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Now Evolving in Biology Classes: A Testier Climate

This article, published by The Christian Science Monitor, quotes Discovery Institute Senior Fellow John West:

The Seattle-based Discovery Institute distributes a DVD, “Icons of Evolution,” that encourages viewers to doubt Darwinian theory.

One example from related promotional literature: “Why don’t textbooks discuss the ‘Cambrian explosion,’ in which all major animal groups appear together in the fossil record fully formed instead of branching from a common ancestor – thus contradicting the evolutionary tree of life?”

Such questions too often get routinely dismissed from the classroom, says senior fellow John West, adding that teachers who advance such questions can be rebuked – or worse.

“Teachers should not be pressured or intimidated,” says Mr. West, “but what about all the teachers who are being intimidated and in some cases losing their jobs because they simply want to present a few scientific criticisms of Darwin’s theory?”

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Misguidelines

IF THERE WERE EVER any doubts that the National Academy of Sciences is pursuing an “anything” goes approach to biotechnological research, they were erased by the organization’s recently published tome, Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research. The purported purpose of Guidelines is to create voluntary ethical protocols to govern human embryonic stem cell and therapeutic cloning research — “to Read More ›

It Didn’t Start with Dolly

HERE’S AN EASY POP QUIZ: What’s the name of the first cloned mammal? If you answered, “Dolly,” that would be . . . wrong. Wrong? But wasn’t Dolly the sheep touted by the media as the first mammal ever made “asexually” through the cell nuclear transfer cloning process? Yes, but there are a lot of things you hear from the Read More ›

Green Light for Adding Toll Lane To Hwy. 167

Lawmakers' approval of the Highway 167 project is one more sign that tolls could be a big part of the region's transportation future, as both a source of money and a way to manage traffic. The 167 HOT (high-occupancy-toll) lanes are scheduled to open in late 2007 or early 2008. Similar projects already are operating in Southern California and Houston. Minneapolis plans to open one next month. Many transportation planners tout HOT lanes as tools to give commuters choices, use freeways more efficiently, generate revenue and perhaps reduce congestion. Public-opinion research suggests many Puget Sound-area motorists, unfamiliar with tolls, are skeptical about HOT lanes. But Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis said they're worth a try because congestion on 167 is so severe and other possible remedies are so far in the future. Read More ›

Evolution debate turns into debate over intelligent design

This article, published by the Associated Press, mentions Discovery Institute Senior Fellow John G. West: John West, senior fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, which supports intelligent design research, said ID advocates aren’t challenging explanations for changes within species over time. Instead, he said, the controversy is about how new species arise and whether there’s a common ancestor for all Read More ›

Habitable Zones in the Universe

Abstract: Habitability varies dramatically with location and time in the universe. This was recognized centuries ago, but it was only in the last few decades that astronomers began to systematize the study of habitability. The introduction of the concept of the habitable zone was key to progress in this area. The habitable zone concept was first applied to the space Read More ›

Does “Intelligent Design” Threaten the Definition of Science?

This article, published by National Geographic News, quotes Discovery Institute Center for Science and Culture Senior Fellow Michael Behe:

Intelligent-design theory states that certain features of the natural world are of such complexity that the most plausible explanation is that they are products of an intelligent cause rather than random mutation and natural selection. Supporters of the theory say the nature of the intelligent cause is outside the scope of the theory.

“It matches what a lot of people see. It matches peoples’ intuitions about biology,” said Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Behe is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, a Seattle, Washington-based organization that rallies much of the intellectual muscle behind the intelligent-design movement.

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Abstract blurred nature background dandelion seeds parachute. Abstract nature bokeh pattern
Abstract blurred nature background dandelion seeds parachute. Abstract nature bokeh pattern

Introduction to The Privileged Planet

Even more mysterious than the fact that our location is so congenial to diverse measurement and discovery is that these same conditions appear to correlate with habitability. We don't think this is merely coincidental. It cries out for another explanation, an explanation that suggests there's more to the cosmos than we have been willing to entertain or even imagine. Read More ›

Do Centrioles Generate a Polar Ejection Force?

Jonathan Wells (2005) Do centrioles generate a polar ejection force? Riv Biol 98:71-95. PMID: 15889341 Abstract: A microtubule-dependent polar ejection force that pushes chromosomes away from spindle poles during prometaphase is observed in animal cells but not in the cells of higher plants. Elongating microtubules and kinesin-like motor molecules have been proposed as possible causes, but neither accounts for all Read More ›