evolutionnewsandviews--2020-06-08--Make Like a Scorpion, and Other Arachnid Designs

Arachnids ( a class of invertebrate arthropods , most with six pairs of appendages , of which four are usually for locomotion ) make up some of the scariest creepy-crawlies to most people .
The class includes spiders , daddy-longlegs , mites , ticks , scorpions , and horseshoe crabs .
They have simple eyes , unlike the compound eyes of most insects .
Also different from insects , arachnids have a fused head and thorax ( the cephalothorax ) and abdomen ; the cephalothorax is often covered by a hard carapace .
The first pair of appendages in spiders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; in scorpions , they act as pincers .
Lacking jaws , spiders suck the juice out of their prey and discard the exoskeleton .
Some hunting spiders have exceptional vision , with eight eyes looking in all directions .
Horseshoe crabs , only recently added to the class of arachnids based on molecular studies , are among the few that live in water , but come to mate on shore in dazzling nighttime rituals .
Some arachnids , but comparatively few , can be deadly to humans ; others , like ticks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Most arachnids play vital roles in the ecosystem , however , such as regulating insect populations and eliminating pests from our farms and gardens ; some mites help convert leaf litter to humus .
Most are land predators , but some sea spiders live on the ocean floor .
Arachnids are astonishingly diverse in habitat , size , and behavior .
The vast majority we hardly notice .
Those who get over the fear of spiders can enjoy their nimble legs , rapid runs , web-spinning expertise , and sometimes dazzling colors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spiders of Australia , popularized in Jurgen Otto ’ s YouTube videos .
Scientists are warming up to arachnids for their design inspirations .
See also “ Don ’ t Be Frightened !
It ’ s Just a Spider , ” from Discovery Institute : Dragline silk in spider webs is perhaps the best-known biomimetic target .
It is highly desired as a material because of its strength and flexibility , so this article begins with spider silk news .
Other arachnid design inspirations have recently been recognized .
Among the properties that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of protein .
A team from the University of Melbourne , publishing in Nature Communications , tackled the problem of making these sheets that spiders make look easy .
In the paper , the authors give high praise to the spider ’ s ability to make this “ incredible ” material .
Believe it or not , even spider venom provides inspiration .
Another Australian team from the University of Queensland studied tarantulas , those denizens of nightmares , and found that “ Spider venom [ is ] key to pain relief without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pain relief .
Not only that , spider venom can stop pain without the risk of addiction that opioids cause .
Dr. Christina Schroeder explains , No side effects ; no addiction ; thank you , tarantulas !
Researchers at southern California ’ s City of Hope Cancer Center are finding ways to “ repurpose ” a scorpion toxin to benefit cutting-edge cancer treatment .
See , “ From scorpion to immunotherapy : City of Hope scientists repurpose nature ’ s toxin for first-of-its kind CAR T cell therapy to treat brain tumors.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ death stalker ” species , of all things !
Watch the video to see how a small peptide in the venom helps CAR-T cell therapy achieve higher specificity in glioblastomas , saving brain cells during treatment .
It has been the best agent so far , and clinical trials have begun — thanks to scorpions !
Campers in the desert may know to bring ultraviolet lamps to look for scorpions .
But why do their entire exteriors glow ?
Earlier studies suggested that the trait acts as a sunscreen or helps them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fluorescent molecules had been identified previously ; Japanese scientists , publishing in the Journal of Natural Products , identified a third molecule that has the strongest fluorescent property .
According to the American Chemical Society , the compound is “ a phthalate ester previously shown to have antifungal and anti-parasitic properties in other organisms.
” If so , fluorescence would represent a non-adaptive artifact .
The fact that scorpions can manufacture three complex molecules and cover themselves with it , however , would suggest more is going on than scientists know about .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ specific biomimetic applications , but one of the journal ’ s purposes is to investigate biological compounds with a view toward their potential usefulness .
The mysterious horseshoe crab , a living fossil that looks like an alien life form , is not a crab , but an arachnid .
On early summer nights under a full moon at high tide , the animals emerge from the deep ocean and congregate by the hundreds of thousands on Delaware beaches to mate ( NWF ) .
Inside the body of this bizarre creature , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ save human lives .
These amoeba-like cells , called amebocytes , contain a vital compound found only in horseshoe crabs .
This creates a problem .
Horseshoe crabs are an endangered species .
Doctors can ’ t keep harvesting them in the wild , where some 30 percent die after their amebocytes are collected .
Each year , some 600,000 animals have been collected during mating season in May and June .
This can not continue at that rate .
Now , however , scientists have found they can grow them in aquaculture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human patients at risk of life-threatening sepsis , and also for horseshoe crabs , since current harvesting practices are hardly sustainable , ” the report says .
With some 11 million people dying from sepsis each year , humans are learning to love their life-saving “ weird ” inhabitants of this amazing planet .
“ The horseshoe crabs continue to be lively and active in their new environment and even laid eggs.
” So respect arachnids .
Some of them are lifesavers , pain killers , and chemists extraordinaire .
With only a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential for new discoveries among our eight-legged friends has barely begun .

Arachnids (a class of invertebrate arthropods, most with six pairs of appendages, of which four are usually for locomotion) make up some of the scariest creepy-crawlies to most people. The class includes spiders, daddy-longlegs, mites, ticks, scorpions, and horseshoe crabs. They have simple eyes, unlike the compound eyes of most insects. Also different from insects, arachnids have a fused head and thorax (the cephalothorax) and abdomen; the cephalothorax is often covered by a hard carapace.
The first pair of appendages in spiders, the pedipalps, help hold prey; in scorpions, they act as pincers. Lacking jaws, spiders suck the juice out of their prey and discard the exoskeleton. Some hunting spiders have exceptional vision, with eight eyes looking in all directions. Horseshoe crabs, only recently added to the class of arachnids based on molecular studies, are among the few that live in water, but come to mate on shore in dazzling nighttime rituals.
Some arachnids, but comparatively few, can be deadly to humans; others, like ticks and mites, can be disease vectors. Most arachnids play vital roles in the ecosystem, however, such as regulating insect populations and eliminating pests from our farms and gardens; some mites help convert leaf litter to humus. Most are land predators, but some sea spiders live on the ocean floor. Arachnids are astonishingly diverse in habitat, size, and behavior. The vast majority we hardly notice. Those who get over the fear of spiders can enjoy their nimble legs, rapid runs, web-spinning expertise, and sometimes dazzling colors, particularly in the recently-discovered tiny peacock spiders of Australia, popularized in Jurgen Otto’s YouTube videos. Scientists are warming up to arachnids for their design inspirations.
See also “Don’t Be Frightened! It’s Just a Spider,” from Discovery Institute:
Dragline silk in spider webs is perhaps the best-known biomimetic target. It is highly desired as a material because of its strength and flexibility, so this article begins with spider silk news. Other arachnid design inspirations have recently been recognized.
Spider Networks
Among the properties that give spider silk its durability are beta-sheets of protein. A team from the University of Melbourne, publishing in Nature Communications, tackled the problem of making these sheets that spiders make look easy.
The high toughness of natural spider-silk is attributed to their unique β-sheet secondary structures. However, the preparation of mechanically strong β-sheet rich materials remains a significant challenge due to challenges involved in processing the polymers/proteins, and managing the assembly of the hydrophobic residues. Inspired by spider-silk, our approach effectively utilizes the superior mechanical toughness and stability afforded by localised β-sheet domains within an amorphous network. [Emphasis added.]
In the paper, the authors give high praise to the spider’s ability to make this “incredible” material.
The importance of how these secondary structures affect material properties is exemplified in naturally occurring dragline spider-silk; a natural polypeptide-based structure which displays a high tensile strength comparable to high tensile steel. Specifically, its excellent mechanical properties are attributed to the spatial arrangement of the amino acids within the polypeptide, which arrange to form higher-order β-sheet architectures through hydrogen bonding primarily from the hydrophobic amino acid residues (i.e. alanine). Surrounding these β-sheet architectures is an arrangement of semi-amorphous, highly extendable glycine-rich regions. This specific arrangement (i.e. composition and spatial) leads to spider silk displaying incredible toughness—a tensile strength between 0.88–1.5 GPa coupled with an extension at break of 21–27 %. This incredible mechanical potential garners significant interest towards the utilisation of polypeptides in synthetic materials, such as hydrogels, films and fibres for a wide range of applications, including tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Spider Medicine
Believe it or not, even spider venom provides inspiration. Another Australian team from the University of Queensland studied tarantulas, those denizens of nightmares, and found that “Spider venom [is] key to pain relief without side-effects.” That’s right; pain relief. Not only that, spider venom can stop pain without the risk of addiction that opioids cause. Dr. Christina Schroeder explains,
“Our study found that a mini-protein in tarantula venom from the Chinese bird spider, known as Huwentoxin-IV, binds to pain receptors in the body. “ “By using a three-pronged approach in our drug design that incorporates the mini-protein, its receptor and the surrounding membrane from the spider venom, we’ve altered this mini-protein resulting in greater potency and specificity for specific pain receptors.”
No side effects; no addiction; thank you, tarantulas!
Scorpion Cancer Therapy
Researchers at southern California’s City of Hope Cancer Center are finding ways to “repurpose” a scorpion toxin to benefit cutting-edge cancer treatment. See, “From scorpion to immunotherapy: City of Hope scientists repurpose nature’s toxin for first-of-its kind CAR T cell therapy to treat brain tumors.” Which scorpion is helping? The “death stalker” species, of all things! Watch the video to see how a small peptide in the venom helps CAR-T cell therapy achieve higher specificity in glioblastomas, saving brain cells during treatment. It has been the best agent so far, and clinical trials have begun — thanks to scorpions!
Scorpion Glow
Campers in the desert may know to bring ultraviolet lamps to look for scorpions. But why do their entire exteriors glow? Earlier studies suggested that the trait acts as a sunscreen or helps them find a mate at night. Two fluorescent molecules had been identified previously; Japanese scientists, publishing in the Journal of Natural Products, identified a third molecule that has the strongest fluorescent property. According to the American Chemical Society, the compound is “a phthalate ester previously shown to have antifungal and anti-parasitic properties in other organisms.” If so, fluorescence would represent a non-adaptive artifact. The fact that scorpions can manufacture three complex molecules and cover themselves with it, however, would suggest more is going on than scientists know about. The paper doesn’t mention any specific biomimetic applications, but one of the journal’s purposes is to investigate biological compounds with a view toward their potential usefulness.
Horseshoe Crab Lifesavers
The mysterious horseshoe crab, a living fossil that looks like an alien life form, is not a crab, but an arachnid. On early summer nights under a full moon at high tide, the animals emerge from the deep ocean and congregate by the hundreds of thousands on Delaware beaches to mate (NWF). Inside the body of this bizarre creature, Phys.org says, is something that can save human lives.
Horseshoe crabs are remarkable animals, beautiful in their weirdness. These “living fossils” evolved 450 million years ago and have lived through at least five mass extinctions fatal to the majority of multicellular lifeforms on Earth. Sea-dwelling relatives of spiders, horseshoe crabs can lay millions of eggs, have four pairs of eyes, and (importantly to us) have blue blood containing amoeba-like immune cells. These horseshoe crab immune cells are analogous to the white blood cells of in our bodies, which protect us against a wide range of pathogens.
These amoeba-like cells, called amebocytes, contain a vital compound found only in horseshoe crabs.
Few people are aware that these cells from horseshoe crabs, called amebocytes, are indispensable for modern medicine. They are the only known source of Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL), a reagent extraordinarily sensitive to the liposaccharide toxins produced by Gram-negative bacteria, which are responsible for 80% of cases of life-threatening sepsis in humans.
This creates a problem. Horseshoe crabs are an endangered species. Doctors can’t keep harvesting them in the wild, where some 30 percent die after their amebocytes are collected. Each year, some 600,000 animals have been collected during mating season in May and June. This cannot continue at that rate.
Now, however, scientists have found they can grow them in aquaculture. “These are welcome results for human patients at risk of life-threatening sepsis, and also for horseshoe crabs, since current harvesting practices are hardly sustainable,” the report says. With some 11 million people dying from sepsis each year, humans are learning to love their life-saving “weird” inhabitants of this amazing planet. “The horseshoe crabs continue to be lively and active in their new environment and even laid eggs.”
“Infectious disease is in our daily headlines and blood-borne bacterial infections leading to sepsis is the number one cause of untimely deaths worldwide. Humanity has now entered an era of pathogenic contagion that demands diagnostic and therapeutic breakthroughs of note. Our aquaculture method not only spares at-risk populations of horseshoe crabs: it also yields LAL that can finally be used in a quick, affordable, and ultra-sensitive assay for the early stages of sepsis, when time is of the essence for saving patients’ lives.”
So respect arachnids. Some of them are lifesavers, pain killers, and chemists extraordinaire. With only a few species examined so far, the potential for new discoveries among our eight-legged friends has barely begun.
Photo: Tachypleus gigas, a horseshoe crab, by Shubham Chatterjee / CC BY-SA.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-06-09--An Antidote to Despair

An Antidote to Despair

I am a biologist , a worker in a field with a sorrowful history of categorizing human beings by race , arranging them in a false hierarchy to dismiss some as less human than others .
That history seems very of the moment now , as anguish about interracial friendship and understanding has emerged as the dominant note in our culture .
The following story is true , though , and perhaps it is an antidote to despair .
I have a friend .
Let me call her Kia .
I met her when she was homeless and had just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place to stay — she didn ’ t want to take her baby back to a homeless shelter where smoke and foul language and worse were everywhere .
We had a spare room and had asked at church if there was anyone who needed a place to stay .
Kia was the answer .
She was an African immigrant , with no family , who had been working in adult home care .
One night she was raped .
When she got pregnant , abortion was not an option as far as she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being a single mother .
This came at some cost to her , even among members of her church .
Yet there was no question of her giving up the baby for she had been told she would never be able to have a child .
When her pregnancy was far advanced she could no longer do the work .
That left her homeless , living in a shelter .
We all agreed that she should move in .
It was a gesture of trust for both parties .
To share a home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vulnerability .
She came cautiously , bringing a friend along to evaluate the situation .
No one in her community could believe that anything like this could happen .
White people don ’ t open their homes to poor black people with no status , they all thought , and perhaps some said .
But move in she did .
There was soon a parade of visitors from her community .
They would stare as they walked by us on their way downstairs to the spare bedroom .
They did not approach that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of awkwardness and language barriers .
Over time I learned about all the ways of government subsidy — food stamps , WIC , subsidized housing , DSHS , Medicaid .
I was both impressed and horrified by what I saw .
On the one hand , the government gave food , medical care , childcare , cash , and even housing to the lucky indigent .
But they gave barely enough to live on , and reduced the benefits given according to the amount earned .
It was an incentive to earn just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you from the welfare roles .
And humiliations abounded .
Everything needed documented proof , and petitioners were made to paddle the chartless bureaucratic ocean by themselves , drifting from window to window , unless they had a good social worker to help them navigate the waters .
As time passed , Kia and I became family .
The little baby girl became like a granddaughter .
We shared faith , and stories .
We learned from one another — she learned to eat our bread and we learned to eat flat bread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and we about using the bread as a delicate means to pick up a morsel of food and eat it .
But it was mostly I who was learning from Kia : what it was to grow up poor — indeed , what it was to be poor in a way most Americans have never experienced .
Kia told of sleeping four or more to a bed in one small bedroom , cooking over a fire outside , no indoor plumbing , walking everywhere , leaving school in eighth grade to care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and died .
No bureaucracy , but no safety net either .
Eventually the social interventionist U.S. government persuaded Kia to take a Section 8 apartment with her daughter .
Perhaps they had as much understanding as the Africans did of the arrangement between Kia and my family .
It seemed something that must be disrupted somehow .
Perhaps they were afraid we would grow tired of the experiment and deposit mother and child back on the street .
So Kia moved out .
Still , she would return for holidays and we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ birthday parties .
Then one day Kia became sick .
It got worse and worse .
She was in and out of the hospital for seven months — she could not keep down food .
The doctors thought it was first one thing , then another .
She was afraid it might be cancer .
She had no one to take care of her , she thought .
And in her culture , people with cancer just went back to their country to die .
But when I found out what she was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We will take care of you no matter what.
” From that time , I stayed by her side in the hospital .
Kia found she was treated better when I was with her .
The orderlies would say , “ Why is she doing this ?
” , meaning me .
The nurses and doctors would ask , “ How are you related ?
” And I would say , “ What , don ’ t we look alike ?
” Finally , the doctors determined that Kia did have cancer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ throughout her body .
I said she should move in with us again .
I couldn ’ t do otherwise , I couldn ’ t let her go through this alone .
This time Kia moved in with a four-year old daughter , full of energy and life .
Our children had recently all moved out , so we were glad to have the house full of life again .
With the support of the local church , we were able to enroll the little one in pre-k. A local oncologist with an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s case .
And most stores and doctor ’ s offices took the government food stamps and Medicaid .
There still were barriers , though .
People in the mainly white suburban town couldn ’ t figure out why we were together .
So we sometimes got strange looks .
One time at the surgery suite the whole staff came to see Kia get an IV .
She was so sick and yet so beautiful and exotic to them .
This kind of treatment was revelatory for me , who was used to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , this time it was different .
There was a sense we really were family , truly committed to one another .
We would talk and talk and talk .
We would sing , and laugh .
I found a peaceful spirit in Kia , one full of trust in God .
Her whole life long Kia had practice saying , “ I am in your hands , ” so saying it now wasn ’ t hard .
We recognized a kindred spirit in each other , though our lives had taken different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ African people who came to visit also .
I made a point to sit and talk to these visitors , because I considered them my friends too .
I wanted to show them they were welcome , and that my intentions were good .
Kia began chemotherapy in September .
She was scheduled to go every other week .
The chemo seemed easy to bear the first time , aside from having to delay for low blood counts .
They removed one of her medications for the second round and pushed it back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kia was going through must be incredibly hard .
To enter into our house , to go through difficult medical treatment , to worry about her daughter — all of this was very hard .
But Kia never complained , and only sometimes hinted that this was a struggle .
Sometimes Kia and I would sit around the table and talk after dinner .
One night I asked , “ What has this been like for you ?
” Kia smiled and answered , “ Before I was lonely .
Now I am @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing that stood out most in my mind was how we had become family .
Others recognized it too .
Kia ’ s pastor said to us one day , “ Do you realize what you have done ?
You have broken racial barriers , social barriers , economic barriers , cultural barriers , all barriers.
” I was embarrassed and thought , “ Anyone can do this.
” After the third round of chemo Kia developed a tremendous headache .
It proved to be an old subdural hematoma , perhaps from a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have a hole drilled in her head to remove the old blood , and another stay in the hospital .
She went home after a few days , then had to go back for a new hematoma .
All of this delayed her chemotherapy .
She had another round of chemotherapy and another hematoma .
No one knew why .
Kia cried out , “ What do you want of me ?
” and then had her third brain surgery .
When she was out of the hospital , it was time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cancer was .
Together we went to the appointment to hear the results .
Both were worried that all the complications and delays might have made the treatment ineffective .
“ Your scan is clear.
” The doctor said it calmly .
Kia first shouted , then wept .
First the doctor , then I silently held her .
She praised God for his mercy .
Suddenly the future I had feared was gone .
It was December .
What happened next ?
The treatment continued to make sure all the cancer was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after treatment finished and has continued to be clear .
Her daughter is now seven .
We continue as a black and white family .
We are knit together by trials and circumstances and grace .
When I said that anyone can do this , I meant it .
What is required is a leap of trust , from both directions .
The past errors of my scientific field notwithstanding , experience gives evidence of a healing truth .
We are all human together .

I am a biologist, a worker in a field with a sorrowful history of categorizing human beings by race, arranging them in a false hierarchy to dismiss some as less human than others. That history seems very of the moment now, as anguish about interracial friendship and understanding has emerged as the dominant note in our culture. The following story is true, though, and perhaps it is an antidote to despair.
I have a friend. Let me call her Kia. I met her when she was homeless and had just had a baby. She needed a place to stay — she didn’t want to take her baby back to a homeless shelter where smoke and foul language and worse were everywhere. We had a spare room and had asked at church if there was anyone who needed a place to stay. Kia was the answer.
She was an African immigrant, with no family, who had been working in adult home care. One night she was raped. When she got pregnant, abortion was not an option as far as she was concerned, despite the stigma of being a single mother. This came at some cost to her, even among members of her church. Yet there was no question of her giving up the baby for she had been told she would never be able to have a child.
When her pregnancy was far advanced she could no longer do the work. That left her homeless, living in a shelter.
An Act of Trust
We all agreed that she should move in. It was a gesture of trust for both parties. To share a home is an act of intimacy and of vulnerability. She came cautiously, bringing a friend along to evaluate the situation. No one in her community could believe that anything like this could happen. White people don’t open their homes to poor black people with no status, they all thought, and perhaps some said.
But move in she did. There was soon a parade of visitors from her community. They would stare as they walked by us on their way downstairs to the spare bedroom. They did not approach that “strange” white couple, out of awkwardness and language barriers.
Over time I learned about all the ways of government subsidy — food stamps, WIC, subsidized housing, DSHS, Medicaid. I was both impressed and horrified by what I saw. On the one hand, the government gave food, medical care, childcare, cash, and even housing to the lucky indigent. But they gave barely enough to live on, and reduced the benefits given according to the amount earned. It was an incentive to earn just enough, but not enough to remove you from the welfare rolls. And humiliations abounded. Everything needed documented proof, and petitioners were made to paddle the chartless bureaucratic ocean by themselves, drifting from window to window, unless they had a good social worker to help them navigate the waters.
As time passed, Kia and I became family. The little baby girl became like a granddaughter. We shared faith, and stories. We learned from one another — she learned to eat our bread and we learned to eat flat bread, she learned about knives and forks, and we about using the bread as a delicate means to pick up a morsel of food and eat it.
But it was mostly I who was learning from Kia: what it was to grow up poor — indeed, what it was to be poor in a way most Americans have never experienced. Kia told of sleeping four or more to a bed in one small bedroom, cooking over a fire outside, no indoor plumbing, walking everywhere, leaving school in eighth grade to care for family when her mother grew sick and died. No bureaucracy, but no safety net either.
“No Matter What”
Eventually the social interventionist U.S. government persuaded Kia to take a Section 8 apartment with her daughter. Perhaps they had as much understanding as the Africans did of the arrangement between Kia and my family. It seemed something that must be disrupted somehow. Perhaps they were afraid we would grow tired of the experiment and deposit mother and child back on the street. So Kia moved out. Still, she would return for holidays and we would go to her daughter’s birthday parties.
Then one day Kia became sick. It got worse and worse. She was in and out of the hospital for seven months — she could not keep down food. The doctors thought it was first one thing, then another. She was afraid it might be cancer. She had no one to take care of her, she thought. And in her culture, people with cancer just went back to their country to die. But when I found out what she was afraid of, I said, “We will take care of you no matter what.”
From that time, I stayed by her side in the hospital. Kia found she was treated better when I was with her. The orderlies would say, “Why is she doing this?”, meaning me. The nurses and doctors would ask, “How are you related?” And I would say, “What, don’t we look alike?”
Finally, the doctors determined that Kia did have cancer, stage 4 cancer. It was spread throughout her body. I said she should move in with us again. I couldn’t do otherwise, I couldn’t let her go through this alone.
This time Kia moved in with a four-year old daughter, full of energy and life. Our children had recently all moved out, so we were glad to have the house full of life again. With the support of the local church, we were able to enroll the little one in pre-k. A local oncologist with an excellent reputation agreed to take Kia’s case. And most stores and doctor’s offices took the government food stamps and Medicaid.
There still were barriers, though. People in the mainly white suburban town couldn’t figure out why we were together. So we sometimes got strange looks. One time at the surgery suite the whole staff came to see Kia get an IV. She was so sick and yet so beautiful and exotic to them. This kind of treatment was revelatory for me, who was used to being invisible.
A Peaceful Spirit
As we settled in, this time it was different. There was a sense we really were family, truly committed to one another. We would talk and talk and talk. We would sing, and laugh. I found a peaceful spirit in Kia, one full of trust in God. Her whole life long Kia had practice saying, “I am in your hands,” so saying it now wasn’t hard. We recognized a kindred spirit in each other, though our lives had taken different paths.
It was different with the African people who came to visit also. I made a point to sit and talk to these visitors, because I considered them my friends too. I wanted to show them they were welcome, and that my intentions were good.
Kia began chemotherapy in September. She was scheduled to go every other week.
The chemo seemed easy to bear the first time, aside from having to delay for low blood counts. They removed one of her medications for the second round and pushed it back a week.
I knew that everything Kia was going through must be incredibly hard. To enter into our house, to go through difficult medical treatment, to worry about her daughter — all of this was very hard. But Kia never complained, and only sometimes hinted that this was a struggle.
Sometimes Kia and I would sit around the table and talk after dinner. One night I asked, “What has this been like for you?” Kia smiled and answered, “Before I was lonely. Now I am not. I have peace.”
The thing that stood out most in my mind was how we had become family. Others recognized it too. Kia’s pastor said to us one day, “Do you realize what you have done? You have broken racial barriers, social barriers, economic barriers, cultural barriers, all barriers.” I was embarrassed and thought, “Anyone can do this.”
Humans Together
After the third round of chemo Kia developed a tremendous headache. It proved to be an old subdural hematoma, perhaps from a past fall. That meant she had to have a hole drilled in her head to remove the old blood, and another stay in the hospital. She went home after a few days, then had to go back for a new hematoma. All of this delayed her chemotherapy.
She had another round of chemotherapy and another hematoma. No one knew why. Kia cried out, “What do you want of me?” and then had her third brain surgery.
When she was out of the hospital, it was time for her scan to see how the cancer was. Together we went to the appointment to hear the results. Both were worried that all the complications and delays might have made the treatment ineffective.
“Your scan is clear.” The doctor said it calmly. Kia first shouted, then wept. First the doctor, then I silently held her. She praised God for his mercy. Suddenly the future I had feared was gone. It was December.
What happened next? The treatment continued to make sure all the cancer was gone. Kia passed her final scan after treatment finished and has continued to be clear. Her daughter is now seven. We continue as a black and white family. We are knit together by trials and circumstances and grace.
When I said that anyone can do this, I meant it. What is required is a leap of trust, from both directions. The past errors of my scientific field notwithstanding, experience gives evidence of a healing truth. We are all human together.
Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-06-09--The “Virus That Infected Philosophy”

The “Virus That Infected Philosophy”

Keep an eye on a new series at Mind Matters by Michael Egnor .
In 1948 , Richard M. Weaver wrote a little book , Ideas Have Consequences , that became a foundational text of 20th-century American conservatism .
He traced modern barbarism to a wrong intellectual turn by William of Ockham in the 14th century — advancing nominalism over realism — leading from there through Darwinian materialism to most everything else that ’ s wrong with modern life .
Egnor explains , “ Nominalism is the view that universals exist only as concepts in the mind , but not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ post in the series : Nominalism leads inexorably to Kant ’ s distinction between phenomena and noumena — things as they appear to our senses and things as they are in themselves .
That distinction locks us into a mental theatre in which we can observe and know only projections of the world , and not anything about reality itself .
This distinction between what is real and what we perceive and know is an insidious problem for us moderns , and it has its roots in Ockham ’ s nominalism .
Nominalism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problem with what we can know about God .
Ockham ’ s razor , like his nominalism , was a destabilizing intellectual force .
Parsimony is fine but truth is better .
Often the move to deeper truth is the move away from parsimony .
Consider the scientific advance from parsimonious Newtonian mechanics to the enormously more complex quantum mechanics and relativity , which are closer to the truth .
Ockham ’ s nominalism , which is of a piece with his principle of parsimony , was a virus that infected philosophy in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ primordial problem of modern philosophy and of modernity itself .
Read the rest here , “ Nominalism : The Stubble Left by Ockham ’ s Razor.
” This also takes me back ten years to when I wrote a series for Evolution News on “ Richard M. Weaver , Conservative Intellectual Icon and Darwin-Doubter.
” In simplest terms , the path is Ockham to Darwin to us .
As I summarized : Photo : A page from In primum librum Sententiarum , by William of Ockham , by POP , via Flickr ( @ @ @

Keep an eye on a new series at Mind Matters by Michael Egnor. In 1948, Richard M. Weaver wrote a little book, Ideas Have Consequences, that became a foundational text of 20th-century American conservatism. He traced modern barbarism to a wrong intellectual turn by William of Ockham in the 14th century — advancing nominalism over realism — leading from there through Darwinian materialism to most everything else that’s wrong with modern life.
Egnor explains, “Nominalism is the view that universals exist only as concepts in the mind, but not in reality.” He concludes his first post in the series:
Nominalism leads inexorably to Kant’s distinction between phenomena and noumena — things as they appear to our senses and things as they are in themselves. That distinction locks us into a mental theatre in which we can observe and know only projections of the world, and not anything about reality itself. This distinction between what is real and what we perceive and know is an insidious problem for us moderns, and it has its roots in Ockham’s nominalism. Nominalism also leads, inexorably, to a problem with what we can know about God. Ockham’s razor, like his nominalism, was a destabilizing intellectual force. Parsimony is fine but truth is better. Often the move to deeper truth is the move away from parsimony. Consider the scientific advance from parsimonious Newtonian mechanics to the enormously more complex quantum mechanics and relativity, which are closer to the truth. Ockham’s nominalism, which is of a piece with his principle of parsimony, was a virus that infected philosophy in the ensuing centuries and today is the primordial problem of modern philosophy and of modernity itself.
Read the rest here, “Nominalism: The Stubble Left by Ockham’s Razor.” This also takes me back ten years to when I wrote a series for Evolution News on “Richard M. Weaver, Conservative Intellectual Icon and Darwin-Doubter.” In simplest terms, the path is Ockham to Darwin to us. As I summarized:
With “Darwinism…lurking in the background,” writes Weaver, “Politics, arts, everything, came under the rule; man was primarily a food- and shelter-finding animal.” From this erring self-image, people derived almost all the disastrous political and cultural trends of our modern times.
Photo: A page from In primum librum Sententiarum, by William of Ockham, by POP, via Flickr (cropped).


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-06-10--Information, Specified Complexity, and the Explanatory Filter

On a new episode of ID the Future , listen to the third and final portion of a talk given @ @ @ @ @ on Science and Faith .
Daniel Reeves , Educational Outreach Coordinator at Discovery Institute , @ @ @ @ @ intelligent design theory .
Download the podcast or listen to it here .
Far from @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s complicated ; it must be designed !
” the theory relies on @ @ @ @ @ complexity and an explanatory filter that allows one to distinguish designed events from chance , @ @ @ @ @ of the two .
The key lies in the molecular biological realm : detecting functional @ @

On a new episode of ID the Future, listen to the third and final portion of a talk given at the 2020 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith. Daniel Reeves, Educational Outreach Coordinator at Discovery Institute, rounds out his explanation of intelligent design theory. Download the podcast or listen to it here.
Far from being “Gee whiz, that’s complicated; it must be designed!” the theory relies on well-defined concepts such as specified complexity and an explanatory filter that allows one to distinguish designed events from chance, necessity, or a combination of the two. The key lies in the molecular biological realm: detecting functional information.
Photo: Daniel Reeves, by Nathan Jacobson.


Darwin’s Silver Chair

In The Chronicles of Narnia , C. S. Lewis tells the story of two children and an adult “ Marsh-wiggle ” who descend deep into a maze of dreary underground caverns to rescue Prince Rilian , son of King Caspian .
Eventually they happen upon a friendly knight who explains that the underworld is really a fine place to call home , and its ruler is a wonderful queen worthy of devotion .
He has just one problem .
Every night he falls under an evil spell , during which he raves like an irredeemable lunatic .
Fortunately , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ else during these rabid spells , he explains , because every evening the good queen binds him to a silver chair for the duration of the fit .
Soon enough the explorers get to witness one of these spells .
But it doesn ’ t play out as expected .
The knight does grow distraught , but he doesn ’ t rave like an unhinged maniac .
Instead , he maintains that in fact it ’ s during the day that he is under the queen ’ s spell , and the spell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insists that the silver chair , far from protecting him , is the very thing that gradually reasserts the evil spell over him .
Until it does , he remembers everything .
He remembers that the queen is his enemy .
He remembers that he hates a life lived away from the sun .
And he remembers that he is the son of a king — indeed , he is the very prince they have come to rescue , Prince Rilian .
To break the spell for good , they must loose him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
C. S. Lewis was an agnostic before he became a Christian , so he understood the spell of unbelief .
In this Narnia novel , The Silver Chair , and in the character of Prince Rilian , Lewis gives us a young man who , under the evil queen ’ s spell , is like the modern man who has ceased to believe there is anything beyond our material world .
Both Rilian and the modern materialist live away from the light , and imagine that such a place is the very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , forget that they are the offspring of royalty and are called back to the father ’ s kingdom — the one to the king of Narnia , the other to the King of the universe .
And for each , there are moments when the spell lifts , if only briefly .
For the materialist , something whispers to him — perhaps as only a passing sense , triggered by a stunning mountain vista , the love of a mother for her child , an act of heroism from a stranger — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that here is something that can not honestly be reduced to mere atoms or glands or fanciful stories of evolution and survival advantage .
In Lewis ’ s story , Prince Rilian needs to destroy the silver chair to break the spell .
For many today caught in the spell of materialism , Darwinism is the silver chair .
It ’ s a belief system that prevents them from seeing the powerful evidence of design in life , evidence that points to something more than matter , to a great immaterial intelligence who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ How the Darwinist Got His Blinders In their more candid moments , some leading lights in the evolutionary community admit that the Darwinian worldview comes complete with a set of blinders .
They even urge the wearing of the blinders .
The great biophysicist Francis Crick , for example , said , “ Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed , but rather evolved.
” 1 Harvard geneticist Richard Lewontin was even more explicit .
In an essay he wrote for The New York Review of Books @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , by definition , the possibility of God intelligently designing life — never mind that belief in a rational , orderly cosmic Creator was the soil from which modern science sprang .
Here is Lewontin in his own words : What claims could Lewontin have had in mind that , as he put it , “ are against common sense , ” patently absurd , and held up by little more than “ unsubstantiated just-so stories ” akin to Victorian author Rudyard Kipling ’ s fanciful children ’ s tales about how the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his hump ?
We can only guess what Lewontin had in mind , but it ’ s not hard to think of a few worthy candidates .
Maybe Lewontin had in mind any of the many evolutionary stories that sound almost comically similar to Rudyard Kipling ’ s just-so stories for children — evolutionary stories explaining how , for instance , the bird got its wings , or the bat its sonar .
The evolutionist notes how a given feature would have been useful for survival and reproduction , sketches out a small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then calls it good .
Actually , the vaguely sketched intermediates often aren ’ t even mentioned .
Just the bare mention of a survival advantage is considered good enough .
Thus , humans evolved cooperativeness because it helped us survive and thrive better in a hostile world .
What about the uncooperative , violent streak in many men ?
Oh well , our ancestors evolved that because it helped us eliminate competitors , seize women , and pass on our genes to future generations .
Yes , just so .
In no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plausible genetic mutations over many generations that together could have built up the enormous amount of new biological information essential to producing the bat ’ s sonar or the bird ’ s wing or some other bio-engineering marvel , with each evolutionary step along the way being a fit and functional form able to survive and reproduce .
That part is left to faith and hazy imagination .
Another just-so story would be the multiverse hypothesis .
On this view , our universe ’ s laws and constants are exquisitely fine-tuned to allow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fine-tuned them for that purpose , as even some Nobel Prize-winning scientists have suggested ( Arno Penzias , Charles Townes ) .
No , according to this materialist just-so story , there must exist an unseen multiverse generator and trillions of other universes , all undetectable , and we ’ re just one of the lucky ones with the right physical laws and constants for life .
Otherwise , we would have to let a divine foot in the cosmic door , and we can ’ t have that .
Or maybe Lewontin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fossil record .
Even committed evolutionists such as Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould admit that the pattern of the fossil record is marked by the sudden appearance of fundamentally new biological forms , followed by long periods of stasis .
That ’ s the opposite of the pattern that mainstream evolutionary theory predicts .
Darwinian evolution sees the history of life as a gradually branching tree , with one form very slowly diverging into various daughter forms , and those in turn very gradually diverging into yet other forms , until eventually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two forms widely separated on the tree of life — between , say , a horse and a squid .
Instead , we get the sudden appearance of radically distinct forms , and then those major body plans persist in the fossil record for millions of years , relatively unchanged .
Oh , well , the fossil record is incomplete , evolutionists note , and it almost always just happens to be incomplete in exactly the places that would otherwise show this history of a gradual , branching evolutionary tree of life .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ so very satisfying , even to many evolutionists .
“ The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design , ” wrote Gould , “ indeed our inability , even in our imagination , to construct functional intermediates in many cases , has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution.
” 3 The Divine Foot & the Birth of Science Maybe these are some of the just-so stories Lewontin had in mind .
In any case , he ’ s saying that scientists should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligent design , even if it means clinging to a “ patent absurdity , ” as he put it .
Lewontin isn ’ t alone .
For many , the stricture against considering intelligent design seems reasonable and defensible .
They cite the danger that if intelligent design is an explanatory option , if we let “ a divine foot in the door , ” it will kill scientific investigation .
That is , if researchers encounter a mystery they can not explain , and if they aren ’ t restricted to material @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to just throw up their hands and say , “ God did it ” ?
Well , not if the history of science is any indication .
Modern science was first developed by Christians , thinkers who believed in a God who created the first living organisms , the first plants , the first animals , the first humans .
At the same time , they believed this God could accomplish a particular creative work in a way they wouldn ’ t expect , meaning that observation and experimentation were key to discovering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
That proved to be the right attitude to fuel discovery .
The historical sciences , including origins science , are an affair of competing explanations .
We have a set of clues about a mysterious past event .
We try to dig up additional clues and explain the mystery .
Which hypothesis best explains the set of clues before us ?
Scientists open to both material and intelligent causes are free to consider multiple options .
So , for instance , scientists want to try to explain the origin of life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the laws of nature so that nature could evolve the first living things without further direct input from him .
Let ’ s look at the evidence and see , says the scientist open to design .
Or maybe life on earth originated from a combination of both natural evolutionary processes that God set in motion and some direct additional bio-engineering on his part .
So , maybe our solar system , planet , and atmosphere evolved to the point where they contained the right mix of chemicals on the surface of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and then from within this now life-friendly environment , God assembled the RNA , DNA , specific genetic information , and cellular architecture needed for the first self-reproducing cell .
The theistic scientist can be open to any of the above options , and follow the evidence where it leads .
But to do that , he must first loose himself from the cords binding him to the chair of dogmatic Darwinian materialism .
• Richard Lewontin , “ Billions and Billions of Demons , ” review of The Demon Haunted World : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Carl Sagan , New York Review of Books ( Jan. 9 , 1997 ) .
• Stephen Jay Gould , “ Is a New and General Theory of Evolution Emerging ?
” Paleobiology ( 1980 ) .
Editor ’ s note : A version of this article appears in Salvo 52 .
It is published here with the permission of Jonathan Witt .

In The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis tells the story of two children and an adult “Marsh-wiggle” who descend deep into a maze of dreary underground caverns to rescue Prince Rilian, son of King Caspian. Eventually they happen upon a friendly knight who explains that the underworld is really a fine place to call home, and its ruler is a wonderful queen worthy of devotion. He has just one problem. Every night he falls under an evil spell, during which he raves like an irredeemable lunatic. Fortunately, he hasn’t hurt himself or anyone else during these rabid spells, he explains, because every evening the good queen binds him to a silver chair for the duration of the fit.
Soon enough the explorers get to witness one of these spells. But it doesn’t play out as expected. The knight does grow distraught, but he doesn’t rave like an unhinged maniac. Instead, he maintains that in fact it’s during the day that he is under the queen’s spell, and the spell only lifts at night. He further insists that the silver chair, far from protecting him, is the very thing that gradually reasserts the evil spell over him. Until it does, he remembers everything. He remembers that the queen is his enemy. He remembers that he hates a life lived away from the sun. And he remembers that he is the son of a king — indeed, he is the very prince they have come to rescue, Prince Rilian.
To break the spell for good, they must loose him from the silver chair and destroy it.
C. S. Lewis was an agnostic before he became a Christian, so he understood the spell of unbelief. In this Narnia novel, The Silver Chair, and in the character of Prince Rilian, Lewis gives us a young man who, under the evil queen’s spell, is like the modern man who has ceased to believe there is anything beyond our material world. Both Rilian and the modern materialist live away from the light, and imagine that such a place is the very place to be. Both, too, forget that they are the offspring of royalty and are called back to the father’s kingdom — the one to the king of Narnia, the other to the King of the universe.
And for each, there are moments when the spell lifts, if only briefly. For the materialist, something whispers to him — perhaps as only a passing sense, triggered by a stunning mountain vista, the love of a mother for her child, an act of heroism from a stranger — and for a fleeting moment he recognizes that here is something that cannot honestly be reduced to mere atoms or glands or fanciful stories of evolution and survival advantage.
In Lewis’s story, Prince Rilian needs to destroy the silver chair to break the spell. For many today caught in the spell of materialism, Darwinism is the silver chair. It’s a belief system that prevents them from seeing the powerful evidence of design in life, evidence that points to something more than matter, to a great immaterial intelligence who created both life and the universe.
How the Darwinist Got His Blinders
In their more candid moments, some leading lights in the evolutionary community admit that the Darwinian worldview comes complete with a set of blinders. They even urge the wearing of the blinders. The great biophysicist Francis Crick, for example, said, “Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.”1
Harvard geneticist Richard Lewontin was even more explicit. In an essay he wrote for The New York Review of Books, he defined science as ruling out, by definition, the possibility of God intelligently designing life — never mind that belief in a rational, orderly cosmic Creator was the soil from which modern science sprang. Here is Lewontin in his own words:
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.2
What claims could Lewontin have had in mind that, as he put it, “are against common sense,” patently absurd, and held up by little more than “unsubstantiated just-so stories” akin to Victorian author Rudyard Kipling’s fanciful children’s tales about how the leopard got his spots or the camel his hump? We can only guess what Lewontin had in mind, but it’s not hard to think of a few worthy candidates.
Just-So Stories
Maybe Lewontin had in mind any of the many evolutionary stories that sound almost comically similar to Rudyard Kipling’s just-so stories for children — evolutionary stories explaining how, for instance, the bird got its wings, or the bat its sonar. The evolutionist notes how a given feature would have been useful for survival and reproduction, sketches out a small handful of vaguely described intermediates, and then calls it good.
Actually, the vaguely sketched intermediates often aren’t even mentioned. Just the bare mention of a survival advantage is considered good enough. Thus, humans evolved cooperativeness because it helped us survive and thrive better in a hostile world. What about the uncooperative, violent streak in many men? Oh well, our ancestors evolved that because it helped us eliminate competitors, seize women, and pass on our genes to future generations. Yes, just so.
In no case do they detail a series of plausible genetic mutations over many generations that together could have built up the enormous amount of new biological information essential to producing the bat’s sonar or the bird’s wing or some other bio-engineering marvel, with each evolutionary step along the way being a fit and functional form able to survive and reproduce. That part is left to faith and hazy imagination.
The Multiverse Hypothesis
Another just-so story would be the multiverse hypothesis. On this view, our universe’s laws and constants are exquisitely fine-tuned to allow for life not because a designing intelligence fine-tuned them for that purpose, as even some Nobel Prize-winning scientists have suggested (Arno Penzias, Charles Townes). No, according to this materialist just-so story, there must exist an unseen multiverse generator and trillions of other universes, all undetectable, and we’re just one of the lucky ones with the right physical laws and constants for life. Otherwise, we would have to let a divine foot in the cosmic door, and we can’t have that.
The Fossil Record
Or maybe Lewontin had in mind the materialist explanation of the fossil record. Even committed evolutionists such as Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould admit that the pattern of the fossil record is marked by the sudden appearance of fundamentally new biological forms, followed by long periods of stasis. That’s the opposite of the pattern that mainstream evolutionary theory predicts. Darwinian evolution sees the history of life as a gradually branching tree, with one form very slowly diverging into various daughter forms, and those in turn very gradually diverging into yet other forms, until eventually there is a major architectural difference between two forms widely separated on the tree of life — between, say, a horse and a squid. Instead, we get the sudden appearance of radically distinct forms, and then those major body plans persist in the fossil record for millions of years, relatively unchanged.
Oh, well, the fossil record is incomplete, evolutionists note, and it almost always just happens to be incomplete in exactly the places that would otherwise show this history of a gradual, branching evolutionary tree of life.
Yes, just so — but not so very satisfying, even to many evolutionists. “The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design,” wrote Gould, “indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution.”3
The Divine Foot & the Birth of Science
Maybe these are some of the just-so stories Lewontin had in mind. In any case, he’s saying that scientists should, on principle, refuse to consider intelligent design, even if it means clinging to a “patent absurdity,” as he put it.
Lewontin isn’t alone. For many, the stricture against considering intelligent design seems reasonable and defensible. They cite the danger that if intelligent design is an explanatory option, if we let “a divine foot in the door,” it will kill scientific investigation. That is, if researchers encounter a mystery they cannot explain, and if they aren’t restricted to material explanations, won’t they tend to just throw up their hands and say, “God did it”? Well, not if the history of science is any indication.
Modern science was first developed by Christians, thinkers who believed in a God who created the first living organisms, the first plants, the first animals, the first humans. At the same time, they believed this God could accomplish a particular creative work in a way they wouldn’t expect, meaning that observation and experimentation were key to discovering the truth about how God actually did it.
That proved to be the right attitude to fuel discovery. The historical sciences, including origins science, are an affair of competing explanations. We have a set of clues about a mysterious past event. We try to dig up additional clues and explain the mystery. Which hypothesis best explains the set of clues before us? Scientists open to both material and intelligent causes are free to consider multiple options. So, for instance, scientists want to try to explain the origin of life on earth. Maybe God simply fine-tuned the laws of nature so that nature could evolve the first living things without further direct input from him. Let’s look at the evidence and see, says the scientist open to design.
Or maybe life on earth originated from a combination of both natural evolutionary processes that God set in motion and some direct additional bio-engineering on his part. So, maybe our solar system, planet, and atmosphere evolved to the point where they contained the right mix of chemicals on the surface of the Earth along with an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and then from within this now life-friendly environment, God assembled the RNA, DNA, specific genetic information, and cellular architecture needed for the first self-reproducing cell. The theistic scientist can be open to any of the above options, and follow the evidence where it leads. But to do that, he must first loose himself from the cords binding him to the chair of dogmatic Darwinian materialism.
Notes:
Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit (Basic Books, 1988), 138. Richard Lewontin, “Billions and Billions of Demons,” review of The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan, New York Review of Books (Jan. 9, 1997). Stephen Jay Gould, “Is a New and General Theory of Evolution Emerging?” Paleobiology (1980).
Photo credit: CGP Grey via Flickr.
Editor’s note: A version of this article appears in Salvo 52. It is published here with the permission of Jonathan Witt.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-06-11--New Video: Why Evolution Is Different

New Video: Why Evolution Is Different

After presenting a talk entitled “ Why Evolution Is Different ” at a meeting in Istanbul in May 2017 , @ @ @ @ @ a homemade video .
The talk , and the video , looked at the two @ @ @ @ @ extremely implausible theory as Darwinism remains so popular in the scientific world — “ Le @ @ @ @ @ and the similarities between species .
It shows why neither proves the absence of design @ @ @ @ @ very familiar with Le Conte ’ s axiom , though not by that name !
@ @ @ @ @ since , I have continued to develop this video , and recently I enlisted the @ @ @ @ @ who has done a magnificent job of turning it into a “ real film , @ @ @ @ @ below .
The video is currently being translated into Polish by Fundacja En Arche .
@ @ @ @ @ .

After presenting a talk entitled “Why Evolution Is Different” at a meeting in Istanbul in May 2017, I turned my presentation into a homemade video. The talk, and the video, looked at the two main reasons why such an extremely implausible theory as Darwinism remains so popular in the scientific world — “Le Conte’s axiom” and the similarities between species. It shows why neither proves the absence of design. (You are all very familiar with Le Conte’s axiom, though not by that name!)
In the three years since, I have continued to develop this video, and recently I enlisted the help of a skilled cinematographer who has done a magnificent job of turning it into a “real film,” which you can see below. The video is currently being translated into Polish by Fundacja En Arche. I hope you enjoy it.


evolutionnewsandviews--2020-06-11--Doctor’s Diary: Jack of All Trades

Doctor’s Diary: Jack of All Trades

Editor ’ s note : Dr. Simmons is the author most recently of Are We Here to Re-Create Ourselves ?
He is a Fellow with Discovery Institute ’ s Center for Science & Culture .
Changes in the world of medicine strongly show that a master architect has been at work .
This is evident just in the training of doctors .
At the time of the U.S. Civil War , it took two years of training to become a physician and surgeon .
This supposedly covered everything one would ever need to know .
When I graduated from medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hundred years later , basic medical training required seven years .
Those instructions , so they thought , covered almost everything one needed to know .
Nowadays , a general practitioner might need 11 years and becoming an ultra-specialist might take 16 years .
Plus , there ’ s a lifetime of learning to follow .
Why Is That ?
It ’ s not because the human body has been changing .
New diseases are relatively rare , bones break in the same ways , a strep throat is , for the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ babies still take nine months .
One answer is that we have discovered so much more information and we now have many more options to treat and prevent a host of maladies .
Today ’ s practice of medicine may seem overwhelming to a non-professional , but many professionals think we ’ ve only chipped away at the tip of a huge iceberg .
Fast forward a hundred years and our therapies will surely be obsolete , maybe even appearing barbaric .
Since the 1800s , general practice has birthed the specialty of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into general medicine , geriatrics , adolescent medicine , cardiology ( heart ) , pulmonary ( lungs ) , hematology ( blood ) , oncology ( cancer ) , endocrinology ( thyroid and other glands ) , immunology ( fighting infections ) and nephrology ( kidneys ) , just to name a few .
Orthopedics has progressed from fixing fractures and sprains to sub-specialties for the upper extremities , the lower extremities , the ankles/feet , the wrists/hands , the back , sports medicine , and rehabilitation .
One wonders if there might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or simply eyelids .
Specialization may have partly been prompted by free market competition , rising scholastic costs , and bureaucratic expectations , but the main impetus , by far , was the increasing realization that the body is much more complex than originally understood .
Diseases and injuries require many more years to understand .
The number of pharmaceuticals has increased a hundred fold .
Care is much more than a simple house-call with a black bag .
The black bag is now an emergency room or urgent care where there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , surgical trays of instruments , and a plethora of cabinets and closets as well as nurses , medical assistants , radiology techs , IV techs , EKG techs , orderlies , and security .
The human body may be as complicated as the stars above and it gets more incredible when one gets down to the level of the electron microscope .
There are complexities within complexities within complexities as well as controls ( feedback loops ) over controls over controls .
To simply clot off a wound , two major systems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that must happen simultaneously , almost instantly , in the right place , in the right concentrations .
Meanwhile , another confining system , per the blueprint , keeps the clotting process from spreading to the rest of the body .
Every step is monitored .
Another example , among many , are the thyroid hormones T4 and T3 .
They are made in the thyroid gland which is controlled by TSH from the hypothalamus , which is controlled by TRH from the brain , which is controlled by an unclear mechanism deep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ designed us is a master architect .
Instructions are written in a DNA and RNA , the biological language .
We are mathematically and chemically precisely tuned down to the “ curves in a paperclip on a desk.
” The color of one ’ s eyes , the shapes of one ’ s nose , and any dimples are found within this twisted language .
In a sense , our bodies are also sculpted by a master sculptor .
And , painted by a master painter .
How the Blueprints Were Drawn Up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is far beyond our understanding .
Note that the human body is made up of 75 trillion cells .
Many of these cells have different assignments and most produce offspring that have the same blueprints .
Each nucleus has hundreds of thousands of genetic instructions .
Some instructions dictate the production of thousands of different proteins that resemble skeins of multicolored wool with a host of electronic ornaments .
Our designer must also be a master programmer .
We have about 35 trillion cells in our brains which by all accounts is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to one another in electrical and chemical codes ; some of this changes with maturation and aging .
Conversations last tiny increments of seconds .
Millions of cells communicate with each other at the same time as millions of others modulate , and others carry out the orders or instructions .
Sometimes , billions of nerve cells combine to do simple chores .
Every emotion , memory , interaction , prayer , and thought process requires new and past programming .
Everything about us points to intelligent design , intelligent purpose , intelligent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The Doctor ( 1891 ) , by Luke Fildes , via Wikimedia Commons .

Editor’s note: Dr. Simmons is the author most recently of Are We Here to Re-Create Ourselves? He is a Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture.
Changes in the world of medicine strongly show that a master architect has been at work. This is evident just in the training of doctors.
At the time of the U.S. Civil War, it took two years of training to become a physician and surgeon. This supposedly covered everything one would ever need to know. When I graduated from medical school, a little more than a hundred years later, basic medical training required seven years. Those instructions, so they thought, covered almost everything one needed to know. Nowadays, a general practitioner might need 11 years and becoming an ultra-specialist might take 16 years. Plus, there’s a lifetime of learning to follow.
Why Is That?
It’s not because the human body has been changing. New diseases are relatively rare, bones break in the same ways, a strep throat is, for the most part, a strep throat, and babies still take nine months. One answer is that we have discovered so much more information and we now have many more options to treat and prevent a host of maladies. Today’s practice of medicine may seem overwhelming to a non-professional, but many professionals think we’ve only chipped away at the tip of a huge iceberg. Fast forward a hundred years and our therapies will surely be obsolete, maybe even appearing barbaric.
Since the 1800s, general practice has birthed the specialty of internal medicine which now has been divided into general medicine, geriatrics, adolescent medicine, cardiology (heart), pulmonary (lungs), hematology (blood), oncology (cancer), endocrinology (thyroid and other glands), immunology (fighting infections) and nephrology (kidneys), just to name a few. Orthopedics has progressed from fixing fractures and sprains to sub-specialties for the upper extremities, the lower extremities, the ankles/feet, the wrists/hands, the back, sports medicine, and rehabilitation. One wonders if there might eventually be a specialist trained in everything-thumb or simply eyelids.
Specialization may have partly been prompted by free market competition, rising scholastic costs, and bureaucratic expectations, but the main impetus, by far, was the increasing realization that the body is much more complex than originally understood. Diseases and injuries require many more years to understand. The number of pharmaceuticals has increased a hundred fold. Care is much more than a simple house-call with a black bag. The black bag is now an emergency room or urgent care where there is a whole pharmacy, a cast room, surgical trays of instruments, and a plethora of cabinets and closets as well as nurses, medical assistants, radiology techs, IV techs, EKG techs, orderlies, and security.
Complexities Within Complexities
The human body may be as complicated as the stars above and it gets more incredible when one gets down to the level of the electron microscope. There are complexities within complexities within complexities as well as controls (feedback loops) over controls over controls. To simply clot off a wound, two major systems (pathways) have scores of steps that must happen simultaneously, almost instantly, in the right place, in the right concentrations. Meanwhile, another confining system, per the blueprint, keeps the clotting process from spreading to the rest of the body. Every step is monitored. Another example, among many, are the thyroid hormones T4 and T3. They are made in the thyroid gland which is controlled by TSH from the hypothalamus, which is controlled by TRH from the brain, which is controlled by an unclear mechanism deep in the brain.
The intelligence that designed us is a master architect. Instructions are written in a DNA and RNA, the biological language. We are mathematically and chemically precisely tuned down to the “curves in a paperclip on a desk.” The color of one’s eyes, the shapes of one’s nose, and any dimples are found within this twisted language. In a sense, our bodies are also sculpted by a master sculptor. And, painted by a master painter.
How the Blueprints Were Drawn Up
Just how our blueprints were drawn up is far beyond our understanding. Note that the human body is made up of 75 trillion cells. Many of these cells have different assignments and most produce offspring that have the same blueprints. Each nucleus has hundreds of thousands of genetic instructions. Some instructions dictate the production of thousands of different proteins that resemble skeins of multicolored wool with a host of electronic ornaments.
Our designer must also be a master programmer. We have about 35 trillion cells in our brains which by all accounts is a biological computer. These cells all talk to one another in electrical and chemical codes; some of this changes with maturation and aging. Conversations last tiny increments of seconds. Millions of cells communicate with each other at the same time as millions of others modulate, and others carry out the orders or instructions. Sometimes, billions of nerve cells combine to do simple chores. Every emotion, memory, interaction, prayer, and thought process requires new and past programming.
Everything about us points to intelligent design, intelligent purpose, intelligent foresight, and intelligent engineering.
Image: The Doctor (1891), by Luke Fildes, via Wikimedia Commons.