On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Kristin Marais and Summer Lile, two passionate instructors from the Discovery Institute Academy, to discuss their high school biology and chemistry courses, uniquely taught from the perspective that nature reflects intelligent design. These courses offer a complete, sequenced curriculum and include readings, handouts, videos, pre-recorded instructor lectures, and hands-on wet labs designed to be done at home. Live classes and one-on-one teacher drop-in sessions are also available. In this exchange, both teachers discuss what students will learn in their class and how intelligent design concepts are integrated throughout course content. Learn more and register at discoveryinstitute.academy. Read More ›
Traditional methods in biology have proven insufficient for understanding and accurately predicting complex biological systems. Why? The great majority of biologists are trained to study life from the bottom up, as the result of unguided evolutionary processes. It turns out there are better ways to observe, question, hypothesize, experiment, and analyze a complex system. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes biochemist and metabolic nutritionist Dr. Emily Reeves to the podcast to discuss her co-authored paper on how biologists can apply principles from systems engineering to biology to better approach the study of complex living systems. Dr. Reeves explains how the new methodology works and how it can produce fruitful scientific research. Read More ›
In his book Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe writes that in order to understand the barriers to evolution, we have to “bite the bullet of complexity.” On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back to help us do just that! In the latest installment of an ongoing series, Dr. McLatchie talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about the remarkable properties of carbon and other non-metal atoms. Read More ›
A confluence of conditions conspired to bring metals to Earth and make them accessible to humans. Can a Darwinian process take the credit? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana. Dr. Hedin describes the conditions within ourselves and the conditions within our environment that were finely tuned to allow for our successful utilization of metals. He also speaks to what our use of metals reveals about the moral character of human nature, and why metals remain vital to us today. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Don't miss Part 1! Read More ›
Humans have successfully utilized metals for millennia, and trace amounts of metals are crucial to our survival. Is that coincidence or something more? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana. Dr. Hedin tells the fascinating story of the origin of metals, the finely tuned set of conditions that allow for our use of metals, and the crucial role metals play in our survival. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next! Read More ›
The biochemical revolution of the last century has revealed powerful evidence of design in living things. Now, scientists are beginning to realize the benefits of studying designed systems through an engineering lens. On today's episode, Dr. Emily Reeves discusses the intersection of biology and engineering with Fred Williams and Doug McBurney, hosts of the Real Science Radio podcast. In this 45-minute chat, Dr. Reeves explains the importance of using engineering principles to understand biological systems. This interview originally aired on Real Science Radio. Read More ›
An electron microscopy image of a cell membrane attached to a bacterial cell wall highlighting the important role of the cell wall .
Ready to dip a toe in the ocean of biological ingenuity? Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back, this time to discuss with host Andrew McDiarmid the engineering elegance and irreducible complexity of the process of bacterial cell division. You may wonder why we should care about something so minuscule as bacterial cells. After all, something so insignificant and unseen has little bearing on our daily lives. But if we've learned anything in the biological revolution of the 20th century, it's that consequential things often come in very small packages. And if even the simplest forms of life exhibit stunning complexity and engineering prowess, all the more do we! And that complexity and design demands an adequate explanation. Here, McLatchie describes the remarkable process of cell wall breakage and re-synthesis that allows cell division to take place and explains why it's a big problem for Darwinian evolution. Read More ›
To understand the limitations of evolutionary mechanisms, we have to "bite the bullet of complexity," as biochemist Michael Behe writes. And to appreciate complexity, we have to experience it. On this ID The Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie takes us on a deep dive into the structure and biochemistry of muscles to gain a better understanding of their incredible design properties. Read More ›
On this episode of ID The Future, host Eric Anderson concludes his Why It Matters interview with microbiologist Dr. Scott Minnich. In Part 2, Dr. Minnich critiques Lenski's famous Long Term Evolutionary Experiments. Through experiments of his own, Minnich has shown how the practical results of Lenski's project on E. coli are easily repeatable under different conditions, and how some key changes to E. coli are even reversible, both of which speak more to an organism's pre-existing capabilities than to a Darwinian explanation. This is the conclusion to a two-part interview. Read More ›
On this episode of ID The Future, host Eric Anderson continues his occasional interview series Why It Matters, this time with microbiologist Dr. Scott Minnich. In Part 1, Minnich shares how he first learned about intelligent design, met Dr. Stephen Meyer, and eventually became involved in the well-known documentary, Unlocking the Mystery of Life. Minnich also reflects on his childhood upbringing, his interest in the big questions, and how a run-in with a professor changed everything. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Read More ›
