__edited | Page 286 | Discovery Institute

^{Discovery Institute
May 10, 2004
Intelligent Design}

Alabama House Committee Adopts Revised Academic Freedom Bill on Evolution

_{Discovery Institute
May 10, 2004
Intelligent Design}

FOR RELEASE MAY 10, 2004 SEATTLE, MAY 10 – The Education Committee of the Alabama House of Representatives recently adopted a substitute version of the Academic Freedom Act on evolution that previously passed the Alabama Senate. The substitute bill limits its protection to teachers who wish to cover “scientific information pertaining to the full range of scientific views concerning biological Read More ›

Transcortin, an alpha-globulin protein with corticosteroid-binding properties. Major transport protein for glucocorticoids and progestins in the blood of most vertebrates. 3d rendering.

^{Michael J. Behe
May 10, 2004
Intelligent Design}

Simulating evolution by gene duplication of protein features that require multiple amino acid residues

_{Michael J. Behe
May 10, 2004
Intelligent Design}

Abstract: Gene duplication is thought to be a major source of evolutionary innovation because it allows one copy of a gene to mutate and explore genetic space while the other copy continues to fulfill the original function. Models of the process often implicitly assume that a single mutation to the duplicated gene can confer a new selectable property. Yet some protein features, such as disulfide bonds or ligand binding sites, require the participation of two or more amino acid residues, which could require several mutations. Here we model the evolution of such protein features by what we consider to be the conceptually simplest route—point mutation in duplicated genes. We show that for very large population sizes N, where at steady state in the absence of selection the population would be expected to contain one or more duplicated alleles coding for the feature, the time to fixation in the population hovers near the inverse of the point mutation rate, and varies sluggishly with the λ^th root of 1/N, where λ is the number of nucleotide positions that must be mutated to produce the feature. At smaller population sizes, the time to fixation varies linearly with 1/Nand exceeds the inverse of the point mutation rate. We conclude that, in general, to be fixed in 10⁸generations, the production of novel protein features that require the participation of two or more amino acid residues simply by multiple point mutations in duplicated genes would entail population sizes of no less than 10⁹. Read More ›

^{Discovery Institute
May 3, 2004
Intelligent Design}

Californians Say Teach Scientific Evidence Both For and Against Darwinian Evolution, Show New Polls

_{Discovery Institute
May 3, 2004
Intelligent Design}

For Immediate Release SEATTLE, MAY 3 – Recent California voters overwhelmingly support teaching the scientific evidence both for and against Darwin’s theory of evolution, according to two new surveys conducted by Arnold Steinberg & Associates. The surveys address the issue of how best to teach evolution, which increasingly is under deliberation by state and local school districts in California and Read More ›

^{Jay W. Richards and Guillermo Gonzalez
May 1, 2004
Intelligent Design}

Are We Alone?

_{Jay W. Richards and Guillermo Gonzalez
May 1, 2004
Intelligent Design}

The American taxpayers recently footed the bill for a risky $800 million NASA mission. The good news? It worked. In January, two NASA landers bounced to their destinations and released their rovers Spirit and Opportunity to prowl the Martian landscape. These remarkable little robots were not searching for archaeological ruins or strange, black monoliths but something much less exotic — Read More ›

^{George Gilder
May 1, 2004
Economics}

Market Economics and the Conservative Movement

_{George Gilder
May 1, 2004
Economics}

The following speech was given by Discovery Institute Senior Fellow George Gilder to The Philadelphia Society at their national meeting in Chicago, Illinois on May 1, 2004. This is a great celebration. Forty years of the Philadelphia Society devoted to the concept of ordered liberty under God. Through this it reconciles the two great themes of conservative thought: free markets Read More ›

^{Discovery Institute
May 1, 2004
Intelligent Design}

Federally-Funded Website on Evolution Violates Separation of Church and State

_{Discovery Institute
May 1, 2004
Intelligent Design}

The federal government has spent nearly a half-million dollars on a website that encourages science teachers to use religion to promote evolution, sparking objections that the website violates the separation of church and state. The following resources document the controversy over this website.

^{Richard Rahn
April 30, 2004
Economics}

Incompetence or Sabotage?

_{Richard Rahn
April 30, 2004
Economics}

An old Washington political rule goes like this: “You get blamed for things you didn’t do, so you might as well take credit for things you didn’t do.” The Bush administration has put this rule backward when it comes to economic policy. It is accepting blame for things it didn’t do and not taking adequate credit for good things it Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
April 30, 2004
Human Exceptionalism}

The Assault on Terri Schiavo Continues

_{Wesley J. Smith
April 30, 2004
Human Exceptionalism}

WHAT LITTLE Terri Schiavo has left in this life, is being cruelly stripped away. Not only has a judge ordered her to die slowly by dehydration via having her tube-supplied food and water removed, but now, her (estranged) husband and legal guardian Michael Schiavo has completely isolated her from her family. Ever since mysterious “puncture wounds” were supposedly detected on Read More ›

^{John Wohlstetter
April 30, 2004
Technology}

Networks for Nothing, Fraud for Free:

_{John Wohlstetter
April 30, 2004
Technology}

In this issue of Bandwidth, Senior Fellow John Wohlstetter addresses past and present fraud at MCI-Worldcom, arguing against their Chapter 11 re-organization and citing examples of current allegations of bill and tax evasions at the corporation.

^{Richard Weikart
April 30, 2004
Intelligent Design}

Does Darwinism Devalue Human Life?

_{Richard Weikart
April 30, 2004
Intelligent Design}

[Note: This article first appeared in The Human Life Review 30, 2 (Spring 2004): 29-37.] A number of years ago two intelligent students surprised me in a class discussion by defending the proposition that Hitler was neither good nor evil. Though I kept my composure, I was horrified. One of the worst mass murderers in history wasn’t evil? How could Read More ›