Genesis Revisited
If the Genesis creation myth was re-told scientifically. Credit to Michael Shermer for the text.
Topic Agnostic Illustrated daily news, salacious gossip, opinion & discussion on religion & atheism.
Posts Tagged ‘Science’
Evoluton in Action
Long legs and skittish behavior are recently evolved traits that allow fence lizards in the southeastern U.S. to co-exist with lethal and invasive fire ants, according to a new study.
Over the course of about 70 years, these fence lizards evolved to have longer legs to protect themselves from the fire ants, which would attack their under belly. The longer legs allow them to shrug the ants off.
Observable, verified evolution over the course of only 70 years. I thought that God created all creatues as is?
Sweet victory! Reason prevails over ignorance in Texas.
Thank the good Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven above,
The drama over the potential inclusion of creationism or intelligent design in Texas biology curriculum is over for now as a coalition of six Democrats and two Republicans defeated an amendment that would have maintained discussion of evolution’s “weaknesses.”
Textbook publishers cater to the influential Texas market, so whether or not science books continued to kowtow to creationism is of great interest nationally—changes to Texas’ science curriculum will likely be echoed across the land. The exact issue was whether to re-incorporate the phrase “strengths and weaknesses” into the discussion of evolution in state biology curriculum. The loathsome Discovery Institute had it’s scaly hands all over this fail.
The big deal about referring to “weaknesses” in evolution is that there aren’t any. Creationists are trying to introduce controversy and suggest that gaps in evidence equal flaws in the theory. We’ve seen those gaps steadily filled in as knowledge and technology increase. There’s no reason to think knowledge won’t continue grow, unless of course the Discovery Institute has its way.
This is a vote on the science curriculum, not theology or philosophy. It’s certainly not an issue of free speech; I doubt high school kids have been doing research and uncovered a dramatic flaw that’s being suppressed by wily biology teachers. There are no “sides” to be on; within the realm of science this theory is the accepted one, due to overwhelming evidence, for the diversity of life.
Here are some of the reasons those who understand the process and results of science “believe” in evolution:
Science Wins Again
Hmmmm, let’s see….
Religion, supposedly doesn’t change, God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that’s part of what makes it reliable according to many religious people.
Meanwhile, science finds new methods to fight and cure disease, such as was announced today.
Seems to me that science keeps finding and correcting these mistakes that God supposedly put in our so-called “perfect” bodies.
Science wins.
The Large Hadron Collider is not a portal to Hell. I can’t believe I have to make that statement.
Um. There’s some confusion over the purpose and potential effects of this coming Wednesday’s switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN’s particle accelerator and science’s crowning experiment to date. This video, for instance, is called “Large Hadron Collider: Satan’s Stargate”:
If that wasn’t enough, here’s some more uninformed opinion for ya.
Nobel Prize-winning physicists are receiving death threats; “doomsday” lawsuits have been launched in attempt to block the LHC turning on. We’re assured, however, that the search for the God Particle is not going to destroy the earth, nor is it likely to open a portal to the netherworld or what have you. It is going to confirm, however, if experiments are successful, that science is indeed an accurate, predictive methodology for understanding the universe.
Bonus science lesson: Wired’s inspired and cutely-illustrated metaphor for understanding the workings of the LHC…with reality tv!
10 questions and answers about evolution
I know I’m supposed to be mowing my lawn, but this is good stuff. In the previous post I mentioned David Campbell, though not by name, the Florida school teacher who’s working hard to make sure kids get taught evolution and that they aren’t turned off by it by seeing it as in opposition to their religion.
David’s reputedly up against a document circulated by the loathsome Discovery Institute called “10 Questions to Ask Your Biology Teacher About Evolution”. These questions are likely designed to trip up teachers without specialized knowledge, making it look like evolution is indefensible or incorrect simply because a B. Ed. doesn’t come with advanced biology training.
The National Institute for Science Education got wind of this and compiled answers to the questions.
Intelligent Design Just isn’t true. Sorry.
This is nice! National Geographic reports on a paper published this week in Nature on a positively delightful discovery of a transitional flatfish that fills a longstanding gap in the fossil record of this species.
The arrangement & rearrangement of this little sucker’s eyeballs have long been a straw at which creationists grasped, evidencing God or some other intelligence intentionally creating new forms. As usual, the gaps in the record are filled with diligent research, and we see that the form evolved naturally. As predicted.
The thing with the pursuit of truth is that it takes time. You have some info, you look for more, you put it all together. Religion provides instant answers (because they’re, you know, fabricated) and expects the same speed from science. It takes longer than that to find, analyze, and prove facts. I for one am very pleased to meet Mr. Transitional Flatfish.
Observable evolution
MSU biologist Dr. Richard Lenski, recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences, has just published his first paper for said scientifical body & it’s a doozy. His team have been observing a miasma of E. coli for 44 000 generations, and over that period have witnessed the transformation of the bacteria from glucose-eaters to citrate-eaters. That’s right, folks: the bacteria selected citrate eating as the most successful path to survival, and mutated to accomplish it.
It’s very nearly the evolution of a new species (though not quite; ’species’ is tough to pin on bacteria in the first place), and the rigorously-controlled work represents with beautiful clarity the methods of random mutation and natural selection. In case you aren’t down with that sort of stuff.
Celebrity Scientologist
This is an interview with a Scientologist at the recent protest in LA. The interviewer is Mark Bunker of xenutv.com and the interviewee is Billy Sheehan, the bass player from Mr. Big and many other bands. His is considered to be one of the better bass players in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sheehan
It is probably the fist time I’ve seen an interview with a Scientologist that wasn’t confrontational and honestly wanted to discuss his religion. It was honestly quite refreshing.
Science vs faith flowchart
It’s all about absorbing that new information. From the good folks at FreeThoughtPedia.
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