Intelligent Design

The Center for Science and Culture

Key Law Review Articles About Teaching Darwin, Design and the Origins Controversy

“Teaching the Origins Controversy: Science, Or Religion, Or Speech?” (PDF file) By: David K. DeWolf, Stephen C. Meyer, Mark Edward DeForrest Utah Law Review (2000): 39-110. “A Liberty Not Fully Evolved?: The Case of Rodney LeVake and the Right of Public School Teachers to Criticize Darwinism.”(PDF file) San Diego Law Review 39.4 (Nov/Dec 2002): 1311-1325. David DeWolf, John West, and Read More ›

Multidrug resistant bacteria inside a biofilm
Antibiotic resistant bacteria inside a biofilm, 3D illustration. Biofilm is a community of bacteria where they aquire antibiotic resistance and communicate with each other by quorum sensing molecules

Genetic Analysis of Coordinate Flagellar and Type III Regulatory Circuits in Pathogenic Bacteria

Abstract: The bacterial flagellum represents one of the best understood molecular machines. Comprised of 40 parts that self-assemble into a true rotary engine, the biochemistry and genetics of these systems has revealed an unanticipated complexity. An essential component to assembly is the subset of parts that function as a protein secretory pump to ensure and discriminate that the correct number of protein subunits and their order of secretion is precisely regulated during assembly. Of further interest is the recognition of late that a number of important plant and animal pathogens use a related protein secretory pump fused to a membrane-spanning needle-like syringe by which a subset of toxins can be injected into target host cells. Together, the flagellar and virulence protein pumps are referred to as Type III Secretion Systems (TTSS). The archetype for TTSS systems has been the pathogenic members of the genus Yersinia which includes the organism responsible for bubonic plague, Y. pestis. Our interest in the Yersinia centers on the coordinate genetic regulation between flagellum biosynthesis and virulence TTSS expression. Y. enterocolitica, for example operates three TTSSs (motility, Ysa, and Yop), but each is expressed under defined mutually exclusive conditions. Y. pestis has lost the ability to assemble flagella (the genes are present on the chromosome) and expresses only the Yop system at 37oC, mammalian temperature. Using a combination of microarray analysis, genetic fusions, and behaviors of specific engineered mutants, we demonstrate how environmental factors influence gene expression of these multigene families, where the influence is exerted within each system, and propose why segregating these systems is critical for the organism. Our model further offers an explanation as to why an important subset of human pathogens has lost motility during their histories. Read More ›

Amicus Curiae Brief of Biologists and Georgia Scientists, in Support of Defendants

Introduction Amici curiae are scientists who live in the State of Georgia and throughout the United States. Each of the individual signatories to the brief has earned a science-related doctoral degree. Amici include tenured university professors, research scientists and scientists in private industry. Amici are all scientists who question Neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory (the modern Darwinian theory of evolution) from a Read More ›

fossil trilobite imprint in the sediment
fossil trilobite imprint in the sediment

The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories

On August 4th, 2004 an extensive review essay by Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, Director of Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture appeared in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (volume 117, no. 2, pp. 213-239). The Proceedings is a peer-reviewed biology journal published at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. Dr. Meyer argues that no current materialistic theory of evolution can account for the origin of the information necessary to build novel animal forms. He proposes intelligent design as an alternative explanation for the origin of biological information and the higher taxa. Read More ›

Was Starlight Deflection Important for the Acceptance of General Relativity?

A criticism has been posted on several places on the Internet concerning our claim in The Privileged Planet that total solar eclipses were important to the confirmation and rapid acceptance of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Critique The basic criticism is as follows. Observations of the deflection of starlight near the Sun during total eclipses were not very important for Read More ›

Time flies. Red vintage alarm clock falling down into blue and white paint with splash effect. Abstract art background.
Time flies. Red vintage alarm clock falling down into blue and white paint with splash effect. Abstract art background.

The Gods Must Be Tidy!

When as a boy I read “The Scouring of the Shire” near the end of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, I could not understand why Tolkien felt the need to tack on such an anti-climactic and shabby bit of evil. Only later, as I began to notice modernity’s penchant for ugliness in the world beyond Middle Read More ›

Debating-Design-Dembski-Ruse

Debating Design

This Cambridge University Press volume, co-edited by leading design theorist William Dembski, and leading Darwinist philosopher of science Michael Ruse, provides perspectives from scholars on many sides of the ID-debate. The book provides a perfect template for those who would be interested in a comprehensive approach to biological origins in schools: it contains essays by proponents of Darwinism, self-organization, and Read More ›

Agents-Under-Fire-Angus-Menuge

Agents Under Fire

In the first study of its kind, Agents Under Fire defends a robust notion of agency and intentionality against eliminative and naturalistic alternatives, showing the interconnections between the philosophy of mind, theology, and Intelligent Design. Menuge argues that Behe’s irreducible complexity is a challenge to reductionism not only in biology, but also in psychology, and shows the inability of the Darwinian psychology Read More ›

Icons of Evolution — A Study Guide

Are students learning the whole truth about Darwin’s theory of evolution? According to a growing number of scientists, the surprising answer is no Some scientists now claim that many of the most famous Icons of Evolution, including Darwin’s Tree of Life, finches from the Galapagos Islands, and embryos that look remarkably similar, are based on outdated research and sloppy logic. Read More ›

Ohio’s Model Lesson Plan on “Critical Analysis of Evolution”

In March 2004 the Ohio State Board of Education adopted a model lesson plan for use in Ohio public schools on the “Critical Analysis of Evolution.” This lesson plan implements a benchmark in Ohio’s state science standards that requires students to be able to “Describe how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.” Click here to Read More ›