientific knowledge, Siberia, skating, social sciences, Stuart A. Kauffman, teleological behavior, teleology
Openly breaking with naturalism can get one dispatched to the gulag of intelligent design. For most scholars, that is a one-way trip to academic Siberia. Source
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17Apr 2020 by Post

Squid’s Got Talent — Super-Powers Astonish Scientists

Benjamin Burford, bioluminescent organs, camouflage, cuttlefish, Dosidicus gigas, Douglas Axe, environmental clues, Evolution, giant squid, Humboldt squid, innovation, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Wells, Marine Biology Laboratory, Massachusetts, Monterey Bay Aquarium, natural selection, Nature (journal), octopuses, photophores, pigmentation, PNAS, random mutations, remotely-operated vehicle, RNA editing, School of Humanities and Sciences, selective pressure, skin, squid, Stanford University, University of Chicago, visual signals, Walter Myers, Woods Hole
They swim. They shine. They camouflage themselves. The humble squid astonishes scientists with its super-powers. Are these marine champions really the products of random mutations and natural selection? Just saying so is not convincing when you look at the facts. Ranging in size from fingerlings to sea monsters, squid look like visitors from an alien planet. So do the other main groups within cephalopods (“head-foot”), the octopuses and cuttlefish. Those cousins are no less extraordinary, but recent news and research showcase the talent of these amazing creatures. (Note: “squid” can be both singular and plural; as with fish, it’s “one squid, two squid, red squid, blue squid.” But “squids” is acceptable, especially if talking about different species. The size range of squids is enormous, from 10 centimeters to 24 meters!)…
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