Evolution Research - General Evolution News

An open access/free review paper from PLoS Genetics:

Genomic Imprinting in Mammals: Emerging Themes and Established Theories

Andrew J. Wood, Rebecca J. Oakey

The epigenetic events that occur during the development of the mammalian embryo are essential for correct gene expression and cell-lineage determination. Imprinted genes are expressed from only one parental allele due to differential epigenetic marks that are established during gametogenesis. Several theories have been proposed to explain the role that genomic imprinting has played over the course of mammalian evolution, but at present it is not clear if a single hypothesis can fully account for the diversity of roles that imprinted genes play. In this review, we discuss efforts to define the extent of imprinting in the mouse genome, and suggest that different imprinted loci may have been wrought by distinct evolutionary forces. We focus on a group of small imprinted domains, which consist of paternally expressed genes embedded within introns of multiexonic transcripts, to discuss the evolution of imprinting at these loci.

Introduction

The process of sexual reproduction dictates that mammals inherit two copies of every gene, one from the mother and one from the father. At most loci, both alleles are actively transcribed and functionally equivalent. Imprinted genes represent an exception to this rule, as the transcriptional activity of each allele is determined by the gender of the parental germ line to which it was most recently exposed. This parental legacy is initiated by epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, which is established in the parental germ line and maintained throughout somatic development in the offspring. Individual germ-line marks can control the allele-specific silencing or activation of multiple neighbouring genes, which leads in many instances to clusters of imprinted transcripts. Such loci represent an attractive paradigm for the study of epigenetic transcriptional regulation, as both the active and silent allele are present in the same cell nucleus, and therefore potentially exposed to the same trans-acting regulatory factors. Epigenetic abnormalities at imprinted loci have been observed in cloned mammals [1], and their disruption has been reported in a number of human developmental disorders and cancers [2].

Defining the Extent of Imprinting

Since the identification of the first autosomal imprinted genes in the early 1990s [3–5], much speculation has surrounded the question of how many exist. Attempts to count the exact number have been complicated by difficulties in defining exactly what constitutes a gene, as in several cases multiple functional components are derived from a single core of genetic information [6]. A recent census identified 96 imprinted functional components (54 maternally expressed, 42 paternally expressed) arising from 71 transcriptional units [7], and the relevant literature is summarised on the Harwell and University of Otago online databases [8,9].

A number of different approaches have been employed to define the extent of imprinting in the mouse genome. Mouse stocks carrying translocation chromosomes were used to define chromosomal regions that show parent-of-origin effects on phenotype when uniparentally inherited, and at least 13 distinct regions on eight chromosomes have been identified by this approach (C. V. Beechey, personal communication; [8]). The phenotypes range from early embryonic lethality to postnatal effects on growth and development, and are likely to result from the misexpression of imprinted genes situated within the uniparentally duplicated region [10]. The subsequent identification of imprinted genes on chromosomes without obvious uniparental effects [11-13] suggests that imprinting may be more widespread than initially thought, and not limited to genes that are vital for development. This conclusion is supported by the involvement of imprinted genes in behavioural traits in the mouse [14,15].

Continued at "Genomic Imprinting in Mammals: Emerging Themes and Established Theories"
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Featured Book: "Chromatin and Gene Regulation: Mechanisms in Epigenetics" by Bryan M. Turner (Amazon Astore UK | US)

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Technorati: open access, plos, genetics, imprinting, mammals, epigenetic, embryo, cell, marks, genomic, evolutionary, forces, domains, genes, evolution, dna, methylation, genetic, genome, mouse, chromosomes, epigenetics, science, regions

Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 7:26 AM 0 comments

Chicago, Illinois - The earth experienced its biggest mass extinction about 250 million years ago, an event that wiped out an estimated 95% of marine species and 70% of land species. New research shows that this mass extinction did more than eliminate species: it fundamentally changed the basic ecology of the world's oceans.

Ecologically simple marine communities were largely displaced by complex communities. Furthermore, this apparently abrupt shift set a new pattern that has continued ever since. It reflects the current dominance of higher-metabolism, mobile organisms (such as snails, clams and crabs) that actually go out and find their own food and the decreased diversity of older groups of low-metabolism, stationary organisms (such as lamp shells and sea lilies) that filter nutrients from the water.

So says embargoed research to be published in the journal Science on November 24, 2006. An accompanying article suggests that this striking change escaped detection until now because previous research relied on single numbers--such as the number of species alive at one particular time or the distribution of species in a local community - to track the diversity of marine life. In the new research, however, scientists examined the relative abundance of marine life forms in communities over the past 540 million years.

One reason they were able to do this is because they tapped the new Paleobiology Database, a huge repository of fossil occurrence data. The result is the first broad objective measurement of changes in the complexity of marine ecology over the Phanerozoic.

'We were able to combine a huge data set with new quantitative analyses,' says Peter J. Wagner, Associate Curator of Fossil Invertebrates at The Field Museum and lead author of the study. 'We think these are the first analyses of this type at this large scale. They show that the end-Permian mass extinction permanently altered not just taxonomic diversity but also the prevailing marine ecosystem structure.'

Continued at "Dramatic shift from simple to complex marine ecosystems occurred 250M years ago at mass extinction"
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Based on "Abundance Distributions Imply Elevated Complexity of Post-Paleozoic Marine Ecosystems"

Abstract:

Likelihood analyses of 1176 fossil assemblages of marine organisms from Phanerozoic (i.e., Cambrian to Recent) assemblages indicate a shift in typical relative-abundance distributions after the Paleozoic. Ecological theory associated with these abundance distributions implies that complex ecosystems are far more common among Meso-Cenozoic assemblages than among the Paleozoic assemblages that preceded them. This transition coincides not with any major change in the way fossils are preserved or collected but with a shift from communities dominated by sessile epifaunal suspension feeders to communities with elevated diversities of mobile and infaunal taxa. This suggests that the end-Permian extinction permanently altered prevailing marine ecosystem structure and precipitated high levels of ecological complexity and alpha diversity in the Meso-Cenozoic.

Books on Paleontology from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 8:06 AM 0 comments

ABC News November 26, 2006: Istanbul, Turkey (Reuters) - A lavishly illustrated 'Atlas of Creation' is mysteriously turning up at schools and libraries in Turkey, proclaiming that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is the real root of terrorism.

Arriving unsolicited by post, the large-format tome offers 768 glossy pages of photographs and easy-to-read text to prove that God created the world with all its species.

At first sight, it looks like it could be the work of United States creationists, the Christian fundamentalists who believe the world was created in six days as told in the Bible.

But the author's name, Harun Yahya (website)*, reveals the surprise inside. This is Islamic creationism, a richly funded movement based in predominantly Muslim Turkey which has an influence U.S. creationists could only dream of.

Creationism is so widely accepted here that Turkey placed last in a recent survey of public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries** - just behind the United States.

"Darwinism is dead," said Kerim Balci of the Fethullah Gulen network, a moderate Islamic movement with many publications and schools but no link to the creationists who produced the atlas.

[Fundamentalism]

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*The entry page to Harun Yahya's website states:

In order to create, God has no need to design

It's important that the word "design" be properly understood. That God has created a flawless design does not mean that He first made a plan and then followed it. God, the Lord of the Earth and the heavens, needs no “designs” in order to create. God is exalted above all such deficiencies. His planning and creation take place at the same instant.

Whenever God wills a thing to come about, it is enough for Him just to say, "Be!"

As verses of the Qur'an tell us:

His command when He desires a thing is just to say to it, "Be!" and it is. (Qur'an, 36: 82)
[God is] the Originator of the heavens and Earth.
When He decides on something, He just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Qur'an, 2: 117)

From the 'About' page:

This web site has been developed with the aim of promoting and publicizing the works of Harun Yahya, a prominent Turkish thinker and author. His books have attracted great attention both in Turkey and worldwide. In the 90's especially, the works of Harun Yahya have been a means of intellectual awakening for many Muslims, and non-Muslims alike, in the face of the illusions of the modern age. In other words, the name Harun Yahya is an invitation to the truth.

This invitation is a totally non-profit, idealist enterprise. The writer himself does not seek or make any financial gain from the books he has written. Nor those who contribute to the design, publication and the distribution of these books, or the documentary films, audio recordings, graphic designs based on these books seek or make any financial gain. In the same spirit, this web site gives free access to all the books written by Harun Yahya and other materials inspired by his works.

The books of Harun Yahya and thus this web site seek to recall various crucial facts, which people are led to disregard and even deny under the influence of the turmoil of the modern age. One of these basic facts is that of creation, that the universe, living things and man, are not self-existing entities, but the artifacts of God, the Supreme Creator. We are all created by Him and to Him we will all return. The allegedly "scientific" challenges to this fact - like Darwinism and other materialistic dogmas - are nothing but deceptions, as explained in this site.

This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

** A post from Friday, August 18, 2006:

Why doesn't America believe in evolution?

Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals: true or false? This simple question is splitting America apart, with a growing proportion thinking that we did not descend from an ancestral ape. A survey of 32 European countries, the US and Japan has revealed that only Turkey is less willing than the US to accept evolution as fact.

Religious fundamentalism, bitter partisan politics and poor science education have all contributed to this denial of evolution in the US, says Jon Miller of Michigan State University in East Lansing, who conducted the survey with his colleagues. 'The US is the only country in which [the teaching of evolution] has been politicised,' he says. 'Republicans have clearly adopted this as one of their wedge issues. In most of the world, this is a non-issue.'

Miller's report makes for grim reading for adherents of evolutionary theory. [intelligent design]

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Millers study "Public Acceptance of Evolution": Summary

There is an [even] earlier report (from Friday, August 11, 2006) here

Featured Book "The Bible, the Qur'an, and Science: The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge" by Maurice Bucaille (Amazon Astore UK | US)

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 6:04 PM 0 comments

London, November 21, 2006 - A leading international anti-religion crusader and supporter of Darwinian theory, Dr. Richard Dawkins, has said that the pseudo-science of eugenics that drove the Nazi regime's genocidal project "may not be bad."

Since the end of the second world war, the name of eugenics, the social philosophy that the human species or particular races ought to be improved by selective breeding or other forms of genetic manipulation, is one that conjures instant images of the Nazi death camps and "racial hygiene" programs.

In a letter ("Eugenics may not be bad") to the editor of Scotland's Sunday Herald, Dawkins argues that the time has come to lay this spectre to rest. Dawkins writes that though no one wants to be seen to be in agreement with Hitler on any particular, "if you can breed cattle for milk yield, horses for running speed, and dogs for herding skill, why on Earth should it be impossible to breed humans for mathematical, musical or athletic ability?"

Dawkins holds the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, but is best known as one of the world's most outspoken current opponents of religious belief, giving lectures and interviews and writing articles in which "fundamentalist" Christianity is among his favourite targets.

"I wonder whether, some 60 years after Hitler's death, we might at least venture to ask what the moral difference is between breeding for musical ability and forcing a child to take music lessons. Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them," Dawkins wrote Sunday.

Dawkins' campaign against religion has led him to publish a book, "The God Delusion" (Amazon Astore UK | US), in September this year and he is one of the instigators of the notion, popular with journalists, that the Catholic Church's opposition to artificial contraception will result in mass starvation. [Fundamentalism, Evolution, Racism, Adolf, Genocide]

Continued at "Anti-Religion Extremist Dawkins Advocates Eugenics"
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See "'Why I Am Hostile Toward Religion' by Richard Dawkins" (Monday, November 20, 2006) which begins:

From Beliefnet ('Inspiration, Spirituality, Faith'):

"I oppose fundamentalist religion because it is hell-bent on ruining the scientific education of countless eager minds." - Richard Dawkins, Author of The God Delusion (Amazon Astore UK | US)

"Despite my dislike of gladiatorial contests, I seem somehow to have acquired a reputation for pugnacity toward religion. Colleagues who agree that there is no God, who agree that we do not need religion to be moral, and agree that we can explain the roots of religion and of morality in non-religious terms, nevertheless come back at me in gentle puzzlement. Why are you so hostile? What is actually wrong with religion? Does it really do so much harm that we should actively fight against it? Why not live and let live, as one does with Taurus and Scorpio, crystal energy and ley lines? Isn't it all just harmless nonsense?

Books on Creationism from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 12:21 PM 0 comments

An open access/free paper published by PLoS Biology:

Bushes in the Tree of Life
by Antonis Rokas, Sean B. Carroll* (bio)

Genome analyses are delivering unprecedented amounts of data from an abundance of organisms, raising expectations that in the near future, resolving the tree of life (TOL) will simply be a matter of data collection. However, recent analyses of some key clades in life's history have produced bushes and not resolved trees. The patterns observed in these clades are both important signals of biological history and symptoms of fundamental challenges that must be confronted. Here we examine how the combination of the spacing of cladogenetic events and the high frequency of independently evolved characters (homoplasy) limit the resolution of ancient divergences. Because some histories may not be resolvable by even vast increases in amounts of conventional data, the identification of new molecular characters will be crucial to future progress.

"... there is, after all, one true tree of life, the unique pattern of evolutionary branchings that actually happened. It exists. It is in principle knowable. We don't know it all yet. By 2050 we should - or if we do not, we shall have been defeated only at the terminal twigs, by the sheer number of species." Richard Dawkins [1] (author of The God Delusion: Amazon Astore UK | US)

Who are tetrapods' closest living relatives? Which is the earliest-branching animal phylum? Answers to such fundamental questions would be easy if the historical connections among all living organisms in the TOL were known. Obtaining an accurate depiction of the evolutionary history of all living organisms has been and remains one of biology's great challenges.

The discipline primarily responsible for assembling the TOL- molecular systematics - has produced many new insights by illuminating episodes in life's history, posing new hypotheses, as well as providing the evolutionary framework within which new discoveries can be interpreted [2]. Molecular systematics has surmounted the confusion stemming from comparisons of morphologically disparate species to reveal unexpected evolutionary relationships such as the Afrotheria, a clade composed of strikingly different mammals including elephants, aardvarks, manatees, and golden moles [3]. It has also aided the placement of the history of life in a temporal framework, shedding light on key evolutionary events independently of - and in many cases well before - the availability of fossil or biogeographic evidence. A notable example is the discovery that the Hawaiian drosophilid lineage predates by many million years the oldest extant Hawaiian island, having originated on islands now submerged [4].

Continued at "Bushes in the Tree of Life"
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*The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution By Sean B. Carroll Amazon UK | US - see "'The Making of the Fittest' (Excerpt, Audio Interview, Review)"

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 7:24 PM 0 comments

UCLA researchers in collaboration with researchers at Rutgers University have solved longstanding mysteries surrounding DNA transcription, the first step in carrying out instructions contained in our genes. The breakthrough described in an article in the November 17 issue of the journal Science reveals important structural information about the gyrations of DNA during transcription and the effects of those gyrations on the process.

The discoveries, which inform our understanding of the structure and mechanics of RNAP - an enzyme responsible for making RNA from a DNA or RNA template - can help set the stage for new opportunities in combating bacterial diseases that kill 13 million people worldwide each year.

The researchers used single-molecule spectroscopy to monitor the transfer of energy between - and hence the distance separating - pairs of fluorescent chemical tags attached to key structural elements of RNAP and the DNA double helix during initiation of the transcription process.

Continued at "Researchers Unravel A Mystery About DNA"
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Based on "Initial Transcription by RNA Polymerase Proceeds Through a DNA-Scrunching Mechanism" by Richard H. Ebright (homepage) et al.

Abstract:

Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer to monitor distances within single molecules of abortively initiating transcription initiation complexes, we show that initial transcription proceeds through a "scrunching" mechanism, in which RNA polymerase (RNAP) remains fixed on promoter DNA and pulls downstream DNA into itself and past its active center. We show further that putative alternative mechanisms for RNAP active-center translocation in initial transcription, involving "transient excursions" of RNAP relative to DNA or "inchworming" of RNAP relative to DNA, do not occur. The results support a model in which a stressed intermediate, with DNA-unwinding stress and DNA-compaction stress, is formed during initial transcription, and in which accumulated stress is used to drive breakage of interactions between RNAP and promoter DNA and between RNAP and initiation factors during promoter escape.
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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 7:59 AM 0 comments

From Beliefnet ('Inspiration, Spirituality, Faith'):

"I oppose fundamentalist religion because it is hell-bent on ruining the scientific education of countless eager minds." - Richard Dawkins, Author of The God Delusion (Amazon Astore UK | US)

"Despite my dislike of gladiatorial contests, I seem somehow to have acquired a reputation for pugnacity toward religion. Colleagues who agree that there is no God, who agree that we do not need religion to be moral, and agree that we can explain the roots of religion and of morality in non-religious terms, nevertheless come back at me in gentle puzzlement. Why are you so hostile? What is actually wrong with religion? Does it really do so much harm that we should actively fight against it? Why not live and let live, as one does with Taurus and Scorpio, crystal energy and ley lines? Isn't it all just harmless nonsense?

I might retort that such hostility as I or other atheists occasionally voice toward religion is limited to words. I am not going to bomb anybody, behead them, stone them, burn them at the stake, crucify them, or fly planes into their skyscrapers, just because of a theological disagreement. But my interlocutor usually doesn't leave it at that. He may go on to say something like this: 'Doesn't your hostility mark you out as a fundamentalist atheist, just as fundamentalist in your own way as the wingnuts of the Bible Belt in theirs?' I need to dispose of this accusation of fundamentalism, for it is distressingly common.

Holy Books vs. Evidence

Fundamentalists know they are right because they have read the truth in a holy book and they know, in advance, that nothing will budge them from their belief. The truth of the holy book is an axiom, not the end product of a process of reasoning. The book is true, and if the evidence seems to contradict it, it is the evidence that must be thrown out, not the book. By contrast, what I, as a scientist, believe (for example, evolution) I believe not because of reading a holy book but because I have studied the evidence. It really is a very different matter. Books about evolution are believed not because they are holy. They are believed because they present overwhelming quantities of mutually buttressed evidence. In principle, any reader can go and check that evidence. When a science book is wrong, somebody eventually discovers the mistake and it is corrected in subsequent books. That conspicuously doesn’t happen with holy books.

Continued at "'Why I Am Hostile Toward Religion' by Richard Dawkins"
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An excerpt (Chapter 1) from 'The God Delusion' (Amazon Astore UK | US) is available here courtesy of the New York Times but (free) registration may be required.

See the recent post (Sunday, November 19, 2006) on the The Sunday Times article "Godless Dawkins challenges schools" which ends with:

There are a number of articles (book reviews, etc.) and videos ('The Root of All Evil?: 'The God Delusion' and 'The Virus of Faith'; 'The Blind Watchmaker'; 'The Colbert Report') featuring Richard Dawkins in this weblog (and more) - just type "God Delusion" into the search box in the top left-hand corner of the page and look for 'Video' in the titles.

Books on Creationism from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 11:38 PM 0 comments

At security posts dotted around the fields between the Jura mountains and Lake Geneva scientists are installing hi-tech retina scans above shafts descending 80m down - and leading to the largest scientific instrument ever built.

The machine is being bolted together inside a tunnel 17 miles (27km) long, and when the power is thrown on next year it will recreate conditions unknown for 14bn years since the extraordinary fireball that marked the beginning of the universe - the big bang which blasted time and space into existence.

In the coming months engineers using cranes will lower sections of detectors weighing several thousand tonnes into caverns carved within the tunnel. They will wire in some of the world's largest magnets and test run the machine's computer, built to handle a torrent of data equivalent to 150 times the content of the world wide web each year.

The machine, the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, Europe's particle physics laboratory, in Switzerland, was commissioned as a GBP4.2bn sledgehammer to crack some of the most compelling mysteries of the universe.

...The project may prise open extra dimensions and create baby black holes; it may reveal enigmatic "dark energy" that drives the expansion of the universe. It should certainly discover what some call the "God particle", finally answering the embarrassingly simple but elusive question of why things have mass.

Continued at "In the beginning: scientists get ready to hunt for God particle"
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The 'God Particle' is more properly known as 'Higgs Boson': one page explanations

The following non-streaming videos are available:

CERN in 2 minutes, 2 min, 7 MB
The History of Antimatter, 3 min, 11MB
The Antimatter Factory, 1 min

An 'instant play' video about the work being undertaken at CERN, featuring physicist Brian Cox (homepage) of The School of Physics and Astronomy University of Manchester, can be seen on this webpage.

Feaured Book: "The Anniversary of CERN's Discoveries and a Look into the Future /Prestigious Discoveries at Cern" (Amazon Astore UK | US)

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 12:24 PM 0 comments

News Briefing from Ekklesia dated November 20, 2006: The Christian think-tank Ekklesia and the British Humanist Association (BHA) have welcomed a statement from the British government's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) clarifying that 'creationism' - an ideology which uses discredited readings of scriptural texts to deny fundamental scientific discoveries - can have no legitimate place in UK school science classrooms.

The issue arose after a creationist group calling itself Truth in Science, the majority of whose key supporters believe that the world is only 8-10,000 years old, sent out a pack to secondary science heads encouraging them to include creationism and its cousin 'intelligent design' in their teaching.

Ekklesia and the BHA teamed up to emphasise that this is not an issue which should divide religious and non-religious people. They wrote together to the Department for Education and Skills on 29 September 2006, asking for clear guidelines.

In answer to the two organisations' call that the DfES publicly repudiate these TiS materials, the Department has said that officials are "currently working with the QCA [Qualifications and Curriculum Authority] to find a suitable way of communicating to schools [that] it is not part of the Science National Curriculum."

In addition, the DfES made it categorically clear that "[n]either the DfES nor the QCA have been involved in the development or distribution of the Truth in Science resource pack" - rejecting suggestions from some quarters that the ideas in the pack were somehow acceptable or compatible with their position.

Andrew Copson, BHA education officer, said: "Truth in Science claimed the support of the National Curriculum and then they claimed the acquiescence of the DfES - it's now clear they were wrong on both counts."

Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow added: "Teaching creationism in science classes is no more appropriate than teaching astrology or flat-earthism. It is, quite simply, non-science."

He continued: "From our point of view it is also non-theology – an anachronistic attempt to force ancient figurative texts into denying modern scientific method. It sets up a false and damaging clash between religion and science which specialists in these fields do not accept."

In June 2006 Vatican astronomer Guy J. Consolmagno, a Jesuit priest who in his scientific work has pioneered the field of gravitoelectrodynamics, described creationism as "superstition" harking back to past beliefs in "nature gods".

Ekklesia points to the work of bodies such as the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion (University of Cambridge) and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (California) as among the major places where scientists, theologians and philosophers enjoy positive interaction.

The think-tank says that the churches need to take responsibility for much more thorough education on these issues, since creationism is what Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has rightly called "a category mistake" within Christian thinking.

[Evolution and Religion]

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For links and background info see "'Intelligent Design' attack on UK school science (BBC)", part of which is appended below:

...An organisation called Truth in Science has also sent resource packs to all UK secondary school science departments.

It promotes the idea of intelligent design - that there was an intelligence behind the creation of the universe.

Humanists (1) and a Christian think tank (2) want the government to tell teachers to keep 'a wholly scientific perspective'...

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 7:51 AM 0 comments

The origin of life lies in unique ocean reefs, and scientists from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science have developed an approach to help investigate them better.

A new article published in the November issue of the journal Geology reveals how Dr. Miriam Andres' stromatolite investigation - the first of its kind - has begun to "fingerprint" ancient microbial pathways, increasing the understanding of how these reef-like structures form and offering a new way to explore the origins of these living records, which are considered to be the core of most living organisms.

Modern marine stromatolites are living examples of one of the earth's oldest and most persistent widespread ecosystems. Although rare today, these layered deposits of calcium carbonate are found in shallow marine seas throughout 3.4 billion-year-old geologic records. Ancient stromatolites represent a mineral record of carbonate chemistry and the evolution of early life.

Continued at "Origins of Life: New approach helps expand study of 'living fossils'"
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Based on "Isotopic fingerprints of microbial respiration in aragonite from Bahamian stromatolites"

Abstract:

Authigenic aragonite preserves a carbon isotopic record of heterotrophic microbial influences on dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in microenvironments within shallow subtidal stromatolites from Highborne Cay, Bahamas. A greater amount of aragonite precipitates when and where respiration, rather than photosynthesis, influences local DIC, which is consistent with sulfate reduction promoting carbonate precipitation and calcium release during decay of exopolymeric substances. Thus, heterotrophs play a more direct role than phototrophs in stromatolite lithification. Cyanobacteria are spatially associated with aragonite containing heterotrophic isotopic signatures. Hence, the absence of an autotrophic isotopic signature in the rock record does not imply the absence of photosynthetic organisms.

Featured Book: "Origins: Genesis, Evolution and Diversity of Life (Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology)" by Joseph Seckbach, Editor (Amazon Astore UK | US)

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Permanent Link posted by John Latter @ 7:21 PM 0 comments

From The Sunday Times (UK) November 19, 2006: Richard Dawkins, the Oxford University professor and campaigning atheist, is planning to take his fight against God into the classroom by flooding schools with anti-religious literature.

He is setting up a charity that will subsidise books, pamphlets and DVDs attacking the "educational scandal" of theories such as creationism while promoting rational and scientific thought.

The foundation will also attempt to divert donations from the hands of "missionaries" and church-based charities.

His plans are sparking criticism from academics, religious leaders and fellow scientists. The Church of England described them as "disturbing", while others complained that Dawkins's foundation bore the "whiff of a campaigning organisation" rather than a charity.

John Hall, dean of Westminster and the Church of England's chief education officer, said: "I would be very disturbed if this project was going to be widely supported because it's not based on reasoned argument."

Dawkins, Oxford's professor of the public understanding of science, is the author of various bestsellers extolling evolution, such as The Selfish Gene (Amazon Astore UK | US). His latest book, The God Delusion (Amazon Astore UK | US), is a sustained polemic against religious faith.

Article: "Godless Dawkins challenges schools" [Education, Atheism]

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See "Richard Dawkins' New Anglo-American Charity: 'Our Mission' Video":

RichardDawkins.net has been split into two: The 'original' "The Official Richard Dawkins Website", which will continue to promote books such as The God Delusion, and the non-profit "The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science" whose 'Our Mission' video is shown below...

Books on Creationism from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

There are a number of articles (book reviews, etc.) and videos ('The Root of All Evil? - 'The God Delusion', 'The Virus of Faith; 'The Blind Watchmaker'; 'The Colbert Report') featuring Richard Dawkins in this blog (and more) - just type "God Delusion" into the search box in the top left-hand corner of the page and look for 'Video' in the titles.

Excerpt: Chapter 1 of 'The God Delusion' (Amazon Astore UK | US) is available here from the New York Times but (free) registration may be required. [Review]

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