“Missing Link” Found in the Evolution of the Eye
Professor Shaun Collin of the University of Queenland’s School of Biomedical Sciences, working with colleagues, have found the missing link in evolutionary science that has plagued Darwin’s theory since its inception – the evolutionary leap from eyes that can distinguish light from dark to those that see clear, colorful pictures like our own.
Professor Collins said, “Charles Darwin wasn’t able to reconcile the evolution of the eye given its complexities and diversity of eye designs.” Now, this is no longer the case, as they have identified animals that successfully bridge that evolutionary gap.
“So it was a major surprise for us that we have found what appears to be a clear progression from a simple eye to a complex eye, which occurred over a relatively short period (30 million years) in evolutionary history,” said Professor Collins.
The missing link was found among fish, particularly a species known as the hagfish. According to Collins, “This animal diverged from our own line somewhere around 530 million years ago.
“Hagfish are simple, eel-shaped jawless and ugly animals, that inhabit the oceans at great depth, and that are renowned for the revolting ‘slime’ they exude when disturbed.
“They behave as if blind, though they have a primitive eye-like structure beneath an opaque eye-patch on either side of the head. Previously it had widely been thought that the hagfish eye had degenerated from a lamprey-like precursor.
“But our research suggests hagfish did not degenerate from lamprey-like ancestors, but are instead the remnants of an earlier sister group.”
Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin
More Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil than Darwin’s theory of evolution, according to a new Harris poll released on Thursday. It is the latest survey to highlight America’s deep level of religiosity, a cultural trait that sets it apart from much of the developed world.
Read the full story at Reuters Life!
The Poo Theory of Life
The Cambrian period began a little over 500 million years ago. Before the Cambrian period, life on earth consisted of mostly single-celled organisms and bacteria. Afterwards the evolutionary ancestors of all the major groups of living things today were hanging around the planet. So what caused this evolutionary leap? According to one scientist, poop.
Biogeochemist Graham Logan published his opinion on the matter a few years ago. He points out that feces producing creatures, ones that ate food then excreted it like humans today, first arrived around 40 million years before the Cambrian period. He argued that their poo was what allowed oxygen levels to rise, and evolution to explode.
Read the full article at EnvironmentalGraffiti.com
Scientology: Inside the Cult
Watch as a journalist infiltrates the cult of Scientology and unveils their bizarre yet effective recruiting tactics.
Intelligent Design trying new tactics that just may make headway
Intelligent Design cannot currently be taught in public schools thanks to the well publicized Dover trial. Moreover, it’s very unlikely this decision could be successfully challenged in the near future. So now Intelligent Design advocates are looking in new directions and trying new tactics to get their message out to young people.
1. Sow seeds of doubt regarding evolution at the high school level. Since high schools are required to teach evolution, but are prohibited from proseletyzing for Christianity, Intelligent Design advocates have instead decided to simply instill doubts regarding evolution in the minds of impressionable high school students. The idea is to push school boards to adopt science books that teach the problems with the Theory of Evolution – even if those problems are unfounded or discredited.
2. Misleadingly use terms such as “academic freedom” to encourage the teaching of “alternative theories” at the college level. I’ve already written about Ben Stein’s new film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which asserts that college scientists have been excluding valid scientific data that supports the supernatural – a premise that is fallacious to the extreme, but likely will resonate well with believers. This seems to be just a part of a concerted attack against the well-established Theory of Evolution.
Read more about these developments at ARS Technica.
Holy pancake sold for $338
Port St. Lucie (CBS4) ? A South Florida woman got a spiritual surprise on Sunday morning while making breakfast when she claims an image resembling Jesus and Mary appeared on her pancake.
Marilyn Smith, from Port St. Lucie, says she was about to put chocolate chips in her pancake, when she saw the divine outline appear.
Read the full article at CBS4.com
The Spirit of Truth – One Man Show
This is a classic. I can’t even begin to put this into words. You just have to watch it for yourself.
Be warned: This video has very adult language, spoken in the name of the Lord.
Richard Dawkins announces possible book for children
Richard Dawkins, speaking at the Atheist Alliance International convention (AAI 07), announced that he is considering writing his own children’s book to teach reason and truth, in an effort to counter the early indoctrination into wild superstitions among our youth.
Fred Phelps rants on CNN about the Snyder verdict
Fred Phelps argues that God is killing soldiers in the middle east because of America’s tolerance of homosexuals, and recently lost a lawsuit for $10.9 million to the father of a soldier whose funeral was protested by Phelps and his gang of fag-hating Christian thugs. Now you can hear the man for himself, as he rants incoherently to Rick Sanchez on CNN!
In Military, Non-Believers Harrassed and Threatened
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — In the midst of their fight to bring freedom to Iraq and Afghanistan, some American soldiers say they are finding their own freedoms threatened by the troops on their own side.
Though the U.S. Constitution mandates that the government apply no test of faith for employment (and presumably deployment), soldiers who are open about their non-belief can face harassment and ostracizing from fellow troops and their officers, some say.
Read the full story at the Beliefnet blog.