Discovery Institute

Silhouettes of satellite dishes or radio antennas against night sky. Space observatory.

What Is Intelligent Design? A Thomistic Perspective

Michael Egnor

March 1, 2019

All of nature manifests design. Design is everywhere — in the laws of physics, in quantum mechanics, in biology, in relativistic cosmology, in every crevice of nature. There is little in the universe that is not designed. Accidents do happen, but even accidents are the conjunction of designed events. Two cars colliding at an intersection are designed vehicles driven by intelligent drivers on planned roadways. Chance itself presupposes a framework of design in which chance occurs. Read More ›

This artist’s impression shows a gas giant planet circling the two red dwarf stars in the system OGLE-2007-BLG-349, located 8 000 light-years away. The planet — with a mass similar to Saturn — orbits the two stars at a distance of roughly 480 million kilometres. The two red dwarf stars are a mere 11 million kilometres apart. The artist's impression is based on observations made with Hubble that helped astronomers confirm the existence of a planet orbiting The two stars in the system. The system is too far away for Hubble to take an image of the planet. Instead, its presence was inferred from gravitational microlensing. This phenomenon occurs when the gravity of a foreground star bends and amplifies the light of a background star that momentarily aligns with it. The particular character of the light magnification can reveal clues to the nature of the foreground star and any associated planets. The Hubble observations represent the first time such a three-body system has been confirmed using the gravitational microlensing technique.

Exoplanets and the Fermi Paradox

Guillermo Gonzalez

February 22, 2019

Intelligent Design

We are living during a golden age of discovery in astronomy. Arguably, it began with the dawning of the space age in 1957. By 1989 our probes had visited every planet in the Solar System (in 2015 New Horizons visited the former planet Pluto). Then, in 1995 we discovered the first planet around another star (an exoplanet). Read More ›

Mount Rushmore National Monument near Keystone, South Dakota on July 26, 2013.

Presidents Day: Washington and Lincoln as Relevant Today as Ever

Scott S. Powell

February 18, 2019

Citizen Leadership

Presidents Day is unique among American holidays in providing the opportunity to remember and appreciate why George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — whose birthdays fall in February — were the two greatest U.S. presidents. While Washington was the founding father of the United States, Lincoln would later save the nation from division and collapse — bringing an end to the Civil War and the scourge of slavery. In short, Lincoln saved the republic that Washington made possible. Read More ›

John West participating in post-screening discussion at First Baptist Church, Athens, TX.

Seeking Racial Reconciliation in the Heart of Texas at a Screening of Human Zoos

John G. West

February 18, 2019

Intelligent Design

On a cold but sunny Sunday afternoon on Martin Luther King Day weekend, I found myself deep in the heart of Texas. I was visiting the town of Athens, 73 miles southeast of Dallas, for a screening of my documentary Human Zoos at First Baptist Church. The film has just been posted to YouTube after previously being shown on cable television and released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Amazon Prime. Human Zoos communicates Read More ›

Responses to Criticism of Michael Behe’s Darwin Devolves

The Center for Science and Culture

February 15, 2019

Intelligent Design, Research & Analysis

With the release of Michael Behe’s Darwin Devolves, the scientific dialogue between its detractors and defenders continues. Here we collect some of the most noteworthy criticisms and responses by Michael Behe and others. Find the most comprehensive coverage and most recent responses of Darwin Devolves at Evolution News. Re: Lents at Skeptic Magazine Regarding “Behe’s Last Stand: The Lion of Intelligent Design Roars Read More ›

Defining Theistic Evolution

Stephen C. Meyer

February 1, 2019

Faith & Science, Intelligent Design

In this introduction to the book Theistic Evolution, Stephen Meyer explains what is meant by the term "evolution" and the term "theistic evolution." He also previews each essay in the volume and explains briefly where the theistic evolutionary perspective falls short. Read More ›

Here’s How to Tell if Scientists are Exaggerating

Michael J. Behe

January 23, 2019

Intelligent Design

How much can the public trust confident claims by scientists? Especially about morally or politically or philosophically charged topics? Alas, not so much, as the New York Times Magazine reminds us once again in a recent article, “How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution.” The subtitle asks, “The extravagant splendor of the animal kingdom can’t be explained by natural selection alone — …

Go Grow Somewhere Else

Christopher Rufo

January 21, 2019

Economics

Microsoft recently announced an unprecedented three-year, $500 million investment to spur housing development across the Puget Sound region. Since 2011, strong economic growth in the Seattle metro area has boosted overall jobs by 21 percent, but the housing stock has expanded only 13 percent, leading to a massive increase in rental and home prices. It’s a problem reaching crisis levels in all West Coast tech cities. Read More ›

King Helped Nation Fulfill its Spiritual Destiny

Scott S. Powell

January 21, 2019

Citizen Leadership

Martin Luther King Day is unique among American holidays in that it honors the one American who delivered the fulfillment of a core value expressed in the country’s founding Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Declaration’s self-evident truth “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Read More ›

The Deep State Digs Deeper

Scott S. Powell

January 16, 2019

Citizen Leadership

As we approach Martin Luther King Day, it seems timely to reflect on King’s statement from a Birmingham jail in 1963 that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Arguably, the greatest injustice and worst crime against the democratic republic of the United States is for an elite cadre to engineer and attempt to carry out a coup that Read More ›