This Week in Science

[zelezo vlk]

NASA released a picture of the 7 planets of Trappist

 

[IrishLion]

.... a REALLY big one, yes.

Those don't happen until the Sun gets to the Red Giant stage in a few billion years, so we're good.

In the meantime, hope that the magnetic poles don't flip on us --- won't destroy life as we know it if the magnetosphere has to restrengthen, but your computers might fry, and a few genes might go cancerous for some people.

Just via increased exposure to radiation?

 

[connor_in]

SpaceX to Fly Passengers On Private Trip Around the Moon in 2018

Well this is fun...

Dem candidate for Congress warns about militarization of the moon by private companies – twitchy.com

 

[Old Man Mike]

Re: the increase in cancer.

This prediction is entirely based on the injured magnetosphere letting in more high-velocity cosmic rays (protons and alpha particles --- hydrogen and helium stripped nuclei.)

 

[Cackalacky]

http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/9/14558418/ai-deepmind-social-dilemma-study

What the researchers found was interesting, but perhaps not surprising: the AI agents altered their behavior, becoming more cooperative or antagonistic, depending on the context.

For example, with the Gathering game, when apples were in plentiful supply, the agents didn’t really bother zapping one another with the laser beam. But, when stocks dwindled, the amount of zapping increased. Most interestingly, perhaps, was when a more computationally-powerful agent was introduced into the mix, it tended to zap the other player regardless of how many apples there were. That is to say, the cleverer AI decided it was better to be aggressive in all situations.

 

[BGIF]

'Lost city' discovery: Kansas site sheds new light on Native American history | Fox News

By James Rogers Published April 21, 2017 FoxNews.com

Archaeologists have found incredible evidence of a huge Wichita Indian town in Kansas that was once home to 20,000 people.

Donald Blakeslee, a professor of archaeology at Wichita State University, told Fox News that experts harnessed 400-year-old Spanish documents and modern technology to locate the long-lost town of Etzanoa near Arkansas City, Kansas.

“A single community of 20,000 people was not something that any of us expected,” he said over the phone. “It’s a completely different view of everything.”

Etzanoa, which existed from the early 15th century to just after 1700, was visited by Spanish soldiers in 1601. The soldiers were interviewed about the town in Mexico City the following year and their eyewitness accounts were recorded in documents, which are now in Seville, Spain. A new translation of the documents provided the catalyst for the latest discovery.

The Cibola Project at the University of California, Berkeley, made photocopies of the documents, re-transcribed them from the Old Spanish and retranslated them. This showed that earlier historians and archaeologists had been dealing with errors in transcription and translation, leading to the misinterpretation of previous archaeological finds in the area.

“The new translations are just wonderful, they are much cleaner than all the previous attempts,” said Blakeslee, adding that earlier historians thought the Spanish were exaggerating the size of Etzanoa. “The Spanish who were there in 1601 counted 2,000 houses and estimated 10 people per house,” he said.

Blakeslee started work at Etzanoa in 2015 and used metal detectors to locate iron shot from a battle fought at the site in 1601. A National Park Service magnetometer was also used to confirm the town’s layout.

“We had Spanish records of how the town was laid out with clusters of houses, when we applied the magnetometer that’s exactly what we found,” he added. Scattered surface finds also correspond with Spanish descriptions of the town as extending about five miles. The description of the landscape and the route taken by the Spanish army were also found to be correct, according to WSU.

Radiocarbon dating suggests that Etzanoa emerged around 1425 and lasted until just after 1700.

While Etzanoa may lack the monumental structures found at the famous ancient city of Cahokia in southern Illinois. Blakeslee noted that the site’s significance should not be underestimated. “Cahokia is a little over six square miles, Etzanoa is a little over five square miles, so it’s not a huge difference.”

The Wichita Nation, he said, inhabited an area the size of the Republic of Ireland.

Blakeslee, who recently presented his findings at the annual conference of the Society for American Archaeology, told Fox News that there will be further research at the site this summer.

 

[Legacy]

March for Science: Rallies worldwide to protest against political interference (BBC)

Climate Change (EPA.gov) Still on the EPA site

Extreme Ice Survey – A program of Earth Vision Institute

EIS maintains an extensive portfolio of over one million single-frame photos celebrating the art and architecture of ice. We have 43 Nikon cameras watching over 24 glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, Canada, Austria, and the Rocky Mountains. Our cameras record changes in the glaciers every hour, year-round during daylight, and yield approximately 8,000 frames per camera per year. We combine these images into stunning time-lapse videos that reveal how quickly climate change is transforming large regions of our planet. Our pictorial archive serves as a visual legacy and provides a baseline—useful in years, decades and even centuries to come—for revealing how climate change and other human activity is dramatically impacting the planet.

 

[Cackalacky]

NASA Gets Last Close Look at This Eerie Alien Moon

Cassini is wnding down and preparing for its swan song. This was a vey successful mission IMO.

 

[Cackalacky]

Artificial Womb Shows Promise In Animal Study : Shots - Health News : NPR
Obviously poses deep seeded hope for some and horror for others. Could this be a solution to abortion?.

 

[connor_in]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Join <a href="https://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn">@CassiniSaturn</a> team members for a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FacebookLive?src=hash">#FacebookLive</a> later today about the mission's historic <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GrandFinale?src=hash">#GrandFinale</a> <a href="https://t.co/DivIIzYR3O">https://t.co/DivIIzYR3O</a> <a href="https://t.co/HHqqSZjyoO">pic.twitter.com/HHqqSZjyoO</a></p>— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAJPL/status/857536132916981760">April 27, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Cackalacky]

Gene-editing technology has successfully targeted cancer's "command centre" - ScienceAlert

 

[connor_in]

DARPA Is Planning to Hack the Human Brain to Let Us “Upload” Skills


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6vMO3XmNXe4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Free Manera]

Gene-editing technology has successfully targeted cancer's "command centre" - ScienceAlert

It seems there is a hot new cancer treatment breakthrough article every month, but with some caveat at the end of the article that rains on the parade. That wasn't really the case here. Looks promising and exciting. It goes without saying, but $%&* cancer.

 

[Cackalacky]

It seems there is a hot new cancer treatment breakthrough article every month, but with some caveat at the end of the article that rains on the parade. That wasn't really the case here. Looks promising and exciting. It goes without saying, but $%&* cancer.

CRISPR is amazing. No doubt. Gamechanger IMO.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

All of the posts relating to the legal consequences of artificial wombs have been moved to the Politics thread.

 

[Cackalacky]

futurism.com/germany-just-smashed-an-energy-record-generating-85-electricity-from-renewables/amp/

 

[wizards8507]

Story time. I went to google a picture of Pence and found the following below, I think I could caption it "Preview of ~September 2017"

However, then I noticed that the actual caption of it is:
"Evolution Is Just A Theory" - Mike Pence Argues To Congress

............Maybe let's not impeach. Lol

Evolution IS just a theory, just like general relativity and Newton's second law of motion.

"Scientific theory" is different than the vernacular use of the term.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

[Cackalacky]

Way down in the jungle deep
The badass lion stepped on the signifying monkey's feet
The monkey said, "Muthafucka, can't you see?
Why, you standing on my goddamned feet."
The lion said, "I ain't heard a word you said."
Said, "If you say three more I'll be steppin’ on your muthafuckin’ head!"

Now the monkey lived in the jungle in an old oak tree
Bullshitting the lion every day of the week
Well every day before the sun go down
The lion would kick his ass all through the jungle town
But the monkey got wise and started using his wit
Said, "I'm going to put a stop to this ol’ ass kicking shit!"

So he ran up on the lion the very next day
Said, "Oh Mr. Lion there's a big, bad muthafucka coming your way
And when you meet, it's gonna be a goddamn scene
And wherever you meet some ass is bound to bend."
Said, "he's somebody that you don't know
He just broke loose from Ringling Brothers’ show."

Said, "Baby, he talked about your people in a helluva way
He talked about your people ‘til my hair turned gray
He said your daddy's a freak and your momma's a whore
Said he spotted you running through the jungle
Selling asshole from door to door!

Said your sister did the damndest trick
She got down so low and sucked an earthworm's dick
He said he spotted your niece behind the tree
Screwing a muthafuckin flea
He said he saw your aunt sitting on the fence
Giving a goddamn zebra a French

Then he talked about your mammy and your sister Lou
Then he started talking ‘bout how good your grandma screw
Said your sister's a prostitute and your brother's a punk
And said I'll be damned if you don't eat all the pussy
You see every time you get drunk

He said he cornholed your uncle and fucked your aunty and your niece
And next time he see your grandma he gonna get him another good piece
He said your brother died with the whooping cough
And your uncle died with the measles
And your old grandpa died with a rag chunked up in his ass
Said he was going on home to Jesus

And you know your little sister that you love so dear
I fucked her all day for a bottle of beer
So Mr. Lion, you know that ain't right
So whenever you meet the elephant be ready to fight
So the lion jumped up in a helluva rage
Like a young cocksucker full of gage

He let out a roar, tail shot back like a .44
He went through the jungle knocking down trees
Kicking giraffes to their knees
Then he ran up on the elephant talking to the swine
Said, "All right you big, bad muthafucka, it's gonna be your ass or mine!"
The elephant looked at him outta the corner of his eye
Said, "Alright go ahead home you little funny-bunny muthafucka
And pick on somebody your own size.”

The lion jumped up and made a fancy pass
The elephant side-stepped him and kicked him dead in his ass
He busted up his jaw, fucked up his face
Broke all four legs, snatched his ass outta place
He picked him up, slammed him to the tree
Nothin’ but lion shit as far as you could see

He pulled out his nuts, rolled ‘em in the sand
And kicked his ass like a natural man
They fought all that night and all the next day
Somehow the lion managed to get away
But he drug his ass back to the jungle more dead than alive
Just to run into that little monkey with some more of his signifying jive

The monkey looked at ‘em and said, "Goddamn! Ol’ partner
You don't look so swell." Said, "Look like to me you caught a whole lotta hell."
Said, "Your eyes is all red and your asshole is blue
I knew in the beginning it wasn't shit to you
There's one thing you and me gotta get straight
Cause you one ugly cocksucker I sho’ do hate!”

“Now when you left, the jungle rung
Now you bring your dog ass back here damn near hung
Look muthafucka, ain't you a bitch
Your face look like you got the Seven Year Itch
I told my wife before you left
I should kicked your ass my muthafuckin’ self!”

“Why I seen when he threw you into that tree
Cause some of that ol’ lion shit got on me
Why every night when me and my wife is trying to get a little bit
Here you come ‘round here with some that old ‘Aiee-yo’ shit
Shut up! Don't you roar!
Cause I'll bail outta this tree and whoop your dog-ass some more!”

“And don't look up here with your sucka-paw case
Cause I'll piss through the bark of this tree in your muthafuckin’ face!”
The little monkey got happy, started to jump up and down
His feet missed the limb and his ass hit the ground
Like a streak of lighting and a ball of white heat
That lion was on his ass with all four feet

Dust rolled and tears came into the little monkey's eyes
The little monkey said, "Look Mr. Lion, I apologize!"
Said, "If you let me get my nuts out the sand
Why I'll fight your ass like a natural man
Look muthafucka, ain't you a bitch, you ain't raising no hell
Cause everybody saw you jump on me after I slipped and fell.”
Said, "If you'll fight like men should
I'd whoop yo’ ass all over these woods!"

This made the lion mad!
It was the boldest challenge he ever had
He squared off for the fight
But that little monkey jumped damn near outta sight
Landed way up in a banana tree and began to grin
Sayin’, "Look here you big, bad muthafucka, you been bullshitted again!”

Said, “Why, I'll take me one of these bananas
And whoop on your ass ‘til it sings the Star-Spangled Banner!"
And said, "Now if you ever mess with me again
I'm gonna send you back to my elephant friend!"
Said, "The things I told you will never part
But what I'm gonna tell you now is gonna break your muthafuckin’ heart!"

Said, “Your mammy ain't no good and your sister's been a whore."
Said, "I had that bitch on the corner for a year or more!"
But the lion looked up with a helluva frown
Roared so loud that little monkey fell back to the ground
The little monkey looked up and said "Please, Mr. Lion!
Please don't take my life ‘cause I got 13 kids and a very sickly wife!"

Said, "All my money to you I'll give
Mr. Lion, please just let me live!"
But the lion kicked him in his ass and broke his neck
Left that little monkey in a helluva wreck
The monkey looked up to the sky with tears in his eyes
Nothin’ he could see or nothing he could hear
He knew that that was the end
Of his bulllshittin’ and signifyin’ career

Signifying career…

-Rudy Ray Moore

 

[Cackalacky]

Evolution IS just a theory, just like general relativity and Newton's second law of motion.

"Scientific theory" is different than the vernacular use of the term.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Oy vey... The second law is a law.....lofl. Its literally a demonstrably a fact. FFS. What are you talking about. General relativity is highly supported from multiple sources of evidence. The fact that satellittes have to account for it makes it a fact.

A Scientific Theory is not an educated guess.... it is literally the highest form of a compilation of evidentially based facts that accurately describes natural phenomenon. If you say Evolution is only a theory you confirm that you neither know what evolution is or what a scientific theory actually is. Evolution is as much a fact as gravity and plate techtonics. Its indisputable.

There is a huge Nobel Prize waiting for the person(s) that disprove Evolution.

 

[connor_in]

Way down in the jungle deep
The badass lion stepped on the signifying monkey's feet
The monkey said, "Muthafucka, can't you see?
Why, you standing on my goddamned feet."
The lion said, "I ain't heard a word you said."
Said, "If you say three more I'll be steppin’ on your muthafuckin’ head!"

Now the monkey lived in the jungle in an old oak tree
Bullshitting the lion every day of the week
Well every day before the sun go down
The lion would kick his ass all through the jungle town
But the monkey got wise and started using his wit
Said, "I'm going to put a stop to this ol’ ass kicking shit!"

So he ran up on the lion the very next day
Said, "Oh Mr. Lion there's a big, bad muthafucka coming your way
And when you meet, it's gonna be a goddamn scene
And wherever you meet some ass is bound to bend."
Said, "he's somebody that you don't know
He just broke loose from Ringling Brothers’ show."

Said, "Baby, he talked about your people in a helluva way
He talked about your people ‘til my hair turned gray
He said your daddy's a freak and your momma's a whore
Said he spotted you running through the jungle
Selling asshole from door to door!

Said your sister did the damndest trick
She got down so low and sucked an earthworm's dick
He said he spotted your niece behind the tree
Screwing a muthafuckin flea
He said he saw your aunt sitting on the fence
Giving a goddamn zebra a French

Then he talked about your mammy and your sister Lou
Then he started talking ‘bout how good your grandma screw
Said your sister's a prostitute and your brother's a punk
And said I'll be damned if you don't eat all the pussy
You see every time you get drunk

He said he cornholed your uncle and fucked your aunty and your niece
And next time he see your grandma he gonna get him another good piece
He said your brother died with the whooping cough
And your uncle died with the measles
And your old grandpa died with a rag chunked up in his ass
Said he was going on home to Jesus

And you know your little sister that you love so dear
I fucked her all day for a bottle of beer
So Mr. Lion, you know that ain't right
So whenever you meet the elephant be ready to fight
So the lion jumped up in a helluva rage
Like a young cocksucker full of gage

He let out a roar, tail shot back like a .44
He went through the jungle knocking down trees
Kicking giraffes to their knees
Then he ran up on the elephant talking to the swine
Said, "All right you big, bad muthafucka, it's gonna be your ass or mine!"
The elephant looked at him outta the corner of his eye
Said, "Alright go ahead home you little funny-bunny muthafucka
And pick on somebody your own size.”

The lion jumped up and made a fancy pass
The elephant side-stepped him and kicked him dead in his ass
He busted up his jaw, fucked up his face
Broke all four legs, snatched his ass outta place
He picked him up, slammed him to the tree
Nothin’ but lion shit as far as you could see

He pulled out his nuts, rolled ‘em in the sand
And kicked his ass like a natural man
They fought all that night and all the next day
Somehow the lion managed to get away
But he drug his ass back to the jungle more dead than alive
Just to run into that little monkey with some more of his signifying jive

The monkey looked at ‘em and said, "Goddamn! Ol’ partner
You don't look so swell." Said, "Look like to me you caught a whole lotta hell."
Said, "Your eyes is all red and your asshole is blue
I knew in the beginning it wasn't shit to you
There's one thing you and me gotta get straight
Cause you one ugly cocksucker I sho’ do hate!”

“Now when you left, the jungle rung
Now you bring your dog ass back here damn near hung
Look muthafucka, ain't you a bitch
Your face look like you got the Seven Year Itch
I told my wife before you left
I should kicked your ass my muthafuckin’ self!”

“Why I seen when he threw you into that tree
Cause some of that ol’ lion shit got on me
Why every night when me and my wife is trying to get a little bit
Here you come ‘round here with some that old ‘Aiee-yo’ shit
Shut up! Don't you roar!
Cause I'll bail outta this tree and whoop your dog-ass some more!”

“And don't look up here with your sucka-paw case
Cause I'll piss through the bark of this tree in your muthafuckin’ face!”
The little monkey got happy, started to jump up and down
His feet missed the limb and his ass hit the ground
Like a streak of lighting and a ball of white heat
That lion was on his ass with all four feet

Dust rolled and tears came into the little monkey's eyes
The little monkey said, "Look Mr. Lion, I apologize!"
Said, "If you let me get my nuts out the sand
Why I'll fight your ass like a natural man
Look muthafucka, ain't you a bitch, you ain't raising no hell
Cause everybody saw you jump on me after I slipped and fell.”
Said, "If you'll fight like men should
I'd whoop yo’ ass all over these woods!"

This made the lion mad!
It was the boldest challenge he ever had
He squared off for the fight
But that little monkey jumped damn near outta sight
Landed way up in a banana tree and began to grin
Sayin’, "Look here you big, bad muthafucka, you been bullshitted again!”

Said, “Why, I'll take me one of these bananas
And whoop on your ass ‘til it sings the Star-Spangled Banner!"
And said, "Now if you ever mess with me again
I'm gonna send you back to my elephant friend!"
Said, "The things I told you will never part
But what I'm gonna tell you now is gonna break your muthafuckin’ heart!"

Said, “Your mammy ain't no good and your sister's been a whore."
Said, "I had that bitch on the corner for a year or more!"
But the lion looked up with a helluva frown
Roared so loud that little monkey fell back to the ground
The little monkey looked up and said "Please, Mr. Lion!
Please don't take my life ‘cause I got 13 kids and a very sickly wife!"

Said, "All my money to you I'll give
Mr. Lion, please just let me live!"
But the lion kicked him in his ass and broke his neck
Left that little monkey in a helluva wreck
The monkey looked up to the sky with tears in his eyes
Nothin’ he could see or nothing he could hear
He knew that that was the end
Of his bulllshittin’ and signifyin’ career

Signifying career…

-Rudy Ray Moore

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy

[Pre-Chorus]
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

[Chorus]
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

[Verse 2]
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it



[Pre-Chorus]
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see

[Chorus]
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

[Bridge]
(Ooh give you up)
(Ooh give you up)
(Ooh) never gonna give, never gonna give
(give you up)
(Ooh) never gonna give, never gonna give
(give you up)

[Verse 1]
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it

[Pre-Chorus]
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

[Chorus]
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt...


Never Gonna Give You Up
By
Ricky Astley






















































You, my friend, have been Rick-rolled

Good Night Mrs. Kalabash, where ever you are!

 

[wizards8507]

There is a huge Nobel Prize waiting for the person(s) that disprove Evolution.

There's a Nobel Prize waiting for the guy who proves it, too.

 

[wizards8507]

Do some research on "irreducibly complex systems." Fascinating stuff. Basically, Darwinian evolution only works if each incremental mutation confers a benefit on the organism. But a complex system cannot spontaneously come into existence through a single mutation and the mathematics break down when you need many complimentary mutations to occur at the same time.

In other words, Darwinian evolution is legit but the math says it can't be the whole story.

 

[pkt77242]

Do some research on "irreducibly complex systems." Fascinating stuff. Basically, Darwinian evolution only works if each incremental mutation confers a benefit on the organism. But a complex system cannot spontaneously come into existence through a single mutation and the mathematics break down when you need many complimentary mutations to occur at the same time.

In other words, Darwinian evolution is legit but the math says it can't be the whole story.

Just because we don't know how something has evolved doesn't mean that it hasn't, that is poor logic.

We are constantly finding that so called "irreducibly complex systems" are not in fact that.

 

[Cackalacky]

Do some research on "irreducibly complex systems." Fascinating stuff. Basically, Darwinian evolution only works if each incremental mutation confers a benefit on the organism. But a complex system cannot spontaneously come into existence through a single mutation and the mathematics break down when you need many complimentary mutations to occur at the same time.

In other words, Darwinian evolution is legit but the math says it can't be the whole story.

You are telling me, a biology and engineerng major, to research irriducible complexity? That is a made up word by creationists from the Discovery Institute. Please don't do this.....

 

[Cackalacky]

There's a Nobel Prize waiting for the guy who proves it, too.

Erm... they get them every year. Lol. Seriously... you NEED the read Kenneth Miller. He is a Roman Catholic and has put up one of the best refutations of intelligent design and all the canards like IC. He testified in Kitzmiller v Dover and is exceptionally well respected. Here is a video of him providing proof, not evidence but proof that Evolution is real amd that we share common ancestors with the great apes. I would like your opinion after watching this.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zi8FfMBYCkk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is another irrefutable proof of Evolution...Endogenous RetroViruses.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T7HBMWfRqSA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Cackalacky]

Just because we don't know how something has evolved doesn't mean that it hasn't, that is poor logic.

We are constantly finding that so called "irreducibly complex systems" are not in fact that.

We do know how things evolve. We do know what causes them to evolve. We do know when they evolved. We do know from which common ancestors things evolved from. We dont need to have every successive creature to prove it. Irriducible complexity is a horrbly flawed attempt by Michael Behe to challenge Evolution. He failed. Not surprisingly, people still trot it out. It has zero scientific creditibility.

"... an irreducibly complex system might arise by gradually co-opting parts that initially were dispensable but eventually become indispensable ...."
William A. Dembski 2004, p. 24.

Introduction

Michael Behe's term "irreducible complexity" is, to be frank, plainly silly — and here's why.

"Irreducible complexity" is a simple concept. According to Behe, a system is irreducibly complex if its function is lost when a part is removed1. Behe believes that irreducibly complex systems cannot evolve by direct, gradual evolutionary mechanisms. However, standard genetic processes easily produce these structures. Nearly a century ago, these exact systems were predicted, described, and explained by the Nobel prize-winning geneticist H. J. Muller using evolutionary theory2. Thus, as explained below, so-called "irreducibly complex" structures are in fact evolvable and reducible. Behe gave irreducible complexity the wrong name.

Behe's flawed argument

Behe claims that irreducibly complex systems cannot be produced directly by gradual evolution3. But why not? Behe's reckoning goes like this:

(P1) Direct, gradual evolution proceeds only by stepwise addition of parts.
(P2) By definition, an irreducibly complex system lacking a part is nonfunctional.
(C) Therefore, all possible direct gradual evolutionary precursors to an irreducibly complex system must be nonfunctional.
Of course, Behe's argument is invalid since the first premise is false: gradual evolution can do much more than just add parts. For instance, evolution can also change or remove parts (pretty simple, eh?). In contrast, Behe's irreducible complexity is restricted to only reversing the addition of parts. This is why irreducible complexity cannot tell us anything useful about how a structure did or did not evolve.

The Mullerian two-step

With Behe's error now in hand, we immediately have the following embarrassingly facile solution to Behe's "irreducible" conundrum. Only two basic steps are needed to gradually evolve an irreducibly complex system from a functioning precursor:

Add a part.
Make it necessary.
It's that simple. After these two steps, removing the part will kill the function, yet the system was produced directly and gradually from a simpler, functional precursor. And this is exactly what Behe alleges is impossible.

As a scientific explanation, the Mullerian two-step is extremely general and powerful, since it is independent of the biological specifics of the system in question. In fact, both steps can happen simultaneously, in a single event, even a single mutation. The function of the system can remain constant during the process or it can change. The steps can be functionally beneficial (adaptive) or not (neutral). We don't even need to invoke natural selection in the process — genetic drift or neutral evolution will do4. The number of ways to add a part to a biological structure is virtually unlimited, as is the number of different ways to change a system so that a part becomes functionally essential. Plain, ordinary genetic processes can easily do both.

A historically and technically appropriate name for IC: "Interlocking Complexity"

For the preceding reasons, compelled by both scholarly ethics and scientific accuracy, I suggest that we avoid reference to "irreducibly complex" structures using Behe's misnomer. Rather, I propose the term "Mullerian interlocking complexity" (MIC), terminology similar to that used in H. J. Muller's much earlier evolutionary analyses of the same molecular phenomenon (Muller 1918; Muller 1939).

Example 1: The stone bridge

A clear example of the Mullerian two-step is given by a stone bridge. Consider a crude "precursor bridge" made of three stones. This bridge spans the area needed to be crossed and is thus functional. For step one of the Mullerian two-step, a part is added: a flat stone on top, covering all precursor stones. Whether this improves the functionality of the bridge is irrelevant — it may or may not, the bridge still functions. For step two of the Mullerian two-step, the middle stone is removed. Voilá, we have an irreducibly complex bridge, since the last step made the top-stone necessary for the function.

The precursor bridge: three stones.

[Figure 1: Three square stones]
Step #1, add a part: the top-stone.

[Figure 2: A cap-stone added to the three-stone bridge]
Step #2, make it necessary: remove the middle stone. As promised, we now have an irreducibly complex stone bridge. None of the three stones can be removed without destroying the bridge's function.

[Figure 3: The middle stone removed]
Example 2: How to eat pentachlorophenol

An irreducibly complex system has evolved in bacteria within the past 70 years.

Footnotes

1: Behe has defined his usage of "irreducible complexity":

"By irreducibly complex I mean a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning. "
Behe 1996 p. 39.

"... 'irreducibly complex' means roughly that if one removes a component from a system, function is lost; ..."
Behe 2001 p. 686.

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2: H. J. Muller predicted and discussed M. J. Behe's "irreducibly complex" structures in two different papers, one in 1918 and one in 1939. This prediction was made long before the genetic material was known or anyone had seen the structure of a "molecular machine".

"... thus a complicated machine was gradually built up whose effective working was dependent upon the interlocking action of very numerous different elementary parts or factors, and many of the characters and factors which, when new, were originally merely an asset finally became necessary because other necessary characters and factors had subsequently become changed so as to be dependent on the former. It must result, in consequence, that a dropping out of, or even a slight change in any one of these parts is very likely to disturb fatally the whole machinery; for this reason we should expect very many, if not most, mutations to result in lethal factors ..."
Muller 1918 pp. 463-464. (emphasis in the original)

"V. The role of interlocking and diffusion of gene functions in hindering true reversal of evolution

"... an embryological or physiological process or structure newly arisen by gene mutation, after becoming once established (with or without the aid of selection), later takes more and more part in the whole complex interplay of vital processes. For still further mutations that arise are now allowed to stay if only they work in harmony with all genes that are already present, and, of these further mutations, some will naturally depend, for their proper working, on the new process or structure under consideration. Being thus finally woven, as it were, into the most intimate fabric of the organism, the once novel character can no longer be withdrawn with impunity, and may have become vitally necessary."
Muller 1939 pp. 271-272.

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3: Behe explains why he imagines "irreducible complexity" is a barrier to gradual evolution:

"An irreducibly complex system cannot be produced directly (that is, by continuously improving the initial function, which continues to work by the same mechanism) by slight, successive modifications of a precursor system, because any precursor to an irreducibly complex system that is missing a part is by definition nonfunctional. An irreducibly complex biological system, if there is such a thing, would be a powerful challenge to Darwinian evolution."
Behe 1996 p. 39.

"Irreducibly complex systems appear very unlikely to be produced by numerous, successive, slight modifications of prior systems, because any precursor that was missing a crucial part could not function. Natural selection can only choose among systems that are already working, so the existence in nature of irreducibly complex biological systems poses a powerful challenge to Darwinian theory."
Behe 2002.

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4: H. Allen Orr has explained Muller's explanation for "irreducible complexity" in several articles in the Boston Review criticizing Behe's and William Dembski's writings. Orr has emphasized the adaptive possibilities in the Mullerian two-step (i.e. improvement of function at each step). However, the mechanism is more general and does not even require selection, a point that Muller himself made originally, 50 years before neutral evolution was found to be important in molecular evolution.

"An irreducibly complex system can be built gradually by adding parts that, while initially just advantageous, become-because of later changes-essential. The logic is very simple. Some part (A) initially does some job (and not very well, perhaps). Another part (B) later gets added because it helps A. This new part isn't essential, it merely improves things. But later on, A (or something else) may change in such a way that B now becomes indispensable. This process continues as further parts get folded into the system. And at the end of the day, many parts may all be required."
Orr 1996

"... gradual Darwinian evolution can easily produce irreducible complexity: all that's required is that parts that were once just favorable become, because of later changes, essential. "
Orr 1997

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References

Behe, M. J. (1996) Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. New York, Touchstone.

Behe, M. J. (2001) "Reply to my critics: A response to reviews of Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution." Biology and Philosophy 16:685-709.

Behe, M. J. (2002) "The challenge of irreducible complexity." Natural History, 111(3):74.

Darwin, C. (1872) The Origin of Species. Sixth Edition. The Modern Library, New York.

Dembski, W. A. (2004) "Irreducible Complexity Revisited." Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design (PCID) 3.1.4, November. [PDF]

Muller, H. J. (1918) "Genetic variability, twin hybrids and constant hybrids, in a case of balanced lethal factors." Genetics 3:422-499. [Free Text, Genetics Online]

Muller, H. J. (1939) "Reversibility in evolution considered from the standpoint of genetics." Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 14:261-280.

Orr, H. A. (1996) "Darwin v. Intelligent Design (Again)." Boston Review, December 1996/January 1997. [Free Text, Boston Review]

Orr, H. A. (1997) "Is Darwin in the Details?: H. Allen Orr Responds" Boston Review, February/March 1997. [Free Text, Boston Review]

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From my favorite website of all Time (sorry IE) Talk Origins
TalkOrigins Archive: Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy

 

[pkt77242]

We do know how things evolve. We do know what causes them to evolve. We do know when they evolved. We do know from which common ancestors things evolved from. We dont need to have every successive creature to prove it. Irriducible complexity is a horrbly flawed attempt by Michael Behe to challenge Evolution. He failed. Not surprisingly, people still trot it out. It has zero scientific creditibility.


From my favorite website of all Time (sorry IE) Talk Origins
TalkOrigins Archive: Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy

I am confused. I am pretty sure that we are in agreement, that Wizards is way off but I feel like you don't see it that way.

 

[Cackalacky]

I am confused. I am pretty sure that we are in agreement, that Wizards is way off but I feel like you don't see it that way.

Ahhhh yes...we are in agreement and wizards is posting on something he probably shouldnt. I guess I was correcting you when you said, "just because we dont know...". We do know a whole bunch. Just wanted to emphasize that point. In discussions like these, I feel the need to be direct and frank. Sorry if that comes off as opposing you. Not my intent.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

I personally enjoy when they use the argument that the 2nd law of thermodynamics refutes evolution. That one is always fun to slice up.

 

[Cackalacky]

I personally enjoy when they use the argument that the 2nd law of thermodynamics refutes evolution. That one is always fun to slice up.

The just a theory thing gets me everytime. Its so basic. Also a law is a law smh.