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Not from The Onion: US biochemistry professor admits that astrology would be considered valid science according to his own personal definition. Said a spectator of Pennsylvania ID trial: “I can’t believe he teaches a college biology class”.
For some real controversy over evolution, check out evo devo, or “evolutionary developmental biology”. Its proponents claim that evolution works primarily by changing when certain genes are expressed, not via changing genes themselves. Scientific American has more.
Is it strange that every time I go into my bathroom and look at the box of tissues sitting on the shelf, I see Charles Darwin looking back at me?
It does look like Darwin, yes? Or have I been reading far too much about science and evolution lately?
Note: My bathroom Darwin orchid has nothing to do with Angraecum sesquipedale, an orchid that Darwin discovered in 1850. At the time, he speculated that in order for the plant to be pollinated, a moth with a 12” proboscis would have to do it, even though no such moth had been shown to exist. This freakish moth was eventually discovered (not in my bathroom) in 1903, 20 years after Darwin’s death.
Quick interview with Bobby Henderson, Prophet of the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Profile of Robert Trivers who “came up with the first Darwinian explanations for human cooperation, jealousy and our sense of justice that made genetic sense, and he showed how these arose from the same forces as act on all animals, from the pigeons outside his window to the fish of coral reefs”.
The human brain may have undergone “substantial evolution” in the past 60,000 years.
March of the Penguins has become a favorite for conservative moviegoers, who cite it as making a good case for monogomy, intelligent design, and a pro-life stance on abortion. I wonder if liberals watch the film and come out advocating universal health care…all those dead penguin babies could have been saved with proper medical care.
Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne on intelligent design: “You cannot have it both ways. Either ID belongs in the science classroom, in which case it must submit to the discipline required of a scientific hypothesis. Or it does not, in which case get it out of the science classroom and send it back into the church, where it belongs.”
Daniel Dennett on why intelligent design isn’t science. “Evolutionary biology certainly hasn’t explained everything that perplexes biologists. But intelligent design hasn’t yet tried to explain anything.”
Pharyngula rips Deepak Chopra a new one regarding his skepticism of evolution. Skepticism is fantastic, but Chopra seems to be deeply engaged in an impressive display of uninformed hand-waving. Deep, put down your cup of invigorating tea and at least read a little about what evolution is so that next time, you actually sound like you know what you’re being skeptical about.
Inspired by Kent Hovind’s $250,000 prize for evidence of evolution, Boing Boing is offering a $250,000 prize to anyone providing “empirical evidence which proves that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster”. I’ll throw another $250,000 into the pot.
Carl Zimmer responds to the idea that Charles Darwin’s evolutionary ideas turned him (Darwin) away from religion (as stated in this Slate article).
David Galbraith has “a new theory - Unintelligent Design, which is the same as Intelligent Design, except that the creator is either a moron or Satan”. Hee.
Newly discovered example of convergent evolution: frogs in Madagascar and South America who independently developed poisonous defense systems.
Butterfly team colors may discourage inter-species mating and pave the way for the development of separate species. “This process, called ‘reinforcement’, prevents closely related species from interbreeding thus driving them further apart genetically and promoting speciation.”
An open letter to the Kansas School Board. “Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster.”
Scientists are opting out of public debates on evolution vs. creationism or intelligent design.
Scientist hypothesizes that Ashkenazi Jews are more intelligent as a group because of natural selection. “Put these two things together—a correlation of intelligence and success, and a correlation of success and fecundity—and you have circumstances that favour the spread of genes that enhance intelligence.”
Why intelligent design isn’t. “Biologists aren’t alarmed by intelligent design’s arrival in Dover and elsewhere because they have all sworn allegiance to atheistic materialism; they’re alarmed because intelligent design is junk science.”
A historian disgraces himself. A rebuttal of “The Theory of Evolution: Just a Theory?”
The theory of evolution: just a theory?. “Historian Prof. William D. Rubinstein shares his doubts about the theory of evolution.”
Creationism: God’s gift to the ignorant. Richard Dawkins on the “deceitful misquoting of scientists to suit an anti-scientific agenda” and other creationist follies.
Life’s top ten greatest inventions. Includes the eye, sexual reproduction, photosynthesis, and language.
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