Darwin Devotion Detector: Take the Test Now

adaptation, atheists, Charles Darwin, chimpanzee, common descent, Darwin Day, Darwin Devotion Detector, eugenics, Evolution, free will, genes, Germany, humanzee, Intelligent Design, J.B.S. Haldane, Jane Austen, Judge John E. Jones, Kitzmiller v. Dover, Kolkata, Love, Meaning, meme theory, natural selection, population growth, purpose, rape, Richard Dawkins, secular saint, United States, value
A tongue-in-cheek questionnaire that nonetheless provides real insight into the extent to which Darwinian ideas have captured our thinking. Source
Read More

Ingenious Artistry in the Origin of Hummingbirds

artistry, Aves, Centropogon, contingency, death, Docimastes ensifer, Ensifera ensifera, Ernst Mayr, Eutoxeres, Evolution, females, genetic drift, happenstance, Heliconia, hummingbirds, Intelligent Design, Lophornis gouldii, males, marvelous spatuletail, Michael Behe, Modern Synthesis, mutations, natural selection, Neo-Darwinism, pain, peacock, phenotype, plumage, red-tailed comet, references, Richard Dawkins, Sappho sparganurus, sexual dimorphism, sicklebills, Stephen Meyer, sword-billed hummingbird, Trochilidae, waste
In contrast with neo-Darwinism, I conclude that an absolutely ingenious artist was at work here, transcending all human abilities, ideas, and powers. Source
Read More

Newly Discovered War Machines in the Immune System

ATP synthase motor, bacteria, bacterial cell wall, biology, body bag, caspase-4, Darwin’s Bluff, dimers, Evolution, Foresight (book), GBP1 proteins, guanylate binding proteins, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, immune proteins, infection, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, John MacMicking, kinesin, mere abstract, molecular machines, Mother Nature, natural selection, Origin of Species, pathogen, Robert Shedinger, terrorist, viruses, Yale University
A newly discovered defense against pathogens involves armor and bullets that render an attacker immobile and self-destructing. Source
Read More

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
Read More

Parables from Nature: A Profile of Margaret Gatty

Alexander Scott, Battle of Trafalgar, British Museum, British Seaweeds, Charles Darwin, Darwin's Black Box, Darwin’s Bluff, dictation, Evolution, George Johnston, humans, Inferior Animals, Intelligent Design, Juliana Horatia Ewing, Lord Nelson, Margaret Gatty, marine biology, Michael Behe, natural selection, On the Origin of Species, Parables from Nature, paralysis, Patrick Matthew, ravens, Robert Brown, Robert Shedinger, rooks, Royal Society, Socrates, transmutation, William Henry Harvey
Although she refrained from challenging Darwin publicly, Margaret had strong thoughts of opposition to Darwin’s proposals. Source
Read More

Evolution’s Demigods: Reviewing the Tour vs. Cronin Debate

Anthony Costello, Arizona State University, biologists, Brian Miller, Casey Luskin, Center for Science and Culture, Chemistry, creative agency, debates, demigod, Evolution, Harvard University, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, James Tour, Kirkwood Center, Lee Cronin, Lenny Esposito, materialist science, mind-first view, natural selection, origin of life, Owen Anderson, Rice University, Stephen Dilley, Stephen Meyer, University of Glasgow
Says Brian Miller, “What a lot of origin-of-life people do is talk about natural selection as a demigod with creative agency." Source
Read More

Fooled by Darwinism: A Scholar’s Cautionary Tale

ancient Greeks, Antony Flew, atheists, Bertrand Russell, crypto-animism, Darwinian materialism, Evolution, fatalism, geneticists, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, John Updike, Middle Ages, natural selection, Neil Thomas, paganism, paleontologists, Podcast, poetry, Richard Dawkins, skepticism, Taking Leave of Darwin, theistic humanism
Neil Thomas links the posturing of atheists Richard Dawkins and Bertrand Russell with the fatalism of poetry stretching back to the Middle Ages, and further. Source
Read More

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
Read More