Geoscience Research Institute
    — News Archive (February 2003)

DISCLAIMER:  The following links do not necessarily represent endorsement by the Geoscience Research Institute, but are meant to provide information from a wide range of viewpoints and expertise on scientific issues, religious issues, and the interface between the two, particularly in the area of creation and evolution.

FEBRUARY 28

• The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of "Irreducible Complexity" / Kenneth R. Miller — to appear in: Debating Design: from Darwin to DNA / 2003 / Michael Ruse and William Dembski (eds.) / Cambridge University Press
  • Still Spinning Just Fine: A Response to Ken Miller / February 17, 2003 / William A. Dembski
• Accident of Nature or Intelligent Design? (conference) / March 28-29, 2003 / Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute / Lansdale, PA
• Darwin and the Buddha: An Interview with Robert Wright [excerpt] / Spring 2003 / Tricycle — does compassion make evolutionary sense
• Survivor / March 2003 / Richard Stone / Discover, v.24, n.3 — older, more primitive skulls from Eurasia and Africa are changing what we thought we knew about where we came from
• The First Earthlings / March 2003 / Karen Wright / Discover, v.24, n.3 — geologists and biologists know where to look for the earliest life, but the rocks are hard to read
• Dream Unmet 50 Years After DNA Milestone / February 28, 2003 / Rick Weiss / Washington Post, p.A01 — gene therapy debacle casts pall on field
• House Votes to Ban All Human Cloning / February 28, 2003 / Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times
• House Is Set to Make Cloning of Humans a Crime / February 27, 2003 / Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times
• Fossil key to human origins / 26 February 2003 / David Whitehouse / BBC News — palaeontologists say a new fossil find from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania could simplify our understanding of the origin of humans
• Newton predicted apocalypse for 2060 / 25 February 2003 / CBC News (Canada)
• A Revolution at 50 / February 25, 2003 / New York Times — genetics
  • DNA, the Keeper of Life's Secrets, Starts to Talk / Nicholas Wade — fifty years ago, on Saturday, Feb. 28, 1953, two young scientists announced to the lunchtime crowd that they had discovered the secret of life
  • Not Just Genes: Moving Beyond Nature vs. Nurture / Natalie Angier — in the view of some biologists, DNA often has been accorded far greater powers than it possesses
  • Watson and Crick, Both Aligned and Apart, Reinvented Biology / Nicholas Wade — the relationship between Francis Crick and James D. Watson is an enduring one, but it has not been seamless
  • 50 Years Later, Rosalind Franklin's X-Ray Fuels Debate / Denise Grady — for some, over the years, Dr. Rosalind Franklin has come to symbolize the plight of women in science, as men close ranks against them
  • REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: For the History of Science, the First Draft Is Often Late / Dennis Overbye — just exactly when the readers of this newspaper first heard about the double helix is a mystery, and there is a lesson in that
• Richard Dawkins: You Ask The Questions / 20 February 2003 / Independent (UK) — In the name of rationality, would you like to see Father Christmas stamped out? Would you spend the night in a haunted house?
• Freedom Evolves / February 19, 2003 / Ronald Bailey / Reason Online — Darwin + Hume = Daniel Dennett
• A sheep of faith / 19 February 2003 / Jim Gilchrist / The Scotsman
• Monkey business in Japanese mountains / 18 February 2003 / Helen R. Pilcher / Nature science update — female macaques fraternize most with other females
• Dolly the sheep's death reveals cloning dangers: co-creator / February 15, 2003 / Canoe (Canada's News)
• Scientists wait for Dolly's cause of death / 14 February 2003 / BBC News — Dolly was regarded as an important scientific landmark
• No end to our expanding universe as Armageddon is cancelled / 12 February 2003 / David Derbyshire / Telegraph (UK)
• "Science and faith were not enemies on Columbia" / 10 February 2003 / Father Raymond J. De Souza / National Post (Canada) — The remarkable thing is how unremarkable it is here. The "it" is the religious dimension of the Columbia tragedy and the importance of religious faith in the lives of the astronauts. The loss of the space shuttle is a major science story, but it was lived here as a spiritual trial. Science and faith were not enemies by those who flew Columbia.
• The end of the universe is cancelled / 9 February 2003 / Robert Matthews / Telegraph (UK)
• Working to reconcile science, religion / February 8, 2003 / Rich Barlow / Boston Globe
• "Scientists are finding a friend in religion" / February 8, 2003 / Mark O'Keefe / The Picayune Times — When Rick Husband, commander of the shuttle Columbia, looked out the window of his spacecraft, he saw what he called God's awe-inspiring creation. Crew member Michael Anderson, a physicist, believed that heaven, not space, was his final frontier.
• Seven Heroes, Seven Faiths / beliefnet — a look at the astronauts' different spiritual paths--and their communities' different ways of mourning
• `Intelligent design' vs. evolution / February 2003 / Bob Reeves / Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska)
• "Evolutionary Arrogance" / February 2003 / Henry M. Morris / Back to Genesis, n.170 (Institute for Creation Research)
• "The 'Baby Doctor,' Benjamin Spock, on Darwin and Morality" / February 2003 / Jerry Bergman / Impact, n.356  (Institute for Creation Research)
• "More Creation Adventure 'Edu-tainment'!" (pdf) / February 2003 / Acts & Facts, v.32, n.2, p.1-2 (Institute for Creation Research)
• "Portrait of a molecule" requires free registration / 23 January 2003 / Philip Ball / Nature, v.421, p.421-422 — most DNA in the cell is compressed into a tangled package that somehow still exposes itself to meticulous gene-regulatory control
• Exploring the Vacuum (pdf) / 26 December 2002 / Barry Setterfield / Journal of Theoretics — the speed of light may be strongly affected by changes in the properties of space
• The Adarwinist Reader
• Icons of Anti-Evolution / 2002 / authors / New Mexicans for Science and Reason — rebuttals of the arguments put forth by the book Icons of Evolution

FEBRUARY 21

• A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love / September 2003 / Richard Dawkins / Houghton Mifflin — see also Amazon
• "PALEOANTHROPOLOGY: Encore Olduvai" requires free registration / 21 February 2003 / Phillip V. Tobias / Science, v.299, n.5610, p.1193-1194
• "Separate Evolutionary Origins of Teeth from Evidence in Fossil Jawed Vertebrates" requires free registration / 21 February 2003 / Moya Meredith Smith and Zerina Johanson / Science, v.299, n.5610, p.1235-1236
• Lesbian Japanese monkeys challenge Darwin's assumptions / 19 February 2003 / David Derbyshire / Telegraph (UK)
• ARN-Announce, n.27 / February 18, 2003 / Dennis Wagner / Access Research Network
• Scientists spread the word on evils of pseudoscience / February 18, 2003 / Deborah Frazier / Rocky Mountain News
• Star path backs black hole / 17 February 2003 / Helen R. Pilcher / Nature science update — evidence strengthens for massive black hole at galaxy's heart
• A Revolution in Evolution / 17 February 2003 / Science a GoGo — growing evidence that Darwin's idea of sexual selection requires sweeping revisions
• Dini is Served / February 3, 2003 / Chris Mooney / Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal — a spat at Texas Tech provides a new wrinkle on Darwinism and science education
• Galaxy Hunters: The Search for Cosmic Dawn / February 2003 / Ron Cowen / National Geographic — a new breed of scientists leads a cosmic revolution in thinking how the universe came to be
• The Goldilocks Universe / January-February 2003 / Karl W. Giberson / Christianity Today — Is our cosmos the whole kaboodle, or is it merely one among an infinite number of universes?
• Has Darwin Met His Match? / December 2002 / David Berlinski / Commentary — thoughtful, respectful, mid-course evaluation of intelligent design with some important intellectual milestones that have been passed, as well as goal lines yet to be met
• Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story / October 2002 / Karl W. Giberson and Donald A. Yerxa / Rowman & Littlefield — see also Amazon
• "A Scientific Paradigm for the Genesis Flood" (pdf) / Spring 2001 / Ted Noel and Ken Noel / Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, v.12, n.1, p.106-138
• "Stove's Anti-Darwinism" / 1997 / James Franklin / Philosophy, v.72, n.279, p.133-136
• "I Rather Think I Am a Darwinian" / 1996 / Simon Blackburn / Philosophy, v.71, n.278, p.605-616
• Darwinian Fairytales / January 1996 / David C. Stove / Avebury — see also Amazon
• Worlds Apart: The Unholy War Between Religion and Science / December 1994 / Karl Giberson / Beacon Hill Press — see also Amazon
• "So You Think You Are a Darwinian?" / 1994 / David C. Stove / Philosophy, v.69, n.269, p.267-278

FEBRUARY 19

• Explaining Evolution: Darwinian Descent or Detectable Design? / February 24 - March 6, 2003 / University of Central Arkansas
• Are we built to do good? / February 26, 2003 / Francisco J. Ayala / University of California, Irvine — evolutionary biologist and 2001 recipient of the National Medal of Science will speak on "The Biological Foundations of Ethics"
• New arrival date for earliest Australians / 18 February 2003 / Emma Young / New Scientist
• Using Genetic Tests, Ashkenazi Jews Vanquish a Disease / February 18, 2003 / Gina Kolata / New York Times
• A Scientist's Prey: Dark Energy in the Cosmic Abyss / February 18, 2003 / Dennis Overbye / New York Times
• With an Evolutionary Milestone, the Race for Survival Began / February 18, 2003 / Yudhijit Bhattacharjee / New York Times
• Does Certainty Carry No Burden? / February 18, 2003 / Paul Nesselroade / Wedge Update (Access Research Network)
• Bringing in the Steves / February 17, 2003 / Steve Mirsky / The Scientist — select group of scientists sign-up to support teaching evolution
• 'Steves' support teaching of evolution / February 17, 2003 / Larry Witham / Washington Times
• Darwinians crow over satirical Steve factor / February 17, 2003 / Jill Tucker / Oakland Tribune
• In Texas, a Darwinian Debate / February 16, 2003 / Karin Brulliard / Washington Post, p.A07 — religious student protests professor's question on evolution
• First Mammal Clone Dies; Dolly Made Science History / February 15, 2003 / Gina Kolata / New York Times
• Mammals 'sailed to Madagascar' / 13 February 2003 / BBC News
• A Picture Worth a Thousand Answers / February 12, 2003 / Rob Stein / Washington Post, p.A01 — scientists capture best image ever of universe's beginning

FEBRUARY 12

• Arrogance and ignorance / February 15, 2003 / Marvin Olasky / World, v.18, n.6 — Darwinian Texas Tech professor is going against basic professorial ethics
• Physics, Fast and Furious / February 14, 2003 / Richard Monastersky / Chronicle of Higher Education — the bad boy of cosmology takes on Einstein and all the rest
• Intelligent design? Or intelligent thinking? / February 12, 2003 / David A. Carter / Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) — on the influence of religion on politics and society
• For Astronomers, Big Bang Confirmation / February 12, 2003 / Dennis Overbye / New York Times
• The Oldest Light in the Universe / February 11, 2003 / NASA — a NASA satellite has captured the sharpest-ever picture of the afterglow of the big bang
• Feeling at Home in a Scientific World / February 11, 2003 / Michael Gilmore / Los Angeles Times
• Unexpected Evolution of a Fish Out of Water / February 11, 2003 / Carol Kaesuk Yoon / New York Times
• Staying Alive, Staying Human / February 11, 2003 / Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times
• 'Faster Than the Speed of Light': E = mc², Except When It Doesn't / February 9, 2003 / George Johnson / New York Times
• Bad Seed or Bad Science: The Story of the Notorious Jukes Family / February 8, 2003 / Scott Christianson / New York Times
• An early flowering of genetics / February 8, 2003 / Richard Dawkins / The Guardian (UK) — an obscure letter found in a library proves Darwin was already doing research into heredity which anticipated the breakthroughs of the next century
• PROFILE EUGENIE SCOTT: Berkeley scientist leads fight to stop teaching of creationism / February 7, 2003 / Monica Lam / Chronicle (San Francisco)
• Creationists' evolving argument / February 6, 2003 / Ellen Goodman / Boston Globe
• A fish out of water / 6 February 2003 / Tom Clarke / Nature science update — Antarctic toothfish caught in Greenland 10,000 km from home
• BRAINSTORM: Oil Without End? / February 4, 2003 / Julie Creswell / Fortune — revisionists say oil isn't a fossil fuel; that could mean there's lots more of it
• Claiming Darwin for the Left: an interview with Peter Singer / 28 January 2003 / Julian Baggini / The Philosophers' Magazine, v.4 — why left wing politics needs to take Darwinism into account
• Where Darwin Meets the Bible: Creationists and Evolutionists in America / October 2002 / Larry A. Witham / Oxford University Press — see also Amazon
  • review: Evolution debate given reasoned voices / February 9, 2003 / William Murchison / Washington Times
• On the Shoulders of Giants: The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy / September 2002 / Stephen Hawking (editor) / Running Press — see also Amazon

FEBRUARY 7

• Professing evolution / February 6, 2003 / Maggie Gallagher / TownHall.com
• Where Did The Moon Come From? / February 2003 / Karen Wright / Discover, v.24, n.2 — astronomers close in on one of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos
• "Resource Letter: PEs-1: Physical eschatology" / February 2003 / Milan M. Ćirković / American Journal of Physics, v.71, n.2, p.122-133 — on the global cosmological future, and philosophy, theology, and sociology of the future
• The Mythical Threat of Genetic Determinism / January 31, 2003 / Daniel C. Dennett / The Chronicle of Higher Education
• "Puzzling Over the Origin of Species in the Depths of the Oldest Lakes" requires free registration / 31 January 2003 / Erica Goldman / Science, v.299, n.5607, p.654-655
• "Researchers Create First Autonomous Synthetic Life Form" requires free registration / 31 January 2003 / Robert F. Service / Science, v.299, n.5607, p.640
• The Constants of Nature: From Alpha to Omega--The Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe / January 2003 / John D. Barrow / Pantheon Books — see also Amazon
• Double Helix: 50 Years of DNA / 2003 / Nature — a free collection of overviews, news, special features, and 1953 classic papers celebrating the historical, scientific and cultural impacts of the discovery of the double helix
• The Future Is Wild / Discovery Channel
• Stichting Creaton / Tom Zoutewelle / Netherlands
• The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos / October 2002 / Robert P. Kirshner / Princeton University Press — see also Amazon
• Life Evolving: Molecules, Mind, and Meaning / October 2002 / Christian De Duve / Oxford University Press — see also Amazon
• Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species / May 2002 / Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan / Basic Books — see also Amazon

FEBRUARY 6

• Europe Debates Whether to Admit God to Union / February 5, 2003 / Thomas Fuller / New York Times
• Physicist says science and religion mix / February 3, 2003 / Pauline Tam / Ottawa Citizen — U.S. author speaks out against 'non-science and nonsense', from aliens to creationism
• Evolution Foes Removed From Nebraska Education Board / January 2003 / American United for Separation of Church and State — fourth news item in list
• Darwin's Blind Spot: Evolution Beyond Natural Selection / December 2002 / Frank Ryan / Houghton Mifflin — see also Amazon

FEBRUARY 3

• Professor's Snub of Creationists Prompts U.S. Inquiry / February 3, 2003 / Nick Madigan / New York Times
• Creationists sue biology professor / February 1, 2003 / Duncan Campbell / Guardian (London)
• Fossil find stirs human debate / 31 January 2003 / BBC News — the fossil of an early human-like creature (hominid) from southern Africa is raising fresh questions about our origins
• Tech professor's evolution policy prompts federal inquiry / January 30, 2003 / Sebastian Kitchen / Lubbock Online (Texas)
• Biology Professor Refuses to Recommend Students Who Don't Believe in Evolution / January 30, 2003 / Fox News
• An Idea Takes Flight / January 29, 2003 / Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) — the theory of evolution is constantly being re-examined and refined
• Evidences II: The Tale of a Trilobite (video) / Geoscience Research Institute

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