24Apr 2020 by Post

Push to Replace Earth Day with “Nature Rights”

anti-humanism, boat basin, Common Dreams, conservation, Culture & Ethics, Deep Ecology Movement, Earth Day, ecosystem, environmental harm, Environmentalism, human benefit, Lake Erie, litigation, nature rights, pollution, regulation, Science (journal)
Earth Day, celebrated this past Wednesday, launched the modern environmentalist movement in 1970. Since then, the movement has moved way beyond the principles of conservation, remediation of polluted areas, and protecting species to embrace an anti-humanism that seeks to throttle our thriving in the name of “saving the earth.” The Deep Ecology Movement is one example. Proving the old maxim that the revolution always consumes itself, two environmental activists have now urged abandoning Earth Day as a “failure” in favor of pushing the “rights of nature.” From “Abolish Earth Day,” published in Common Dreams: Embedded within Earth Day is the pursuit of comfort: the feeling that a benevolent authority exists to protect human and ecological life. People want to believe that laws — federal environmental regulations — protect them, and…
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14Apr 2020 by Post

Rare Earth at Twenty — And My Connection

American Scientist, astrobiology, astronomy, Charles Lineweaver, Christopher McKay, Discovery Institute, earth, extraterrestrial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, galactic habitable zone, Geoff Marcy, Hugh Ross, Icarus, Intelligent Design, interplanetary dust particles, James Kasting, Jay Richards, meteorites, Milky Way, Peter D. Ward, Physics Today, Physics, Earth & Space, Rare Earth, Science (journal), SETI, solar system, Steven J. Dick, The Privileged Planet, University of Washington, Woodruff Sullivan
This past January marked the 20th anniversary of the publication of the best-selling and influential book Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, by Peter D. Ward and Donald E. Brownlee. As the subtitle suggests, the authors argue that planets like Earth that have complex life are rare, while simple life may be common. Some Background Brownlee and Ward were, and still are, professors at the University of Washington in Seattle. Brownlee is an astronomer. He specializes in meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. Ward is a paleontologist in the biology department. He specializes in major mass extinction events. He’s also a prolific author, having written 16 books.  Mostly positive reviews appeared in leading newspapers and science magazines, including Science, American Scientist, and Physics Today. Even scientists who…
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01Apr 2020 by Post

Viruses: An Intelligent Design Perspective

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The COVID-19 virus is on a rampage in the world, killing thousands in the U.S. so far, shutting down whole countries’ economies, and possibly altering aspects of modern life for the future, after the virus has waned. What the complete impact will be is of course unknowable. In the meantime, though, questions arise about this and other, related sub-microscopic entities. Viruses seem so evil. What is their place in life? And like other aspects of nature, do they give evidence of intelligent design? Certainly, in a context of global anxiety, this is a subject that needs to be approached with sensitivity and humility. It isn’t the purpose of this article to adequately address great philosophical questions. That can wait for another occasion. But before such questions can even be considered,…
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25Dec 2019 by Post

#8 of Our Top Stories of 2019: Remembering Phillip E. Johnson (1940-2019)

ancient Greeks, Boalt Hall School of Law, Casey Luskin, censorship, Center for Science & Culture, Christians, creationism, Darwin on Trial, Darwin's Nemesis, Darwinism, Discovery Institute, Evolution, Genesis, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design 101, John Mark Reynolds, Kansas State Board of Education, materialism, naturalism, objective education, Phillip E. Johnson, scholars, Science (journal), scientists, Sunday School, Supreme Court, The Wedge of Truth, UC Berkeley
Editor’s note: The staff of Evolution News wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We are counting down our top ten stories of 2019. If you haven’t done so yet, please take a moment now to contribute to our work in bringing you news and analysis about evolution, intelligent design, and more every day of the year. There is no other voice, no other source of information, like ours. Thank you for your friendship and your support! The following article was originally published here on November 3, 2019. Author’s note: With great regret, we recognize the passing of Phillip Johnson, a key guiding spirit of the intelligent design movement. He died peacefully overnight this weekend, at age 79, at his home in Berkeley, California. I am publishing below…
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15Nov 2019 by Post

“Genomic Perfection” Versus “Cellular Survival”

cell, cellular survival, cleaning robots, DNA, DNA integrity, DNA lesion, DNA repair, environmental mutagens, genome, genomic perfection, Intelligent Design, mutations, passenger mutations, quality control mechanisms, Science (journal), WALL-E
Here is a thought-provoking hypothesis in this week’s Science about “genomic perfection” versus “cellular survival.” From “Cellular survival over genomic perfection“ (open access): The high number of passenger mutations, equivalent to 1000 to 10,000 per genome, in normal cells raises questions regarding why DNA quality control mechanisms have failed to limit mutagenesis. Perhaps a somewhat counterintuitive perspective can be considered: If DNA quality control pathways monitor and preserve DNA integrity too strictly, it could be detrimental to cellular survival. The repair of DNA lesions has a cost: It requires time and cellular resources. If every DNA lesion in a cell were repaired, avoiding mutations altogether, the cellular cost associated with performing that repair would have to increase in direct proportion to the amount of damage. In conditions of high DNA damage — through exposure to…
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