ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast
Topic

abiogenesis

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AGCT
Image Credit: Mopic - Adobe Stock
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Author
Stephen C. Meyer
Date
August 6, 2025
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From Dead Ends to Design: Meyer & Tour on Life’s Information Code

Stephen C. Meyer
August 6, 2025
Uncategorized
3
On today's episode, enjoy the second half of a discussion between philosopher of science Dr. Steven Meyer and synthetic organic chemist Dr. James Tour about the origin of life and the explanatory power of intelligent design. The conversation, hosted by Peter Robinson, transitions from the "dead end" of current origin of life research to the crucial concept of information. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 1 in a separate episode. We’re grateful to the producers of Uncommon Knowledge for permission to share this conversation here. Uncommon Knowledge is a production of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Read More ›
image-of-dna-strand-spinning-and-data-with-connections-on-gr-1201571072-stockpack-adobestock
Image of dna strand spinning and data with connections on green background
Image Credit: vectorfusionart - Adobe Stock
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Author
Stephen C. Meyer
Date
August 4, 2025
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The Unsolved Mystery of Life’s Origin: Stephen Meyer & James Tour

Stephen C. Meyer
August 4, 2025
Uncategorized
2
How did life originate? Does Darwin’s theory of evolution have an answer for the origin of life? On this ID The Future, enjoy the first half of an insightful conversation between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and synthetic organic chemist Dr. James Tour as they unravel important issues around the origin of life. Dr. Tour is a professor at Rice University, renowned for his work in nanotechnology and his skepticism toward the current scientific models explaining the origin of life. Dr. Meyer is author of Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design. The pair are interviewed by Peter Robinson, host of Uncommon Knowledge. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode. Read More ›
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Author
Walter Bradley
Date
July 11, 2025
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Walter Bradley on The Mystery of Life’s Origin

Walter Bradley
July 11, 2025
Uncategorized
2
We are grieving the recent loss of Walter Bradley, a longtime Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute and namesake of the Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. So today, out of our archive, we bring you the first half of Robert J. Marks's 2020 interview with Walter Bradley, co-author of the seminal 1984 intelligent design book The Mystery of Life’s Origin. The book is now available in a revised and expanded edition with updates from multiple contributors discussing the progress (or lack of it) in origins science in the 35 years since the book’s original publication. In this first of two podcasts, Bradley discusses the history of the attempts to explain life’s origin naturalistically, and how the three authors of the 1984 book came together to shake up the world of origin-of-life science. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Read More ›
Steve at Ben Shapiro Studio 5
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Author
Stephen C. Meyer
Date
September 18, 2024
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Stephen Meyer & Ben Shapiro Discuss the Origin of Information

Stephen C. Meyer
September 18, 2024
Uncategorized
2
On this episode of ID The Future, we’re bringing you the concluding half of a 2019 interview between Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro and philosopher of science Dr. Stephen C. Meyer. The conversation is now five years old, so it's a good time to dust it off and share it with those who may have missed it or forgotten about it. In Part 2, Shapiro and Meyer discuss the origin of life and the origin of information. They also touch on the evidence for fine-tuning in the universe and the problems with the multiverse. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview. Read More ›
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Galaxy cluster. Elements of this image furnished by NASA
Image Credit: Supernova - Adobe Stock
Type
post
Author
Stephen C. Meyer
Date
August 21, 2024
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Stephen Meyer on the Explanatory Power of Intelligent Design

Stephen C. Meyer
August 21, 2024
Uncategorized
2
On this episode of ID The Future, we’re sharing the second half of an interview between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and author and radio/podcast host Justin Brierley. The interview delves into the main arguments of Dr. Meyer’s most recent book Return of the God Hypothesis, but it also serves as an update on the status of intelligent design and the growing interest in design arguments in both academia and the public square. In part 2, Meyer refutes the multiverse hypothesis and explains why naturalistic theories of the origin of life fall short. We are grateful to Justin Brierley for permission to share this interview on ID The Future. Catch more of Brierley's interviews at justinbrierley.com. Read More ›
Incredibly blue pool Blahver at Hveravellir is actually a hot geothermal spring in the heart of Iceland. Photo taken around midnight sunset
Image licensed from Adobe Stock
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Author
Rob Stadler
Date
April 22, 2024
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Top Ten Cheats in “Monumental” Origin of Life Research

Rob Stadler
April 22, 2024
Uncategorized
2
A Washington Post headline recently declared that a "monumental experiment suggests how life on earth may have started." The reality, however, is far more sobering. In this episode of ID the Future, host Eric Anderson sits down with accomplished medical engineer and origin of life author, Robert Stadler, to discuss what this new research actually shows and the relevance to abiogenesis. More episodes and show notes at idthefuture.com. Read More ›
Ceuta, Spain Autonomous Spanish city in north Africa. Statue of Hercules known as the Pillars of Hercules. Greek mythology. Spain.
Image licensed from Adobe Stock
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Author
ID the Future
Date
January 31, 2024
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Evolution’s Demigods: Reviewing the Tour/Cronin Debate

ID the Future
January 31, 2024
Uncategorized
3

Do biologists give too much credit to natural selection and self-organization? What are the limits of a materialist approach to science? On this ID The Future, we bring you the second half of a panel discussion reviewing the recent debate between Rice University chemistry professor Dr. James Tour and University of Glasgow professor of chemistry Dr. Lee Cronin. In November 2023, Dr. Tour and Dr. Cronin participated in a roundtable debate on origin-of-life studies at Harvard University with a live audience of Harvard faculty and guests. Even if you haven’t seen the debate yet, you’ll get valuable insight into the state of origin-of-life research from this panel discussion, featuring three of our own: scientist and attorney Casey Luskin, physicist Brian Read More ›

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Author
ID the Future
Date
January 29, 2024
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Debate Review: Jim Tour vs Lee Cronin at Harvard

ID the Future
January 29, 2024
Uncategorized
3
Are we close to cracking the origin of life problem or not? In 2021, chemist Dr. Lee Cronin declared publicly that "Origin of life research is a scam." Yet, scientists regularly claim to be close to creating simple and complex life from non-life in their labs, and the public is buying it. On this ID The Future, we bring you the first half of a panel discussion reviewing the recent debate on the origin of life between Rice University chemistry professor Dr. James Tour and University of Glasgow professor of chemistry Dr. Lee Cronin. This is Part 1 of 2. Read More ›
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Abstract bacteria, probiotics, gram positive bacteria bacteria and viruses of various shapes against a light background. Concept of science, medicine. Microbiology background. 3d illustration.
Image Credit: Viks_jin - Adobe Stock
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Author
Rob Stadler
Date
September 18, 2023
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The Simple Life: Abiogenesis Gets Another Reality Check

Rob Stadler
September 18, 2023
Uncategorized
2
When it comes to biological life, even the simplest single-celled organism is an astonishingly complex multi-part system. Just how simple can a living cell get? On this ID The Future, Eric Anderson hosts another conversation with Dr. Robert Sadler to evaluate the claims of abiogenesis researchers. A recent Nature paper reports on an engineered minimal cell and how it contends with the "forces of evolution" compared to the non-minimal cell from which it was derived. In an attempt to find life's lowest common denominator, experimenters reduced the minimal cell down from 901 genes to 473 genes. The result was a fragile, irregular organism, sheltered and well cared for. But does this reduction in genomic complexity demonstrate evolution or devolution? Is it an unguided process at work or adaptation within the boundaries of an organism's design? "When people speak of evolution, they speak of random changes and natural selection," Sadler says. "But are they really random? Or does the organism have a built-in ability to change the genome to its own benefit?" Sadler puts the paper's results and claims in perspective for us. Read More ›
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Laboratory, Chemistry, Formula.
Image Credit: BillionPhotos.com - Adobe Stock
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Author
James Tour
Date
August 23, 2023
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Why Hands-On Chemistry Experiments Can’t Simulate A Prebiotic Earth

James Tour
August 23, 2023
Uncategorized
3
When scientists claim they have simulated early earth chemistry to create life from non-life, are they being honest? This episode of ID The Future is the fourth and final installment in a series of conversations between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, and Dr. James Tour, a world-leading synthetic organic chemist at Rice University. Dr. Tour has recently been engaged in a series of back-and-forth responses to attacks on his work from YouTube science communicator Dave Farina. This has given Tour a new opportunity to critique experts in the field of abiogenesis and allows an interested public to better evaluate both sides of the argument. In Part 4, Meyer and Tour evaluate the work of chemist Bruce Lipshutz; specifically his work designing surfactant molecules that enable amide/peptide bonds. By itself, Lipshutz’s work developing synthetic techniques for doing chemistry in water is interesting and has value. But for those tempted to think that his work validates chemical evolutionary theories of the origin of life, Tour has bad news. Peptides don’t form in aqueous environments like water. A realistic prebiotic environment would not be capable of producing the reactions necessary to form proteins. And Lipshutz acknowledges this. In their conversation, Tour and Meyer discuss how Lipshutz applies hands-on chemistry that bears no resemblance to the likely conditions of a prebiotic earth. If anything, the work of Lipshutz and others in origin of life research is actually simulating the need for intelligent agency to move simple chemicals in a life-friendly direction. Says Meyer, "Even the modest movement they get towards life seems to be intelligently designed at each step of the way, and even the vocabulary will sometimes reveal that: ribozyme engineer, designer surfactants. Very curious!" Watch the series on video at Dr. Meyer's YouTube channel: @DrStephenMeyer Read More ›
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