Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature

Science and Culture Today | Page 1196 | Discovering Design in Nature

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A sunrise through a field of flowers. The sun is low in the sky, casting a warm light on the flowers
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Peer-Reviewed Research Paper on Plant Biology Favorably Cites Intelligent Design and Challenges Darwinian Evolution

A new original research paper on mutagenesis comprising 240,000 plants in the journal Floriculture and Ornamental Biotechnology favorably cites to “intelligent design proponents,” including Michael Behe, William Dembski, Jonathan Wells, and Stephen Meyer, as advocating one of various legitimate “scientific theories on the origin of species.” The paper was authored by Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig, a recently retired biologist from the Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Germany who investigates the origin of certain features of flowering plants, or angiosperms. Citing to skeptics of neo-Darwinism such as Behe and “the almost 900 scientists of the Scientific Dissent from Darwinism,” the paper notes that: Many of these researchers also raise the question (among others), why — even after inducing literally billions of Read More ›

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Bill With American Dollars On Table
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William Dembski and Robert Marks Publish (Another) Peer-Reviewed Scientific Paper Supporting No Free Lunch Theorems

A peer-reviewed scientific paper published in 2010 by William Dembski and Robert Marks of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab supports no free lunch theorems. Published in Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics and titled “The Search for a Search: Measuring the Information Cost of Higher Level Search,” the paper’s abstract states that unless one has information about a target, search engines often fail: “Needle-in-the-haystack problems look for small targets in large spaces. In such cases, blind search stands no hope of success.” Their principle of Conservation of Information holds that “any search technique will work, on average, as well as blind search.” However, in such a case “[s]uccess requires an assisted search. But whence the assistance required for a Read More ›

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Successful result of artificial insemination of a woman. Miracle of Modern Medicine: IVF. Little human baby inside mother womb. Small embryo in uterus.
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In Which I Answer Tantalus Prime’s Queries About Abortion

Tantalus Prime is a graduate student in neuroscience. He’s been following my debate about abortion with Joshua Rosenau of the NCSE. He asks some questions about my views on the right to life that are worth answering. Tantulus: Egnor asserts that humanity is a discrete, not a continuous variable. If so, then would he kindly point to the exact point at which the human begins? After all, fertilization itself is a multi-step process. So, where is it? When the sperm breaches the oocyte membrane? Formation of the pro-nuclei? Initial DNA replication? Degeneration of the pro-nuclei membrane? Formation of the mitotic spindle? Fusion of the chromosomes? Division of the chromosomes and formation of the first daughter cells? This really should be Read More ›

Pro-Intelligent Design Peer Reviewed Scientific Paper Argues for an “Engineered World”

A pro-intelligent design peer-reviewed scientific paper has been published in the International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics by Dominic Halsmer, a signer of the Scientific Dissent From Darwinism and Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Oral Roberts University. Titled “The Coherence of an Engineered World,” the review article looks at various facets of the natural world, particularly instances of cosmic fine-tuning, and argues that it is “engineered.” One reason the authors feel the universe is engineered is the fact that it is mathematically and scientifically comprehensible. Human-engineered systems are characterized by stability, predictability, reliability, transparency, controllability, efficiency, and (ideally) optimality. These features are also prevalent throughout the natural systems that make up the cosmos. However, Read More ›

Eugenie Scott Endorses Discrimination Against Darwin-Doubting Scientists

We’ve previously reported on the case of Martin Gaskell (here, here, here), an astronomer who was denied a job at the University of Kentucky (UK) due to perceived sympathy for “creationism.” In reality. Gaskell is no creationist, and calls himself an “old earth theistic evolutionist” who has “no trouble with the natural selection process.” Gaskell alarmed the Darwinian thought police at UK because in online notes from a talk, he favorably cites the works of proponents of intelligent design like Michael Behe and Phillip Johnson, and states, “there are significant scientific problems in evolutionary theory,” and “these problems are bigger than is usually made out in introductory geology/biology courses.” In his deposition testimony he further stated that “when it comes Read More ›

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3d rendered medically accurate illustration of a bacteriophage on a bacteria
Image Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki - Adobe Stock

More From Jerry Coyne

We should not automatically assume that the occurrence of duplicated and diverged genes in nature happened by unguided, Darwinian processes. Read More ›
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Close-up of a fruit fly, fruit fly, vinegar fly (Drosophila Melanogaster) on apple, AI generated
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Praised be Darwin! Do Fruit Flies Bust Behe?

Fruit flies are a cherished subject of such investigations because of their rapid reproduction, going from birth to death in thirty days. Read More ›

BIO-Complexity Publishes Article Answering Critics Who Promote Tom Schneider’s “ev” Simulation

Over the years William Dembski's critics have accused him of allegedly not doing research. A few years back, Wesley Elsberry and Jeff Shallit published a response to Dembski which charged that "intelligent design advocates have produced many popular books, but essentially no scientific research." Given how much peer-reviewed research Dembski himself has published in the field of evolutionary computation, these criticisms are not credible and hardly worth mentioning. On the other hand, some of Dembski's harshest critics, such as Jeffrey Shallit, are smart guys that have published extensively in mathematics journals but have not cracked into the literature relevant to this field of evolutionary computation. Is it appropriate for Shallit to posture himself as a prestigious academic critic of Dembski when he has not published in the relevant scientific literature? Read More ›

Help Support Discovery Institute in 2010

Evolution News & Views comes to you as a service of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, which produces other online media, such as ID the Future, the podcast about evolution and intelligent design, and websites like IntelligentDesign.org and FaithandEvolution.org, where videos, articles, and other resources are available and accessible. We’ve had a busy and memorable year, and we couldn’t have done it without support from readers like you. Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture is a nonprofit 501(c)3, and looking ahead we know that the next year will be a great one as intelligent design continues to advance as a theory — but we will need your help. Please consider partnering with us, whether it be as Read More ›

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