Science and Culture Today | Discovering Design in Nature

Today

Death by Intelligent Design? A Biological Enigma

_{Eric Hedin
October 6, 2025
7
Intelligent Design}

Limited lifespans, accompanied by reproductive continuation of the living organism, provide a sustainable balance for life.

A Neglected Dissenter from Darwinism

_{Neil Thomas
October 5, 2025
5
Evolution}

Mivart’s objection to Darwinism has not gone away (although it is often studiously ignored).

John Searle (1932–2025): A Titan Passes

_{Bruce Gordon
October 3, 2025
7
Philosophy}

Searle’s most famous argument is undoubtedly the Chinese Room argument, first presented in his essay “Minds, Brains, and Programs” (1980).

Animal Algorithms: Moth Celestial Navigation

_{Eric Cassell
October 8, 2025
8
Intelligent Design}

The origin, genetic inheritance, and how such algorithms are programmed in the brain remains a mystery.

Science Points to God; Scientists Listen

_{Denyse O’Leary
October 7, 2025
6
Faith & Science}

Computer engineer Michel-Yves Bolloré, a lifelong Catholic, and Olivier Bonnassies, who came late to faith, argue that the universe must have had a creator.

Skulls Push Our Species Back to 1 Million Years?

_{Casey Luskin
October 3, 2025
11
Human Origins and Anthropology}

How many times have we been told that some new paleoanthropological find is “rewriting the story of human evolution”?

Farewell to Philosopher John Searle

_{Science and Culture
October 2, 2025
3
Philosophy}

His Chinese Room thought experiment, an argument for why computers can seem clever without having minds, was widely understood among the lay public.

ID the Future

with Andrew McDiarmid

Attorney Barry Arrington on Materialism, Morality, and the Erosion of Objective Rights

_{2119
Barry Arrington
October 8, 2025}

How is the job of a scientist similar to the job of an attorney? And how do you define evidence? On this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin continues his conversation with attorney and former Colorado House of Representatives member Barry Arrington about the arguments for intelligent design marshaled in Arrington’s book Unforgetting God. In this concluding segment, Arrington and Luskin review common objections to intelligent design and discuss the larger philosophical, cultural, and legal implications of the debate over intelligent design and materialism.

An Experienced Attorney Evaluates the Evidence for Intelligent Design

_{2118
Barry Arrington
October 6, 2025}

Attorneys are skilled in evaluating evidence for claims and making complex ideas easier to understand, two skills that come in handy when assessing scientific theories as well. Today, Dr. Casey Luskin begins a conversation with attorney and former Colorado House of Representatives member Barry Arrington to discuss the evidence for intelligent design and his new book Unforgetting God. In Part 1 of the conversation, Arrington lays out several key arguments for intelligent design and assesses their evidential strength. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

Douglas Axe: We Have an Eye For Detecting Design

_{2117
Douglas Axe
October 3, 2025}

On this classic episode of ID the Future, host Eric Metaxas continues his conversation with biologist and professor Dr. Douglas Axe. The subject is Axe’s book Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life is Designed and his account of how he lost his position at a Cambridge research lab because of the implications of his research findings. Axe discusses the polarized atmosphere in science today, driven by an unreasonable commitment to materialism. Axe also talks about the reliability of our built-in design intuition and the implications of living in a designed universe. This is Part 2 of a two-episode interview.

Latest Videos

Engineered for Oxygen

_{The Center for Science and Culture
September 1, 2025
Intelligent Design
Secrets of the Human Body}

Without enough oxygen, your body will die. In Episode 1 of Secrets of the Human Body, learn about the astonishing engineering of the body that allows it to harness oxygen’s power and keep us alive. …

The Common Woodpecker: Chance or Design?

_{Raymond Bohlin
August 25, 2025
Intelligent Design
2025 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith}

Biologist Ray Bohlin explores the incredible intelligent design of the common woodpecker. Dr. Bohlin is a Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute. This talk was presented at the 2025 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith. …

Secrets of the Human Body Trailer

_{The Center for Science and Culture
August 15, 2025
Intelligent Design
Secrets of the Human Body}

Premiering September 1, 2025, Secrets of the Human Body is a new YouTube series that will unravel the mysteries of the human body and explore its exquisite intelligent design. …

The Intelligent Design of Plants

_{Emily Reeves
July 14, 2025
Intelligent Design
2025 Dallas Conference on Science & Faith}

Learn about the incredible intelligent design of plants from Daniel Reeves, Director of Education and Outreach at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, and biologist Dr. Emily Reeves, research scientist at the Center for Science and Culture. This talk was presented at the 2025 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith. …

Intelligent Design

Animal Algorithms: Moth Celestial Navigation

_{Eric Cassell
October 8, 2025
8
Intelligent Design}

The origin, genetic inheritance, and how such algorithms are programmed in the brain remains a mystery.

Nature's Missing Law of Information

_{William A. Dembski
October 1, 2025
6
Intelligent Design}

Conservation of information is not just an idea or concept that sits blithely in a world of mathematical abstraction.

Coyne Reacts to Pro-ID Paper with Question-Begging

_{Jonathan McLatchie
September 16, 2025
6
Intelligent Design}

The paper seeks to elucidate the plausibility of naturalistic evolutionary processes generating a minimal living cell.

Life, Like Technology, Requires “Something More”

_{Eric Hedin
September 4, 2025
5
Intelligent Design}

Even when formed to perfection, a violin will not “hale souls out of men’s bodies” unless a master musician draws the bow across the strings.

Historical Sciences

Origin of Life

From Dead Ends to Design

_{Andrew McDiarmid
August 7, 2025
3
Intelligent Design}

“Molecules,” chemist James Tour notes, “have “no propensity… to move toward life.”

The Unsolved Mystery of Life’s Origin

_{Andrew McDiarmid
August 4, 2025
2
Evolution}

How did life originate? For decades, many scientists clung to “primordial soup” models.

Remembering Walter Bradley (1943–2025)

_{William A. Dembski
July 23, 2025
27
Faith & Science}

I’m going to describe some of my personal encounters with Walter that are not in his biography. These I hope will bring to light the man in a fresh way.

Evolution

Mivart: A Historical Snapshot

_{James Barham
September 30, 2025
7
Evolution}

In the end, Darwin, Huxley, and their friends collectively decided to “cut him dead,” meaning to ostracize him socially.

An 1871 Critique of Darwin Still Packs a Punch

_{William A. Dembski
September 29, 2025
12
Evolution}

A new series aims to restore a historically honest balance to the debate over evolution and design in the study of biological origins.

What’s More Deserving of Ig Nobel Prizes?

_{David Coppedge
September 25, 2025
9
Evolution}

The committee passed up some research that would have raised eyebrows and given the crowd some hearty laughs.

Paleontology

Luskin Answers Objections to Intelligent Design

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 3, 2025
3
Paleontology}

Dr. Luskin highlights a “large unbridged gap” in the fossil record between ape-like species like Lucy and human-like species.

Fossils as Magical Darwin Relics

_{David Coppedge
May 25, 2025
12
Paleontology}

Fossils can be handled in the present, but how they are used by evolutionists in stories of history resembles the practices of overeager medieval churchmen.

Cold Water on “Dire Wolves”

_{David Klinghoffer
April 9, 2025
2
Paleontology}

"These are not dire wolves," says evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin. "These are gray wolves with 20 edited genes."

Cosmology

Science Points to God; Scientists Listen

_{Denyse O’Leary
October 7, 2025
6
Faith & Science}

Computer engineer Michel-Yves Bolloré, a lifelong Catholic, and Olivier Bonnassies, who came late to faith, argue that the universe must have had a creator.

How Modern Physics Reveals Purpose in the Universe

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 24, 2025
2
Physics}

Scientists agree that our universe is finely tuned for the existence of life. But is the fine-tuning a happy accident or the result of foresight?

Rational Arguments for Design in the Universe

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 23, 2025
2
Physics}

Do you recognize the number 1/137.035999206? It might seem arbitrary, but if the fine structure constant were any higher or lower, you might not exist!

Human Origins

Skulls Push Our Species Back to 1 Million Years?

_{Casey Luskin
October 3, 2025
11
Human Origins and Anthropology}

How many times have we been told that some new paleoanthropological find is “rewriting the story of human evolution”?

Hunted as Prey, Not a “Turning Point”

_{Casey Luskin
September 26, 2025
8
Human Origins and Anthropology}

The proposals of this study are very consistent with what we have long argued here.

Berlinski on Human-Chimp Differences and More

_{Andrew McDiarmid
August 29, 2025
2
Human Origins and Anthropology}

He challenges Stephen Jay Gould’s idea that the difference between humans and chimps is merely one of degree but not kind, calling this “utterly ridiculous.”

Archaeology

More Discoveries Point to Neanderthal Intelligence

_{Denyse O’Leary
December 5, 2024
5
Archaeology}

This very ancient people we know the most about can’t be the missing link that many paleontologists are looking for.

The Joy of (Neanderthal) Cooking

_{Denyse O’Leary
July 30, 2024
5
Archaeology}

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.

Dallas Conference: Archaeology & the Life of Jesus

_{Titus Kennedy
January 19, 2024
1
Archaeology}

My presentation will explore archaeological discoveries illuminating a major event in the life of Jesus — his trial in Jerusalem.

History of Science

Darwin as a Prefiguration of Postmodern Man

_{Neil Thomas
August 25, 2025
17
History of Science}

Whether we like it or not, Erasmus Darwin’s simple and predictable world is no more, and we now find ourselves subject to a profoundly mysterious cosmos.

The Legacy of Baruch Spinoza

_{Andrew McDiarmid
April 2, 2025
1
History of Science}

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

Conservation of Information: History of an Idea

_{William A. Dembski
January 20, 2025
30
History of Science}

Conservation of information” is a term that appears in both the physics and the computer science literature.

Geology

The Wonders of a Hard Mineral

_{David Coppedge
September 5, 2025
11
Geology}

Explore the features of a remarkable mineral erupted from volcanoes that is found in our teeth. How did it get there?

Plate Tectonics and Scientific Discovery

_{Guillermo Gonzalez
September 3, 2024
4
Geology}

Plate tectonics is important for advanced life in multiple ways and planets with plate tectonics are very rare.

Luskin: Our Intelligently Designed Planet

_{Science and Culture
November 3, 2022
1
Geology}

Dr. Luskin offers an additional design argument, this one aesthetic in nature, and takes questions from the audience.

Life Sciences

Fireweed: An Example of Intelligent Latent Design

_{Eric Hedin
February 5, 2025
7
Life Sciences}

The photo with fireweed in the foreground at the top of this article was taken by my father, Robert Hedin, at Mount Shuksan in Washington State.

Biological Information in Static Electricity

_{David Coppedge
December 5, 2024
5
Life Sciences}

The influence of static charge in pollination is one demonstrable case — not only for bees, but for moths and hummingbirds as well.

Plant Missile Technology: A Peek in the Armory

_{David Coppedge
December 2, 2024
5
Life Sciences}

Ballistic missiles are common in plants and fungi. Take a look at how they launch their payloads.

Neuroscience

Looking for Consciousness in the "Wrong Part"?

_{Denyse O’Leary
September 29, 2025
3
Neuroscience & Mind}

Al of this reasoning assumes that human consciousness — the human mind — is local. Located in one single place. It probably isn’t.

Who Are You Talking to When You Talk to Yourself?

_{Geoffrey Simmons
September 19, 2025
7
Neuroscience & Mind}

A comment by a national radio show host recently caught my attention. “So, I said to myself, SELF! What would you do under these circumstances?”

The Cost of Defending Materialism Is Rising

_{Denyse O’Leary
September 18, 2025
5
Neuroscience & Mind}

Neuroscientist Àlex Gómez-Marín raises — in the very venue that hosts, say, Roger Penrose and Sabine Hossenfelder — the validity of telepathy research.

Medicine

Consciousness and ID: Hear Dr. Simmons Tonight

_{Science and Culture
October 1, 2025
1
Medicine}

He tells us, “My patients have contacted me from all over the world having heard me on this show on previous occasions.”

Will We Care For or Kill Dementia Patients?

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 21, 2025
2
Medicine}

I understand that people are terrified of dementia. Believe me, I get it. My mother died of Alzheimer’s.

Killing for Organs — Who Could Possibly Object?

_{Wesley J. Smith
August 5, 2025
4
Medicine}

Three doctors promote the idea of “redefining death” to allow patients to be killed for their organs.

Biology

Life, Like Technology, Requires “Something More”

_{Eric Hedin
September 4, 2025
5
Intelligent Design}

Even when formed to perfection, a violin will not “hale souls out of men’s bodies” unless a master musician draws the bow across the strings.

Eight Reasons Sex in Humans Is Binary

_{Denyse O’Leary
September 2, 2025
5
Reproductive Science}

Skeptics will eventually be forced to confront the problem: They posit laws with no lawgiver, principles with no foundation, minds from mud.

An Evolutionist Decries Private Truth

_{Denyse O’Leary
August 22, 2025
4
Scientific Reasoning}

Ironically, the ultimate origin of private truth is the materialism that you yourself, Dr. Coyne, espouse.

Physical Sciences

Physics

Nature's Missing Law of Information

_{William A. Dembski
October 1, 2025
6
Intelligent Design}

Conservation of information is not just an idea or concept that sits blithely in a world of mathematical abstraction.

How Modern Physics Reveals Purpose in the Universe

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 24, 2025
2
Physics}

Scientists agree that our universe is finely tuned for the existence of life. But is the fine-tuning a happy accident or the result of foresight?

Rational Arguments for Design in the Universe

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 23, 2025
2
Physics}

Do you recognize the number 1/137.035999206? It might seem arbitrary, but if the fine structure constant were any higher or lower, you might not exist!

Chemistry

Postcard from São Paulo

_{Casey Luskin
July 23, 2025
4
Intelligent Design}

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

Homeschool High‑School Science Courses

_{Brian Westad
July 16, 2025
3
Science Education}

Give your high‑schooler a course that sparks curiosity today and prepares them for the science of tomorrow.

DI Academy “Meet the Teachers” Zoom

_{Kristin Marais
May 28, 2025
4
Science Education}

If you weren’t able to drop by our booth in Florida, why don’t you consider joining our “Meet the Teachers” Zoom event on Thursday, May 29 at 5:00 pm (PDT).

Astronomy

Rights for Planets, Moons, and Space Microbes?

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 29, 2025
3
Planetology}

The ultimate purpose in granting such rights would be to disincentivize investments in space exploration and keep us Gaia-bound.

An Icon of Intelligent Design

_{David Klinghoffer
August 6, 2025
2
Faith & Science}

If wokeness leads to promoting surgical sexual mutilation of children, maybe we need to rethink the whole thing.

Dave Farina Gives Avi Loeb the Hamas Treatment

_{David Klinghoffer
July 30, 2025
4
Evolution}

Farina was known to us before for his puerile attack videos aimed at intelligent design proponents.

Fine-Tuning

Geometric Design in the Solar System

_{Eric Hedin
August 11, 2025
8
Intelligent Design}

My favorite example of such geometric design arises from the mean orbits of our innermost two planets, Mercury and Venus.

We Are Children of Light and Water

_{Andrew McDiarmid
August 10, 2025
2
Intelligent Design}

“In this vast range, there’s only one…infinitesimally small band which has the right energy for photosynthesis,” a prerequisite for human life. Coincidence?

The "Nature of the Universe" Puzzles Physicists

_{Denyse O’Leary
June 27, 2025
7
Intelligent Design}

The more physicists know about the universe, the larger loom some questions about ultimate realities.

Earth Sciences

Geophysics

Aurora Borealis: Scientific and Aesthetic Design

_{Casey Luskin
May 12, 2024
9
Astronomy}

You appreciate the aurora borealis or aurora australis because you were not created by strictly material evolutionary processes.

Geoengineering on an Intelligently Designed Planet

_{Tova Levengood
August 30, 2023
4
Intelligent Design}

Scientists are still discovering how many systems, controls, and other aspects of planetary fine-tuning are in place to ensure that we have abundant life.

No Iron, No Life: Design in Iron Availability

_{Science and Culture
January 25, 2022
9
Biology}

As an exercise, count the number of lucky breaks that had to occur for the evolutionary story to work.

Environment

Great Science Cancellation Continues

_{David Klinghoffer
September 18, 2025
3
Scientific Freedom}

In the domination of science by ideology, by the myth of “settled science,” the stakes couldn’t be more profound.

COSM Will Feature Nobel Laureate John F. Clauser

_{Science and Culture
September 12, 2025
5
Physics}

Discovery Institute’s upcoming COSM 2025 tech conference will feature something a little different.

Put Mother Nature on the Board of Directors?

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 9, 2025
6
Ethics}

Nature can’t “own” anything. That’s a human construct. Moreover, nature would be represented by environmental “flesh flake” radicals.

Rare Earth

Study: Geological Habitability Parameters

_{Casey Luskin
August 14, 2024
8
Rare Earth}

One thing that is likely to get some pushback is the study’s claim that modern-style plate tectonics on Earth did not commence until the Neoproterozoic.

Earth and Mars — A Rare Gem and a Sharp Contrast

_{Eric Hedin
August 5, 2024
9
Rare Earth}

Apparently, simple living organisms must exist for eons on a planet before more advanced life can thrive.

Rare Earth: How Vital Minerals "Evolve"

_{David Coppedge
August 29, 2022
4
Rare Earth}

It's intriguing that life as we know it depends on a seemingly un-natural distribution of minerals.

Planetology

Rights for Planets, Moons, and Space Microbes?

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 29, 2025
3
Planetology}

The ultimate purpose in granting such rights would be to disincentivize investments in space exploration and keep us Gaia-bound.

Hope for Mars Life Is Dashed Again

_{David Coppedge
March 4, 2025
1
Planetology}

Subsequent landers discovered a high concentration of perchlorates in the soil. Perchlorates are chlorinated salts, often used in fireworks.

How NASA Might Change Soon

_{Science and Culture
March 2, 2025
3
Planetology}

There has been much speculation in the tech media over the current government shakeup.

Culture

Human Exceptionalism

Nature Right Pushes Neo-Pagan Mysticism

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 25, 2025
3
Human Exceptionalism}

Most recently, the Harvard Kennedy School hosted a symposium on “nature rights” undergirded by “indigenous knowledge.”

Smithsonian Denigrates the Human Race

_{David Klinghoffer
August 20, 2025
3
Human Exceptionalism}

I have not yet heard that the Trump Administration is looking at what the NMNH says about human origins. But reforming the Smithsonian requires it.

C. S. Lewis and the Advent of the Posthuman

_{James A. Herrick
August 21, 2020
9
Human Exceptionalism}

In Julian Savulescu’s view, rapidly advancing brain science will provide some of the data necessary to shaping a better human race.

Arts

J. K. Rowling Comes Out Against Assisted Suicide

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 26, 2025
2
Bioethics}

Two of the core tenets of liberalism are (supposed to be) protecting vulnerable people from exploitation and promoting equality among all people.

Darwin, Faust, and the Alchemist: Unexpected Roots

_{Neil Thomas
September 25, 2025
19
Evolution}

Today we would of course brand both Faust and the Alchemist fantasists or “mad scientists” of the first order. Was Darwin prone to such wishful thinking?

Life, Like Technology, Requires “Something More”

_{Eric Hedin
September 4, 2025
5
Intelligent Design}

Even when formed to perfection, a violin will not “hale souls out of men’s bodies” unless a master musician draws the bow across the strings.

Ethics

Rights for Planets, Moons, and Space Microbes?

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 29, 2025
3
Planetology}

The ultimate purpose in granting such rights would be to disincentivize investments in space exploration and keep us Gaia-bound.

J. K. Rowling Comes Out Against Assisted Suicide

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 26, 2025
2
Bioethics}

Two of the core tenets of liberalism are (supposed to be) protecting vulnerable people from exploitation and promoting equality among all people.

Now It's Science Fraud in...Mathematics?

_{Science and Culture
September 26, 2025
3
Mathematics}

Most lay people would not think that mathematics is a particularly safe place to do fraud.

Social Sciences

Can Evolution Explain Altruism or Heroism?

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 20, 2025
2
Evolutionary Psychology}

Casey Luskin and I share separate recent examples of people who have run towards burning cars to save complete strangers.

If You Want Creative Storytelling, Look No Further

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 19, 2025
2
Uncategorized}

If evolutionary psychology attempts to explain every behavior, including each behavior’s opposite, can it really explain anything?

Who Are You Talking to When You Talk to Yourself?

_{Geoffrey Simmons
September 19, 2025
7
Neuroscience & Mind}

A comment by a national radio show host recently caught my attention. “So, I said to myself, SELF! What would you do under these circumstances?”

Faith and Science

Science Points to God; Scientists Listen

_{Denyse O’Leary
October 7, 2025
6
Faith & Science}

Computer engineer Michel-Yves Bolloré, a lifelong Catholic, and Olivier Bonnassies, who came late to faith, argue that the universe must have had a creator.

Second Edition of Granville Sewell's Book Is Out

_{David Klinghoffer
September 12, 2025
2
Faith & Science}

Dr. Sewell wrote perhaps the most moving essay we've ever published here, under the title, "The Biggest Theological Objection to Design."

Murdered in Dialogue with College Students

_{Peter Biles
September 11, 2025
4
Faith & Science}

Kirk traveled the country and openly invited dialogue and debate among people with different views and backgrounds.

Science Education

ID Education Day Is Coming to Tacoma, November 6!

_{Kate Kavanaugh
October 1, 2025
2
Science Education}

This is a fantastic field trip opportunity for middle and high school students in homeschool and private school settings to interact directly with scientists.

Homeschool High‑School Science Courses

_{Brian Westad
July 16, 2025
3
Science Education}

Give your high‑schooler a course that sparks curiosity today and prepares them for the science of tomorrow.

DI Academy “Meet the Teachers” Zoom

_{Kristin Marais
May 28, 2025
4
Science Education}

If you weren’t able to drop by our booth in Florida, why don’t you consider joining our “Meet the Teachers” Zoom event on Thursday, May 29 at 5:00 pm (PDT).

Scientific Freedom

The Wrong Tool to Fix Woke Science Journals

_{Wesley J. Smith
May 3, 2025
2}

The government has no business pressuring medical journals about their content — no matter how biased.

Hysteria in the Science Sector Over DOGE

_{Wesley J. Smith
March 30, 2025
4}

Whatever problems now exist for the public medical research funding sector, the disappointing Francis Collins helped create them.

Stand Up for Science or... for Naked Ideology?

_{Wesley J. Smith
March 12, 2025
4}

“Stand Up for Science 2025” protests were clearly aimed at reaffirming control by the now discredited science establishment.

Science Reporting

On the Origin of Our New Name

_{Andrew McDiarmid
September 27, 2025
3
Science Reporting}

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.

On Genetic (Dis)Similarity, Give Credit Where Due

_{David Klinghoffer
September 10, 2025
4
Science Reporting}

Would anyone know that the 1 percent icon has finally fallen, if we hadn't broken the story? It seems not.

Science Struggles with Reality

_{Denyse O’Leary
August 27, 2025
7
Science Reporting}

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