Is Evolution a Secular Religion?

 

Michael Ruse*

Summary

The fact of evolution postulated by Charles Darwin in his Origin of Species was quickly embraced by the great thinkers of Victorian society, but its mechanism, natural selection, seemed to be less appealing. As Michael Ruse ponders in his essay, evolution seemed to have been adopted as a new secular religion, complete with commandments for how to progress to a better life and cathedrals of natural history housing valuable fossil relics.

Endangered species

Published: June 29, 2014

Author: C Michael Hogan

An endangered species is a biological taxon that is at risk of becoming extinct in a proximate time frame much sooner than the long term horizon in which species typically persist.^[1]…

Timeline of biology and organic chemistry

 

Before 1600

History of biology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philosophy of biology

 

 

The philosophy of biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long been interested in biology (e.g., Aristotle, Descartes, and even Kant), philosophy of biology only emerged as an independent field of philosophy in the 1960s and 1970s.

Letters shed light on bitter rivalries behind discovery of DNA double helix

 

Newly found letters between Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins illuminate the race to determine the structure of DNA

Ian Sample, science correspondentguardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 September 2010

Generation Anthropocene: How humans have altered the planet for ever

Oscar Ghiglia (Italian, 1876-1945), La mela [Apple], c.1922-25

Robert Macfarlane

 

Friday 1 April 2016 Last modified on Monday 4 April 2016

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/01/generation-anthropocene-altered-planet-for-ever

 

We are living in the Anthropocene age, in which human influence on the planet is so profound – and terrifying – it will leave its legacy for millennia. Politicians and scientists have had their say, but how are writers and artists responding to this crisis?

60 years ago, Francis Crick changed the logic of biology

Matthew Cobb

 

• Published: September 18, 2017
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003243

Abstract

In September 1957, Francis Crick gave a lecture in which he outlined key ideas about gene function, in particular what he called the central dogma. These ideas still frame how we understand life. This essay explores the concepts he developed in this influential lecture, including his prediction that we would study evolution by comparing sequences.

Chinese Scientists Edit Genes of Human Embryos, Raising Concerns

Georgia O’Keeffe.  The Chestnut Grey, 1924

By GINA KOLATA The New York Times, APRIL 23, 2015

The experiment with human embryos was dreaded, yet widely anticipated. Scientists somewhere, researchers said, were trying to edit genes with a technique that would permanently alter the DNA of every cell so any changes would be passed on from generation to generation.

Cellular ‘Cheaters’ Give Rise to Cancer

 

This unrestrained clumping on a cactus, called fasciation, is a cancerlike phenomenon. CreditLon&Queta/Creative Commons

 

George Johnson, The New York Times, JULY 27, 2015

Maybe it was in “some warm little pond,”Charles Darwin speculated in 1871, that life on Earth began. A few simple chemicals sloshed together and formed complex molecules. These, over great stretches of time, joined in various combinations, eventually giving rise to the first living cell: a self-sustaining bag of chemistry capable of dividing and spawning copies of itself.

The hard problem: Tom Stoppard on the limits of what science can explain

Erik Andriesse (Dutch, 1957-1993), Amaryllis, 1992

Can evolution explain acts of kindness, and morality? We arranged a debate between a sceptical Tom Stoppard and the evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson. Stuart Jeffries acted as referee

11th World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Medical Law

Sasha Serov

 

The Conference is designed to offer a platform for the exchange of information and knowledge and to hold discussions, lectures, workshops and an exhibition of program and databases.