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On this episode of ID the Future, Scotsman Andrew McDiarmid reads from Marcos Eberlin’s recent book Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose. In this excerpt, the distinguished Brazilian scientist highlights the challenge the Venus flytrap poses for evolutionary theory. Dr. Eberlin, the former president of the International Mass Spectrometry Association, describes the problem: The Venus flytrap, like all carnivorous plants, had no use for its insect-trapping function unless it also had an insect-digesting function. And vice versa. Did they really both evolve together? And how when there would be no functional advantage along much of the evolutionary pathway to the sophisticated finished system? Finally, how did this “evolutionary miracle” also happen in four other carnivorous plant Read More ›

On this episode of ID the Future, physicist Dr. Brian Miller explains several challenges to the origin of life, from thermodynamic challenges to the need for complex systems to create complex systems: information processing, energy production, manufacturing, auto-assembly, control systems, and feedback loops are all required from the start.

On this episode of ID the Future, internationally distinguished scientist Marcos Eberlin, author of the new book Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose, talks about evolution’s “water gate” problem. There’s no conspiracy here, just life’s astonishing answer for admitting water into cells through “gates” while keeping lethal acidifying proteins out. There’s also a chicken-egg problem involving proteins and molecular chaperones. That and more, Eberlin argues, add up to the conclusion that life required foresight.

On this episode of ID the Future, Cambridge-trained bestselling author Stephen Meyer discusses some good questions posed to him at a recent science seminar he lectured at in Seattle.

On this episode of ID the Future, Stephen Meyer, Director of the Center for Science and Culture, discusses the two lectures he gave to a private audience at Discovery Institute’s 2019 Summer Seminar on Intelligent Design. One talk focused on the fossil record, and the other on the Big Bang.

Today’s episode of ID the Future brings you a conversation between Discovery Institute senior fellow Jonathan Witt and radio host Jerry Newcombe, originally presented on Newcombe’s nationally syndicated radio show. The two begin by discussing Discovery Institute’s Science Uprising video series, which Jonathan helped create. From there they go on to talk about philosophical materialism, free will, morality, and what it means to be human. They touch on the Darwinian opposition, and on the rising threat of censorship.

On this episode of ID the Future, attorney Herman Bouma tells the story of how his talk at a National Association of Science Teachers conference last April was canceled at the last minute. His talk highlighted how Darwin’s Origin of Species (sixth edition) set an example of engaging his scientific critics with civility and reason. Bouma says in response to the incident, “It’s almost as if they considered Darwin a threat to Darwinian evolution.” Three conference officials shut him down, accusing him of promoting fake science. As Bouma notes, Darwin wrote that “I look with confidence to the future, to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides of the question with impartiality.” Alas, Darwin’s example Read More ›

On this episode of ID the Future, Bijan Nemati, formerly of CalTech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and now at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, tells what science is learning about how hard it is to find a planet like Earth. Anywhere. The more we learn about the conditions necessary for a planet to host life, the more we see we may need to search at least tens of thousands of Milky Way galaxies to expect to find another one — at least if it all depends on blind luck. This talk is part of bonus material included with the new, thought-provoking series Science Uprising.

On this episode of ID the Future we hear commentary on the singularity from Frank Tipler, Professor of Mathematical Physics at Tulane University and co-author of The Anthropic Cosmological Principle.