Welcome to ARN-Announce
Dennis Wagner, editor

Number Seventy, December 31, 2007

ARN-Announce is the on-line announcement and information service of Access Research Network. ARN generates announcements to the current ARN Announce list as information becomes available. You have received this message because your email address was submitted to this list. Subscription and Unsubscription information is at the end of this message.

Top 10 Darwin and Design News Stories of 2007

Colorado Springs, CO - December 27, 2007

Access Research Network has just released its second annual Top 10 Darwin and Design News Stories and its Top 10 Darwin and Design Resources list for the year ending in 2007.

The origins debate continued to capture the attention of a world-wide audience in 2007, as evidenced by some of the key news stories designated as among the more important according to Access Research Network (ARN), a leading science and technology watch-dog group based in Colorado Springs, CO.

"Part of our mission at ARN is to help educate the public about issues relating to Darwin and Design. Not only are there a lot of moving parts to this issue, but it also suffers heavily from significant mis-information. One of the things we do is monitor science news and other reports related to this topic, and provide access to resources designed to help others better understand the full scope of this issue. Overall in 2007 I'd say we've observed a growing consternation running through many scientific disciplines over issues that were once thought to be resolved long ago" says Kevin Wirth, ARN Director of Media Relations. "For example, the so-called 'simple cell' continues to demonstrate far more complexity and information content than anyone ever imagined. This continues to sustain the argument for Design theorists, but places a growing burden on Darwinists who maintain that this is merely evidence of 'apparent design.' But we're seeing a growing number of scientists who simply aren't buying the 'apparent design' explanation."

"The news reports we've cited in our Top 10 News Stories this year reflect many of those concerns" added Wirth. "One of the things we've noticed is that the probability surrounding the notion that life arose spontaneously and evolved over eons is straining the limits of credulity among observers who are not heavily invested in Darwinian speculations. I think it's important that we listen carefully to the voices of those who are truly independent and critical observers of this issue."

In addition to the increasing level of complexity being discovered in small biological systems, the level of biological complexity being discovered in early life history provided another challenge for Darwin's molecule-to-man theory in 2007. Well-preserved jellyfish fossil finds in Utah confirm that the modern form of the jellyfish existed nearly 200 million years earlier than previously thought. This leaves an insufficient amount of time for complex life to have developed only via the Darwinian principles of random mutations and natural selection. Evidence like this caused some scientist this past year to suggest that Darwin's "Tree-of-Life" model should be discarded and replaced with a "Biological Big Bang" model.

Dennis Wagner, ARN Executive Director, noted that "We have a whole generation of people who have been raised according to Darwinian fairytales, like 'human and chimpanzee genetics only differ by 1%' and 'the human body is full of leftover evolutionary vestiges like the appendix and junk DNA.' However, scientists demonstrated that these Darwinian stories do not belong in our science textbooks with some of the new discoveries made in 2007. These are Darwinian 'arguments from ignorance' that continue to be discarded as scientists uncover the incredible design and purpose of biological systems"

Wagner also noted that several new books in the ARN 2007 Top 10 Darwin and Design Resource list such as Michael Behe's The Edge of Evolution and Mike Gene's The Design Matrix are causing a healthy shift in the debate from 'Darwin versus Design' to 'Darwin and Design.': "The debate has been highly polarized for generations because you have one group claiming everything can be explained by Darwin and another group claiming everything can be explained by design. These new books are revealing that scientific evidence is now indicating life bears the hallmarks of both. The information content present in living systems can only be explained by design, while biological systems also appear to have been designed to adapt to their environment through variation and natural selection. Trying to decipher from the evidence exactly what evolution can and cannot do, rather than resorting to imaginative Darwinian stories to explain all of life by naturalistic processes is a great step forward in the debate."

While scientific evidence continued to mount in favor of intelligent design in 2007, so did the political and academic persecution against those who challenge Darwinism. Wagner observed that "our modern western culture is so ingrained in the naturalistic Darwinian creation story that those who challenge the story, even with scientific evidence in hand, are treated as outsiders and outcasts. Even though scientists should be free to follow the evidence wherever it leads, the 2007 stories about Guillermo Gonzales being denied tenure at Iowa State and Robert Marks having his lab and website shutdown at Baylor University prove that we are not as free as we would like to think. Ben Stein's documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, scheduled for release in early 2008, will document these stories and many others, and serve as a real eye-opener to the average citizen."

Wirth concluded, "As we monitor scientific discoveries and reports in the news, I think we're beginning to see a growing trend overall that the sufficiency of Darwinian explanations to describe how life evolved is turning out to be substantially inadequate in a growing number of fields, particularly in the areas of genetics and molecular biology. I think it's becoming clear that Darwinism is on the verge of one of the greatest challenges it has faced in many decades. And, based on what we're seeing, I suspect the debate about origins will heat up again significantly in 2008."

All of the ARN products can be ordered through our web catalog store with secure credit card ordering. There you will find a description of each product and you may add as many products as you would like to the electronic shopping cart. The suggested donation for each item includes USPS Media Mail for North American orders, which typically arrive in 5-7 days. Overseas prices include USPS International shipping which may take up to 2 weeks. Please contact our office for faster shipping options. If you provide your email address, you will receive an email receipt of your order. Place your order today online at www.arn.org (click the products links on the top menu bar). If you have any problems or questions, or would rather place your order by phone, call our toll free number at 1-888-259-7102 and our staff will be happy to assist you (or leave your order on our voice mail system if we are out of the office).

ARN-Announce describes many of the upcoming events and new articles, books, videos and other resources on Intelligent Design. Please forward this message to several of your friends and colleagues to let them know about the resources available at Access Research Network (www.arn.org). Back issues of ARN-Announce can be found at www.arn.org/announce.htm

ARN-ANNOUNCE IS PRODUCED BY ACCESS RESEARCH NETWORK

ARN-Announce is produced by Dennis Wagner (dwagner@arn.org)

Access Research Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing accessible information on science, technology and society issues from an Intelligent Design perspective.

Mailing Address:
Access Research Network
PO Box 38069
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80937-8069

Contact:
(719) 633-1772 voice
(719) 520-1241 fax
(888) 259-7102 toll-free order line

On the web:
www.arn.org

TO ADD YOURSELF TO ARN-ANNOUNCE:
Send an email to "ARN-Announce-request@arn.org". The body of the message should consist of the word "SUBSCRIBE" and nothing else. Or visit the web page at http://arn.org/mailman/listinfo/arn-announce_arn.org and select Subscribe and enter your email address. You will receive a confirmation email indicating your name has been submitted to the list. Follow the directions and reply to the email and your email address will be added to the ARN-ANNOUNCE list.

TO REMOVE YOURSELF FROM ARN-ANNOUNCE:
Send an email to "ARN-Announce-request@arn.org". The body of the message should consist of the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" and nothing else. Or visit the web page at http://arn.org/mailman/listinfo/arn-announce_arn.org and select Unsubscribe and enter your email address. Your email address will be automatically removed from this list.

Copyright 2007 Access Research Network. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

12.31.07