Like It Never Happened: Yunxian Skulls Reassigned Based on Evolution, Not Data

Archaeology, China, Chris Stringer, Denisovans, Evolution, evolutionary narrative, evolutionary timeline, Günter Bechly, hominins, Homo erectus, Homo longi, Homo sapiens, human evolution, Human Origins and Anthropology, London, media, morphological data, morphology, Natural History Museum, paleoanthropologists, paleontology, revision, Rick Potts, Science (journal), Science Advances, skulls, Susan Antón, Xiaobo Feng, Yunxian 2, Yunxian skulls
As Günter Bechly used to wryly observe, human evolution is a subject that is constantly being “rewritten,” often accompanied by much media fanfare. Source
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What’s Driving Darwin’s Driverless Car?

"survival of the fittest", abductive inference, adaptation, blind drivers, CELS, Charles Darwin, Charles Kocher, Columbia University, Current Biology, Darwinian Evolution Machine, driver, driverless car, Engineering, equilibrium, Eric Anderson, Evolution, fitness ratcheting, fitness valleys, golfers, gravity, Herbert Spencer, ignition, Intelligent Design, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ken Dill, Mars, Mars rovers, molecular machines, New Zealand, orbits, planets, PNAS, rollercoaster, Science Advances, Second Law of Thermodynamics, selective pressure, software, sponges, TEDx talk, University of Otago, University of Sydney, Victoria University, water
What drives natural selection? Evolutionary forces. What are evolutionary forces? They’re what drive natural selection. Source
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Study: Hands of “Ardi” Indicate a Chimp-like Tree-Dweller and Knuckle-Walker

Ardi, Ardipithecus ramidus, bipedality, bonobos, chimpanzees, Evolution, Germany, hominins, human ancestor, Human Origins, Madelaine Böhme, primates, quadrupedality, Rosetta Stone, Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Science Advances, The Scientist, Tim White, University of Tübingen
Initially, Ardi was widely called the “oldest human ancestor,” due to its supposed skeletal traits that indicated an early bipedal (upright walking) species. Source
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Sleep on It: Design in the Subconscious Brain

birds, circadian clock, Darwinism, Ernst Haeckel, evolutionists, firefighters, fruit flies, functional information, humans, infants, insects, Intelligent Design, mammals, natural selection, neural signaling, neurons, Neuroscience & Mind, NREM, phylogeny, rapid eye movement, rats, reptiles, roundworms, Science Advances, sleep, zebra finches
An international team reasoned there had to be a purpose for sleep. In one of the largest datasets ever collected, they believe they found two functions. Source
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Are Cosmic and Planetary Fine-Tuning Constant?

A Fortunate Universe, aaas, catastrophes, Children of Light, cosmic fine-tuning, fusion, Geraint Lewis, Guillermo Gonzalez, habitability, heavy elements, Jay Richards, law of gravity, Luke A. Barnes, Michael Denton, Michael R. Wilczynska, natural constants, Paul Dirac, photosynthesis, physicists, Physics, Earth & Space, planetary fine-tuning, Science Advances, stars, The Privileged Planet, The Wonder of Water
Since Paul Dirac first wrote about the subject of cosmic coincidences in 1937, many physicists have marveled at the specific values of natural constants, such as G, the constant in the law of gravity (6.673×10-11 N m2 kg-2) — an extremely low number. This is an empirical value measured carefully in labs under controlled conditions; it is not derived from equations. One could imagine it taking a different value.  But it is balanced between two catastrophes. If stronger, stars would burn hotter, and photosynthesis would be impossible, and life, if it could exist at all under the crush of gravity, would have to take refuge underground. If gravity were weaker, opposite problems ensue: stars would be unable to start fusion and form heavy elements, and would slowly burn out by…
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How to Restore Science’s Lost Luster

Agnes Grudniewicz, arXiv, bioRxiv, C.S. Lewis, Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, Christian Reflections, Christos A. Ouzounis, consciousness, Cornell University, De Futilitate, Economics, EMBO Report, Evolution, evolutionary anthropology, Francis Bacon, high school, history, information ecosystem, integrity, Intelligent Design, J.P. Moreland, Janet Browne, Jay Richards, Jennifer Allen, journals, laymen, March for Science, morality, Nature (journal), pandemic, peer-review, philosophy, PLOS Biology, Politicians, predatory journals, quantum chromodynamics, Science Advances, Science and Scientism, scientific conferences, scientific meetings, scientific method, scientism, scientists, Stephen Meyer, Tom Coburn, universe, Wastebook, Westworld, World War II, X Club
Scientists used to be among the most trusted individuals in society. The white lab coat marked an individual who was highly trained, very intelligent, and ultimately credible. Changes in the last century have cast severe doubt on that picture — and scientific organizations sometimes admit it themselves. Some are very worried about loss of public trust in their “expert” opinions. They should be worried. In his book Science and Scientism, J.P. Moreland helps put scientists in their place, as did C.S. Lewis before him. Moreland loves science. He trusts much of what scientists say. But he demonstrates that scientism is not credible, because it refutes itself. Many important fields of inquiry, he writes, are off-limits to science, and to the extent scientists invade areas outside their domain, their opinions have…
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