Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature

ID the Future

with Andrew McDiarmid

Dr. Edward Peltzer: The Messy Reality of Prebiotic Chemistry

2161
Edward Peltzer
January 14, 2026
On today’s ID the Future, host Casey Luskin continues a deep dive into the mounting hurdles facing origin of life (OOL) research with prebiotic synthesis expert Dr. Edward Peltzer. Peltzer, a seasoned ocean chemist and researcher, breaks down the critical flaws in the RNA world hypothesis, revealing that many successful lab experiments actually rely on investigator interference—intelligently designed interventions that researchers must make in experiments in order to yield results. But that’s not how the prebiotic atmosphere would have worked, notes Peltzer: “Unless you’ve got graduate students and post-docs working on the early Earth to set up these conditions that were used in the experiments, it’s not gonna happen.” Peltzer also discusses how the goalposts of origin-of-life theory keep moving as our understanding of cellular complexity expands. And he shares a personal story of censorship as the discussion ends by exploring the risks faced by scientists who question the standard evolutionary paradigm. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 1 in a separate episode.

Expert: Without Intelligence, Organic Chemistry Leads to Degradation, Not Life

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Edward Peltzer
January 12, 2026
By now, you may have heard about some of the problems facing the field of origin-of-life research. Maybe you’ve come across Dr. James Tour making the argument that origin-of-life researchers are nowhere near their goal of creating life in a lab or proving a chemical evolutionary scenario for the origin of life. On today’s ID The Future, we hear from another expert in origin-of-life chemistry and prebiotic synthesis: Dr. Edward Peltzer. Host Casey Luskin begins a conversation with Peltzer about the significant chemical hurdles facing origin-of-life research, specifically regarding the synthesis of biological building blocks. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode.

Sex: A Spicy Problem for Evolutionary Theory

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Jonathan McLatchie
January 9, 2026
Sexual reproduction ought to be a recipe for evolutionary disaster. It’s a waste of resources producing no short-term advantages. It demands an entirely different form of cell division and requires highly designed interconnected components to succeed. And yet, sex reigns supreme in the biological world. On this classic ID The Future episode, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie begins a series on why sex is the queen of problems for evolutionary theory and why instead it bears the hallmarks of a system governed by forethought and engineering. This is Part 1 of 3.

Latest Videos

How Your Smartphone Points to God

The Center for Science and Culture
January 12, 2026
God Proofs
Does your smartphone point to… God?!!! A short animated video inspired by the graphic novel The God Proofs: How Science Points to YOUR Creator by Doug Ell for young teens and above. For more information, check out https://thegodproofs.com/.

All Life Runs Code

The Center for Science and Culture
January 6, 2026
God Proofs
All life runs code… but what does the code point to? A short animated video inspired by the graphic novel The God Proofs: How Science Points to YOUR Creator by Doug Ell for young teens and above. For more information, check out https://thegodproofs.com/.

The Origin of Animal Body Plans

Stephen C. Meyer
December 2, 2025
2025 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith
What produced different animal body plans in the history of life? Scientist and philosopher Stephen Meyer explains why unguided evolutionary mechanisms weren’t sufficient and why animal body plans required intelligent design. Dr. Meyer is Director of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute and author of the bestselling books Signature in the Cell, Darwin’s Doubt, and Return of the God Hypothesis. Dr. Paul Nelson, a philosopher of biology, joins Meyer later in the session to discuss the latest research. This session took place at the 2025 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith.

Intelligent Design

Historical Sciences

Origin of Life

Evolution

Paleontology

Ancient Eyes, Modern Design

Does this discovery suggest that the principles of compound vision emerged nearly half a billion years ago as the authors concluded?

Cosmology

Does Elon Musk Believe in God?

It’s the season of the unexpected convert, isn’t it? Musk has more than enough smarts to evaluate that evidence for himself, once he has got it in front of him.

Human Origins

Archaeology

The Joy of (Neanderthal) Cooking

The Darwinian account of the human race would be much easier to believe in good faith if scientists could point to a clearly inferior and clearly human being.

History of Science

The Legacy of Baruch Spinoza

Join host and geologist Casey Luskin and historian of science Michael Keas for a lively conversation puncturing a series of anti-Christian myths.

Geology

Life Sciences

Life Sciences

Neuroscience

Medicine

Biology

Physical Sciences

Physics

Chemistry

Postcard from São Paulo

Kristin Marais spoke about “How to Make Chemistry Fun by Teaching Intelligent Design and the Origin of Life.”

Astronomy

Fine-Tuning

Earth Sciences

Geophysics

Environment

Rare Earth

Planetology

Culture

Human Exceptionalism

Arts

Ethics

Social Sciences

Faith and Science

Science Education

Scientific Freedom

Science Reporting

On the Origin of Our New Name

First, the conversation delves into the site’s launch in December 2004, when the modern intelligent design movement and the Internet were both relatively new.

Science Struggles with Reality

There seems to be little relationship between many science writers’ current concerns and the reasons that public trust in science has been steadily declining.

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