Review of FARMS Review

The latest issue of FARMS Review (Vol. 17 Issue 1, 2005) is available online to subscribers. Two of the articles are worth mentioning here.

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First is "Missing the Boat to Ancient America...Just Plain Missing the Boat," by Ryan Parr, which reviews Simon Southerton's book, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church. If you've been following this issue you won't find much new in this article. However, given his background, Parr seems like the most qualified commentator yet.

I do have one concern. Concerning DNA lineages, Parr states:

each [haplotype] must be selected by a random biological lottery from generation to generation. Statistically, this is known as “coalescence.”

...Indeed, over time, the fate of most Y and mtDNA lineages is extinction through coalescence.

I don't have access to the text he cites, but I'm pretty sure that instead of "coalescence" he means "genetic drift." Compare his usage of the term with this. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think he used this term correctly. [Correction: the term is used appropriately, as I explain in this comment.] This concerns me because if he's using basic population genetics terminology incorrectly, it makes you wonder about the quality of his analysis. At the very least, it opens the door to criticism from Southerton that Parr doesn't know what he's talking about. (This after Parr attacks Southerton on Southerton's area of expertise--plant genetics.)

There is also a review of Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Allen Buskirk. This is basically a defense of religion against the attacks of scientism. It's a little long but worth at least a skim. (Coincidentally, I recently decided to put Sagan's book on my list of books to read.)

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Sleep Paralysis Revisited

Recently a discussion about exoricisms raised the issue of sleep paralysis and its potential to explain many accounts of demonic encounters. A new book argues that sleep paralysis also helps to account for another phenomenon: alien abudctions.

A review of Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens explains the basic thesis:

1. People experience a frightening episode of sleep paralysis. The idea of alien abudction, being prominent in our culture, offers an explanation for the experience.

2. Seeking answers, they undergo hypnosis where false memories are created which help cement the explanation.

3. This is further reinforced, strangely enough, by a spiritual payoff.

The review is worth your time if you are interested at all.

I've heard stories but I've never been a true believer in alien encounters. At the same time seemingly normal people go for this stuff (including church members I have met), so it seems like more than just mental illness or something. The steps outlined above make sense to me, but then maybe some of you are true believers.

Please don't make stuff up, but if you have an alien story, please share.

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Must-Read Article by Sean Carroll

The latest Natural History Magazine (November 2005) looks like it has several articles well-worth reading. I don't have a print copy, and not all of the articles are available online, but I have to hightlight one that is. You really should read "The Origins of Form," by Sean Carroll. (I'm sorry, I don't know how to directly link to it.) The writing is interesting and the accompanying pictures are beautiful and elegant.

Advances in the new science of evolutionary developmental biology—dubbed “evo-devo” for short—have enabled biologists to see beyond the external beauty of organic forms into the mechanisms that shape their diversity. Much of what has been learned, about animal forms in particular, has been so stunning and unexpected that it has profoundly expanded and reshaped the picture of how evolution works. In the same stroke, evo-devo delivers some crushing blows against the outdated rhetoric of those who doubt that complex structures and organisms arise through natural selection.

I blogged about an article by Carroll, which is similar to this one, a few months ago. Expect to see his book on my sidebar sometime in the next few months.

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Vaccine Preventing Cervical Cancer is Controversial

I got wind of this a while ago (and commented here), but it looks like it is coming out into the open. Some groups are opposed to making the forthcoming HPV vaccine mandatory on the grounds that it will send the wrong message to kids about sexual behavior. Aetiology covers it here.

Money quote:

One can only hope that those who actively say they advocate a "culture of life" will put their money where their mouth is, and show that they value those 3,700 women who die of cervical cancer each year--deaths that may soon be completely preventable.

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The Good of Half a Wing

PZ Myers explains evidence that insect wings are derived from gills. The Panda's Thumb then highlights further corroborating evidence supporting the hypothesis. All of this helps to illustrate why the current paradigm of science is useful and fruitful--something competitors have not shown for themselves.

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Church Policies: Birth Control

This is part of a series of posts containing information on Church policies on medical and scientific issues.

Birth Control:

When married couples are physically able, they have the privilege of providing mortal bodies for Heavenly Father’s spirit children. They play a part in the great plan of happiness, which permits God’s children to receive physical bodies and experience mortality.

If you are married, you and your spouse should discuss your sacred responsibility to bring children into the world and nurture them in righteousness. As you do so, consider the sanctity and meaning of life. Ponder the joy that comes when children are in the home. Consider the eternal blessings that come from having a good posterity. With a testimony of these principles, you and your spouse will be prepared to prayerfully decide how many children to have and when to have them. Such decisions are between the two of you and the Lord.

As you discuss this sacred matter, remember that sexual relations within marriage are divinely approved. While one purpose of these relations is to provide physical bodies for God’s children, another purpose is to express love for one another—to bind husband and wife together in loyalty, fidelity, consideration, and common purpose. (Birth Control, True to the Faith)

Surgical Sterilization (Including Vasectomy):

Surgical sterilization should only be considered (1) where medical conditions seriously jeopardize life or health, or (2) where birth defects or serious trauma have rendered a person mentally incompetent and not responsible for his or her actions. Such conditions must be determined by competent medical judgment and in accordance with law. Even then, the person or persons responsible for this decision should consult with each other and with their bishop (or branch president) and receive divine confirmation through prayer. (CHI 11-5, 1989, as quoted in "Policies, Practices, and Procedures" in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism.)

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Church Policies on Science and Medicine

This is a continuing collection of LDS Church policies on various science and medical issues. This post will be available on the sidebar, and will contain links to the forthcoming policy statements. Since I do not have ready access to the Church Handbook of Instructions, those of you who do should feel free to comment if current policy contains nuances not covered here.


Beginning of Life and Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Birth Control

Euthanasia and Prolonging Life

Infertility Issues

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Intelligent Design Trial is a Hoot

I've got to tell you, as a non-lawyer following the Dover, PA intelligent design trial, it sure looks like the wheels are coming off of the defense. Here is the latest from today.

1. Although Michael Behe claimed as a witness that his book, Darwin's Black Box, received rigorous peer revew, more details are emerging about those reviews. At least one reviewer didn't actually read the book, and others were highly critical of it. (Details here. Also see here for other "peer reviewed" intelligent design publications.

Peer review of a book and peer review of a scientific journal are two different things.

2. After having denied saying that evolution ought to be countered with creationism, a former school board member has changed his story in the face of video footage of him saying such a thing. I'm no lawyer, but this seems important because it goes to the issue of whether the school board had secular intent.

3. Finally, you have to see this. On a C-SPAN program, the lead lawyer for the defense corrected a Discovery Institute big-wig who claimed that the DI has never advocated teaching intelligent design in public schools!

It's like a barrel of monkeys.

If you want more information, see this former post. Follow the links and you can find court transcripts.

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