Daylight Atheism » Biology

The Language of God: Deeper DNA Comparisons

Ebonmuse — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 18:33:47 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 5

By B.J. Marshall

In the last post, we saw Collins give a foothold to Creationists who want to deny macroevolution. Even granted that he should have never allowed this foothold in the first place, he makes a valiant effort to tear the false micro-v-macro wall down by comparing our genome to those of other animals. It is here that Collins asserts that "[t]he study of ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Micro vs. Macro

Ebonmuse — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:30:27 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 5

By B.J. Marshall

Before tackling the gritty details using DNA evidence to support human evolution, Collins addresses Darwin, mutations, and the "rather arbitrary" distinction between microevolution ("incremental changes within a species") and macroevolution ("major changes in species") (p.131-2). In my discussions with Creationists, the micro- v. macro-evolution thing ... [visit site to read more]

The Language of God: Size Doesn't Matter

Ebonmuse — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:13:50 +0000

The Language of God, Chapter 5

By B.J. Marshall

In this section, Collins describes how "the study of genomes leads inexorably to the conclusion that we humans share a common ancestor with other living things" (p.133-4). There are a lot of ideas in this chapter to unpack, so I'd like to start by reviewing Collins' material on DNA at a high level: size and broad similarity. It would be my hope that, even if Creationists only heard some of the material in this chapter, they ... [visit site to read more]

Spread the Good News

RitchieAdmin — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:00:55 +0000

By Richard Hollis (aka Ritchie)

Two rather interesting and welcome stories have hit the headlines in as many days that I thought I'd bring up here.

The first bit of news is that from next week, for the first time, an abortion advisory service is to screen an advert on TV in Britain. Centred around the slogan 'Are you late?' the commercial will advertise the services of the organisation Marie Stopes, which offers advice on sexual health matters, including abortion ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Soup's On!

Ebonmuse — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:21:58 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 9

Chapter 9 is ostensibly about the origin of biological information, but what it's really about is the origin of life. We've discussed this in part in an earlier chapter, but Meyer has some other objections to raise.

First up, Strobel raises the question of the "prebiotic soup" - the dilute broth of organic molecules that's believed to have existed in the ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Complexity Is Scary!

Ebonmuse — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:45:39 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 8

In the previous installment, I discussed how creationists steer well clear of doing any real science. We can see another example of this in, ironically, the way Strobel falls all over himself lauding Michael Behe as a Real Scientist:

He has authored forty articles for such scientific journals as DNA Sequence, The Journal of Molecular Biology, ... [visit site to read more]

Weekly Link Roundup

Ebonmuse — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:29:55 +0000

A couple of noteworthy articles from this week that I didn't have time to write more about:

• To begin with, there's this excellent and in-depth profile of the FFRF's Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, from a local alternative paper in Madison.

• Archaeologists have discovered a genuine burial ... [visit site to read more]

A Sense of Kinship

Ebonmuse — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:51:26 +0000

This past summer, I was visiting the New York Botanical Gardens when serendipity struck: this beautiful little creature alighted on a stone railing around the edge of a pool, staying just long enough for me to snap this shot:

I think, though I'm not an expert, that this is a blue dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis. ... [visit site to read more]

Another Branch on the Human Family Tree

Ebonmuse — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:18:18 +0000

I haven't written about any new transitional fossils in a while, so it's a great pleasure for me to mention this one: a hominid skeleton nicknamed "Ardi", a specimen of Ardipithecus ramidus. This species was known from other fossil fragments, but Ardi is one of the oldest and most complete hominids found so far, and may give us the most insight yet into what the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees looked ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Dysteleology

Ebonmuse — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:02:38 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 4

In the last section of his interview with Stephen Meyer, Lee Strobel brings up the dysteleological argument, asking how intelligent design can account for the faults and imperfections in the natural world that would seem to cast doubt on the wisdom or benevolence of the designer. He begins with a classic argument, the inverted retina. Quoting Ken Miller:

"We would have to wonder why an intelligent designer placed the neural wiring of ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Meet Your Ancestors

Ebonmuse — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:55:15 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 3

In the final section of chapter 3, Strobel and Wells turn to the evidence that creationists loathe above all else: the fossil hominids that make up the human family tree. Human ancestors are not only a clear, obvious transition that even a layperson can understand, they directly demonstrate that we ourselves are a product of evolution, thus striking at the desire to be separate, special creations that almost certainly motivates nearly all ... [visit site to read more]

The Case for a Creator: Ancient Wings

Ebonmuse — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:20:54 +0000

The Case for a Creator, Chapter 3

Up until now, Jonathan Wells' critiques of evolution, although misguided, have been fairly sophisticated, touching on topics such as abiogenesis, the Cambrian explosion, and embryology. That's about to change. In this section, Wells and Strobel haul out the most breathtaking, shameless lie bandied about by creationists: that there are no such things as transitional fossils. This opening quote foreshadows the direction they're going:

I ... [visit site to read more]