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October 17, 2018
As I write this blog post, the 2018–19 NFL season is just underway. During the course of any NFL season, several key games are decided by a controversial call made by the officials. Nobody wants the officials to determine the outcome of a game, so the NFL has instituted a way for coaches to challenge calls on the field. When a call is challenged, part of the officiating crew looks at a computer tablet on the sidelines—reviewing the game footage from a number of different angles in an attempt to get the call right. After two minutes of reviewing the replays, the senior official makes his way to the middle of the field and announces, “Upon further review, the call on the field . . .”
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Image of God
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Neanderthals/Hominids
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Human Uniqueness
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Human Origins
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Archaeology
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October 10, 2018
He was called the “Master of the Telecaster.” He was also known as the “Iceman,” because his guitar playing was so hot, he was cold. Albert Collins (1932–93) was an electric blues guitarist and singer whose distinct style of play influenced the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Robert Cray.
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Image of God
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Human Uniqueness
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October 3, 2018
In his classic work, Natural Theology, William Paley surveyed a range of biological systems, highlighting their similarities to human-made designs. Paley noticed that human designs typically consist of various components that interact in a precise way to accomplish a purpose. According to Paley, human designs are contrivances—things produced with skill and cleverness—and they come about via the work of human agents. They come about by the work of intelligent designers. And because biological systems are contrivances, they, too, must come about via the work of a Creator.
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Intelligent Design
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Optimization
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Biochemistry
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Design
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September 26, 2018
Scientists from UCLA recently conducted some rather bizarre experiments. For me, it’s these types of things that make it so much fun to be a scientist.
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September 19, 2018
When I was a little kid, my mom went through an Agatha Christie phase. She was a huge fan of the murder mystery writer and she read all of Christie’s books.
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Neanderthals/Hominids
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Image of God
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Human Uniqueness
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Archaeology
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Anthropology
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September 12, 2018
As a biochemist and a skeptic of the evolutionary paradigm, people often ask me two interrelated questions:
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Humans vs. Chimps
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Human Origins
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August 29, 2018
Sometimes, things just aren’t what they seem to be. For example, when it comes to the world of biology.
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August 22, 2018
In 1910, Major General George Owen Squier developed a technique to increase the efficiency of data transmission along telephone lines that is still used today in telecommunications and computer networks. This technique, called multiplexing, allows multiple signals to be combined and transmitted along a single cable, making it possible to share a scarce resource (available phone lines, in Squier’s day).
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August 15, 2018
It’s one of the classic episodes of I Love Lucy. Originally aired on September 15, 1952, the episode entitled “Job Switching” finds Lucy and Ethel working at a candy factory. They have been assigned to an assembly line, where they are supposed to pick up pieces of candy from a moving conveyor belt, wrap them, and place the candy back on the assembly line. But the conveyor belt moves too fast for Lucy and Ethel to keep up. Eventually, they both start stuffing pieces of candy into their mouths, under their hats, and in their blouses, as fast as they can as pieces of candy on the assembly line quickly move beyond their reach—a scene of comedic brilliance.
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August 8, 2018
One of the things I find most troubling about the evolutionary paradigm is the view it fosters about the nature of biological systems—including human beings.
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Design
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Philosophy of Science
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Evolution
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August 1, 2018
When I was an undergraduate student studying chemistry and biology, I hated the course work I did in immunology. The immune system is fascinating, to be certain. And, as a student, I marveled at how our body defends itself from invading microorganisms. But, I hated trying to keep track of the bewildering number of the cells that comprise the immune system.
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July 18, 2018
At the risk of stating the obvious: Plastics are an indispensable part of our modern world. Yet, plastic materials cause untold problems for the environment. One of the properties that makes plastics so useful also makes them harmful. Plastics don’t readily degrade.
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May 23, 2018
It’s a new trend in art. Museums and galleries all over the world are exploring the use of sounds, smells, and lighting to enhance the viewer’s experience as they interact with pieces of art. The Tate Museum in London is one institution pioneering this innovative approach to experiencing artwork. For example, on display recently at Tate’s Sensorium was Irish artist Francis Bacon’s Figure in a Landscape, a piece that depicts a gray human figure on a bench. Visitors to the Sensorium put on headphones while they view this painting, and they hear sounds of a busy city. Added to the visual and auditory experiences are the bitter burnt smell of chocolate and the sweet aroma of oranges that engulf the viewer. This multisensory experience is meant to depict a lonely, brooding figure lost in the never-ending activities of a city, with the contrasting aromas simultaneously communicating the harshness and warmth of life in an urban setting.
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Image of God
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Human Uniqueness
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Adam & Eve
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May 9, 2018
Since the 1960’s, the drug noscapine has been used in many parts of the world as a non-narcotic cough-suppressant. Recently, biomedical researchers have learned that that noscapine (and chemically-modified derivatives of this drug) has potential as a cancer drug. And that is nothing to sneeze at.
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Life in the Lab
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Artificial Life
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April 25, 2018
One time when our kids were little, my wife and I discovered that someone had drawn a picture on one of the walls in our house. Though all of our children professed innocence, it was easy to figure out who the culprit was, because the little artist also wrote the first letter of her name on the wall next to her “masterpiece.”
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Human Uniqueness
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Neanderthals/Hominids
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Image of God
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Human Origins
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April 18, 2018
When I was in high school, I had the well-deserved reputation of being a wise guy—though the people who knew me then might have preferred to call me a wise—, instead. Either way, for being a wise guy, I sure didn’t display much wisdom during my teenage years.
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