Harvard Jumps Into Evolution Debate

[tocqueville]

27 minutes ago

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard University is joining the long-running debate over the theory of evolution by launching a research project to study how life began.

The team of researchers will receive $1 million in funding annually from Harvard over the next few years. The project begins with an admission that some mysteries about life's origins cannot be explained.

"My expectation is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention," said David R. Liu, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard.

The "Origins of Life in the Universe Initiative" is still in its early stages, scientists told the Boston Sunday Globe. Harvard has told the research team to make plans for adding faculty members and a collection of multimillion-dollar facilities.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050815/ap_on_sc/harvard_evolution

[kiraboo]

1. Stephen J. Gould is probably rolling over in his grave!

[jrthin]

2. Jesus, Holy, Christ.

Why don't we have a study to verify whether the earth is flat or round?

[Union Thug]

3. Who needs to study? Simple prayer is all you need.

The US - Welcome to the new middle ages!

[HockeyMom]

6. Throw out the Science books

and replace them with the BIBLE, don't ya know?

[Pepperbelly]

4. If they cannot replicate it ...

how can it be proven?

[Warren Stupidity]

5. The headline is total bullshit

The Boston Globe carried this story and it looks like AP is just re-sourcing it. Read the article. Other than these two paragraphs:

Evolution is a fundamental scientific theory that species evolved over millions of years. It has been standard in most public school science texts for decades but recently re-emerged in the spotlight as communities and some states debated whether school children should also be taught about creationism or intelligent design.

The theory of intelligent design says life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation.

there is nothing about Inferior Design or a 'debate' between ID and evolutionary theory. The author appears to have made this part up, it would appear to be editorial rather than reportorial.

Now onto the direct bullshit: "intelligent design says life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution". Well no, ID claims that some bits and pieces of creatures are 'irreducibly complex' and therefore cannot have evolved but instead must have been designed. The Harvard study is looking at how life originated, not at how flagellum or eyeballs or whatever are too complex for your local pastor to believe that they could have evolved.

[A Simple Game]

7. The backers of intelligent design should welcome this.

This is the chance for science to prove their point. If they are right then the truth will eventually come forth. Verifiable proof is the only thing that will persuade me and I suspect many like me, of a higher power or god. Well, that or a personal visit from the aforementioned.

The team of researchers will receive $1 million in funding annually from Harvard over the next few years. The project begins with an admission that some mysteries about life's origins cannot be explained.

That is some mysteries about life's origins cannot be explained now, in the future who knows.

"My expectation is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention," said David R. Liu, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard.

Expectations are like assumptions, subject to screw ups and disappointments.

[Igel]

8. Not again.

Every decade or so some group of scientists gets together to plop together the chemical broth at the temperatures and pressures current theory hypothesizes for the time period when life must have began. Then they do various things to mimic the processes that they hypothesize occurred: Radiation, heating, mixing, electric arcing. Whatever.

Then they notice what chemicals that were precursors to life were produced. Amino acids? Proteins? Precursors to those chemicals?

Then they extrapolate to see what biological processes these compounds can mimic. Last time round they had amino acids linking up and forming very small hollow spheres that could be the precursor to cell walls.

Fascinating, iteration #1; interesting, interation #2; ho-hum, iteration #3. For me, this is #4, and now I'm mostly interested in how the assumed conditions and processes have changed.

Carry on.