President of Ball State University Forbids Teaching Intelligent Design

A few months ago Jerry Coyne learned that an astronomy professor (Eric Hedin) at Ball State University (Indiana, USA) was advocating an intelligent design perspective in his course on "The Boundaries of Science." Jerry contacted the Chair of the department to request that the administration intervene to prevent this professor from expressing his personal opinion in class. Jerry also contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the FFRF lawyers sent a letter to Ball State University threatening them with a lawsuit for exposing students to intelligent design creationism in science class. Jerry Coyne, FFRF, and a host of others, think this course is forbidden by the US Constitution.

The Junk DNA Controversy: John Mattick Defends Design

The failure to recognize the implications of the non-coding DNA will go down I think as the biggest mistakes in the history of molecular biology.

John Mattick
abc AustraliaJohn Mattick has just published a paper dealing with the controversy over the ENCODE results and junk DNA. As you might imagine, Mattick defends the idea that most of our genome is functional. He attempts to explain why most of the critics are wrong.

The title of the paper is "The extent of functionality in the human genome" (Mattick and Dinger, 2013). It's published in the HUGO Journal. Recall that HUGO (Human Genome Organization) gave Mattick a prestigious award for his contributions to genome research. (See The Dark Matter Rises for a discussion of these contributions.)

UPDATE: Mike White also discusses this paper at: Having your cake and eating it: more arguments over human genome function.

Mattick's paper begins by mentioning three of the papers that were critical of ENCODE results: Dan Graur's paper (Graur et al. 2013), Ford Doolittle's paper (Doolittle, 2013), and the paper by Niu and Jiang (2013).

He begins by addressing one of Dan Graur's points about conservation.

The Dark Matter Rises

John Mattick is a Professor and research scientist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research at the University of New South Wales (Australia).

John Mattick publishes lots of papers. Most of them are directed toward proving that almost all of the human genome is functional. I want to remind you of some of the things that John Mattick has said in the past so you'll be prepared to appreciate my next post [The Junk DNA Controversy: John Mattick Defends Design].

Mattick believes that the Central Dogma means DNA makes RNA makes protein. He believes that scientists in the past took this very literally and discounted the importance of RNA. According to Mattick, scientists in the past believed that genes were the only functional part of the genome and that all genes encoded proteins.

If that sounds familiar it's because there are many IDiots who make the same false claim. Like Mattick, they don't understand the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology and they don't understand the history that they are distorting.

Mattick believes that there is a correlation between the amount of noncoding DNA in a genome and the complexity of the organism. He thinks that the noncoding DNA is responsible for making tons of regulatory RNAs and for regulating expression of the genes. This belief led him to publish a famous figure (left) in Scientific American.

Mattick has many followers. So many, in fact, that the Human Genome Organization (HUGO) recently gave him an award for his contributions to the study of the human genome. Here's the citation.
Theme
Genomes
& Junk DNA

The Award Reviewing Committee commented that Professor Mattick’s “work on long non-coding RNA has dramatically changed our concept of 95% of our genome”, and that he has been a “true visionary in his field; he has demonstrated an extraordinary degree of perseverance and ingenuity in gradually proving his hypothesis over the course of 18 years.”

Let's see what this "true visionary" is saying this year. The first paper is "The dark matter rises: the expanding world of regulatory RNAs" (Clark et al., 2013). Here's the abstract ...

The ability to sequence genomes and characterize their products has begun to reveal the central role for regulatory RNAs in biology, especially in complex organisms. It is now evident that the human genome contains not only protein-coding genes, but also tens of thousands of non–protein coding genes that express small and long ncRNAs (non-coding RNAs). Rapid progress in characterizing these ncRNAs has identified a diverse range of subclasses, which vary widely in size, sequence and mechanism-of-action, but share a common functional theme of regulating gene expression. ncRNAs play a crucial role in many cellular pathways, including the differentiation and development of cells and organs and, when mis-regulated, in a number of diseases. Increasing evidence suggests that these RNAs are a major area of evolutionary innovation and play an important role in determining phenotypic diversity in animals.

This is his main theme. Mattick believes that a large percentage of the human genome is devoted to making regulatory RNAs that control development. He believes that the evolution of this complex regulatory network is responsible for the creation of complex organisms like humans, which, incidentally, are the pinnicle of evolution according to the figure shown above.

The second paper I want to highlight focuses on a slightly different theme. It's title is "Understanding the regulatory and transcriptional complexity of the genome through structure." (Mercer and Mattick, 2013). In this paper he emphasizes the role of noncoding DNA in creating a complicated three-dimensional chromatin structure within the nucleus. This structure is important in regulating gene expression in complex organisms. Here's the abstract ...

An expansive functionality and complexity has been ascribed to the majority of the human genome that was unanticipated at the outset of the draft sequence and assembly a decade ago. We are now faced with the challenge of integrating and interpreting this complexity in order to achieve a coherent view of genome biology. We argue that the linear representation of the genome exacerbates this complexity and an understanding of its three-dimensional structure is central to interpreting the regulatory and transcriptional architecture of the genome. Chromatin conformation capture techniques and high-resolution microscopy have afforded an emergent global view of genome structure within the nucleus. Chromosomes fold into complex, territorialized three-dimensional domains in concert with specialized subnuclear bodies that harbor concentrations of transcription and splicing machinery. The signature of these folds is retained within the layered regulatory landscapes annotated by chromatin immunoprecipitation, and we propose that genome contacts are reflected in the organization and expression of interweaved networks of overlapping coding and noncoding transcripts. This pervasive impact of genome structure favors a preeminent role for the nucleoskeleton and RNA in regulating gene expression by organizing these folds and contacts. Accordingly, we propose that the local and global three-dimensional structure of the genome provides a consistent, integrated, and intuitive framework for interpreting and understanding the regulatory and transcriptional complexity of the human genome.

Other posts about John Mattick.

How Not to Do Science
John Mattick on the Importance of Non-coding RNA
John Mattick Wins Chen Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Human Genetic and Genomic Research
International team cracks mammalian gene control code
Greg Laden Gets Suckered by John Mattick
How Much Junk in the Human Genome?
Genome Size, Complexity, and the C-Value Paradox

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Clark, M.B., Choudhary, A., Smith, M.A., Taft, R.J. and Mattick, J.S. (2013) The dark matter rises: the expanding world of regulatory RNAs. Essays in Biochemistry 54:1-16. [doi:10.1042/bse0540001]

Mercer, T.R. and Mattick, J.S. (2013) Understanding the regulatory and transcriptional complexity of the genome through structure. Genome research 23:1081-1088 [doi: 10.1101/gr.156612.113]

Teach the Controversy

I favor a strategy called "Teach the Controversy."¹ I think high school teachers should directly address issues that are controversial in society. In science classes they should address and debunk common misconceptions about science.

There doesn't seem to be much of a problem with this idea in Canada but in the United States there is a lot of opposition to the idea. Check out Jerry Coyne's recent post to see what I mean: Once again Larry Moran decries legal battles against creationism.

Let's focus on a specific example. First, we need some background. Many state legislatures in the USA have seriously considered, or passed, so-called Academic Freedom bills. On the surface, these bill look innocuous. They are designed to promote critical thinking in state schools. Part of that process involves challenging and debating controversial science topics. We all know, however, that the real propose is to allow teachers to challenge evolution by teaching alternative "theories" (i.e. creationism).

The state of Louisiana passed the Louisiana Science Education Act in 2008. You can follow the link to a detailed summary of why the legislation is opposed by many scientists and by many scientific and education organizations. So far, attempts to repeal it have failed and no group has been able to mount a successful legal challenge. If this ever gets to court it will soak up thousands of hours of time and effort and it's not clear what the result will be. It would be a disaster if the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the state and lost.

Why not try a different strategy? Here's the text of the Louisiana Science Education Act

Section 1. R.S. 17:285.1 is hereby enacted to read as follows:

§285.1. Science education; development of critical thinking skills

A. This Section shall be known and may be cited as the "Louisiana Science Education Act."

B.(1) The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, upon request of a city, parish, or other local public school board, shall allow and assist teachers, principals, and other school administrators to create and foster an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.

(2) Such assistance shall include support and guidance for teachers regarding effective ways to help students understand, analyze, critique, and objectively review scientific theories being studied, including those enumerated in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection.

C. A teacher shall teach the material presented in the standard textbook supplied by the school system and thereafter may use supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner, as permitted by the city, parish, or other local public school board unless otherwise prohibited by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

D. This Section shall not be construed to promote any religious doctrine, promote discrimination for or against a particular set of religious beliefs, or promote discrimination for or against religion or nonreligion.

E. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and each city, parish, or other local public school board shall adopt and promulgate the rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this Section prior to the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.

Why not find a few high school teachers and support them in an effort to adhere to the law by teaching critical thinking? They could choose a couple of examples of controversial ideas in Louisiana society and address them head-on in their science classes. I suggest two popular ideas that challenge the textbook description of evolution.

1. The universe was created only 6000 years ago.
2. Humans were created separately from apes.

The scientific community could support these teachers by preparing "support and guidance for teachers regarding effective ways to help students understand, analyze, critique, and objectively review scientific theories being studied" and by developing lesson planes to cover the material in just a few hours for each topic.

The evidence and lesson plans could be posted online and evolution supporters could publicize the lessons and show how effective it is to teach critical thinking by debunking some popular myths. At first there may be only a few teachers willing to take a stand but hopefully those numbers would grow as more and more teachers realize that they will have solid support from the scientific community.

Even students who aren't in the designated classrooms will become aware of the dangers of teaching the controversy. Maybe state politicians will have second thoughts. They might try and silence the teachers but that would be difficult given that the law specifically encourages teachers to teach the controversy. It would be interesting if they tried to stop the lessons by claiming that those ideas were religious and debunking them was an example of discrimination against religion.

I submit that this might be a far more effective strategy for changing people's minds than fighting another court case.

Please don't argue that those two ideas aren't "science" and should never be discussed in a science classroom. Those ideas are attacks on science and they are certainly part of the controversy about evolution—at least in Louisiana. Moreover, those are exactly the sorts of things that the politicians had in mind when they voted overwhelmingly for this law back in 2008. There's no better way to teach critical thinking than to use specific examples of bad science to show students how to recognize the difference between good science and bad science.

Many people think that teaching the controversy means bringing stupid ideas into the classroom and treating them as if they were respectable alternatives to real science. That's a false assumption. You can just as easily bring stupid ideas into the classroom and teach students why they are stupid ideas. That would be a good thing.

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[Image Credit: The images are from Intelligently designed Sarcastic T-shirts. They don't necessarily support my position on this issue but they have cool T-shirts.]

1. I'm perfectly well aware of the fact that Teach the Controversy is a Discovery Institute slogan and ad campaign.

Monday's Molecule #211

Last week's molecule was the the R stereoisomer of ibuprofen [((R)-2-(4-(2-methylpropyl)phenyl)propanoic acid]. The winner was undergraduate Jacob Toth. [Monday's Molecule #210].

Today's molecule is an easy one. All you have to do is give the common name and a brief explanation of its significance.

Email your answers to me at: Monday's Molecule #211. I'll hold off posting your answers for 24 hours. The first one with the correct answer wins. I will only post the names of people with mostly correct answers to avoid embarrassment. The winner will be treated to a free lunch.

There could be two winners. If the first correct answer isn't from an undergraduate student then I'll select a second winner from those undergraduates who post the correct answer. You will need to identify yourself as an undergraduate in order to win. (Put "undergraduate" at the bottom of your email message.)

The 25 Richest People Who Ever Lived

This list is biased toward Americans and Englishmen. I'm sure there are many others who deserve to be in the top 25. There are other problems; for example, property values in the middle ages are probably inflated. Nevertheless, it's an interesting list of men (no women). They are ranked by their estimated net worth in 2012 inflation-adjusted American dollars. You can find out more details at: The 25 Richest People Who Ever Lived – Inflation Adjusted.

There don't appear to be any scientists (or philosophers) on the list. Three of my ancestors are on the list (#6, #15, and #16) but I didn't inherit a penny.

1. Mansa Musa I of Mali (1280-1337): $400 billion
2. The Rothschild family: $350 billion
3. John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937): $340 billion
4. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919): $310 billion
5. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (1868-1918): $300 billion
6. Mir Osman Ali Khan (1886-1967): $230 billion
7. William The Conqueror (1028-1087): $229.5 billion
8. Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011): $200 billion
9. Henry Ford (1863-1947): $199 billion
10. Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877): $185 billion
11. Alan Rufus (1040-1093): $178.65 billion
12. Bill Gates (1955 - ): $136 billion
13. William de Warenne ( -1088) $147.13 billion
14. John Jacob Astor (176-1848): $121 billion
15. Richard FitzAlan (1306-1376): $118.6 billion
16. John of Gaunt (1340-1399): $110 billion
17. Stephen Girard (1750-1831): $105 billion
18. Alexander Turney ("A.T.") Stewart (1803-1876): $90 billion
19. Henry of Grosmont (Duke of Lancaster) (1310-1361): $85.5 billion
20. Friedrich Weyerhauser (1834-1914): $80 billion
21. Jay Gould (1836-1892): $71 billion
22. Carlos Slim Helu (1940- ): $68 billion
23. Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764-1839): $68 billion
24. Marshall Field (1834-1906): $66 billion
25. Samuel ("Sam") Moore Walton (1918-1992): $65 billion
26. Warren Buffett (1930 - ): $64 billion

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My Connection to Geoffrey Chaucer and Medieval Science

One of my ancestors is Katherine de Roet (1349-1403) better known as Katherine Swynford since she married Hugh Swynford. Katherine was the mistress (later wife) of John of Gaunt (1340-1399) and they had several children. I descend from one of them, John Beaufort (1373-1410).¹

Katherine's father was Paon de Roet better known as Sir Gilles. He comes from Hainault in Belgium and he served Philippa of Hainault who became the wife of King Edward III of England.

Katherine's sister, also called Philippa (1346-1387) [Philippa Roet] was a prominent member of Queen Philippa's court in England. At first, she was a child companion of the children of Elizabeth of Ulster and the Queen but later on she was a lady-in-waiting. Geoffrey Chaucer became a page in the household of Elizabeth of Ulster in 1357 when he was 14 and Phillipa was 11.

Queen Philippa encouraged them to marry in September 1366. Chaucer and Philippa Roet had two sons and two daughters. The youngest son, Lewis, was born in 1381 and attended Oxford beginning in 1391. Chaucer noticed that his son was interested in science and he wrote A Treatise on the Astrolabe to explain the workings of an astrolabe that he gave him when he was about 10 years old.

A Treatise on the Astrolabe
Geoffrey Chaucer
Lyte Lowys my sone, I aperceyve wel by certeyne evydences thyn abilite to lerne sciences touching nombres and proporciouns; and as wel considre I thy besy praier in special to lerne the tretys of the Astrelabie. Than for as moche as a philosofre saith, "he wrappith him in his frend, that condescendith to the rightfulle praiers of his frend," therfore have I yeven the a suffisant Astrolabie as for oure orizonte, compowned after the latitude of Oxenforde; upon which, by mediacioun of this litel tretys, I purpose to teche the a certein nombre of conclusions aperteynyng to the same instrument.

[Little Lewis my son, I perceive well by certain evidences thine ability to learn sciences touching numbers and proportions; and as well consider I thy constant prayer in special to learn the treatise of the Astrolabe. Than for as much as a philosopher saith, "He wrappth him in his friend, that condescendth to the rightful prayers of his friend", therefore have I given thee a suffisant Astrolabe as for our horizons, compounded after the latitude of Oxford; upon which, by means of this little treatise, I purpose to teach thee a certain number of conclusions pertaining to the same instrument.

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[Image credits: Wikipedia: Geoffrey Chaucer, Wikipedia: Chaucer Astrolobe]

1. Almost everyone who has European ancestors will eventually connect to European nobility so there are millions of people who descend from John of Gaunt [see Are You a Descendant of Charlemagne?]. If you know the names of all sixteen of your great-great-grandparents and their dates and places of birth, then chances are high that you can make the connection with only a little effort.

On Beating Dead Horses

I've mentioned this before but it bears repeating. One of my Ph.D. students (Sharon Shtang) wrote her thesis on sequence comparisons and phylogenetic trees. She found a quotation from Emil Zuckerkandl and Linus Pauling in their 1965 review. They were commenting on using amino acid sequences to prove evolution. This seemed at the time to be an example of overkill since evolution was then, and is now, a fact. They said ...

Some beating of dead horses may be ethical, where here and there they display unexpected twitches that look like life.

I was reminded of this while reading Salvador Corova's latest post on Uncommon Descent because he refers to beating dead horses [If not Rupe and Sanford’s presentation (8/6/13), would you believe Wiki? In this case, yes]. I'm not going to make any comments. Read it and weep for the IDiots.
Theme

Mutation

Evolutionists reluctantly admit most evolution is free of selection and therefore non-Darwinian (neutral evolution). When pressed, they’ll say neutral drift is real, but they don’t like it when the dots are connected in a way that demonstrates neutral evolution refutes Darwinism, that there is a contradiction between Dawkins’ vision and neutral evolution! The way Darwinists deal with this violation of the law of non-contradiction is to pretend no contradiction exists. They’ll obfuscate and fog the issue with myriad technical terms and irrelevancies so that the illusion of non-contradiction is protected from public view. Confusion and the illusion of some higher knowledge are their friends, clarity and education of the public are their enemies.

If Dawkins had been faithful to the facts, he wouldn’t have even written The Blind Watchmaker because population genetics precludes his vision of evolution from being reality in anything but his silly Weasel simulations.

There is a simple formula from Wiki that says the rate of new mutations is the rate at which new mutations become features of every member of the population (a process called fixation).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixation_(population_genetics)

The population size is N and the Greek symbol μ (mu) is the mutation rate.

It stands to reason a slightly deleterious mutation is almost neutral, hence, approximately speaking the rate that slightly deleterious mutations become part of every member of the population is on the same order of the slightly deleterious mutation rate. That means if every human is getting 100 dysfunctional mutation per generation, about 100 dysfunctional mutations are getting irreversibly infused into humans every generation (a ratchet so to speak).

But as bad as that is, it’s actually worse in reality. Remember broken bacterial parts in anti-biotic resistance, or blindness in cave fish, or sickle cell anemia? Those are “beneficial” (in the Darwinian sense) mutations, but destructive in the functional sense. So it is actually generous the creationists are modeling the dysfunctional mutations as slightly deleterious (whereas a fair argument might actually model some of the dysfunctional mutations as “beneficial”). So the creationists are cutting Darwinists a lot of slack, and yet, even then the dysfunctional mutations will get fixed (become members of all individuals) in a population! Not to mention, lots of bad may get purged from a population only to get replaced with new generations of bad....

But obvious math is something Darwinism hates dealing with! The above equation should be painful evidence against evolution being some process of increasing complexity from a primordial virus to incredible minds like Newton or Einstein. Darwinist won’t come to terms with it, they won’t come to terms with even a computer simulation based on population genetic models. Oh well! But anyway, Christopher Rupe and John Sanford will be presenting the results of a computer simulation that illustrates the above equation. It’s sort of like beating a dead horse or beating living puppies. It’s not very sporting, but Darwinists keep propping up that dead horse for creationists to keep beating.

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Zuckerkandl, E. and Pauling, L. (1965) in EVOLVING GENES AND PROTEINS, V. Bryson and H.J. Vogel eds. Academic Press, New York NY USA

Should Trinity Western University Law School Be Granted Accreditation?

Trinity Western University is located in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It wants to have a Law School so it has applied for accreditation from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. Many people are opposed, including The Globe and Mail: Trinity Western should emulate its U.S. equivalents.

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada should not accredit a new law school at Trinity Western University. Doing otherwise would be to endorse the university’s discrimination against gays and lesbians. The FLSC should also use this occasion to follow the lead of its American counterpart and adopt anti-discrimination standards for all law schools seeking accreditation.

What's the problem? The problem is that Trinity Western University is a Christian college that requires that all students and staff adhere to certain "Christian" principles. Here's what they say in their Community Covenant.

This covenant applies to all members of the TWU community, that is, administrators, faculty and staff employed by TWU and its affiliates, and students enrolled at TWU or any affiliate program. Unless specifically stated otherwise, expectations of this covenant apply to both on and off TWU’s campus and extension sites. Sincerely embracing every part of this covenant is a requirement for employment. Employees who sign this covenant also commit themselves to abide by TWU Employment Policies. TWU welcomes all students who qualify for admission, recognizing that not all affirm the theological views that are vital to the University’s Christian identity. Students sign this covenant with the commitment to abide by the expectations contained within the Community Covenant, and by campus policies published in the Academic Calendar and Student Handbook.

...

People face significant challenges in practicing biblical sexual health within a highly sexualized culture. A biblical view of sexuality holds that a person’s decisions regarding his or her body are physically, spiritually and emotionally inseparable. Such decisions affect a person’s ability to live out God’s intention for wholeness in relationship to God, to one’s (future) spouse, to others in the community, and to oneself. Further, according to the Bible, sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage between one man and one woman, and within that marriage bond it is God’s intention that it be enjoyed as a means for marital intimacy and procreation. Honouring and upholding these principles, members of the TWU community strive for purity of thought and relationship, respectful modesty, personal responsibility for actions taken, and avoidance of contexts where temptation to compromise would be particularly strong.

In other words, gays and lesbians are not going to be welcome at the Law School.

It seems pretty straightforward to me. As Veronica Abbas points out "FLSC doesn’t need to need to emulate or follow the precedents of any other countries¹ law schools, it should insist that Trinity Western University follow the Canadian Human Rights Act and BC Human Rights Code as a prerequisite for accreditation" [No Gays Need Apply].

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1. If I were interested in correcting her spelling and grammar, I might suggest "country's"—but I would never do that, it would get me in big trouble!

Get a Job: Dallas, Texas (USA)

The Chair of my department¹ asked me to post this job advertisement in case any biochemists might be interested. It's a challenging position in Dallas, Texas. You'll have plenty of opportunity to investigate some of the weirdest subjects in all of biology. All you really need is an inquisitive mind—with a few minor restrictions [Wanted: Young Creation Scientists].

ICR, together with the rest of the creation science movement, has made great strides in the last 40 years. In many areas, the superiority of the creation worldview has been clearly demonstrated. Even now, ICR is making exciting discoveries in the fields of biology and geology, and we have started new research initiatives in the field of astronomy. However, there is much work that still needs to be done, and this work is hindered by a lack of trained scientists.

Therefore, we appeal to any Bible-believing young person with an interest in science—have you considered cultivating that science interest for the glory of God?

Many young people choose careers for all the wrong reasons (e.g., maybe a college major is “easy” or they can earn a lot of money). Yet some choices in this area can have negative consequences later in life.What good is it to earn a large salary if your job is unfulfilling? Is it worth it to major in an easy field if you ultimately get a job that you dislike? Little wonder that so many adults are eager to retire from the workforce—they hate their jobs!

How much better to choose a career path that will bring ultimate fulfillment, a decision inspired by a God-given desire to work in a field that will bring glory to the Creator. Young Christian, if God has given you a desire to serve Him in a particular area, then consider His promptings. Maybe He is leading you to serve Him in the field of science. It may involve short-term sacrifice, but God’s best often requires hard work.

If you have an interest in science, then pursue it. An aptitude and a genuine love for science is a rare gift—maybe you can be the one to make a startling discovery or a life-changing advancement in the field. Maybe history will be different because of you. Perhaps you can be the one to finally break the evolutionary monopoly on our institutions of higher learning.

Of course, not everyone has an interest in science. God has given us all different gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-7) and called us to different areas of service. But Christian young people might consider the challenge to seek God’s wisdom about their future, to consider His direction when they are making their career choices.

For those who do have an interest in science, we wish to offer a few words of advice. Work hard to get the best possible grades and push yourself to truly understand the material. When choosing a school, choose one with a rigorous academic program and a research program that truly interests you. Although you should not be dishonest about what you believe, it’s probably prudent to not draw attention to your creationist beliefs while you are a student, particularly if you are in a field that directly touches upon the origins controversy (such as paleontology, biology, or geology).

Given the increasing anti-Christian sentiment in society and the academic persecution in the secular universities, there may very well come a day when it will no longer be possible for a Bible-believing Christian to get an advanced degree in the natural sciences. Academically gifted young Christians should therefore “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16) before that door of opportunity closes.

They don't say how many letters of reference they need. They also don't mention salary. Something in the range of $100,000 - $120,000 would be typical for real scientists at a good school in Texas. ICR probably has to pay more in order to get the very best candidates.

Start-up funds are negotiable but you should probably ask for one million dollars to set up a decent lab. That's about the minimum you're going to need since your chances of getting NIH or NSF funding are pretty slim.

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1. He has a great sense of humor. I'm not sure if he wants to be identified by name on this blog but you can find him on our website under Justin Nodwell, Chair.

Every non-lethal genome position is variable in the human population

Melissa Wilson Sayres blogs at mathbionerd and Panda's Thumb. A recent post on Panda's Thumb address a tweet from Daniel Wegmann where he said "Every non-lethal genome position is variable in the human population."

She asks "Is this true?" and proceeds to show that it is [How many mutations?]. She assumes that the human mutation rate is 1.2 × 10^-8 per sit per generation. Multiply this by 7.16 billion people on the planet and you get an average of 86 mutations at every single base pair in the human genome.¹

Many of these mutations will be deleterious and they will be quickly eliminated from the population if they are lethal or cause severe problems. Some moderately and slightly deleterious mutations will be present in the population because they haven't yet been eliminated by negative selection. (Some will have no effect if they are present in only one copy of your diploid genome.)

To a first approximation, the statement is pretty accurate. If it's true that most of our genome is junk then the nucleotide sequence is not important.² As we sequence more and more genomes we should see heterogeneity at 90% of the base pairs in the genome. We haven't reached this sort of coverage but all available evidence is consistent with the idea that most positions can be variable.

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1 I prefer a larger mutation rate of 100 new mutations per generation for a total of 112 mutations at every site.

2. This doesn't rule out functions that are not sequence-specific. Such functions are known to exist but there are no reasonable hypotheses that justify such functions for most of the genome.

David Klinghoffer Asks a Serious Question?

Well, maybe not really serious. His latest post on Evolution News & Views (sic) is about something called "Darwinian censorship" ["Shut Up," They Said: On the Medved Show, John West Discusses Darwinian Culture of Censorship].

At the end, he asks ...

When did you last hear of a Darwinist willing to seriously entertain -- not merely condemn and shout down -- counterarguments. The most frequently employed argument in the Darwinian arsenal at the moment is "Shut up."

It seems to me that real scientists and philosophers have spent a considerable amount of time addressing the claims of Intelligent Design Creationism. I could even argue that they have spent too much time given that IDiots rarely pay attention.

In my own area of expertise, I've addressed many of the claims made in Darwin's Black Box, The Edge of Evolution, Icons of Evolution, The Myth of Junk DNA, Science & Human Origins, and Signature in the Cell. I've also discussed dozens of blog posts over the years.

And I'm not alone. There are hundreds of articles and posts by dozens of scientists and philosophers. David Klinghoffer's question is ridiculous. Perhaps he's confused because he demands "seriously entertain" and he's disappointed when we seriously entertain their arguments and conclude that they are silly. Perhaps he will only accept that we have "seriously entertained" their arguments when we agree with them? That wouldn't surprise me, it's perfectly consistent with creationist logic.

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IDiots Don't Understand Punctuated Equilibria

Intelligent Design Creationism is a movement dedicated to discrediting evolution and attacking the rational explanation of nature.¹ The evidence is in the books and blogs and the propaganda distributed to local school boards and state legislators. The attack on science and scientists makes up about 99% of their activities.

Given their dedication to disproving evolution, you'd think that the IDiots must at least understand it. Maybe not all of them—because there are some really, really, stupid IDiots—but certainly some of the most prominent IDiots should know what they're talking about? Right? Doesn't that seem reasonable?

The facts say otherwise. Off hand, I can't think of a single IDiot who has an adequate understanding of the science they attack. Believe me, I've tried harder than most to find an intelligent believer.

Dan Dennett vs. Andrew Brown

I remember meeting Andrew Brown in a London pub seven years ago. He didn't like the New Atheists then and he still doesn't like them. I remember struggling to understand his accommodationist position back in 2006 and failing completely. At the time I attributed it to the beverages we were consuming but later on as I read his articles—when we were both sober—I realized that his position made no sense.

Andrew Brown sat down with Dan Dennett to discuss "Do the New Atheists have any new ideas?.

Andrew Brown challenges philosopher and atheist Daniel Dennett to convince him that the New Atheists have new ideas – and that they have really changed the face of belief in America. Dennett, one of the original 'four horsemen' of new atheism (along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens), has argued that belief in God is not merely mistaken, but dangerous.

Watch the short video and judge for yourself whether Andrew Brown is making sense.

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[Hat Tip: Jerry Coyne]

Ugly Americans

I don't mean to pick on PZ Myers—he's just one of many seemingly intelligent people who think that the American system of government is far superior to the governments of countries like the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, Jordan, Spain, Sweden, Malaysia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark.

Here's what he posted today [My deepest regrets to the people of the United Kingdom ] ...

Apparently, your antiquated monarchy is going to continue, and the birth of a child of extraordinary privilege warrants far more attention than the birth of thousands who will live in poverty. I hope you get over it soon, and I hope it doesn’t infect my country; despite fighting a revolution to get out from under a king, there are a lot of conservatives with a bizarre sentimental attachment to the idea of a hereditary aristocracy.

There's a certain irony in this statement since Americans are fond of celebrating babies born into extraordinary privilege, especially if they are movie stars. Furthermore, the percentage of children born into poverty in the USA exceeds that of many of the European monarchies. I'm reminded of pots and kettles.

But, more importantly, the condescending attitude of superiority is totally unjustified. The UK is a democracy with a parliamentary system of government and a ceremonial Head of State who happens to be a monarch. It's a system of government that is vastly superior to the American system, in my opinion. The people of the United Kingdom (and all other democratic monarchies) are perfectly capable of abolishing the monarchy if they choose. The fact that they haven't must mean that they like it that way.¹ Why can't Americans respect that? They certainly demand that the rest of the world respect their choices!

Why do Americans have so much trouble seeing the world as non-Americans see it?

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1. Of course there are many citizens of monarchies who wish to abolish the monarchy. You can be sure that quite a few of them will show up in the comments below.