Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
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diatoms

Pacific Ocean
Photo: Pacific Ocean, by NASA, Apollo 11, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How the “Other” ATP Synthase Saves the Planet

A lesser-known rotary engine within cells is responsible for a substantial portion of gases and nutrients that sustain the biosphere. Read More ›
Salp
Photo credit: Lars Plougmann from London, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Meet the Ghostly Organisms that Rescue the Planet

A man was paddleboarding last month when he came across a mysterious creature three miles off the shoreline of California. Read More ›
Thalassiosira pseudonana
Photo: Thalassiosira pseudonana, by Oregon State University, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Diatoms and the Mystery of Morphogenesis

From code to art: how does a linear set of instructions result in a beautifully crafted pattern? Diatoms do it, and scientists are struggling to figure out how. Read More ›
Sand_from_Gobi_Desert
Photo credit: Siim Sepp, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Applying the Design Filter to Biological Sands

If you look closely at beach sand, you may find some grains that stand out. They are shaped like spirals, stars, or striated cones. Read More ›
meteor
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Dunford.

By Design? Meteors Deliver Iron for Habitability

Unexpected benefits may come from a steady rain of meteoric dust onto the planet. Read More ›
diatom
Photo credit: CSIRO, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Diatoms, an Evolutionary Mystery, Come into Nano-Focus

The jewels of the microbial world, when seen with new nano-scale imaging techniques, look like little modernist cathedrals. Read More ›
Purdue

Informed Choice Seen in Cellular Nanomachines

As imaging techniques approach nanometer resolution, the detailed workings of molecular mechanisms reveal precision engineering designs. Read More ›
diatoms

Foresight in Single Cells

There are things going on in cells that make sense only if a designing intelligence saw a need and planned for it in advance. Read More ›
ATP Synthase

Making Predictions Against Design

From back when I was a sophomore taking biochemistry, one particular event stands out in my memory, perhaps because it was such an odd thing. Read More ›

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