tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132349932011-06-07T22:07:23.469-07:00Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.comBlogger1551100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-29083727269654821562007-04-17T00:56:00.001-07:002007-04-17T00:56:49.535-07:00

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1171692793696400842007-02-16T22:13:00.000-08:002007-02-19T10:29:15.050-08:00

Sal Cordova recently speculated on the relationship between the concept of irreducibility as defined in mathematics and physics and Behe's irreducible complexity. Some link-following took me to a paper by Chaitlin describing the ramifications of algorithmic information theory (and its roots in the work of Godel and Turing) for mathematics, physics, and biology. I'm not as certain as Sal that the

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1170137032574983742007-01-29T22:03:00.000-08:002007-01-29T22:03:52.586-08:00

I recently re-watched an old (April, 2006) Intelligent Design debate between Stephen Meyer and Peter Ward (you can find it online). The debate itself is not very balanced. Essentially Meyer gives a well-reasoned, thoughtful defense of ID for an hour and a half, and Ward interupts periodically to interject "It's not science". To racous applause, no less! It's not that Ward wasn't given equal

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1169684542776156072007-01-24T16:22:00.000-08:002007-01-24T16:22:22.876-08:00

William Bradford, over at Intelligently Sequenced, talks a lot about the evidence of design from cellular DNA repair mechanisms. The genomes of modern cells rely for their integrity on incredibly complicated methods of error-detection and repair. Focussing ID criticism here highlights a fundamental weakness in darwinian origin-of-life scenarios: In order for natural selection to improve a

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1169594236859946982007-01-23T14:42:00.000-08:002007-01-23T17:23:47.466-08:00

Last year, I defined "isomorphic instantiation" as the phenomenon in which a complex technology developed by intelligence is subsequently found to exist in nature. In a sense, isomorphic instantiation is the inverse of biomimetics, since biomimetics is the discipline of making technology that mimics the marvels of nature.We can see a example of isomorphic instantiation in a paper entitled "

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1169249476157967372007-01-19T15:31:00.000-08:002007-01-19T15:31:16.223-08:00

I recently ran across a paper with the intriguing title Evolution based on Design-by-Contract: Origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world by Albert De Roos.Design-by-Contract is a computer science methodology for keeping software easily maintainable and changeable by reducing dependencies. Essentially, it advocates treating functionally distinct blocks of code as black boxes.

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1167336993052248002006-12-28T12:06:00.000-08:002006-12-28T12:17:59.466-08:00

I've said before that the standards of proof which design theorists require for an evolutionary inference is wildly different from the standard accepted (and usually given) by evolutionists. I've just read a new paper by Pallen and Matzke, From the Origin of Species to the origin of bacterial flagella, and it perfectly illustrates the disconnect. My comments on some quotes from the paper:By even

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1166869713748916702006-12-23T02:23:00.000-08:002006-12-23T02:28:33.766-08:00

I am greeting you early since I won't be blogging during the holidays. Advice to all workaholics: take some time off!

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1166805746012007872006-12-22T08:42:00.000-08:002006-12-22T08:42:26.036-08:00

There's an article in the Sept. 28 issue of Nature discussing the regulation of mating type in two yeast species, c. albicans and s. cerevisiae (regretably, the text is only available if you're on a university network with access to the Nature archives). I'll spare you the gory details, but while the two yeast share the same observable trait (phenotype), the underlying genetic mechanism is

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1166603456590136512006-12-19T23:55:00.000-08:002006-12-20T00:40:19.556-08:00

Can someone give me a good formal definition for intelligence? John McCarthy, a founding father of AI (artificial intelligence) thinks that there does not yet exist a solid definition for intelligence that does not depend on relating it to human intelligence. Here is my proposed informal definition: intelligence is the ability to achieve goals by constraining natural chance processes.Consider

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1166600941576179802006-12-19T22:50:00.000-08:002006-12-19T23:51:00.933-08:00

We have some catching up to do on this blog! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. As an early Christmas gift, here is a bag of design/evolution links: Check out the Time article, God vs. Science (HT: Steve). It's a dialogue between Richard Dawkins, the foremost spokesman for evolution, and Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Although Collins is

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1158727991279204492006-09-19T21:37:00.000-07:002006-09-19T21:53:11.343-07:00

We administered a one-question survey at the iDesign booth during the Anteater Fair. This is a highly unscientific poll, since the sample size is way too low to confer any statistical significance. We asked:"Which Theory Of Origins Is Closest To Your Personal View?"Here are the results:A. Darwinian Evolution (35%)B. Theistic Evolution (6%)C. Intelligent Design (16%)D. Creationism (10%)E. Don't

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1158690348208486652006-09-19T11:25:00.000-07:002006-09-19T11:25:52.186-07:00

The suboptimality argument against ID is looking more forceful than I originally gave it credit for. On the surface, it does not seem worthy of much serious consideration - merely a theological objection meant to make certain theists feel uncomfortable about God's competence. But if it is interpreted as an argument against the validity of ID as a legitimate research program, it gains considerably

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1158618653541690242006-09-18T15:10:00.000-07:002006-09-19T16:28:12.483-07:00

I wish to welcome everyone to another year at UCI. Thanks to all those who stopped by the iDesign booth in the park today! We plan to put together some great events this year. Last year, we showed some documentaries and had some discussions and put together a well-attended colloquium on origins.If you are curious about our club, please read the blue sidebar on the left (which includes the mission

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1158043986017884012006-09-11T23:52:00.000-07:002006-09-11T23:53:06.036-07:00

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1157936665365050242006-09-10T17:27:00.000-07:002006-09-10T21:21:33.486-07:00

Intelligent design suggests that at least one aspect of nature is likely a product of intelligence. In other words, there exists an aspect X such that X is in nature and X was likely to be designed. Some possible candidates for X are "fine-tuning," the "bacterial flagellum," or the "living cell."Darwinism (in a broad sense) would suggest that everything in nature is a product of unintelligent

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1156895459612560762006-08-29T16:50:00.000-07:002006-09-18T15:34:04.323-07:00

I found this at Uncommon Descent: When we visited the zoo the other day, my wife snapped this photo just outside of the Panda play area. I guess when they put together the verbage for the sign, they neglected to consult Gould because I didn’t read “looks jury-rigged” anywhere on there. Further down in the comment thread, Markus Rammerstorfer has posted snippets from a Nature article on the

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1155857797938343482006-08-17T16:36:00.000-07:002006-08-17T16:36:38.013-07:00

There is an interesting exchange going on between Salvador Cordova of Uncommon Descent and Dave Thomas of Panda's Thumb. First, Dave posts about his genetic algorithm for finding Steiner trees ("the shortest networks of straight-line segments connecting a given collection of fixed points"). He claims his algorithm (explained in detail in an earlier post) is not targeted because it does not

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1155790147902991752006-08-16T21:49:00.000-07:002006-08-16T21:49:07.913-07:00

A recent article in Nature explored the means by which certain proteins called chaperonins work. Chaperonins are proteins which help other proteins fold correctly. Specifically, they provide a "cage" in which the target protein can fold without interference. Artificially growing or shrinking the size of the cage can make certain proteins fold more quickly or slowly, but the overall size of the

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1154665933599554812006-08-08T15:15:00.000-07:002006-08-08T15:24:10.706-07:00

PZ Meyers has an interesting (and a bit over-my-head) post on the evolution median-fins over at his blog Pharyngula. Snipping the biology and leaving the punchline, he says:A story is beginning to emerge, though, that shows that midline fin development and evolution is a wonderful example of a general principle: modularity and the reuse of hierarchies of genes.... The redeployment of previously

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1154849381187475542006-08-05T23:43:00.000-07:002006-08-06T00:38:30.523-07:00

This past week, Kansas Republican primary voters removed two conservatives from the Kansas Board of Education. The board now has a majority of evolution-only members, and the state's science standards (which currently call for the teaching of both the strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian theory) will likely be changed.The Washington Post weighs in with an editorial. I would like to critique some

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1154845917697154952006-08-05T22:23:00.000-07:002006-08-05T23:43:21.786-07:00

AP reports, "After 10 years, life-on-Mars rebuked." The absence of even simple life in planets other than Earth appears to strengthen the Privileged Planet argument. By the way, you can watch the Privileged Planet documentary here (.ram file) with RealPlayer.I found this sentence in the AP article interesting:Some bacteria produce extraordinarily small and pure magnetite crystals, then align the

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1154585687855447122006-08-02T23:07:00.000-07:002006-08-05T21:16:24.690-07:00

The URL for this site may change soon. Bookmark our XML feed (which won't change) in order to keep track of this blog.[Update]: We are now at http://idesignclub.blogspot.com

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1153416250903968482006-07-20T10:22:00.000-07:002006-07-20T11:09:24.860-07:00

I recently finished reading Compositional Evolution, by Richard Watson (which I blogged about previously here and here), and I thought it would be worthwhile to summarize the full results, their limitations, and their relevance to ID. The following gets a little technical and is mostly written for myself, but I've tried to summarize the take-home in layman's terms.The major claim of the book is

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1152668394493306122006-07-11T18:38:00.000-07:002006-07-29T15:15:53.146-07:00

In cause you're wondering what a typical day is like here at iDesign, it goes a little something like this:(At least for me anyways; I'm enjoying what's left of my vacation! -- Art) .

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1152668227902246442006-07-11T18:15:00.000-07:002006-07-15T14:50:20.980-07:00

This article by Steve Jurvetson about the usefulness of design vs. evolutionary methods in creating something "really complex" - such as A.I. that exceeds human intelligence - is worth a read, and as a bonus distantly related to the comment thread on my last post.Particularly interesting is the observation that Microsoft Word is larger than the human genome(!), and this admission:In fact,

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1152300166647543302006-07-07T12:19:00.000-07:002006-07-07T12:23:05.340-07:00

Evolutionists and design theorists often have an extremely different notion of what constitutes "proof" of evolution, and this causes a good deal of confusion. Evolutionists complain that the standard of proof required by design theorists is unreasonably high, and design theorists complain that the proofs of evolution in the literature are not proofs at all. You can guess where I fall on that

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1152127537359156882006-07-05T12:12:00.001-07:002006-07-05T12:28:56.523-07:00

'Rewired brain' revives patient after 19 yearsA man in a coma for 19 years has recovered the ability to move and communicate after his brain re-wired itself to compensate for its injuries. This stretches the limits of what the brain was thought capable of doing. The article doesn't say, but I suspect that one of the biggest surprises is seeing this level of neural plasticity in someone so old.

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1151464302235439452006-06-29T07:53:00.000-07:002006-06-29T08:00:02.313-07:00

In a comment on my post about the book Compositional Evolution, William Bradford pointed out that the compositional operators which are supposed to enable greater evolutionary change are themselves embedded in and dependent upon complex cellular contexts. So, by themselves, they do not explain the problem of biological complexity.This immediately suggests a few research problems. It seems that

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1151098269655006032006-06-28T20:01:00.000-07:002006-06-28T20:24:18.650-07:00

Just stumbled upon an interesting link: Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute (HT: CEH). Here is an overview of this institute:Research in the Institute shares a common starting point. It explores the remarkable structure and function of living systems, which have been honed by thousands of years of evolution and natural selection. If man could duplicate what nature does routinely, all

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1151460681541204522006-06-27T19:05:00.000-07:002006-06-27T19:12:31.096-07:00

A major critique of Dembski's use of the No Free Lunch (NFL) theorems has centered around new results that they don't hold under coevolution – that is, when you factor in multiple agents competing against each other. This was based on new, then-unpublished results by Wolpert, who derived the original NFL theorems. Many people (including Wolpert himself) claimed that Dembski's use of the NFL

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1151036444454589752006-06-23T08:18:00.000-07:002006-06-23T08:43:58.456-07:00

I'm reading through a new book, Compositional Evolution by Richard Watson, and it is really interesting. Watson's thesis is that certain evolutionary methods of variation (sexual recombination, lateral gene transfer, symbiotic encapsulation, etc.) are fundamentally distinct in an algorithmic sense from the traditional gradualist framework (in which beneficial mutations are accumulated in a linear

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1151036282354722572006-06-22T21:13:00.000-07:002006-06-22T21:40:41.550-07:00

Gil has an interesting post over at Uncommon Descent about evolving a simple "Hello World" c program. The idea, as he presents it, is to try evolving the simplest functional c program by randomly assembling the non-whitespace letters required. Of course this is impossible, you don't have to try it to know the universe will experience heat death before such a random search succeeds.PvM's criticism

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1151028617505922802006-06-22T19:07:00.000-07:002006-06-23T00:35:27.540-07:00

ResearchID, a wiki devoted to intelligent design, has officially opened today.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1150932855030776282006-06-21T16:27:00.000-07:002006-06-21T16:38:05.163-07:00

In this article, Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, makes this statement:“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1150931544644545062006-06-21T15:24:00.000-07:002006-06-21T16:12:24.740-07:00

This blog has been quiet for the past couple of weeks due to finals. But now we are done! To get back on track, here are some interesting blog links:At ID the Future, Paul Nelson provides an extended discussion of the origin of RNA (also see Wedge's colloquium notes).Pro-evolution Panda's Thumb discusses the origin of chirality and provides a link to a homochirality paper that I wrote a couple

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1148877530417012912006-05-28T21:36:00.000-07:002006-05-28T21:38:50.436-07:00

It seems that a particular dinosaur has better protection than most people would have thought possible. Click here for a "low-tech pic" of this complex structure.

Big Bnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1148673661346288072006-05-26T13:08:00.000-07:002006-05-27T11:55:51.163-07:00

During our meeting yesterday, someone asked whether any peer-reviewed work exists that supports intelligent design. I think that the ID community still has a lot of work to do in this regard. I mentioned some pieces that are either friendly to the notion of design or skeptical of blind evolutionary processes. Here are the links to those pieces that I mentioned:"The Design Inference: Eliminating

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1148627655845599052006-05-26T00:13:00.000-07:002006-05-26T11:29:59.096-07:00

Along with the New University, the Daily Pilot wrote an article about iDesign's "Colloquium on Origins" event a couple weeks ago. It is more focused towards the perspective of the faculty who represented evolution.That article is also in the news section of the Physical Sciences web site.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1148622495568357952006-05-25T22:42:00.000-07:002006-05-26T09:44:04.890-07:00

This afternoon, I was able to attend a talk by Marvin Minsky, who is one of the fathers of artificial intelligence (AI). Minsky's topic was on the nature of intelligence and its implications for AI. Minsky made some interesting points:He argued that it is better for AI researchers to focus on endowing computers with intelligence rather than working on areas like robotics or rule-based

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1148621965600054842006-05-25T22:03:00.001-07:002006-05-25T22:48:41.240-07:00

The screening of the documentary was great! It was a much smaller group than the colloquium, but it allowed for an interesting hour-long discussion time at the end. Professors and students came and some made some interesting criticisms and comments about intelligent design. Thanks to all who came!If you wish to watch "Unlocking The Mystery Of Life" online, you may do so here (Real Player required

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1148579353474993042006-05-25T10:44:00.000-07:002006-05-25T10:50:35.310-07:00

"Unlocking The Mystery Of Life" is tonight! It is at 6:00 PM in Howard Schneiderman Lecture Hall (HSLH 100). Please plan to arrive early, because walking to HSLH 100 could take 15 minutes. Please consult the map.For help or more information, please call Andrew at (714) 624-7335. HSLH 100 is right next to the B.C. Caverns restaurant and close to the Science Library as well. Hope to see you

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1148092327149758462006-05-19T18:56:00.000-07:002006-05-19T23:13:21.106-07:00

iDesign @ UCI is proud to present the following documentary about biological intelligent design:Title: Unlocking The Mystery Of Life: The Scientific Case For Intelligent DesignDate: Thursday, May 25, 2006Time: 6:00 PMLocation: Howard Schneiderman Lecture Hall (HSLH 100)Admission: Free (but parking is $7)Running Time: 1 hourWho is Invited: EveryonePreview of Documentary: HereBack Cover Description

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147731260857507712006-05-15T14:56:00.000-07:002006-09-19T16:26:25.976-07:00

Pick up this week's New University newspaper -- the paper did a great job of covering our "Colloquium on Origins: Evolution & Intelligent Design" event last Wednesday. Here is a link to the article, titled "Evolution or Intelligent Design?" Here are some relevant clips from the article:By consisting of presentations from both the intelligent design and evolutionary perspective, a discussion

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147727102792276872006-05-15T13:35:00.000-07:002006-05-15T14:05:46.336-07:00

Last Saturday's Undergraduate Research Symposium, themed "Let There Be Light," was a great event. Here is coverage from the New University. I was amazed at some of the posters and presentations made by my fellow undergraduate students. Congratulations to all who participated!

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147723003894819002006-05-15T12:47:00.000-07:002006-05-15T12:56:43.966-07:00

I attended Biola University's "Intelligent Design Under Fire" event last Friday. The main issues that were brought up were irreducible complexity, the rules of science, and consensus in scientific circles. I was able to greet Dr. Michael Behe (author of "Darwin's Black Box") after the event. I also wanted to greet Antony Flew (the famous former athiest), but he left before I could get to him.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147418048482301242006-05-15T12:11:00.000-07:002006-05-15T12:26:13.196-07:00

The "Colloquium on Origins: Evolution & Intelligent Design" event last Wednesday was a great success. A sizeable crowd of 250-300 people, consisting of students, faculty, and guests, filled Social Science Lecture Hall and eagerly listened to presentations on intelligent design & evolution. To complement Wedge's great report, here is my brief report of what took place:Dr. Paul Nelson gave a 30

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147498395009827612006-05-12T22:18:00.000-07:002006-05-12T22:33:15.030-07:00

A few days ago I attended a lecture about the protein-degredation mechanism in cells. It's pretty complicated, but basically this is what happens: an enzyme complex called a ubiquitin ligase recognizes proteins that should be degraded and attaches a chain of ubiquitin moledules to it. This chain of ubiquitin is then recognized by a special protein structure which chews up the marked protein,

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147497043985023632006-05-12T22:01:00.000-07:002006-05-13T23:47:23.610-07:00

Wednesday night's colloquium went very well (Congratulations, Art!). It was civil, academic, and very scientifically oriented – thanks in large part to Ralph Seelke's fantastic talk, which was essentially a presentation of experimental results. Just being able to frame the debate in those terms is a huge win for ID. Some scattered thoughts (I've included all the questions I should have asked, but

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147233739778585462006-05-09T21:00:00.000-07:002006-05-09T21:02:19.793-07:00

In case you need directions or other help in coming to the "Colloquium on Origins: Evolution & Intelligent Design" event, please contact Andrew at (714) 624-7335.See you there!

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147193607968005122006-05-09T09:37:00.000-07:002006-05-09T09:54:19.690-07:00

An interesting article in the April 27 issue of Nature reports that scientists have succeeded in teaching Starlings to recognize recursive acoustic patterns, giving them an edge over freshman computer science majors. The ability to understand recursion was previously thought to be unique to humans. If you're on a university network, you can access the full text of the paper here, and a more

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147075070557294832006-05-08T00:53:00.000-07:002006-05-08T02:00:14.413-07:00

Here is a PDF version of this advertisement. You can also see this ad in this week's New University.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1147074716122704912006-05-08T00:50:00.000-07:002006-05-08T16:08:55.003-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEStudent Club Will Host Intelligent Design & Evolution Colloquium at UC Irvine(University of California, Irvine, May 8) -- Experts will present arguments for biological intelligent design at "Colloquium on Origins: Evolution & Intelligent Design" on Wednesday, May 10th at 7:00 P.M. in Social Science Lecture Hall 100. Following the presentations, a distinguished UC Irvine

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1146963489930136642006-05-06T17:53:00.000-07:002006-05-06T17:58:10.000-07:00

On May 16-17, there will be an International Symposium on LifeChips at the Beckman Center of the National Academies. This event is sponsored by the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. The event sounds interesting but it also looks to be a little expensive for students. In any case, those who are interested in the intersection of engineering and the life sciences might enjoy this event.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1146811976355652262006-05-04T23:45:00.000-07:002006-05-04T23:52:56.373-07:00

Physorg has a good article about the bat's amazing ability to catch prey (HT: Design Watch). As mentioned before, the bat's navigational system may actually be a good example of isomorphic instantiation. Here's a clip of the article:"The bat keeps the compass direction to the target a constant, but it changes its flight direction at the same time," says Ghose. "So, when the bat chases an insect

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1146810858703365982006-05-04T23:13:00.000-07:002006-05-04T23:37:53.180-07:00

This entry marks iDesign blog's 100th post. Thanks to all my fellow bloggers, and thanks to all the readers! If you have any comments or suggestions about this blog, feel free to leave a comment or send an email to idesignclub 'at' gmail 'dot' com.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1146808350330637662006-05-04T22:47:00.000-07:002006-05-04T22:52:30.346-07:00

Here is an interesting article in Nature: Proteome survey reveals modularity of the yeast cell machinery (HT: CEH). In order to read this article, you would need to use the UCIfull VPN.Modularity is one of the enduring principles in software engineering. If we find evidence for elegant modular architectures in life, can we conclude that life was engineered too?

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1146787429429401772006-05-04T16:50:00.000-07:002006-05-04T17:03:49.446-07:00

I recently wrote an article detailing several tips for academic success -- it's in the current issue of the Irvine Review. These tips may be of interest to those who still have midterms.1. Find A Reason To Excel It is important to have a reason to excel in college, since one must be willing to sacrifice time in order to succeed academically. One reason is that higher academic performance usually

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1146782347266279162006-05-04T15:36:00.000-07:002006-05-04T15:39:07.283-07:00

On a lighter note: The Great DebateMy personal favorite:Stephen J. Gould: None. The bulb jumped into the socket when no one was looking. Gradually.(HT: Uncommon Descent)

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1146098738954708212006-04-26T17:41:00.000-07:002006-04-26T17:45:38.973-07:00

According to this article, there's a new journal from the Institute of Physics called "Bioinspiration & Biomimetics" (HT: Design Watch). Sounds interesting. The design found in nature is starting to be used by engineers (see previous post on CBID's symposium for more about biomimetics).

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1145896072923117452006-04-24T09:25:00.000-07:002006-04-24T10:06:36.070-07:00

Here is the title and abstract of Paul Nelson's talk at the Colloquium on Origins: Evolution & Intelligent Design event on May 10:Title:The Mystery of the Cambrian Explosion: Can Natural Selection Build Animals?Abstract:How did the animals – the Metazoa – evolve? Since Darwin’s time, most evolutionary biologists have held that the complexity of the animal phyla appearing in the Cambrian Explosion

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1145602820430796462006-04-20T23:44:00.000-07:002006-04-21T00:01:03.656-07:00

I recently stumbled upon an interesting article in Physorg, titled "The logic of life" (HT: Design Watch), which basically suggests that gene networks are highly analagous to electrical circuitry:The functioning of gene networks looks a lot like the way components in electrical circuits might control one another. Two genes are considered to be 'wired together' if one of them influences the

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1145490652116446652006-04-19T16:46:00.000-07:002006-04-19T16:50:52.133-07:00

Here is the title and abstract of Ralph Seelke's upcoming presentation at the Colloquium On Origins: Evolution & Intelligent Design event on May 10:Title:What Can Evolution Really Do? Using experimental evolution to test the evolutionary potential of specific genes.Abstract:Mutation and selection, acting on existing genes, work to produce advantageous new functions. What might constrain the

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1145410799869354852006-04-18T16:01:00.000-07:002006-04-19T22:41:54.406-07:00

The New University has an interesting feature article up this week, titled "Francisco Ayala on the perfect compatibility of God and Evolution." This article basically features Dr. Ayala, who is a very genial and approachable professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (I interviewed him once for a science article I wrote a couple of years ago). Here's a clip of the article:As a result of Ayala’

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1145168263312648592006-04-16T00:00:00.000-07:002006-04-15T23:19:40.336-07:00

See the OC Register's Easter Cartoon.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144905004221193842006-04-12T22:07:00.000-07:002006-04-13T17:14:03.543-07:00

A friend of mine (actually a former instructor) recently sent me a thought-provoking email. Here's a clip:I can tell that you're someone who enjoys argument, so let me for the sake of debate make the following claim: the debate over evolution and creationism is much ado about (almost) nothing. Setting aside my belief that creationists greatly exaggerate the dangers posed by evolution, I just

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144868087423328462006-04-12T11:48:00.000-07:002006-04-12T18:03:38.443-07:00

Biola University will hold a couple of ID events in May. The first event is "Intelligent Design Under Fire" on May 12 (see previous post). The second event is a debate titled "Intelligent Design: Religion or Science" on May 21.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144867609516936952006-04-11T22:49:00.000-07:002006-04-12T11:46:49.566-07:00

On April 29, there will be a creation conference titled "A Question of Age: Conference on Creation, the Bible and Science" at EV Free in Fullerton. There will be speakers from both young-earth and old-earth positions: Answers in Genesis, Reasons to Believe, and ICR.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144785357738449582006-04-11T12:52:00.000-07:002006-04-11T12:58:22.540-07:00

Intelligent Design : CreationismA) theology : scienceB) chapter : bookC) Marxism : CapitalismD) Darwinian evolution : AtheismE) computer : typewriterSelect the best answer.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144712634315450452006-04-10T16:35:00.000-07:002006-04-11T12:34:52.750-07:00

The Design Paradigm reports that Cornell's Biology department will offer a course titled "Evolution and Design: Is there Purpose in Nature?" The professor will post online discussions and research papers from the course on his blog, The Evolution List.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144567150826513782006-04-08T22:45:00.000-07:002006-04-09T00:39:38.546-07:00

UCI Chancellor Michael Drake was inaugurated yesterday at the Bren Events Center. Below is a picture of Chancellor Drake with U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona (left) and UC President Robert Dynes (right). More pictures (including this one) can be found at the Chancellor's web site.Here's part of his inaugural address:Our task going forward is simple. Not simple as in easy, but rather simple

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144210555508905512006-04-04T21:13:00.000-07:002006-04-04T21:18:53.303-07:00

Any software engineer can tell you that modularity is an essential characteristic of any program that must be actively developed, or even just maintained. Without modularity, any small change to one piece is liable to break a completely different piece in unpredictable ways. Adding a new feature to an unmodular system is difficult because it requires making many simultaneous changes to various

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1143943810498940142006-04-04T11:40:00.000-07:002006-05-08T19:42:04.690-07:00

Colloquium On Origins: Evolution & Intelligent DesignLocation: UC IrvineRoom: Social Science Lecture Hall 100Day: May 10, 2006 (Wednesday)Time: 7:00 P.M.Speakers: Paul Nelson & Ralph Seelke (and there will be a distinguished UCI faculty panel)Admission: Free (but remember parking is $7)Paul Nelson (Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Chicago) is a philosopher of biology specializing in evolutionary

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1144134265329534432006-04-04T11:30:00.000-07:002006-04-04T11:24:55.176-07:00

The Center for Biologically-Inspired Design at Georgia Tech has announced a call for papers for its International Symposium for Biologically-inspired Design and Engineering, to be held May 10-12. This looks like a great event for anybody who is interested in doing biomimetics research. Biomimetics is a discipline that essentially copies designs found in nature. According to the symposium's

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1143942623430037652006-04-02T01:17:00.000-08:002006-04-02T01:35:43.953-08:00

In a recent project for a class, I statistically analyzed various political and science blogs. One of the experiments was determining whether a simple Bigram model could accurately discriminate between pro-Darwin and pro-Design blogs. What I found was that it is possible to achieve high classification accuracies, as long as one constructs the model in the right way.One approach is to classify a

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1143944355004344402006-04-01T23:51:00.000-08:002006-04-01T23:55:29.920-08:00

According to a press release from John Hopkins Medicine, "junk" DNA may turn out to have critical functionality (HT: Design Watch). ID proponents have predicted that junk DNA would be found to have utility (see [Warning: PDF] The Positive Case For Design). It looks like that prediction is now being confirmed.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1143850941425613672006-03-31T16:09:00.000-08:002006-03-31T16:32:34.206-08:00

Famous philosopher Antony Flew created a major stir a couple years ago when he renounced atheism and accepted the existence of God due to the strength of intelligent design arguments. Flew was arguably the top proponent for atheism in the past century. On May 11, he will receive the Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth from Biola University. Here is what Flew has to say:"In light of my

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1143446059689545442006-03-31T15:38:00.000-08:002006-03-31T16:36:30.076-08:00

Paul Nelson has another interesting post about methodological naturalism and the rules of science: Intelligent causation, I said to Ron, seemed to me to have been unjustifiably excluded from the roster of candidate hypotheses for the origin of life. Life could have been designed. That might have happened, as an empirical possibility, and whatever is possible ought not to be excluded from science

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1142930111037725822006-03-21T01:00:00.000-08:002006-03-21T00:57:52.846-08:00

Here are some links that are pretty interesting:Alvin Plantinga (a famous philosopher) critiques the Dover decision.Here is an instance of the "Lazarus Effect": an "extint" rodent is found to exist.Paul Nelson talks about the superiority of contingent methodological naturalism over axiomatic methodological naturalism.Students from various universites debate whether ID should be taught in public

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1142143659403173532006-03-11T22:01:00.000-08:002007-01-23T15:27:29.016-08:00

In a previous post on butterflies, I reported that the same efficient LED structure that was developed by an MIT engineer was subsequently found to exist in butterflies. "Isomorphic instantiation" is the term that I will assign to this phenomenon. I was thinking of using the term "reverse biomimicry," but a Google search revealed that somebody had already used that phrase.In general, isomorphic

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141850793740036862006-03-08T12:44:00.000-08:002006-03-08T12:46:33.773-08:00

ID is often misrepresented as the claim "God did it", when in fact it is really making a much stronger claim: "Certain features of biological life as we understand it are best explained by the actions of an intelligent agent". The first claim is unfalsifiable, because intelligence can always mimic chance and necessity, so there is no conceivable scenario that would disprove it. The second claim

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141799805019777512006-03-07T22:20:00.000-08:002006-03-07T23:36:01.550-08:00

Cornell's IDEA club has just created a new intelligent design blog. The blog is still experimental:This is an experiment, so we’ll see how the next month goes and may go offline at any time without notice. If we do and you’re annoyed, email us (idea@cornell.edu) and tell us why it matters.Send them an email if you would like their experimental blog to become permanent.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141669506505403902006-03-06T10:12:00.000-08:002006-03-06T12:59:04.466-08:00

Is the concept of cosmological design independent from biological intelligent design, or does one phenomenon increase the probability of the other?By the law of total probability, we can formulate the probability of biological intelligent design, P (BID), as a sum of conditional probabilities weighted by the probability of cosmological intelligent design, P (CID). Here is the equation:P (BID) = P

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141458689968072162006-03-03T23:36:00.000-08:002006-03-04T00:15:08.910-08:00

Wedge has posted a blog entry critical of Answers in Genesis, a young-earth creationist organization. While some in our club would probably not share that criticism, it is beneficial to critically analyze all viewpoints; after all, that is the essence of our mission statement.While we are on the subject, I've stumbled upon some interesting links that possibly suggest that the age of the universe

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141422024644318182006-03-03T13:31:00.000-08:002006-03-03T13:41:01.350-08:00

The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics has been used for quite some time to argue that order cannot come from disorder. Granville Sewell, a Texas A&M mathematician, brings the issue back on the table in this PDF article and slides (HT: Uncommon Descent). Some of the material in the article is also found in his "The Numerical Solution of Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations, Second Edition" textbook

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141408298621966062006-03-03T09:41:00.000-08:002006-03-03T14:37:08.593-08:00

iMonk has an insightful article on the Ken-Ham style of Young Earch Creationism here:My own experience with creationists indicates that maintaining a view of scripture that includes scientifically valid propositions about the age of the earth, the origin of species and the nature of geology/astronomy and physics is just as important as any Biblical statement about Jesus or the Gospel. Use of the

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141364277146930222006-03-02T21:30:00.000-08:002006-03-02T21:44:33.526-08:00

There were two "Does God Exist?" events at UCI a couple years ago that were covered by the New University here and here. I got an email from a friend about a similar event this year:Tom Frost, PhD Candidate in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and Founder and President of the Foundation for Reasonable Christianity, a philosophy think tank that seeks to understand, and to help

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141234379825455922006-03-01T09:10:00.000-08:002006-03-01T09:33:03.933-08:00

In case the bee flight episode wasn't damming enough, scientists have now discovered a huge virus (it has a genome bigger than that of some bacteria) that disproves ID, too.The discovery itself is fascinating. This monster has 1,000 genes (simple viruses can get by with 10) which code for everything but the kitchen sink. The article is a little sensationalist: Mimi is still a virus and dependent

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141164045825342942006-02-28T13:41:00.000-08:002006-04-12T17:14:25.733-07:00

Mark your calendars: Biola University will be hosting an intelligent design panel discussion on Friday, May 12, 2006, at 7:30 P.M. It will be held in Sutherland Auditorium. Michael Behe, Paul Nelson, Guillermo Gonzalez, and Jonathan Wells will be there.I think they are looking for some intelligent Darwinians to grill them and ask them any tough questions they may have about intelligent design. If

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1141022655259670112006-02-26T22:27:00.000-08:002006-02-26T22:45:58.963-08:00

Dr. Henry Morris, widely recognized as the "father of modern creationism," died last night. Morris founded the Institute for Creation Research, which is one of the most visible creationist organizations in America.William Dembski has some thoughts on his blog:Henry Morris was a great man, and all critics of Darwinian evolution are in his debt for maintaining pressure on this pseudoscience when so

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1140937049317451002006-02-25T22:47:00.000-08:002006-02-25T22:57:29.436-08:00

The next meeting will be this Thursday, March 2, at 6:00 P.M. in Humanities Hall 242. This week we'll have an open discussion about anything related to origins. Everyone is invited. See the Community Calendar for more information.At the meeting, we will probably plan some events for next quarter. When should we show another documentary? Which speakers should we invite? With which campus clubs

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1140765624431993722006-02-23T22:43:00.000-08:002006-02-23T23:46:14.880-08:00

The number of scientists publicly skeptical of Darwinism has grown to over 500. These scientists come from diverse fields like biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, and engineering. They have all signed "A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism," which states the following:"We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1140725444521162742006-02-23T11:57:00.000-08:002006-02-23T22:29:19.403-08:00

Dembski has posted an interesting exchange between Michael Ruse and Daniel Dennett (who has just written a book about the evolutionary origins of religion).Ruse strikes me as pretty decent guy. He is at least willing to dialog, and although he's a hard-core evolutionist, he and Dembski actually seem to have a genial relationship. Dennett is another story altogether (in the dialog department. I'm

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1140067685585688942006-02-16T18:01:00.000-08:002006-02-15T21:39:51.456-08:00

doctor_logic has made comments on a few of Art’s recent posts that deserve some thought. Below are my responses to some of his questions and arguments.That humans re-invent things that are present in Nature is not evidence that nature was designed. Stochastic genetic algorithms have reproduced patented designs, so we know that ID is not required to build complex structures.Interesting that you

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1139387558062261532006-02-16T18:00:00.000-08:002006-02-14T14:10:27.520-08:00

iDesign @ UCI is proud to present the following documentary about cosmological design and fine-tuning:Title: "The Privileged Planet: The Search For Purpose In The Universe"Date: Thursday, February 16, 2006Time: 6:00 P.M.Location: Humanities Hall 242Admission: FreeWho Is Invited: EveryoneYou can see a preview of the documentary here.

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1140029635474027102006-02-15T10:42:00.000-08:002006-02-15T12:47:25.510-08:00

Here is an interesting article about a research study on self-repairing spacecrafts. Engineers at the University of Bristol are trying to mimic the natural healing process of our skin:The challenge for Semprimoschnig was to replicate the human process of healing small cracks before they can open up into anything more serious. He and the team at Bristol did it by replacing a few percent of the

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1139691524340359442006-02-11T12:57:00.000-08:002006-02-11T13:05:23.793-08:00

A few days ago in one of my classes, the professor was explaining theories about the origin of life. At the beginning of the lecture, he made a throw-away comment about how we know that life "wasn't divinely created, it evolved."He then went on to talk about how life might have begun. The consesus is that there is no convincing explanation of how life assembled itself on the early earth. RNA (a

Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02643341022936006805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1139623037692503832006-02-10T17:26:00.000-08:002006-02-10T18:00:41.653-08:00

Check out the February issue of the Irvine Review, which is now out on the campus stands. This issue contains an article I wrote:Fine-Tuned For LifeIs the universe meant to support life?by Arthur AsuncionDid the universe come about solely through chance and natural processes? Or was it designed to be hospitable to life?One of the most compelling evidences for the idea of cosmological intelligent

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1139382109338305962006-02-07T21:55:00.000-08:002007-01-23T15:38:10.816-08:00

I've blogged about the amazing LED lights in butterflies before, but now here's an article in IEEE Spectrum that prominently bears the words, "intelligent design," in the caption of a picture of these butterflies (HT: ID Update). IEEE Spectrum is a magazine for engineers. Generally, it seems that engineers are more keen at noticing design, since they are designers themselves.Here's a clip of the

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13234993.post-1139295963444059182006-02-06T22:44:00.000-08:002006-02-07T09:40:07.356-08:00

According to IDEA Center, there are about 25 active IDEA clubs. IDEA stands for "Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness," and IDEA clubs are pro-design.I have a request for these IDEA clubs: please blog. I, and probably many others, would like to know how the origins debate is going in other universities. The IDEA club at Berkeley has taken a good first step by making a blog-like site. It

Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17253803071772680935noreply@blogger.com0