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Metamorphosis

The Case for Intelligent Design in a ChrysalisDavid Klinghoffer

About the Book

Throughout history, butterflies have fascinated artists, philosophers, scientists and schoolchildren with their profound mystery and beauty. Illustra Media’s new film Metamorphosis explores the remarkable world of butterflies as few documentaries have before, tracing their amazing transformation from caterpillars into winged masterpieces through MRI imaging, computer animation, and stunning nature footage. How did these extraordinary creatures come into being? Are they the products of a blind, undirected process? Or were they the result of intelligent design? In this digital companion to the film, learn more about both the science and artistry of butterflies, how butterflies challenge Darwinian evolution, and how they point toward intelligent design. This 94-page book includes more than twenty stunning full-color photos (many taken during the production of the film) and is introduced by a special message from best-selling novelist Dean Koontz.

Contributors

LAD ALLEN

Lad Allen is co-founder of Illustra Media, a motion picture production company based in Southern California. Lad has produced, written, and directed more than 100 films and received numerous international awards. Illustra’s documentary trilogy — Unlocking the Mystery of LifeThe Privileged Planet, andDarwin’s Dilemma — has helped popularize the scientific case for intelligent design in the universe. These films have been translated into more than two dozen languages and distributed throughout the world. Illustra’s most recent documentary is Metamorphosis: The Beauty and Design of Butterflies, which was released during the summer of 2011.

BERNARD D’ABRERA

Bernard d’Abrera is an Australian entomological taxonomist and philosopher of science. His magnum opus comprises a series of works forming a synoptic reference to the true butterflies, hawk moths and saturniid moths of the world, which is based largely on the collections of the Natural History Museum in London, and other worldwide museums, public and private. The works comprise taxonomic text of over 4 million words, illustrated with over 66,000 colored figures, over approximately 7,500 pages. (See the Hill House Publishers website for a list of titles, regions and families treated.) D’Abrera has described several new genera as well as over 100 new species and subspecies. The D’Abrera’s Tiger, Parantica dabrerai, an Indonesian butterfly species, is named for him, as is Gnathothlibus dabrera, a species of Indonesian moth.

MICHAEL A. FLANNERY

Michael A. Flannery is a Discovery Institute Fellow and the author of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life (2011) and the editor of Alfred Russel Wallace’s Theory of Intelligent Evolution: How Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwinism (2008). Flannery developed the content for the educational website www.alfredwallace.org, and he appears in the new documentary Darwin’s Heretic. Flannery is Associate Director for Historical Collections at the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences and a Professor at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He has published extensively in medical history and bioethics, winning the Edward Kremers Award in 2001 for distinguished writing by an American from the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy and the 2006 Publications Award of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences.

ANN GAUGER

Ann Gauger is a Senior Research Scientist at the Biologic Institute. She received a BS in biology from MIT, where she studied bacterial genetics. Her PhD at the University of Washington Zoology department expanded her horizons to include invertebrate zoology, animal physiology, cell biology and development; it was there that she first encountered the riddle of metamorphosis, while working with Drosophila imaginal disks. As a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard she cloned and characterized the Drosophila kinesin light chain gene. Now she has come full circle to focus on the origin, organization and operation of metabolic pathways in bacteria. Her research has been published in Nature, Development, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Bio-Complexity.

DAVID KLINGHOFFER

David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. His most recent book, a collaboration with Senator Joe Lieberman, is The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Sabbath Day (Howard Press/Simon & Schuster, 2011). His other books include Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History (Doubleday, 2005), The Discovery of God: Abraham and the Birth of Monotheism (Doubleday, 2003), and The Lord Will Gather Me In (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 1999). Klinghoffer has been a literary editor and senior editor of National Review. His articles and reviews have appeared in theNew York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, and elsewhere.

PAUL NELSON

Paul Nelson is a philosopher of biology who received his PhD in evolutionary theory and the philosophy of science from the University of Chicago (1998). He is currently an adjunct professor in the MA Program in Science & Religion at Biola University, and a Fellow of the Discovery Institute. His research interests include the relationship between developmental biology and the history of life, the theory of intelligent design (ID), and the interaction of science and theology. He has published chapters in many anthologies dealing with evolution and ID, and speaks frequently on these topics at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.

JONATHAN WITT

Jonathan Witt, PhD, is a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and co-author of A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature (2006) and Intelligent Design Uncensored (2010). He has written or co-written scripts for three documentaries that have appeared on PBS, including The Privileged Planet: The Search for Purpose in the Universe. He has written on aesthetics for Literature and Theology and The Princeton Theological Review. His essays on Darwinism, intelligent design and worldview have appeared in such places as The Seattle Times, the Kansas City Star, Philosophia Christi, Crisis and Touchstone. His narrative writing has appeared in the journals Windhover and New Texas.

Film Site

Metamorphosis the Film

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.