Science and Culture

Science and Culture Today (SCT) provides original reporting and analysis about evolution, neuroscience, bioethics, intelligent design and other science-related fields, including breaking news about scientific research. It also covers the impact of science on culture and conflicts over free speech and academic freedom in science. Finally, it fact-checks and critiques media coverage of scientific issues.

Archives

Beware of These Two Sources of Bad Medical Advice

_{Science & Culture
September 30, 2026}

The bots are more likely to accept planted nonsense if it appears in clinical documents — not unlike some people we know, to be honest.

Remarkable Engineering and the “Two Brains” Myth

_{Science & Culture
September 28, 2026}

Did two brains evolve into one? This is not a left brain/right brain thing. It is more like claims for a reptilian brain underlying our mammalian one.

How Best to Appreciate Paleolithic Cave Art

_{Science & Culture
September 19, 2026}

Of course, the experience wouldn’t be really complete without simulating the threat of a cave bear trapping the artists.

AI Hysteria: Take a Deep Breath and Ask, “Who Benefits from Apocalyptic Claims?”

_{Science & Culture
September 11, 2026}

Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit and posted at X last Tuesday, to over 25 million views, that “No other human activity poses this level of danger.”

For Labor Day: Alfred Russel Wallace, Scientist and Working Man

_{Science & Culture
September 7, 2026}

Unlike Darwin, Wallace grew up among the middle class and had to work for a living. This dictated the contours of his life and research.

That Was Fast: From Life’s Origin to Cyanobacteria in a Billion Years

_{Science & Culture
September 5, 2026}

That’s now just 1 billion years for all the apparatus to hit on the lucky combination randomly, unless we start with design principles.

NYU Press Pulls Anti-ID Book with Fabricated Quote from Michael Behe

_{Science & Culture
August 25, 2026}

“What happened is deeply ironic. This book was touted by the publisher as showing how ID's skepticism of Darwinism contributed to a ‘post-truth’ society."

Study of Biological Origins Is Entering a Surreal State

_{Science & Culture
August 14, 2026}

No biological history and no biological beginning: are you seeing the trend? Both seem to be responses to being battered by the evidence.

Common Descent on the Road to Incomprehension

_{Science & Culture
August 13, 2026}

In 2025, Haber proposed that there JUST IS NO “true history of life.” Don’t look for it, as if one could actually find it, because it doesn’t exist.

Testing Phylogenetic Hypotheses: A Question for You

_{Science & Culture
August 12, 2026}

You can read this proposition a dozen times over and still be unable to say what it disallows in phylogenetic inference.

This Is Your Brain Under Anesthesia

_{Science & Culture
August 12, 2026}

Even with lighter anesthesia, the stuff of nightmares is unlikely. Your mind is still there, just not taking calls.

Intelligent Design’s Summer Reading Sale — 40 Percent Discount While It Lasts!

_{Science & Culture
August 4, 2026}

You’re heading to that beach vacation. Or maybe like us in Washington State, you’re sneezing and coughing from the sunbaked wildfire smoke.

Hey Octopus, How Did You Get to Be So Smart?

_{Science & Culture
July 23, 2026}

With the asocial brain hypothesis, researchers ask us to think beyond traditional explanations for why some animals display unexpected intelligence.

When Orcas Play — With a Dead Sunfish

_{Science & Culture
July 23, 2026}

While the orcas’ sunfish-exploding behavior is remarkable, it is consistent, after all, with their reputation as the “wolves of the sea.”

Design Concepts: Interoception Is a Match for Proprioception

_{Science & Culture
July 16, 2026}

The take-home point is surely this: Our bodies have all sorts of ways of giving us information that do not run through our senses.

New Paper: Appeals to Evolutionary Plateaus Do Not Save Evolution

_{Science & Culture
July 13, 2026}

In evolution, mutations that increase fitness can be thought of as moving uphill, whereas mutations that decrease fitness can be thought of as moving downhill.

“Malinformation” — Another Sinister Neologism from the Folks Who Specialize in Them

_{Science & Culture
July 9, 2026}

The government got lots of support from an academic elite that was anxious to introduce Newspeak terms including “malinformation.”

Cronin’s Assembly Theory Continues to Perform Its Magic

_{Science & Culture
July 8, 2026}

Cronin and Walker know what is wrong with origin-of-life research. They’re just afraid of what may be right.

We Created Life! Er, Wait a Minute…

_{Science & Culture
July 2, 2026}

A synthetic cell lineage contrived by humans will (necessarily) need to copy what Nature has already done, or fail.

John West: Science and the American Founding

_{Science & Culture
June 28, 2026}

"Today, many people think that belief in a Creator is a subjective preference based on their personal faith. But that was not the view of America’s Founders."