“Evolution on Display at BYU,” and Other Science News

There is a new exhibit in the Life Sciences Museum at Brigham Young University:

“Evolution on Display at BYU”

In related news:

“Found: A Windfall of Neanderthal Footprints in France: 257 small steps for our human cousins, one giant leap for paleoanthropology.”

And here’s an article on a relevant topic that might be discussed or debated:

“Evolution Doesn’t Proceed in a Straight Line, so Stop Drawing It That Way”

The authors seem to have as their target any notion that there might be “special direction in evolution.”  They’re worried that “A linear depiction of evolution may, consciously or not, confirm false preconceptions about evolution, such as intelligent design – the idea that life has an intelligent creator behind it.”

However, if Alvin Plantinga is right in the argument he makes in his book Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), they are going beyond their scientific evidence on this point.

***

And here’s an article on yet another really important issue that goes to the core of what human nature is:

“A Famous Argument Against Free Will Has Been Debunked: For decades, a landmark brain study fed speculation about whether we control our own actions. It seems to have made a classic mistake.”

And now for some planetary news, both foreign and domestic:

“This may be the first known exoplanet with rain and clouds of water droplets: Two teams have detected signs that K2 18b has a damp atmosphere”

“Geologists uncover history of lost continent buried beneath Europe”

***

And now, after those science links, I offer a statement of his faith from Dr. Ian Hutchinson, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):

I became a Christian, as an undergraduate at Cambridge University, because of the person of Jesus. He was, to me, an exceedingly attractive figure for what he taught and what his life and death was said to represent. But it was only then that I heard clearly and came to accept that the evidence for his Resurrection is strong, and gives good reason to believe it is true. I also heard clearly the call to repentance and discipleship, and I accepted it. My subsequent decades of experience in the Christian faith have confirmed to me the reality of God’s presence, and my intellectual exploration has strengthened my conviction that the Gospel is supported by compelling evidence and logical arguments.

(From “Believing Scientists Respond: Why Are You a Christian?”)