Free Republic

On those rare occasions that I write a column touching remotely on science, especially if I depart from the conventional wisdom of the greater scientific community, the contemptuous e-mails fill my inbox.

On those rare occasions that I write a column touching remotely on science, especially if I depart from the conventional wisdom of the greater scientific community, the contemptuous e-mails fill my inbox. Such was the case a few columns ago when I broached the subject of Intelligent Design (ID) after President Bush indicated his receptiveness to ID theory being taught alongside evolution in the public schools. The hostile e-mailers pointed out what a consummate idiot and criminal trespasser I was for treading on their real estate. They demanded I stick to law and politics, not because I know much more...

At the heart of the debate over intelligent design is this question: Can a scientific explanation of the history of life include the actions of an unseen higher being? The proponents of intelligent design, a school of thought that some have argued should be taught alongside evolution in the nation's schools, say that the complexity and diversity of life go beyond what evolution can explain. Biological marvels like the optical precision of an eye, the little spinning motors that propel bacteria and the cascade of proteins that cause blood to clot, they say, point to the hand of a higher...

Compared with fields like genetics and neuroscience and cosmology, botany comes up a bit short in the charisma department. But when scientists announced last week that they had figured out how plants grow, one had to take note, not only because of the cleverness required to crack a puzzle that dates to 1885, but because of what it says about controversy and certainty in science -- and about the evolution debate. In 1885, scientists discovered a plant-growth hormone and called it auxin. Ever since, its mechanism of action had been a black box, with scientists divided into warring camps about...

Quick: Define miosis and mitosis. Explain mitochondrion and chloroplast. Now briefly, what's RNA? The biology teachers assembled at the University of Colorado last week for a seminar on teaching evolution know most Americans are clueless about basic science. They find our ignorance exasperating. But it also explains a lot. With most people content with being scientifically illiterate, it's no wonder so many believe intelligent design is a scientific theory. It unequivocally is not. It's a religious belief, a political issue or an abomination destined to cripple Americans in global scientific achievement, depending on your point of view. But it is...

On those rare occasions that I write a column touching remotely on science, especially if I depart from the conventional wisdom of the greater scientific community, the contemptuous e-mails fill my inbox. Such was the case a few columns ago when I broached the subject of Intelligent Design (ID) after President Bush indicated his receptiveness to ID theory being taught alongside evolution in the public schools. The hostile e-mailers pointed out what a consummate idiot and criminal trespasser I was for treading on their real estate. They demanded I stick to law and politics, not because I know much more...

By SEATTLE - When President Bush plunged into the debate over the teaching of evolution this month, saying, "both sides ought to be properly taught," he seemed to be reading from the playbook of the Discovery Institute, the conservative think tank here that is at the helm of this newly volatile frontier in the nation's culture wars. After toiling in obscurity for nearly a decade, the institute's Center for Science and Culture has emerged in recent months as the ideological and strategic backbone behind the eruption of skirmishes over science in school districts and state capitals across the country. Pushing...

WASHINGTON (AP) — More teens are saying there are drugs in their schools, and those who have access to them are more likely to try them, said a Columbia University survey released today. Twenty-eight percent of middle-school-student respondents reported that drugs are used, kept or sold at their schools, a 47 percent jump since 2002, according to the 10th annual teen survey by Columbia's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. The number of high schoolers saying drugs are at their schools rose 41 percent in the last three years, to 62 percent, the survey said. Twelve- to 17-year-olds who...

You know that TV crocodile hunting team Steve and Terri Irwin? Well those two can expect some competition in days to come. Scientists in northern Australia have been collecting blood from crocodiles in hopes of saving humans. Studies in the late 90s showed that several antibodies in croc blood killed penicillin-resistant bacteria. More recently it has been discovered that crocodiles’ immune systems can kill the HIV virus. American scientist Mark Merchant says the reptiles “tear limbs off each other, [but] they heal up very rapidly and normally, almost always without infection.” Aussie scientist Adam Britton adds: “The crocodile has an...

On August 1, 2005, a group of reporters from Texas met with President Bush in the Roosevelt room for a roundtable interview. The President’s remarks suggest that he believes that both intelligent design and evolution should be taught so that “people are exposed to different schools of thought.” There have been so many articles since his remarks that it’s useful to read the relevant portion of published interview: “Q: I wanted to ask you about the -- what seems to be a growing debate over evolution versus intelligent design. What are your personal views on that, and do you think...

President Bush last week spoke three sentences in response to a Texas reporter's question on the teaching of evolution and "intelligent design." In doing so, he lit a match under a powder keg. "Christian" conservatives rejoiced. Scientists and liberals recoiled. "Intelligent design" suggests that creation is too complicated to have occurred through natural selection. Its advocates distance themselves from "creation science," but similarities abound. The clash of science, belief and culture is not new. When Copernicus replaced Ptolemy's Earth-centered universe with the solar system, he dedicated De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium to Pope Paul III and made clear that his motive...

Did you hear the news? Evolution is no longer a theory. It’s a fact! I know, I can’t believe it either. Wait, you haven’t heard about this breakthrough discovery? Well, you might want to check with Professor Colin Purrington, an evolutionary biologist who teaches at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Professor Purrington says, “Evolution is a ‘theory’ like gravity is a ‘theory.’”

Exactly eighty years after the Scopes "monkey trial" in Dayton, Tennessee, history is about to repeat itself. In a courtroom in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in late September, scientists and creationists will square off about whether and how high school students in Dover, Pennsylvania will learn about biological evolution. One would have assumed that these battles were over, but that is to underestimate the fury (and the ingenuity) of creationists scorned. The Scopes trial of our day--Kitzmiller, et al v. Dover Area School District et al--began innocuously...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. EMPORIA, Kan. - Days after merging with a rival, the owners of a Kansas radiator plant said Monday the factory will close in September and leave 130 people unemployed. The Modine Manufacturing Co. plant opened in Emporia in 1973 to build sheet-metal radiators for Ford Motor Co. On Friday, Modine's aftermarket division merged with Transpro Inc., a Connecticut-based competitor, to form Proliance International Inc. The merger will move production to two existing plants in Mexico, and the Emporia facility will be sold. Two regional plants and branch distribution centers in Denver...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats demanded Thursday that President Bush order a halt to personal attacks on the party's leader, Sen. Harry Reid, and expressed regret that they had failed to mount a stronger defense for his defeated predecessor. ``This is a new Democratic Party,'' Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a news conference called to release a letter telling Bush to muzzle his ``political operatives.'' ``It says to the president, `You will not intimidate us','' said Schumer, who likened the attacks on Reid to political knee-cappings. The letter itself was written in milder terms. ``We urge you to keep...

Enough already. Where are the moderators that are letting these dang threads from this Zot wanna bees going on and on and on. The one up now is at 7,000 plus. Another one was at over 64,000 the last I looked. Don't just boot the idiots, pull the threads they start too!

unnngh...

Something bad is happening to Pings, 'My Comments', Messages........I hope it isn't permanent......Make it stop, Please

He's one of Hollywood's hottest actors and, with Natural Born Killers among his starring roles, is no stranger to controversy. But now Woody Harrelson has taken another brave step - he's passionately defended George Michael over his anti-Bush and Blair single Shoot The Dog. The 41-year-old star - currently appearing in On An Average Day opposite Kyle MacLachlan at the Comedy Theatre in London - has hit out at the backlash against the song's lyrics which criticise George Bush, Tony Blair and the war on terror since September 11. At his play's after-show party on Wednesday night, Woody told Jessica:...