On this episode of ID the Future, CSC Fellow Paul Nelson discusses von Baer's Law and the recent critiques of this evolutionary hypothesis.

Von Baer's Law describes a picture of embryonic development in animals: embryos are most similar at earliest stages; as development proceeds, animals increasingly diverge in their form. This makes sense if evolution is seen as a conservative process that builds on what comes before, but many critics see this as a generalization without support from the scientific evidence. What do scholars have to say about the validity of Von Baer's Law today?

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On this episode of ID The Future we feature a short clip about homology -- the idea that there is structural identity and similarity of parts in distinct species such as the pentadactyl plan of the human hand, the wing of a bird, and the flipper of a seal. Scientists such as David Berlinski, Paul Nelson and Stephen Meyer argue that Neo-Darwinism explains some of the facts of homology but leaves many significant anomalies unexplained.

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Want to know more about homology? Go here.

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On this episode of ID The Future, CSC's Casey Luskin interviews noted Iowa State University astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez about the announcement of a forthcoming cosmology article by Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert J. Scherrer (Case Western Reserve University, and Vanderbilt University respectively) titled The Return of a Static Universe and the End of Cosmology. The paper is already inviting a great deal of comment since it deals with the debate over the big bang and the static universe, and says extrapolating forward in time, in the future we will be incapable of determining the true nature of the universe.

According to Dr. Gonzalez the authors are saying that future observers will mistakenly believe they are living in a static universe since current measurement tools will not be available to them. At some point in the future the measurements we are able to make today will not be able to be made because of natural changes in the universe. This coincides with Gonzales' Privileged Planet hypothesis which in part says that not only are we in the right place in the universe to make important scientific discoveries, we are also in the right time in the universe.

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On this episode of ID The Future CSC associate director Dr. John West explains that when it comes to public policy dissenting viewpoints are critically important. Darwinists are quick to claim that science isn't democratic and because Darwinism is the dominant theory supported by a majority of scientists students should learn only the evidence that supports it.

Dr. West's comments are taken from "Evolution and Intelligent Design: An Exchange," a panel at a recent conference sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council which also included Brown University biologist Dr. Ken Miller and Mark Ryland of the Institute for the Study of Nature.

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This episode of ID the Future features an excerpt from Dr. John West's opening comments at "Evolution and Intelligent Design: An Exchange," a panel at a recent conference sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council. Listen as Dr. West outlines the three most important things people should know about the intelligent design and evolution debate.

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What happens when a professor decides to present students with evidence that challenges Darwin's theory? Find out on this episode of ID the Future, where we've highlighted comments from biochemist Nancy Bryson, a professor who knows firsthand the importance of academic freedom on college campuses.

Dr. Bryson was removed from her position as head of the division of natural sciences at Mississippi University for Women when she presented criticisms of evolution to a group of honor students. Listen as she recounts the chilling effect the university's censors' actions had on academic freedom and students' ability to question and engage in their material.

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On this episode of ID The Future, CSC's Logan Gage points out that only one century ago, eugenics -- the attempt to improve the human race through better breeding -- was all the rage in the scientific world. And this spring marks the centenary of the world's first forced-sterilization law.

According to Gage: One might guess that such a law was passed in Germany, but they'd be wrong. In the spring of 1907, the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill designed to forcibly "prevent procreation of confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists." And, Gage goes on to show that while modern Darwinists try to avoid the subject, eugenics clearly drew inspiration from Darwin's theory.

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On this episode of ID The Future we feature a short series of comments from Dr. Ed Pelzer on the status of current theories of origin of life research. Dr. Pelzer holds a PhD in oceanography from Scripps Oceanographic Institution at UCSD, and was a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) for over twenty years.

These comments are from the new documentary film Teaching Origins Objectively available through the Intelligent Design Network.

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On this episode of ID The Future, we take a brief look at what happens when open discussion of intelligent design is allowed.

With the controversy over allowing the debate heating up at SMU, ID The Future takes you back to last year's fruitful debate between Darwin vs. Design conference speaker Dr. Stephen Meyer and University of Washington professor Peter Ward. Dr. Meyer explains how teaching the controversy and allowing discussion of intelligent design engages students and promotes better science.

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