Science and Culture Today | Page 1287 | Discovering Design in Nature

In Part 3 of this series, I discussed a recent article published on MSNBC titled, “Fossils reveal truth about Darwin’s theory” that puffs the fossil evidence for evolution. In that installment, I discussed the fact that the article relied entirely upon evolutionary scientist Donald Prothero touting various examples of alleged transitional forms — but that Prothero’s arguments didn’t disclose the real history of the fossil record, and included much speculation and assumption-laden evolutionary interpretation. One of the showcase fossils in the article is the alleged “frogamander,” which is supposedly a transitional form between frogs and salamanders. Frogs and salamanders are of course both amphibians, and indeed the article admits that the fossil is simply “a toothed amphibian” (nothing extraordinary), and Read More ›

Much to the chagrin of those who wish to prevent students from learning about science that challenges neo-Darwinism, academic freedom bills have been submitted to the legislatures of five states so far this year. The arguments from critics against these bills are utterly predictable — but they unwittingly demonstrate the need for academic freedom legislation. Before the Oklahoma Academic Freedom Bill died in committee last week, two Oklahoma Darwinists created a scare-FAQ to lobby Oklahoma legislators, stating: “This bill is designed to cast doubt on science as a valid way of understanding the world and to promote ideas based on religious faith. … This is a ‘Trojan horse’ bill intended to open the door for the teaching of religious concepts Read More ›

In Part 1 and Part 2, I discussed two of MSNBC’s recent puff-pieces promoting evolution that they’ve published to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday. The final article, which pushed evolution much harder than the others, was titled, “Fossils reveal truth about Darwin’s theory” (also posted on Foxnews) and gloated, “Events and press releases are geared, in part, to combat false claims made by some who would discredit the theory. One frequently cited ‘hole’ in the theory: Creationists claim there are no transitional fossils, a.k.a. missing links. Biologists and paleontologists, among others, know this claim is false.” The initial glaring problem with the MNSBC puff-piece is that so-called “creationists” are by no means the only ones discussing a lack of transitional fossils Read More ›

Tom Woodward of the C.S. Lewis Society, who will be appearing at the Darwin’s Legacy — The Hidden Story event along with Steve Fuller and Michael Medved, has just let us know that the event will now be broadcast live on the internet thanks to Tampa conservative talk radio station 860 WGUL. The program runs 7:00PM to 9:00PM Easter time, Thursday February 26th. The station will carry the news at the top of the hour, but by 7:05pm EST it will be begin streaming audio of the event. Go to http://860wgul.townhall.com/ and click on LISTEN LIVE in the upper left hand corner.

If Charles Darwin were to show up at his 200th birthday celebration in 2009, he would be shocked by the scientific puzzles and cultural fallout that his theory generated. To trace the untold story of the controversy he sparked, The C.S. Lewis Society is featuring a live discussion with: Dr. Steve FullerAuthor of Dissent over DescentSocial Scientist from EnglandAuthority in the Movie, “Expelled.”Dr. Michael MedvedNationally Syndicated Talk Radio Host2 Million Daily ListenersNew York Times Best Selling Author.Dr. Tom WoodwardAuthor of Doubts about Darwin and Darwin Strikes BackResearch Professor at Trinity College. Date: 7:00PM to 9:00PM, Thursday February 26thLocation:The Oval Theater, University of South Florida’s Marshall Center4202 East Fowler Ave.Tampa, FL 33620Students $5 – Adults $10For Information and Advanced Ticket Sales,Call Read More ›

A robust debate about Darwinian evolution has been taking place over at Forbes.com recently. The venerable techonomy site published over 20 articles in honor of Darwin’s birthday, four of which were from ID proponents. As usual, having any articles skeptical of Darwinism is a bridge too far for some, namely Darwin defender Jerry Coyne who attacked not just the authors, but Forbes itself for the temerity to discuss such views publicly.

No less than a member of the National Academy has responded. Forbes.com has just posted a piece by Philip S. Skell, The Dangers Of Overselling Evolution. Skell argues that …

As part of their celebration of Darwin’s 200th birthday, MSNBC has been printing puff-pieces promoting evolution. In Part 1, I discussed their piece using weak and controversial evidence documenting the alleged dinosaur to bird transition. In this section, I’ll be discussing another little piece they published, “Seven signs of evolution in action.” This piece takes very little time to rebut, and those familiar with weak arguments used to buttress evolution in this debate will likely be able to guess the arguments used in the “Seven signs” piece simply by my rebuttal. In fact, the interesting part about this piece is not so much the rebuttal, but the quality of evidence that MSNBC is using to promote evolution: 7 Signs of Read More ›

Casey Luskin and John West were in Oklahoma yesterday at an Academic Freedom Day event hosted by the IDEA club at University of Oklahoma. Not surprisingly Darwinists were in attendance, and showed their complete and utter lack of civility. Casey sent me this e-mail recapping once such encounter during the Q&A following his presentation.

Pro-Evolution Blogger Abbie Smith Flipped Me Off on Friday Night, and Here’s the Story
University of Oklahoma (OU) graduate student and science-blogger Abbie Smith flipped me off during my talk about academic freedom at the University of Oklahoma on Friday night. But before I get to that part, I’d like to tell what actually happened.

Today NPR’s All Things Considered reported on the running debate between Evolution News & Views contributor Dr. Michael Egnor, professor of neurosurgery at SUNY Stony Brook, and Darwinist neurologist Dr. Steven Novella from Yale. With “Doubting Darwin: Debate Over The Mind’s Evolution” NPR takes a look at the scientific debate over the mind-brain problem currently shaking up neuroscience. Listen to the report here because, as reporter Jon Hamilton notes, “The outcome of the mind-brain debate will have a profound impact on everything from what students learn in high school to how decisions are made at the end of life.” Here are a few of Dr. Egnor’s posts on the mind-brain problem and some background on the back-and-forth between Dr. Egnor Read More ›

You won’t find any well-known intelligent design advocates among the speakers at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), held recently in Chicago. But that does not mean ID was not there — quite the contrary. Like the social outcast left uninvited to the garden party, who nevertheless becomes the main topic of conversation, ID was on the lips of most of the speakers at an overflow Sunday (2/15) afternoon session, Evolution Makes Sense of Biology. One could be forgiven for leaving the session thinking that evolutionary biology was defined largely by its opposition to ID.