Evolution

On this episode of ID the Future, host Mike Keas interviews Professor Emeritus Michael Flannery (U of Alabama-Birmingham) on evolutionist Kenneth Miller’s new book The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will. Miller is prominent as a science educator and supporter of Neo-Darwinian theistic evolution. Flannery, a historian of science, argues that Miller’s attempt to defend human exceptionalism on Neo-Darwinian grounds runs into fatal difficulties, as have similar attempts before. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

On this episode of ID the Future, host Sarah Chaffee and biologist Ann Gauger discuss panspermia, the topic of a peer-reviewed paper published recently by several very serious scientists. Panspermia tries to sidestep problems in origins biology by suggesting that, to quote the title of an old science fiction movie, “it came from outer space.” And yes, maybe even aliens sent it our way. Maybe (honest — this is a real theory) the first octopuses came here special delivery, as encapsulated embryos falling from the sky. Anything but intelligent design, for these very serious scientists.

On this episode of ID the Future, biophysicist Cornelius Hunter explains how mitochondria, the powerhouse of eukaryotic cells, pose a powerful and newly acute problem for evolution. For years evolutionists thought that some early cells must somehow have brought other cells inside of them, and those other cells then mysteriously evolved into mitochondria. But recent research undermines that notion. Why do many evolutionists then still cling to the idea? Dr. Hunter’s answer explains how a lot of evolutionary thinking persists in the face of mounting contrary evidence.
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On this episode of ID the Future, Sarah Chaffee interviews German paleo-entomologist Günter Bechly on the Cambrian explosion, the relatively sudden appearance of new body plans in the fossil record an estimated 550 million years ago. Dr. Bechly explains how the Cambrian explosion has been challenged by non-experts with an anti-ID bias, yet remains very much a real event in the opinion of specialists in the field — and with the continuing failure of Darwinian explanations, a strong source of evidential support for intelligent design.

On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig, an expert in plant breeding and formerly affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Germany, further explores that clash of views modern evolutionists often paper over — Darwinism vs. Mendel. Lönnig discusses how Darwinian evolutionary biology held back acceptance of the laws of inheritance, discovered by Gregor Mendel, abbot at the Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas, Brunn.

On this episode of ID the Future, geneticist Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig digs further into Gregor Mendel’s laws of inheritance and how they opposed the thinking of Darwin. Lönnig explains how Darwinian evolution hindered the acceptance of Mendel’s genetic laws, and how the laws still came to be accepted.

On this episode of ID The Future, neurosurgery professor Michael Egnor explores the case of Tatiana and Krista, the “Craniopagus Twins.” Their condition, he says, provides evidence against strict materialism.  Tatiana and Krista are connected at the thalamus (which controls such things as wakefulness, motor function and vision) through a structure called a thalamic bridge. This bridge enables them to see through each other’s eyes to and control each other’s limbs. Egnor explains how their separate personalities and thoughts nevertheless show that there is something about the mind not reducible to the brain. Egnor also goes through the mind-brain research of Roger Sperry, Benjamin Libet and Wilder Penfield.

On this episode of ID The Future, host Ray Bohlin talks with Michael Egnor, a pediatric neurosurgeon and professor of neurosurgery at State University of New York Stony Brook about ways modern science validates the idea that the mind is not reducible to the brain. They delve into oddities of neuroscience that indicate that there is more going on in the brain than mere chemistry, and, in particular, walk through the seminal work of Adrian Owen on MRIs and what it reveals.

On this episode of ID The Future, Tod Butterfield talks with historian Dr. Richard Weikart about his new book Hitler’s Religion: The Twisted Beliefs that Drove the Third Reich. In this episode, Dr. Weikart explains how Darwinian evolution informed Hitler’s ethics.

On this episode of ID The Future, Tod Butterfield talks with historian Dr. Richard Weikart about his new book Hitler’s Religion: The Twisted Beliefs that Drove the Third Reich. Here Dr. Weikart explores the claim that Hitler was a creationist and shows why it misses the mark.