Michael J. Behe A (R)evolutionary Biologist
Category

Biochemistry

plants-background-with-biochemistry-structure-stockpack-adobe-stock
Plants background with biochemistry structure.
Image licensed via Adobe Stock

Response to Ian Musgrave’s “Open Letter to Dr. Michael Behe,” Part 2

This is the second of five posts in which I reply to Dr. Ian Musgrave’s “Open Letter to Dr. Michael Behe” on the Panda’s Thumb blog. Musgrave: But by far the worst, you ignored her core argument. That in the space of a decade HIV-1 Vpu developed a series of binding sites that made it a viroporin, a multisubunit structure with a function previously absent from HIV-1. Behe: It is not clear to me why you call that Smith’s “core argument.” In her post, her writing meanders quite a bit; it’s hard for me to glean what she thinks is most important. After sneering a bit at me, Smith began her post by asserting that vpu is a “new” gene (even though Read More ›

dna-sequence-generative-ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
DNA sequence. Generative AI
Photo licensed via Adobe Stock

Trends in Ecology and Evolution follows the trend, Part III

Dear Readers, The latest issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE) carries a tediously disdainful review (1) of The Edge which revisits the blunders of previous reviews while adding new ones. This is the third of a three part series concerning the review. At the end of his essay our reviewer suddenly reveals his skill at mind reading: “It is clear that Behe is driven not by a truly scientific investigation, but instead metaphysics.” And this: “He is obsessed with ‘randomness,’ which he incorrigibly associates with ‘Darwinism’ and cosmic purposelessness.” Now, wait a darn second. Wasn’t it Darwin himself, we are constantly assured, who based his theory on “random” variation? So it’s “incorrigible” to associate with Darwin’s theory something which Darwin Read More ›

dna-genetic-material-stockpack-adobe-stock
DNA genetic material
Image licensed via Adobe Stock

Trends in Ecology and Evolution follows the trend, Part II

Dear Readers, The latest issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE) carries a tediously disdainful review (1) of The Edge which revisits the blunders of previous reviews while adding new ones. This is the second of a three part series concerning the review. Like other Darwinian reviewers, the one for TREE questions the number I specify of 1 in 1020 for the origin of chloroquine resistance, citing a recent interesting paper on the development of CQR in India, which showed different strains of malaria with various numbers of mutations in their pfcrt genes. (4) Yet such field studies, while very valuable, can be fraught with uncertainty. For example, another recent paper (cited by the first) on CQR in Cambodia (5) reported data showing that the Read More ›

close-up-young-plant-growing-over-green-background-stockpack-adobe-stock
Close up Young plant growing over green background
Image licensed via Adobe Stock

Trends in Ecology and Evolution follows the trend, Part I

Dear Readers, The latest issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE) carries a tediously disdainful review (1) of The Edge of Evolution which revisits the blunders of previous reviews while adding new ones. This is the first of a three part series concerning the review. (References will be attached to the third part.) Like almost all reviews by Darwinists, this one begins with a genuflection to the Dover trial, where a former-head-of-the-Pennsylvania-Liquor-Control-Boa rd-appointed-judge, showing no evidence he actually understood the academic arguments of either side, copied almost word for word the document handed to him at the end of the trial by the lawyers for the complainant. This was his “decision.” For signing off on a document castigating intelligent design the apparently Read More ›

blue-sunrise-view-of-earth-from-space-stockpack-adobe-stock
blue sunrise, view of earth from space
Photo licensed via Adobe Stock

The Colbert Report

Dear Readers, This past Thursday I was a guest on The Colbert Report, where I was interviewed about The Edge of Evolution by the inimitable Stephen Colbert.  You can watch the video here.

cells-and-biological-chainmolecules-and-abstract-conception3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cells and biological chain,molecules and abstract conception,3d rendering.
Image licensed via Adobe Stock

Questions about my new book?

f you have any questions about my new book, Edge of Evolution, you might enjoy taking a look at this brief interview I just gave.   Question & Answer With Michael J. Behe, author of The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism   What do you believe Darwinian evolutionary processes can actually do? THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION asks the sober question, what is it reasonable to think Darwinian evolutionary processes can actually do? Unprecedented genetic data on humans and our microbial parasites (malaria, HIV, E. coli) now allow us to answer that question with some precision. The astonishing result is that, even under intense selective pressure, and given an astronomical number of opportunities, random mutation and natural selection yield only trivial, Read More ›