I’ll be doing a live debate on August 1, 2021, at 3:00 PM ET (7:00 PM GMT) with Ahmed Abdelsattar, a computer engineer who is also an Islamic apologist and frequently makes videos about why he does not accept the theory of evolution. Hope some of you will be able to watch!
Category: Biology
How bad are some of the arguments for the Wuhan lab leak? This bad.
For some reason I forgot to include this in my last post, but I think it is sufficiently entertaining and revealing to warrant a post all to itself. Birger Sorensen (above left) is chairman of Bionor, a company trying to develop a vaccine for HIV. He has been involved in the development of several patented vaccines. Angus Dalgleish (above right) is an oncologist at Cancer Center London. His main research interests are the role of viruses in causing cancer and the development of vaccines against cancer. These two men do not believe SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, arose naturally. Instead, they believe it was deliberately created by labs in China.
Continue reading “How bad are some of the arguments for the Wuhan lab leak? This bad.”Why the Wuhan lab leak conspiracy theory is wrong, and why it matters
It is not surprising that, when a cataclysmic event like the current SARS-C0V-2 (COVID-19) pandemic occurs, crackpot ideas and conspiracy theories soon follow. Not long after the pandemic was declared claims began circulating that it was caused by 5G wireless signals or that it was a plot to install microchips into the global population. Ideas of such absurdity, persistent though they may be, can be summarily dismissed as the nonsense they are.
One particular claim, however, has not been so easily dismissed. While experts consider it most likely that the virus arose naturally in bats and was then passed on to humans thru another, as yet unidentified, animal host, there is an alternative scenario that continues to draw attention and support: That the virus escaped from a research lab in Wuhan province where the pandemic first started. In some versions of the theory, the virus was the result of “gain of function” experiments that increased the lethality of the virus before its escape into the population. An early backer of this theory was Donald Trump, which was only to be expected given his penchant for unhinged conspiracy theories as well as his antipathy towards China. But the lab leak theory has continued to gain traction even among respectable and well-regarded media outlets and authorities. A number of scientists wrote a letter to Science demanding that this possibility be more strongly considered, and the Biden administration has ordered its intelligence agencies to investigate the possibility that the pandemic could have originated from a lab accident.
Ken Miller, Genie Scott & Barbara Forrest: 15 Years After Dover
I have been discussing the the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial which ended exactly 15 years ago last Sunday . Three of the key figures who supported the plaintiffs recently sat down for interviews with S. Joshua Swamidass and (on two of the interviews) Nathan Lents for the Peaceful Science blog. Videos of the interviews can be found at the bottom of the page.
Continue reading “Ken Miller, Genie Scott & Barbara Forrest: 15 Years After Dover”Michael Behe: 15 Years After Dover
This month marks fifteen years since the conclusion of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial which ruled that Intelligent Design (ID) is a form of creationism and, therefore, could not be taught as a scientific theory in American public schools. Recently, several of the people involved in the trial have given interviews about it, among them biochemist Michael Behe, the most prominent proponent of ID to testify at the trial.
Continue reading “Michael Behe: 15 Years After Dover”Kitzmiller v. Dover 15 Years Later
This month marks the fifteenth anniversary of the conclusion of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, a significant event in the history of the conflict between creationism and science. In 2004, Young Earth Creationist members of Pennsylvania’s Dover Area School District were engaged in efforts to alter the school curriculum to suggest that there were serious weaknesses to the theory of evolution and that creationism was a legitimate alternative. Their efforts eventually culminated in the board passing a resolution that required biology teachers to read a statement to their class that said, in part:
Continue reading “Kitzmiller v. Dover 15 Years Later”The resilience of nature: Toronto’s Leslie Street Spit
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here. I have been mostly preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the measures we have had to take to prevent its spread, as I suspect you have been as well. However, yesterday was a lovely spring day so my wife and I decided to take a bike ride to one of our favourite spots in the city: Tommy Thompson Park, located on the Leslie Street Spit. (While observing physical distancing precautions, of course.)
Continue reading “The resilience of nature: Toronto’s Leslie Street Spit”