26Dec 2019 by Post

Is ID the Best Kept Secret? No Longer

Ben Shapiro Show, Center for Science & Culture, David Berlinski, Discovery Institute, Evolution News, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design the Future, materialism, Media & Communications initiative, Michael Behe, Prager University, Science Uprising, Stephen Meyer, The Return of the God Hypothesis, Uncommon Knowledge
When I started working for Discovery in 2006, I would mention the name of Discovery Institute to my friends or acquaintances and would get a blank stare. Few people had heard of intelligent design (ID) or Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture. But all that has changed this year, thanks to generous donors who have supported us. ID is no longer the best-kept secret on the planet. This year alone, our videos on YouTube have had over 3.2 million views, Evolution News and Science Today articles have reached over 1.7 million users, and our Intelligent Design the Future podcasts have been downloaded well over 600,000 times. Our donors made it possible for Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, David Berlinski, and others to be featured on the Ben Shapiro Show, Uncommon…
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04Dec 2019 by Post

No Harm, No Foul — What If Darwinism Were Excised from Biology?

Adam C. Soloff, Amir Marcovitz, appendectomy, bacteria, bats, behavior, cephalectomy, Daphne Major island, Darwin Devolves, Darwin's Finches, Darwinism, Darwinspeak, dolphins, echolocation, Evolution, Galápagos Islands, Hippocratic Oath, homeostasis, Illustra Media, Immune System, introgressive hybridization, Jerry Coyne, Marcos Eberlin, Michael Behe, Michael T. Lotze, Peter and Rosemary Grant, pharynx, Philip Skell, phylogeny, PNAS, primum non nocere, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Richard Dawkins, sound generation, tonsillectomy, turtles, whales
Some biologists might shudder at the thought of eliminating Darwinism from their scientific work. A “Darwin-ectomy” sounds more painful than a tonsillectomy or appendectomy. To hard-core evolutionists, it might sound like a cephalectomy (removal of the head)! If Darwinism is as essential to biology as Richard Dawkins or Jerry Coyne argues, then removing evolutionary words and concepts should make research incomprehensible.  If, on the other hand, Darwinism is more of a “narrative gloss” applied to the conclusions after the scientific work is done, as the late Philip Skell observed, then biology would survive the operation just fine. It might even be healthier, slimmed down after disposing of unnecessary philosophical baggage. Here are some recent scientific papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) to use as test…
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30Nov 2019 by Post

Q&A with Michael Behe: What’s Wrong with Theistic Evolution?

DiscoveryU, Evangelical Christians, Evolution, faith, Faith & Science, Francis Collins, Intelligent Design, Michael Behe, science, The Language of God, theistic evolution
We now reluctantly conclude the past week’s series of Q&A sessions with biochemist Michael Behe, highlighting his 41-part video course for DiscoveryU, “Michael Behe Investigates Evolution and Intelligent Design.” Here’s another challenge he often gets: Why doesn’t Professor Behe go along with famed Evangelical Christian scientist Francis Collins, and others, in opting for theistic evolution? Dr. Behe observes that in reading Dr. Collins’s book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, he found it notable that Collins “does not even try to address the problems for evolution that I and other intelligent design proponents have brought up.” So that is one reason. Behe, like Collins, is a scientist not a theologian. The science of ID, and the scientific problems with Darwinian evolution, are the focus of his video…
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28Nov 2019 by Post

Q&A with Michael Behe: New Examples of Irreducible Complexity

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“What have you done for me lately?” So jokes biochemist Michael Behe, paraphrasing a question he often gets. In other words, Professor Behe, we know about the iconic bacterial flagellum. But are there other, newer examples of irreducible complexity? Yes, there are. In a Q&A session to highlight his 41-part DiscoveryU video course on ID, “Michael Behe Investigates Evolution and Intelligent Design,” Dr. Behe explains that in fact research in biology brings to light previously unknown irreducibly complex wonders — the most sophisticated showing “design building upon design,” as he puts it — by the month or even the week. His details a few. Find more information about the video course here! The post Q&A with Michael Behe: New Examples of Irreducible Complexity appeared first on Evolution News.
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27Nov 2019 by Post

Design in the First Animals

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It didn’t take long for animals to master physics and engineering. The first animal body plans were performing feats that fascinate — and baffle — research scientists. Ctenophores: Flashing Paddles Also called sea gooseberries and comb jellies, ctenophores (pronounced TEN-o-fours) are small centimeter-sized marine organisms with rows of cilia, called comb rows or ctenes, which function as paddles for swimming. Though gelatinous and transparent, comb jellies are unrelated to jellyfish (phylum Cnidaria); they have been classified into their own phylum, Ctenophora, characterized by eight of these comb rows. Scientists debate whether ctenophores are the earliest animals that appeared in the Cambrian explosion, as opposed to sponges (phylum Porifera). If so, they arrived with multiple tissues, a nervous system, and a digestive system. That’s a lot to account for without any…
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19Nov 2019 by Post

Drive Darwinists Nuts with This One Solution to Fake News

Ann Gauger, Central America, Charles Darwin, Darwinists, David Berlinski, David Gelernter, Debating Darwin's Doubt, Discovery Institute, Evolution, Evolution News, fake news, free speech, Google, Guillermo Gonzalez, Günter Bechly, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Wells, media, Michael Behe, Spanish, Stephen Meyer, Yale University
If you listen to the media, you’d think that science has refuted God, the debate over Darwin is closed, the solution to the origin of life is right around the corner, and humans are no more significant than cockroaches. If you are as sick of this kind of fake news as I am, I have good news. There is a solution, and you can be a part of it. The solution is this site — Evolution News & Science Today. How It All Started Discovery Institute started this news outlet back in 2004 to counter all the fake news in the debate over intelligent design. Since then, the audience for Evolution News has grown from a few thousand to more than a million users a year. In fact, according to Google, Evolution News is on track to reach…
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15Nov 2019 by Post

Phillip Johnson: A Fond Farewell

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Editor’s note: Phillip E. Johnson, Berkeley law professor and author of Darwin on Trial and other books, died on November 2. Evolution News is sharing remembrances from staff, friends, and Fellows of Discovery Institute. Philosopher of biology Michael Ruse, cherished by ID proponents as a longtime friendly antagonist, is the author of The Problem of War: Darwinism, Christianity, and their Battle to Understand Human Conflict and other books. Professor Ruse directs the Program in History and Philosophy of Science at Florida State University. I have just learned of the death of Phillip Johnson. We were very much on different sides of the IDT [intelligent design theory] debate, but I think I can truly say that our intellectual (and faith) disagreements made no difference to our personal respect and (dare I say) affection. Phil was born…
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13Nov 2019 by Post

Memorial Symposium for Phillip Johnson

Center for Science & Culture, Discovery Institute, Douglas Axe, First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, Intelligent Design, Jonathan Wells, Michael Behe, Paul Nelson, Phillip E. Johnson, scholars, scientists, Stephen Meyer, U.C. Berkeley
Following a private memorial service on November 23, Discovery Institute is pleased to host a brief public symposium in honor of the late Phillip E. Johnson — U.C. Berkeley law professor and Center for Science & Culture program advisor, who passed away earlier this month. You are invited to join us at the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley from 4:00–5:30 pm on Saturday, November 23, to hear brief (10–15 minute) tributes from intelligent design scientists and scholars who have been directly impacted by Phil’s life and have since become the ID torch-bearers for our generation. Among those speaking will be Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, Jonathan Wells, Douglas Axe, Paul Nelson, and others. The presenters will share their unique perspectives on the impact of Phil’s work and subsequent growth of the ID research program in their respective fields of research. There is no…
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