Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
Author

David Coppedge

click beetle
Photo: A click beetle, by Sarefo, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

New Engineering Ideas from Biology

The 2023 Conference on Engineering in Living Systems, organized by the CSC's Engineering Research Group, is set for June 1-3 in Denton, Texas. Read More ›
cow
Photo credit: David Coppedge.

Darwin, We Have a Problem: Horse Teeth Are Not Less Evolved

Time to debunk another evolutionary story by questioning underlying Darwinian assumptions about how things came to be. Read More ›
Pacific salmon
Photo credit: Milton Love, Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Appreciating the Irreducibly Complex Design of Salmon Osmoregulation

Three main things must occur for the young salmon, called a smolt, to prepare for life in the salty ocean. Read More ›
ychI7ZJD7fbjHi0n
Image source: Discovery Institute.

Will an Engineering Paradigm Supplant Darwinism?

Its summer of dominance after neo-Darwinism arose and conquered every field of biology led to an autumn of colorful just-so stories, and now a Narnian rule. Read More ›
full moon
Photo credit: Ganapathy Kumar via Unsplash.

Animals Tune Behavior by  Lunar Cycle; but How?

Researchers in Austria think they have found a clue: a cryptochrome protein that appears to respond to the lunar cycle. Read More ›
Thalassiosira pseudonana
Photo: Thalassiosira pseudonana, by Oregon State University, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Diatoms and the Mystery of Morphogenesis

From code to art: how does a linear set of instructions result in a beautifully crafted pattern? Diatoms do it, and scientists are struggling to figure out how. Read More ›
featherwing beetle
Photo: A featherwing beetle (shown at left) is comparable in size to a large amoeba (right), by SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, via EurekAlert! (no usage restrictions).

#9 Story of 2022: New Mode of Flight Found in Tiny Beetle

A millimeter-sized beetle flies efficiently with feathery wings and a beat mode not seen before. Did it evolve by natural selection? Read More ›
Portuguese man-o’war
Photo: A Portuguese man-o’war, by Volkan Yuksel, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Synchronized Swimming in Siphonophores: A Design Worth Imitating

It must be good if engineers want to copy it. Siphonophores are colonial animals that have mastered the sport of synchronized swimming. Read More ›
ocean
Photo source: Illustra Media.

Salt of the Earth Regulates Habitability

A planet needs more than location in a habitable zone. It needs the right ingredients, and salt has a surprising role. Read More ›
Diomedea_exulans_in_flight_-_SE_Tasmania
Photo: Wandering albatross, via Wikimedia Commons.

Capabilities of Migrating Birds Deserve Awards and Recognition

New technologies are giving scientists global information on a wide variety of bird species. Read More ›

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