Why don't people accept evolution?

Chris Mooney (remember spin framing?) is at it again. This time he writes for Mother Jones: 7 Reasons Why It's Easier for Humans to Believe in God Than Evolution.Before we look at the seven reasons let's remember the poll from 2005 that surveyed acceptance of evolution in 34 countries. Note that the percentage of the population who reject evolution...

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What do you think of Brian Pallister's statement?

Brian Pallister is the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba. Here's a statement he made the other day. I'm not particularly offended by what he say about atheists. I think it demonstrates that he is really stupid and probably should have kept his mouth shut but that's actually good for secularism, no? It's pretty clear that he doesn't...

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Bill Farrell and Louis C on the Sandwalk

Here's a photo of Bill Farrell ("Doc Bill") and Louis C on the Sandwalk.They join a distinguished list of people whose visit to the Sandwalk has been recorded here.Larry MoranPZ MyersJohn WilkinsRyan GregoryThe God DelusionCodyJohn HawksMichael BartonSeanna WatsonSteve WatsonMichael RichardsJeffrey ShallitChris DiCarloBill Farrell and Louis...

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Answering ten questions from the IDiots

On this American Thanksgiving Day, David Klinghoffer gives thanks for Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne [Thank Goodness for Richard Dawkins]. He says ...... we're also grateful for guys like Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne who provide a rich source of unintended comedy. See, for example, our colleague Dr. Michael Egnor's always entertaining mining of...

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Rianne Ten Haken - Jean Paul Gaultier - "Classique"

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Natural selection may not lead to evolution?

I recently discovered a new book called The Princeton Guide to Evolution. It looks pretty authoritative so I ordered a copy. There are excerpts online. The first chapter is "What Is Evolution?" by Jonathan Losos. I'm not very impressed with his answer but I was shocked to read the following passage. The logic behind natural selection is unassailable....

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Monday's Molecule #224

Last week's molecule was the second messenger, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate or PIP2. The winner is Dean Bruce. The undergraduate winner is Ariel Gershon [Monday's Molecule #223].Today's molecule is a protein (purple). It's one of the most abundant proteins in E. coli because it's bound to almost all tRNA molecules in the cell. Name the protein...

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What is bioethics? Is Margaret Somerville a bioethicist or a Roman Catholic apologist?

I had an interesting conversation with a student the other day. She's studying "bioethics" at the University of Toronto. This is a program run by the Deptment of Philosophy. I asked her to define "bioethics" and she couldn't. To her credit, she immediately recognized that this wasn't right. If she's taking an entire program in bioethics she ought to be able to explain what it was all about. She was then joined by her friend, who is also majoring in bioethics. My colleague, Chris DiCarlo also joined us. He's a philosopher writing a book on ethics....

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You simply won't believe what the IDiots are saying now!

Do you remember Vincent Joseph Torley (vjtorley)? He's the IDiot with a Ph.D. (2007) from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne (Australia). That's a legitimate university. Apparently Vincent Torley went off the rails sometime after 2007.Here's his latest post on Uncommon Descent: Does scientific knowledge presuppose God? A reply to Carroll, Coyne, Dawkins and Loftus.The scientific enterprise stands or falls on the legitimacy of making inductive inferences, from cases of which we have experience to cases of which we have no...

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God Only Knows by The Beach Boys

The Pet Sounds album by The Beach Boys was released in 1966. The album ranks in the top ten of almost everyone's list of best albums (English/American culture). It's #2 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Tine.I wasn't a big fan of the album but I adored God only knows, and I still do.1 It's one of my top ten favorite songs. The...

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Little Richie Dawkins

One thing that draws me to the ID movement is that it has the polite and understated ethic that science is supposed to have -- but does not have when the subject is evolution.Stephen A. BatzerHere's a video that was posted today on Uncommon Descent by Salvador Cordova. Before watching it, read my post on: Why are Darwinists do uncivil?. It links to an IDiot post by Stephen A. Batzer where he complains about "Darwinists" being uncivil.Here's one of the points that Batzer makes ...Thought leaders in the Darwinian movement, such as Dawkins, Prothero,...

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Unchained Melody by The Rightous Brothers

Is it true that the music of the Baby Boomers is a whole lot better than the music of Generation-X or the Millennials (Generation-Y)? Of course it's true. Those whippernappers couldn't touch the best music of the 1960s.Here's a song that makes my top ten list, although I will admit that it's only #374 on 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. I'm pretty sure this must be a mistake. Rolling Stone also seems to have made a mistake with #9. (For some strange reason, my son and daughter don't seem to appreciate the music of my generation. I don't know where...

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A new definition of kindness and empathy? (on educating children)

Today's version of the Toronto Star has several articles on kindness and empathy. The feature article appears on the front page of the "Insight" section. The title of the print version is "Kindness: A fledgling movement aims to instil empathy and make us a kinder, gentler, society." The online version is How to fight meanness? Try a bit of kind.1The...

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Denyse O'Leary is at it again! (re: junk DNA)

In Denyse O'Leary's latest post she claims (again) that "Darwin's followers" used junk DNA as an argument for their position [What? Darwin’s followers did not use junk DNA as an argument for their position?]. No, Denyse, "Darwin's followers" (i.e. adaptationists) never used the presence of large amounts of junk DNA as evidence of the power of natural...

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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

November 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.June 6, 1968: Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.July 21, 1969: Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.You tell me that I need to forget these events as though they never happened?You tell me that you don't care because you weren't born yet?...

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Toni Garrn - Antidote Magazine - The Paris Issue

Photography: Victor DemarchelierStylist: Yann WeberHair: David von Cannon, Alessandro RebecchiMakeup: Fredrik Stambro, Victor Alva...

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Mirte Maas - Antidote Magazine - The Paris Issue

Photography: Victor DemarchelierStylist: Yann WeberHair: David von Cannon, Alessandro RebecchiMakeup: Fredrik Stambro, Victor Alva...

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Kasia Struss - Antidote Magazine - The Paris Issue

Photography: Victor DemarchelierStylist: Yann WeberHair: David von Cannon, Alessandro RebecchiMakeup: Fredrik Stambro, Victor Alva...

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Crystal Renn - 7 Hollywood Magazine - Winter 2014

Photography: Alix MalkaStylist: Barbara BaumelHair: Leila-AMakeup: Gres...

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Behati Prinsloo - 7 Hollywood Magazine - Winter 2014

Photography: Ali KavoussiStylist: Taryn ShumwayHair: Sasha NesterchuckMakeup: Niki Mn...

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On a Friday Afternoon 50 Years Ago

It was about 3pm and I was sitting in my geometry class at Nepean High School in Ottawa, Canada. This was my final year of high school. I liked this course and I liked my teacher (Mr. Pollack). The loudspeaker crackled and I heard the Principle's voice. Mr. Callan said that President Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas.Kennedy was not my President...

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What Could Possibly Be Wrong with Putting a Cute Dog on the Cover of Science?

Nothing could be wrong until you realize that Science writer editor Elizabeth ("Liz") Pennisi is behind it. That changes things entirely. To find out why you have to read Dan Graur's latest at: A Dog on the Cover of @ScienceMagazine: Sins of Omissions.At some point, the big bosses at Science magazine are going to have to wake up to the fact that they're...

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Claudiu Bandea Shows Why Attacking Dan Graur Is a Very Bad Idea

Claudiu Bandea is a frequent commenter on this blog. Whenever the subject of junk DNA comes up he reminds us that he had a theory over twenty years ago. Now he has published(?) an advertisement at: On the concept of biological function, junk DNA and the gospels of ENCODE and Graur et al.. Here's the abstract ...In a recent article entitled “On the immortality of television sets: "function" in the human genome according to the evolution-free gospel of ENCODE”, Graur et al. dismantle ENCODE’s evidence and conclusion that 80% of the human genome is...

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Which Way Did Darwin Walk?

For some reason the title reminds me of "What Does the Fox Say." Oh well, PZ Myers is desperately interested in knowing which way Darwin walked when he took a stroll on the Sandwalk [An important historical question!].I know which way PZ walked 'cause I led h...

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Ginta Lapina - Allure Russia - December 2013

Photography: Norman Jean RoyStylist: Anya ZiourovaMakeup: Yumi MoriHair: Deycke Heid...

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Mariacarla Boscono - Numero - November 2013

Photography: Stephane SednaouiStylist: Irina MarieHair: Nicolas JurnjackMakeup: Christine Cor...

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Sylvia Browne Blows Another Psychic Prediction

I first became aware of Syvlia Brown when I saw her on Larry King Live ten years ago [Interview with Sylvia Browne]. As most of you know, Larry King is a real sucker for quacks of all types and he used to let psychics like Sylvia Browne respond to listeners who called in to the show. It was always good for a laugh. In the middle of that part of the...

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Is Baker's Yeast a Good Model for the Evolution of Multicellularity?

R. Ford Denison has an excellent blog called This Week in Evolution. He recently posted an article about the evolution of multicellularity [Evolving-multicellularity lab exercises]. That post contains a link to a paper he recently published with a former student (Ratcliff et al., 2013). Here's the abstract.Multicellularity was one of the most significant...

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Valeria Dmitrienko - The Wild Magazine - Youth Issue

Photography: Jeffery JonesStylist: MosesHair: Yohey NakatsukaMakeup: Satsuki S...

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