Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
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adaptation

cake
Photo credit: Jota, via Unsplash.

Molecular Biologist Marci Reeves on the Principles of Scientific Thinking

She uses the analogy of a beautifully frosted cake. The bottom layer is the raw data, while additional layers include interpretation, narrative, and hype. Read More ›
CharlesDarwinScientificBadass4896956109
Photo credit: http://www.cgpgrey.com, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Fantastic Four and a Walk-On for Darwin

Great tensions fuel engaging drama, always. If there’s a conflict, it has to be stark and serious, and the stakes have to be high.  Read More ›
Nassarius_arcularia_01
Photo credit: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Paper Digest: Addressing Flaws in Population Dynamic Models 

Reframing genetic variation as falling into separate categories — random and non-random — could provide new insights into the history of life. Read More ›
Apocalypse_de_Namur_-_seconde_trompette
Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

When Darwinism Becomes a Fashionable Doomsday Cult

Like all cults, it can make otherwise intelligent people begin to sound rather strange, even precarious. Read More ›
Charles_Darwin_in_1881
Photo credit: Elliott & Fry, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Darwin Devotion Detector: Take the Test Now

A tongue-in-cheek questionnaire that nonetheless provides real insight into the extent to which Darwinian ideas have captured our thinking. Read More ›
superbloom
Photo: A superbloom, by Bob Wick, BLM, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Phenology: The Science of Seasonal Adaptation

No, not phrenology — phenology. It’s not pseudoscience, but a lesser-known branch of science that includes birds, bees, and trees. Read More ›
guppies
Photo credit: Sky99, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Predictions for the Guppy from the Engineering/Design Model

An engineering model would predict that guppies are designed with operational parameters for different traits, which are set by overarching design logic. Read More ›
Guppy_Poecilia_reticulata
Photo credit: Holger Krisp, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Are Guppies Examples of Darwinian Macroevolution?

It was 1961, in the steep mountain streams of Trinidad where cascading waterfalls create barriers which predatory fish can’t overcome. Read More ›
Confuciusornis
Photo: Confuciusornis, by Tommy from Arad, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Fossil Friday: A Popular Just-So Story on the Origin of Bird Flight Bites the Dust

There is a long-running about whether birds first took off by running and flapping from the ground up, or whether they jumped as gliders from the tree down. Read More ›
driverless car
Photo credit: BP63Vincent, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

What’s Driving Darwin’s Driverless Car?

What drives natural selection? Evolutionary forces. What are evolutionary forces? They’re what drive natural selection. Read More ›

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