Southerton Responds to FARMS Review

Simon Southerton has responded to Ryan Parr's review of Losing a Lost Tribe in the latest FARMS Review. (hat-tip to Justin B.) I've read both documents, but I am somewhat hampered by the fact that I lack any specialized training in genetics or anthropology, nor have I been able to delve into most of the references contained in each document. I also have not read Southerton's book. So I'll just provide my impression.

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As far as the issues of science go, I think Southerton probably has the upper hand. Parr himself says that Southerton has presented the genetic picture accurately, and I'm not aware of any other LDS scientists who have disputed this. Like Southerton, I too wondered what the paper on fish had to do with Parr's point, and as I expressed previously, I was concerned about Parr's use of the word "coalescence." I did find a source that seemded to vindicate Parr, but clearly Southerton thinks that Parr used the wrong word. Perhaps who is right on this point is not significant.

If Southerton presents the main science correctly, then the argument is really about whether the Book of Mormon scenario is feasible given different assumptions (i.e. limited geography) and finding analogous situations elsewhere. Another secondary point of contention is whether Mormon theology is flexible enough to accommodate those assumptions.

My initial impression is that Southerton is strong on the science but weak on theology. That is, I think he underestimates the ability of the church members to adjust to demonstrated facts. It is a little ironic that elsewhere he has said that he went public on this issue to force the Church to change, but then argues that it cannot change. I think this passage is a manifestation of this kind of thinking:

During his undergraduate and graduate studies, Parr would have become aware of the considerable archaeological, anthropological, and now molecular evidence that the North American continent was widely populated at least 13,500 years ago and that the original Asian ancestors arrived in the continent in excess of 15,000 years ago. Because of Parr's church experience, he will also be aware that many readers of the FARMS Review are unprepared to accept such early dates for the colonization of the Americas...Parr deftly avoids mentioning the presence of people in the Americas as long as 13,500 years ago, an admission that would only raise further questions among many Latter-day Saint readers.

My guess is that he underestimates readers of FARMS. After all, it has been pointed out in a previous FARMS publication that the very fact that the model of colonization involves such ancient dates undercuts the criticism of fundamentalist anti-Mormons.

I must say I was surprised by this statement:

In my case, for thirty years my religious orientation was accompanied by a distorted understanding of the true history of America's past. Not only did I know little of the science that was applicable to this issue, I accepted without question the widespread urban legends in the church, one being that BYU scholars had found archaeological evidence in Mesoamerica that supported the Book of Mormon, another being that the Smithsonian Institution had used the Book of Mormon as a guide in some of their research.

How is it that Southerton only relatively recently arrived at his new-found skepticism? Either Southerton is not quite honest or his was the faith of a sweet innocent boy. I've known since at least I was a teenager that the Smithsonian does not use the Book of Mormon as a research guide--a fact not infrequently pointed out in anti-Mormon literature, and I don't think I've ever heard anyone affirm otherwise. Regarding archaeological evidence--well that is probably a nuanced issue that cannot be dealt with here.

Taking him at his word, I think he does raise a legitimate point--and that is that both apologists and members must be careful. Apologists should make their best case, but be careful not to over-reach. Members need to build their faith on the right foundation and maintain an element of skepticism--even regarding the apologists.

Whether Southerton, Murphy, FARMS, or FAIR, we need to make sure each stays honest in this debate.

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Science Blog Deluge

Bloggable material has been raining down upon me for the last couple of days, and I've been unable to respond to any of it. Here is a weak attempt with hope that I can come back and fill in a little more later.

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First up is the Dover, PA Intelligent Design trial. It made big headlines so most of you are probably somewhat familiar with it. The judge (a G.W. Bush appointee) came down hard against the ID side. His opinion is 139 pages long. If I don't get any of the books I want for Christmas, maybe I'll get it all read. The Panda's Thumb is all over the decision.

Next is a new article at Meridian Magazine by John Pratt. There has been some discussion of this article at Millenial Star. I'll save some time in my response by saying this: what he said.

Let me also say that I find myself in agreement with Pratt on a number of things. For example:

To me the universe is a big puzzle that the Lord expects us to solve as best we can with scientific methods. The scriptures are like the answers to the odd numbered problems at the back of the book, which we should learn from because they were written by the great Teacher. When the Savior returns, he might correct our papers when he reveals just how the creation really was done. At that time there could very well be a lot of surprises because many things have been "hidden" from us (D&C 101:32-33). Hidden means they were not observable, and hence "unscientific," but they were true just the same. When they are revealed, they will become "scientific."

I also agree that there may be other forces or laws that we don't know of. That's fine, it's just that science cannot do anything with such things. But in the meantime, don't the workings of physics, genetics, molecular biology, and germ theory counts as things that have been hidden?

You know, for as dogmatic as scientists are supposed to be, when you look at leading textbooks and the scientific literature you find a lot of careful wording. Things like "it is presumably," "it is thought that," "it is still unclear," and so forth.

I think I'm going to cut this post off here, because the next item deserves a post of its own.

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Animals, Men, and the U.S. Constitution

(via Evolutionblog) Here is something interesting from the Eagle Forum, the right-wing organization that Utah senator Chris Buttars is involved with.

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Fact v. Fiction #1: Some evolutionists who claim to be Christians — but also evolutionists who label themselves "theistic evolutionists" — argue that God could have used the evolutionary process hypothesized by Darwin to create the universe. But evolutionism reduces man to an animal. Theism, conversely presents man as made in the image of God. If man is an animal, but man is also made in the image of God, what does that make God?

Fact v. Fiction #2: Evolutionists claim that their battle against creation-science is primarily a "scientific" issue, not a constitutional question. But our treasured U. S. Constitution is written by persons and for persons. If man is an animal, the Constitution was written by animals and for animals. This preposterous conclusion destroys the Constitution. The Aguillard Humanists leave us with no Constitution and no constitutional rights of any kind if they allow us to teach only that man is an animal.

These subtle and dangerous attacks on God Himself and the Constitution must be repelled. There are additional "Fictions" being hurled by evolutionists against creationism, and we will consider these in our next "Briefing." As the battle moves into the courtroom again, WE MUST BE PREPARED TO DEFEND THE TRUTH! (all emphasis in original)

Deep thinkers, those Eagle Forum folks are. They might want to have a talk with medical schools that use animals to illustrate principles of [non-animal] human physiology, or scientists who test drugs on animals with the bizarre notion that the results might apply to [non-animal] humans.

But the preceeding passage brings up something of interest to me, and that is religious attitudes toward the U.S. Constitution. I'm not much of a political philosopher; mostly I just listen to talk radio and read the news. On the conservative side, especially the among the religious right, you hear a lot about God's inspiration behind the Constitution, something I accept. However, some people treat it as if it was dictated by God on Mount Sinai and almost raise it to the status of inerrant scripture. This presumably feeds the originalist--living constitution divide. Stories (folk stories?) like the one of Benjamin Franklin advising the drafters to pray probably contribute to this view.

Imagine my suprise when I read this passage in Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling:

Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathan Edwards and president of Yale College, had not long before lamented that the United States formed its Constitution "without any acknowledgement of GOD; without any recognition of his mercies to us, as a people, of his government, or even his existence." How could the nation not be "a smoke in the nostrils of JEHOVAH."

So how is it that Dwight viewed the Constitution as an abomination but today's religious-right elevate it to near-scripture status? Can anybody recommend a treatment of the history of religious views of the U.S. Constitution?

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A New Mormon Dichotomy

Carl Zimmer has an essay in the New York Times where he describes an experiment his daughter participated in. The objective of the experiment was to compare how humans and chimpanzees learn. The upshot is this: when a treat is placed inside a clear box and the subjects (human or chimp) are shown how to open the box, but with extra superfluous steps involved, children will go through the extra steps while chimps cut to the chase and just open the box. The interpretation is that humans often learn through imitation; chimps don't.

So what's a Mormon spin to this?

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Well it strikes me that Church is a big exercise in imitation. The concept of example permeates just about everything we do. We are to act like Jesus, follow the Brethren, we have ordinances (rituals) and perform them in a certain way, we illustrate principles with stories, our scriptures and history have many examples of doing things for unknown reasons, and so forth. But we also realize that just "going through the motions" is not satisfactory and that our imitation should lead to genuine behavior and character, otherwise it is dead work.

It seems to me that imitation has advantages in that it helps us to get started on the path of gaining certain attributes and gives focus to our actions. Yet it can also be unhelpful and even harmful, even in a Church or gospel setting. Sometimes there is something to be said for the chimpanzee method of skipping the imitating and going straight for a result. A question we often face, even if we don't ordinarily think of it this way, is whether to imitate or not.

And so, allow me to add to the Mormon dichotomies: Iron Rod vs. Liahona, Internet vs. Chapel (I'm not even sure I know what that one means), and Humans vs. Chimps, or in other words, Imitators vs. Agents.

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Zion is Fled...from the Gulf of Mexico

In sacrament meeting today, a woman stated authoritatively that the City of Enoch was located where the Gulf of Mexico is, and that the city and the land under it was plucked up--which is why the Gulf of Mexico exists. The first time I heard this idea was in seminary back in high school. Since then--well I'm not sure I've ever heard it since. I decided to see what I could find on where it comes from.

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The only documentary evidence I found comes from Wilford Woodruff's journal. This entry is a two-for-one.

March 30, 1873: At evening prayer circle: President Young said Joseph the Prophet told me that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri, and when Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, he went about 40 miles to the place which he named Adam ondi Ahman, and there built an alter of stone and offered sacrifice. That altar remains to this day. I saw it as Adam left it, as did many others, and through all the revolutions of the world, that alter had not been disturbed. Joseph also said that when the City of Enoch fled and was translated, it was where the gulf of Mexico now is; it left that gulf a body of water (emphasis added - LDSSR).

Assuming Joseph did say such a thing, it is unclear whether he meant the whole Gulf of Mexico (~615,000 square miles). Another issue to consider is that the Gulf of Mexico as we know it did not form until after the break-up of Pangaea (see below).

An article in the March 1913 Improvement Era expressed this opinion:

It matters little whether one believes Joseph Smith...said the city of Enoch was taken out of the Gulf of Mexico, or that he was scientifically and historically accurate in every statement; but it makes a vital difference whether or not one believes that Joseph Smith was the prophet of this latter day dispensation, and the revealer of mighty truths for the exaltation of man.

Agreed.

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Pacifier Greatly Reduces Risk of SIDS

Take that, you bink snobs!

A new study has found that use of a pacifier during sleep reduced the chances of a baby suffering from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by 90 percent. Furthermore, pacifiers eliminated the increased risk associated with babies who slept on their stomach or in soft bedding--factors that have been shown to increase the risk of SIDS as much as 10-fold.

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Tarrying in the Flesh

The New York Times has an interview with Michael R. Rose, an evolutionary biologist who has been able to alter the life spans of fruit flies through selective breeding. Here are some excerpts:

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Q. Why do scientists need to embrace evolution to do longevity research?

A. Because the common assumption is that young bodies work and then they fall apart during aging. Young bodies only work because natural selection makes them healthy enough to survive and breed.

As adults get older, natural selection stops caring about them, so we lose its benefits and our health. If you don't understand this, aging research is an unending riddle that goes around in circles.

Q. You are known in the genetics world for manipulating the life span of fruit flies. Can you describe your very famous experiment?

A. My experiment was to let my flies reproduce only at late ages. This forced natural selection to pay attention to the survival and reproductive vigor of the flies through their middle age.

The flies evolved longer life spans and greater reproduction over the next dozen generations. This showed that natural section was really the ultimate controller of aging, not some piece of biochemistry.

Q. Why was it important to manipulate the life spans of fruit flies?

A. Because it showed that aging isn't some general breakdown process, like the way cars rust. Aging is an optional feature of life. And it can be slowed or postponed.

This implies that controlling human aging does not require the violation of some absolute scientific law. Postponing human aging is not like building a perpetual motion machine or faster-than-light space travel. It is a scientifically reasonable thing to try.

This doesn't mean it will be easy, or even that it is the best thing to do with our medical resources. But it's not a completely crazy idea.

----

Q. What will it take to increase human life span from present levels?

A. There's not going to be one magic bullet where you take one pill or manipulate one gene and get to live to 500. But you could take a first step, and then another so that in 50 years' time, people take 50 or 60 pills and they live to be 200.

Leaving aside F.D.A. approval, it looks like we are about 5 to 10 years away from therapies that would add years to our present life span. For now, pharmaceuticals will be the primary anti-aging therapy.

After another 10 years or so, the implantation of cultured tissues will become common - especially skin and connective tissues. Reconstructive surgery is certain to become more effective than it is today.

Eventually, we will be able to culture replacement organs from our own cells and repair damage using nanotech machines. All of this will increase life span.

Q. What does religion have to say about all this tinkering with life span?

A. That depends on the religion. About five years ago I was at a meeting convened by the Templeton Foundation to address the ethical question of postponing human aging, and in particular, the possibility of biological immortality, as opposed to immortality in heaven.

And the Christian theologians at this meeting were clearly horrified whereas the Jewish theologian was saying, "Yes, we like this."

In East Asian cultures, you have a split between the Confucian tradition, which is very much for self-sacrifice, versus the Taoist tradition, which very much espouses the idea of living longer. So there's this split there, too.

The evolutionary explanation of aging is quite interesting, but that's not my focus here. The question of the moment is to what degree should we extend life? Certainly death is a part of the plan of salvation; we would be miserable without it, according to Alma. On the other hand, probably few people actually want to die. If we gain the ability to extend life--quality life, should we? I'm not against it in principle, but there would certainly be economic and other ramifications. Do we want to start regularly living to, say, 120 years?

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Church Policies: Euthanasia and Prolonging Life

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

Euthanasia:
"A person who participates in euthanasia--deliberately putting to death a person suffering from incurable conditions or diseases--violates the commandments of God."


Prolonging Life:
"When severe illness strikes, Church members should exercise faith in the Lord and seek competent medical assistance. However, when dying becomes inevitable, it should be looked upon as a blessing and a purposeful part of eternal existence. Members should not feel obligated to extend mortal life by means that are unreasonable."

(CHI 11-5 and 11-6, 1989, as quoted in "Policies, Practices, and Procedures" in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism.)

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Duane Jeffery's SSE: A Continuing Dialogue

Duane Jeffery's article, "Seers, Savants and Evolution: The Uncomfortable Interface" is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the relationship between science (especially evolution) and the Church. It appeared in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought Vol. 8 No. 3, and is available here and here. What appears to be less well-known is that several issues later (Vol. 9 No. 3) another article was published titled, "Seers, Savants and Evolution: A Continuing Dialogue." (Available here.)

This second article consists of three letters responding to the first article followed by Duane Jeffery's response to the letters. Although written over three decades ago, much of the article is just as applicable now--some of it, perhaps, more so. It is worth reading and I am providing some of my favorite excerpts here along with a few comments of my own.

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Prophetic Infallibility

On all of the above issues [concerning creation scriptures] (and many others), no matter which interpretation one may accept, one is forced to reject at least some teachings of some prophets. The pain in that process stems purely from the erroneous doctrine of prophetic infallibility. Even Joseph Smith, whom we traditionally view as closest of all in his intimacy with God, openly rejected the idea. Others of his successors have done likewise (cf. "SSE," fn. 6). We must internalize the validity of that rejection; the doctrine of prophetic infallibility is foreign to Mormonism.

On the Atonement

Mr. Eatough represents that evolution (he does not qualify it; it appears that he means any form of it, fully-theistic or otherwise) negates the atonement. I have heard this assertion many times over the years; but for the first time I can now openly query the writer: why? Please reflect very carefully on what the atonement is and does, and then tell me why. But I serve warning in advance: the usual arguments given in LDS literature are not firmly based. Be very very careful of your steps; that originally solid-looking footing turns rapidly to a morass of quicksand.

As far as I am aware, Jeffery has never publically elaborated on this point. I would like to know his insight here, but I think I may have some idea as to what he means.

The Alternative, Design

Unfortunately...there are people, and they are not at all rare, who do deny that any form of evolutionary processes occur, who sincerely feel that if they admit the validity of even one tiny piece of evolutionary biology, they will have permitted into their religious values the tip of a wedge which cannot be stopped and which they view with near horror. (We have Church writings which bolster that belief!) Every semester I meet a number of students who are very uncomfortable with the development of pesticide resistance in mosquitoes, warfarin resistance in rats, etc. Though some person will assert that these incontrovertible developments via mutation and selection have nothing at all to do with real evolution, still these trivialities cause considerable discomfort to many of our people. It is a deeply sincere position. And what do such persons offer as an alternative to explain the incredible adaptation visible in nature? Design—pure, thorough, and simple. As before, I make no attempt to pursue that question in depth (cf. "SSE," p. 44, and fn. 10). The Snows appear cognizant of the limitations of the position, and specifically circumvent it; from their point of reference the word "capricious" is quite probably inapplicable. But I doubt that theirs is the prevailing belief in the Church; even our current Family Home Evening manual comes dangerously close to falling into the trap. For trap it is, and an old one. Indeed, it was right on this issue that Darwin the clergy candidate got his start on wondering about species—and, interestingly, his response provides an excellent case-example of the very kind of thing Brigham Young was extolling (in his quote, p. 49, fn. 36, "SSE"). Under those intense concepts of design, capriciousness is really a very mild word, even an understatement. Sociology and history, for starters, readily establish the point, without even beginning to invoke the detail of biology. It is the posit of intense design that bestows such problems, of course, and it was to that that my remarks were directed. I infer that the Snows find capriciousness in God to be intensely repugnant; I share their disdain. It seems time, then, that we eschew those peripheral doctrines which inescapably confer it on Him. Nature's adhering to a design by a benevolent being may well exist, but the concept seems to be not defensible on the level at which it is so often claimed.

Yes, that was all one paragraph.

On Understanding

...Eatough seems to feel that if I show any sensitivity at all to any form of evolution, I am thereby a fellow-traveller with, and a brazen champion of, the extreme anti-religious element, that I am demanding total and unconditional religious capitulation. That is his inference, not my implication, and totally contrary to the entire message of my article. Contrary to his assertion, I did not spell out any specific view of evolution in the entire article; other reviewers have rightly noted that point. I am a biologist, yes; a geneticist, yes, and I have access to all the flexibility of data interpretation that exists in those fields, but in this arena I am not bound by many of their limitations. The game we are playing in this search for truth is one of synthesis, not one contrived of extreme religionists on one hand and extreme anti-religionists on the other, each shouting epithets but never listening.

Explaining Facts

[W]hile I would not begin to claim that we can understand all of God's direct actions—indeed I assert that we cannot even identify them all—I do maintain that it is folly to characterize Him in such a way that He becomes duplicitous and/or irrational. And that is precisely what he becomes with virtually all of the anti-evolution arguments with which I am familiar. For, invoking a critical point not heavily made by the Snows, whatever method "God used" must eventually square with all the "factual" data...And when we adopt such a test (comprehensiveness of explanation, etc.) the superiority (n.b., I do not say "absolute truth,") of hypotheses which propose that some form of theistic evolution was involved becomes quickly apparent; the others, so far as I have observed, place God in an untenable position. For example, it seems to me quite reliable to "believe" that fossils exist. Their interpretation may well merit discussion; it seems to me that their legitimacy as remnants of previously-living organisms really does not. Evolutionary biology, of course, makes an attempt—a very good one—to explain them. Among others, one prominent anti-evolutionary commentator of high LDS rank had another explanation: "Well, of course we know that Satan just put those things there to deceive us." I cannot but wonder if persons who postulate this idea fully realize how widespread fossils are. They are found through and through virtually every major land mass known—if Satan really made all that, who then is the Creator of the earth? If nature indeed testifies of diety (a long-standing and still-in-vogue theological injunction), of which "diety" does it thus testify? And what is its testimony? For if the hypothesis be accepted, then God is a party to this by allowing such a monumental hoax, and indeed we have conferred on Him duplicity of truly staggering proportions! A witness of that sort, it appears to me, God can well do without.

Of course, the key claim of the Intelligent Design movement is that we can identify God's direct actions. Like Jeffery, I believe it to be a doubtful claim. But he makes a larger point here that is often lost: The "factual" data, not just from paleontology, but a number of fields including comparative genomics and developmental biology, must be accounted for somehow. LDS writers often invoke the Fall as somehow explaining what we see, but such an "explanation" is as vague as explaining the classical trinitarian God as a "mystery," nor does it come free from the problems with intense design mentioned above.

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BYU Scientists Convert Matter Into Mormonism

My brother sent me this article from the Onion. It's more silly than funny, in my opinion, but you might crack a smile.

BYU Scientists Convert Matter Into Mormonism

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Mexican Footprints: Not Likely

Earlier this year some scientists claimed to have found footprints preserved in Mexico dating to 40,000 years ago. These would pre-date the accepted dates for the first humans in America by over 20,000 years.

A brief report in this week's Nature casts doubt on the footprints. Using two dating techniques, including argon isotope analysis, the actual volcanic ash that the supposed footprints were preserved in dated to 1.3 million years ago. This date pre-dates the earliest Homo sapien fossils (found in Africa) by over a million years. Apparently the first group of scientists used carbon dating on material above the footprints, which is not reliable past 40,000 years.

It is formally possible that the footprints were those of an early Homo species, but without further evidence it is considered unlikely. These authors conclude that most likely, they are not really footprints.

news@nature.com summary

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Highlights: Ice Core, Taste, and Development

Just a quick highlight of some science reading you might also enjoy.

Articles in the week's Science report on ice core data from Antarctica that extend the climate record to 650,000 years ago. (See Scientific American.com news summary.) Sum up: nowhere in the record have carbon dioxide levels been as high as they are now.

Carl Zimmer discusses a taste receptor that may help protect against malaria, but also is associated with alcoholism.

PZ Myers explains what the relatively simple Trichoplax can teach us about evolution and development.

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BYU Newsnet on Sen. Buttars

BYU Newsnet has an article about Sen. Buttars’ attempts to inject Intelligent Design into Utah schools. There’s nothing really new in the article, so I’m not adding it to my collection on the sidebar.

The article contains a couple of quotes from faculty, including Duane Jeffery.

“Intelligent design claims to be an alternate theory to evolution,” Jeffery said. “It cannot qualify as a theory.”

A scientific theory, Jeffery said, is a broad summation that pulls together massive amounts of data and gives direction for future testing. The problem with intelligent design is it cannot be tested for validation, he said.

“You can’t test anything with intelligent design,” he said. “There’s no way you can do science with it. Nobody has been able to.”

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Church Policies: Beginning of Life and Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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

Beginning of Human Life:

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no official position on the moment that human life begins."

As I recall, the Church Handbook of Instructions also contains the following quotation from Brigham Young, "...when the mother feels life come to her infant, it is the spirit entering the body preparatory to the immortal existence." I welcome correction or confirmation in the comments.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research:

"[T]he Church has not taken a position on the issue of embryonic stem-cell research."

The above statments are taken from Comments on the News.

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Children Belong in Families

There is a brief article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that lends support to the importance of care given in infancy. The article is open acess, available here.

From PNAS:

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Alison Wismer Fries et al. report that a lack of typical care-giving in infancy is associated with altered oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) neuropeptide systems during childhood. The researchers studied 18 children raised in foreign orphanages for an average of 16.6 months immediately after birth and then adopted by American families. The comparison control group consisted of 21 children raised by their biological parents in a typical American home environment. The children engaged in an interactive computer game for 30 min while sitting on the lap of their mother and also an unfamiliar female. Baseline and posttesting urine samples were taken to measure levels of OT and AVP. Children who had experienced early neglect had lower overall levels of AVP than did family-reared children. Also, OT levels for family-reared children increased after physical contact with their mothers, but children who experienced early neglect did not show a similar response. The data indicate that the AVP and OT pathways are affected by early social experience. These results are consistent with the view that early experience plays a critical role in the development of brain systems underlying basic aspects of human social behavior.

From news@nature.com:

Scientists stress that the longer-term effects of neglect on children and their hormones remain unclear. But the results after a few years are significant.

"We don't want to reach the conclusion that this difference is permanent," says Seth Pollak, a developmental psychopathologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who led the study. But he adds that the take-home message is that "children really need to be in families".

Pollak and his team measured the levels of two key hormones in 18 children adopted from Russian and Romanian orphanages. These resource-poor orphanages, where one adult may care for up to 40 infants, do not make it easy for newborns to form normal social attachments, says Pollak. The children left these orphanages about two or three years before the study, and have been living with adoptive parents in the United States.

The children, averaging 4.5 years in age, were asked to complete a 30-minute computer game while sitting on the laps of their adoptive mothers. The game directed children to engage with their mothers by, for example, tickling them or patting them on the head. For comparison, the researchers gave the same task to 21 Midwestern children who had been reared by their biological parents.

The researchers measured levels of oxytocin and vasopressin in urine samples before and after the game. Oxytocin has been nicknamed the trust hormone, and is known to facilitate social bonding in humans. The brain naturally produces the compound, and churns it out in certain situations, such as when being given a hug. Vasopressin has been shown to help animals recognize one another and bond.

A recent study found that people given a nasal spray containing oxytocin made them more willing to trust others with their money, which raises the possibility that maybe these kids could be helped by hormone treatment as they adjust to their new homes.

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Welcome Tribune Readers! (If there are any.)

Saturday's Salt Lake Tribune had an article that listed a number of Mormon blogs.

Mormons jumped headlong into the world of blogging about three years ago. They created mini-communities organized around specific LDS topics such as history, politics or doctrine. Names like Times and Seasons, Approaching Zion, By Common Consent, Feminist Mormon Housewives, Millennial Star, Ministering Angels, Mormon Mommy Wars, Latter Day Liberation Front, LDS Science Review, and Mormon Metaphysics proliferated. (emphasis added)

I'm skeptical that I got much traffic from the article, but if you happen to be visiting as the result of it, welcome! Have a look around, feel free to drop me a line, and I hope you'll keep coming back.

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The Buttars Collection

It looks like Utah Senator Chris Buttars will be in the news for some time to come. I am therefore collecting all of my posts on him here, listed in reverse chronological order. This page will be available on the sidebar as long as I deem appropriate.

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Buttars' Bill Defeated

Duane Jeffery on SB96

Buttars' Bill Passes House Commmittee 7-6

Sen. Buttars' Bill Looking Less Likely

Sen. Chris Buttars on KUER

Sen. Buttars' Bill Released

Buttars: Back in Black

Utah Board of Education Defies Buttars

Sen. Buttars in USA Today

Sen. Buttars: Doing Utah Proud

Sen. Buttars is Disowned by Discovery Institute

NCSE on Utah and ID

Oh No, Not in Utah

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Buttars: Back in Black

Chris Buttars has a bill on evolution, and he's not letting any of you jerks look at it until he's finished atheist-proofing it.

From the Deseret News:

A Utah senator says he has opened a confidential bill file challenging the State Board of Education's position on teaching evolution in public schools — a measure he'll unveil at the conservative Utah Eagle Forum's annual convention just days before the 2006 Legislature begins.

"I have it 'confidential' " — or shielded from public view — "and it's 'prioritized.' That means it will be heard," Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, said Wednesday.

When asked if it would require intelligent design — an idea that life is so complex it can't be explained by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection alone — to be taught in Utah public schools, Buttars said: "I'm not answering that yet. I certainly think it should. I believe with the president of the United States that intelligent design should have an equal position (in evolution lessons). But whether I do that in this bill this time, I'm not sure."

...[The] bill language will remain shielded from public view "until I'm satisfied that, one, the intent of the bill is clear, two, how it will be administered is also clear, and three, it can withstand a court challenge."

Here's my favorite part:

Utah Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka praises Buttars' efforts. She asked Buttars to speak on the subject of evolution and intelligent design at the group's Jan. 14 convention. She said Buttars offered to unveil the bill at the same time.

I mean this with all sincerity and seriousness. From what I've seen from Buttars thus far, I am not confident that he could accurately summarize the claims and support for either evolution or intelligent design. But I will give him this bit of credit--it looks like he's talking about including ID in a philosophy or humanities class.

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Where There Is No Vision, the People Perish

PLoS Biology has a--well they call it a "feature." It's not really a primary article, nor is it a review article. I guess it's closest to a popular science article. Anyway, the article is "Jump-Starting a Cellular World: Investigating the Origin of Life, from Soup to Networks".

To some, the idea of an inorganic start to life is just silly--dismissed out of hand. If such a thing happened, we have a long way to go to understand it. Yet what has been done is tantalizing and adds to our understanding of the world, even if it does not explain life. One thing is for sure, we won't find it if we don't look for it. (Some people would prefer that, I'm sure.)

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John Pratt's Satanic Science

Justin Butterfield alerted me to John Pratt's latest article at Meridian Magazine titled, "Has Satan Hijacked Science?" The article describes the scientific method and then turns into an attack on materialism and the consequences that supposedly flow from it, such as: immorality, abortion, looting in the wake of hurricane Katrina, judicial decisions he disagrees with, and so forth. Of course evolution, though he never uses the word, is implied to be the chief bad-boy under the materialism umbrella. None of this is really that suprising. At least one of Pratt's previous articles was influenced by Phillip Johnson, and that seems apparent here as well. Johnson, of course, is the father of the latest intelligent design movement and is on an anti-materialist mission.

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The article makes assertions that have been dealt with elsewhere--I'll provide links. At first I was going to make a few arguments of my own, but I'm discarding them. I will just say that I think that this article will not improve people's understanding of science, rather it will breed mistrust of scientists and the scientific method.

I do want to highlight this passage:

How can Satan get away with avoiding the Scientific Method, while purporting to do science? He does it by focusing on the past and on the future, which are both areas beyond direct observation of the present, the realm of science.

Satan can fabricate all sorts of complete nonsense about the origins of the universe, the solar system, the earth and all of the creatures that live on it. None of these theories can be tested, but that does not stop him from proclaiming them as absolute truth.

There is a certain irony in the assertion that the past is not in the realm of science because much of Dr. Pratt's writing deals with using astronomical calendars to date biblical stories--religious chronology--and he occasionally uses retro-predictions to build support for his case. Is he discarding any notion that his chronologies are scientific? If not, why is his work different from that of the earth and life sciences?

Here are responses to just a few of the issues that Dr. Pratt raises.

First, is my defense of naturalistic assumptions in science.

The rest are from Talk.Origins:

Survival of the fittest implies might makes right.

Crime rates etc. have increased since evolution began to be taught.

Evolution teaches that we are animals and to behave as such.

Evolution has not been proved.

Evolution does not make predictions.

Interpreting evidence is not the same as observation.

Naturalistic science will miss a supernatural explanation.

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Dusting of the Feet Over Dover

Eight out of nine school board members, of Dover, PA, were voted out and replaced with Democrats this week. Presumably, this is fallout over the intelligent design debacle. (Well, the judge hasn't rendered a decision yet, but many doubt it will go the school board's way.)

The Rev. Pat Robertson is not ammused.

"I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover. If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city. And don’t wonder why He hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for His help because he might not be there."

(Watch the video clip if you don't believe it.)

I guess if there is a correlation between what it taught in science class and God's help during disasters, Kansas is the place to be. On the other hand, given the prevalence of tornados, that could be considered tempting God.

I wonder what the mormon-man-on-the-street-of-Dover take is on all of this.

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Would You Call This A Mandate?

Political victors like to think they have a mandate--even when the victory is by narrow margins. However, I think this might be an actual mandate. (Hat tip to Last Lemming for the link.)

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Noah's Flood

Speaking of the Black Sea hypothesis and Noah's Flood, I recommend Duane Jeffery's article on the topic from the October 2004 issue of Sunstone Magazine. It is freely available here and I will add a link to it on my sidebar.

The article is structured in three parts:

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(I) history of interpretation, (II) the Black Sea hypothesis, and (III) the Mormon perspective. While the Black Sea hypothesis is interesting to think about, I think most of the value is in parts I and III. Jeffery raises some interesting questions to consider--especially in the Mormon context. I also recommend the endnotes, which contain much additional information and discussion.

Note #28 brings up a question of particular interest to me: "Did Noah and his family carry all the known human disease pathogens, one wonders?" This question is only the tip of the iceburg of microbiological questions a global flood raises.

Consider:

1. Many disease-causing organisms have a limited host range. Smallpox, measles, and poliovirus are all exclusively human pathogens. Furthermore, immunity to these diseases is long-lasting. How could the few number of people on the ark (and after) maintain these organsisms? The same question applies to many animals with their specific pathogens.

2. It is not uncommon for a cross-species transmission of a disease to be highly lethal for the new host. (In a human context, SARS and Ebola come to mind, or the mass seal die-off that occured when a dog virus entered a seal population.) With all of those animals concentrated together, what stopped epidemics and mass casualties from taking place? Did rabies make it through?

3. Many microbes and parasites have complex life-cyles, infecting and continuing development in several different hosts. Were these life-cycles maintained?

I suppose it could be argued that these diseases came into existence after the flood, or that they were miraculously dormant during the flood--but that raises more questions.

Anyway, you can read a creationist defense of a global flood here. Also see FAIR's resources, including an Ensign article defending a global flood and Nibley's "Before Adam."

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Geomythology

In the latest Science there is a news article highlighting geomythology, a relatively new use of geology.

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Some geologists have taken an interest in the connection between folklore and science. The idea is that stories that have been passed down for generations within ethnic/cultural groups may be based on natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, etc. This approach has produced some fruitful results. For example, Native American folklore in the Seattle area places the location of ground-shaking spirits in a way that correlates well with faults running through the area.

The movement traces in part to the 1980s, when scientists realized that the slow march of geologic time is sometimes punctuated by biblical-scale catastrophes, such as the giant meteorite that wiped out dinosaurs 65 million years ago. After this was accepted, some (usually those with tenure) felt freer to wonder if near-universal myths of great floods and fires implied that such disasters also have punctuated human time. In the 1990s, Columbia University marine geologists Walter Pitman and William Ryan argued that rising Mediterranean sea levels following the last deglaciation topped what is now the Bosporus Strait and roared into the Black Sea 7600 years ago, serving as the original inspiration for the biblical flood. Their work triggered sharp criticism and a torrent of research, resulting in growing acceptance of some sort of Black Sea flooding. Whether the book of Genesis somehow grew from this is a further step, admits Ryan, who presented his latest findings at the International Geoscience Program in Istanbul, Turkey, in early October.

Of course, caution is warranted.

The pendulum may have swung too far in favor of accepting myths, says social anthropologist Benny Peiser of Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K., who runs the Cambridge Conference Network, an Internet clearinghouse for catastrophist theories. Now that more people are willing to listen, he says, too many scientists are invoking myth "left, right, and center to explain everything." In a paper at a late-October workshop on natural catastrophes in the ancient Mediterranean, he asserts that no major myths have yet met scientific standards, although he does credit some regional ones, such as the Pacific Northwest earthquakes. "That's not all bad," he says. "This is all so new, you expect more speculation than hard evidence. The refinements can come later."

You might call this an example of Mormon geomythology. If you know of others, please do tell. (Note: I am not implying that the Book of Mormon is not historical.)

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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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Exorcism 101

The latest Newsweek has an article on the Catholic Church and exorcisms.

In an effort to add a patina of scientific validity to the ancient practice, which usually involves physical restraint and screaming prayers, last week the church began offering bona fide medical training to its exorcists to help them distinguish between psychological and pathological ailments and possession by the Devil. The class, called Exorcism and Prayers of Deliverance, which began on Oct. 13 at Rome's Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorium, features mental-health doctors who purport to show which valid medical symptoms can account for those previously thought to be Satan's work. According to Prof. Carlo Climati, one of the course instructors, "With proper scientific study, priests and bishops should be better prepared to distinguish and meet their real foe, the rise of satanic worship." Dr. Scott Lilienfield, professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta and an expert in exorcism, disagrees: "Exorcism is the most dangerous hoax in treating mental illness," he says.

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I would be interested to know the frequency of exorcisms in the Catholic Church. Our own theology and history certainly contain such things but either they don't happen often, are little spoken of, or both. However, I am not aware of any kind of institutional approach to the subject--how one would recognize the influence of evil spirits, and so forth. I doubt that missionaries, for example, encounter evil spirits much but they sure do encounter the mentally ill!

History of the Church Vol 1:82-83 describes an occasion where Joseph Smith cast an evil spirit out of Newel Knight. This became known as the first miracle of the Church.

In more recent times, I found a couple of interesting tidbits. The first involved Harold B. Lee:

Elder Lee had a depressing experience when he was called on to cast out an evil spirit. There was a stultifying feeling in the room that oppressed the apostle as he laid his hands on the woman's head and, through priesthood authority, rebuked the evil spirit in her. The terror that the incident produced is hinted at in Elder Lee's diary. "I trembled like a leaf," wrote he, "and my hair seemed to almost be as pin pricks." This seems to have been the first time in Elder Lee's ministry when he was directly exposed to the power of the adversary. It was not an imaginary thing, but was something real and powerful and beyond his individual ability to control. Intermittently during the remainder of his ministry, Elder Lee was exposed to the power of Satan, revealed in changing forms and in different degrees of intensity. It was a power that he detested but, at the same time, he respected because of the dangerous influences it exerted. (Harold B. Lee: Man of Vision, Prophet of God)

Then there is this experience of Spencer W. Kimball:

On October 19 [1946] , he drove south to a stake conference assignment in Pleasant Grove, Utah, and spent the night with relatives. He awoke in his room alone. There was a strange foreboding feeling. He turned a light on, picked up a book. But he felt something horrible in the room. "I felt almost as if I were being enveloped and taken over." He remembered his grandfather Heber's vision of a great rush of evil spirits "who foamed and gnashed their teeth." Time stopped. As his grandfather had, Spencer broke into a sweat.

"It seemed that an unknown enemy was trying to destroy me. He was unseen but very real. I was not afraid in the ordinary sense of the word. It was a deep fear of the unknown, something or somebody one could not wrestle with. It was bleak and black and fearsome. I sweat and fought and fought and sweat and then remembered the temple program and for the first time in my life invoked the power of the Priesthood in that particular way and relief came to me. As I pondered over it for days and relived it in a measure, I wondered if I was marked for destruction by the enemy of all righteousness-if I might be getting into a program which would upset the plans of the god of this world."

He finally fell back asleep, then woke at 7:00 A.M. exhausted, "not wholly my usual self." (Spencer W. Kimball: Twelfth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

(Heber Kimball's experience in England, alluded to above, is another dramatic story that I won't quote here.)

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Polio in the U.S.

via MSNBC:

Four children in an Amish community in Minnesota have contracted the polio virus — the first known infections in the U.S. in five years, state health officials said Thursday.

Dr. Harry Hull, the state epidemiologist, said the cases do not pose a threat to the general public because most people have been vaccinated against polio and are unlikely to have contact with Amish people. But he said he expects to find more infections within the Amish community because some of its members refuse immunizations on religious grounds.

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Himalayan Earthquakes Overdue

According to an article in the New York Times, the relative seismic calm in the Himalayas of recent years is not the norm.

Great earthquakes - magnitude 8 or larger - occurred in the Himalayas in 1803, 1833, 1897, 1905, 1934 and 1950. But in the last half century, the region has been relatively quiet, with no earthquakes anywhere near the one with a magnitude of 7.6 that struck northern Pakistan on Saturday.

That calm may have given a false sense of security to growing populations living there.

"Those of us in the business knew we were overdue," said Peter Molnar, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado. Dr. Molnar was a co-author of a 2001 article in the journal Science that looked at the history of Himalayan earthquakes and how much tectonic stress is building up as the Indian subcontinent crashes into Asia.

The Science article warned, "Several lines of evidence show that one or more great earthquakes may be overdue in a large fraction of the Himalaya, threatening millions of people in that region."

...The Indian subcontinent slides northward about 1.6 inches a year as part of the natural movement of continental plates. Half of that motion is absorbed farther to the north in Asia, but the other half goes to pushing up the Himalayan mountains, continually building up strain in the rocks.

Obviously such information is of little use to the victims or the rescue efforts, but it does provide perspective.

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Church History and the 1918 Flu

On November 19, 1918, the day of Joseph F. Smith's death, the country was in the midst of the 1918 influenza pandemic. That day, the following notice was published:

At a meeting of the general authorities of the Church and representatives of the family this morning, it was unanimously decided that in view of existing health conditions in the community, it would be improper to hold public funeral services for the late President Joseph F. Smith. This decision, though regretfully adopted, is a measure of prudence which will meet with general approval, we feel sure. Such services as shall be held at the time of interment in the city cemetery will therefore be brief. At a later date, however, announcement of which will be duly made, memorial services will be held throughout the whole Church for the beloved leader whose loss we so sincerely, but perforce silently, mourn. ANTHON H. LUND, CHARLES W. PENROSE, Of the First Presidency [1]. (Messages of the First Presidency Vol. 3)

A month later on December 20, the First Presidency issued this notice:

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To meet a general desire among the Latter-day Saints, Sunday afternoon, Dec. 22, 1918 is designated as a special time for fasting and prayer by all members of the Church, for the arrest and speedy suppression by Divine power of the desolating scourge that is passing over the earth.

The Saints are exhorted to meet, fasting, as families in their respective homes (public assemblies being postponed for a time), and supplicate our Heavenly Father for the speedy relief of His people and of all who are suffering from this great affliction. Presidents of Stakes and Bishops of Wards are directed to convey this announcement to all the members under their supervision. HEBER J. GRANT, ANTHON H. LUND, CHARLES W. PENROSE, First Presidency. (Messages of the First Presidency Vol. 3)

In commentary on the above notice James Clark writes:

The writer of these notes was nearly nine years old when this special fast day was announced. His memory is still vivid as to the devastating effects of the "desolating scourge" of influenza in nearly every family in his community. Only his father, among a family of eight, remained on his feet. His mother, his brother and himself, and four sisters were helpless from its effects. Only the fasting and prayer called for in the message below and the power of the priesthood saved the author and his family from this "desolating scourge."

During this time pulic meetings, including Church meetings, were not held. The First Presidency authorized resumption of weekly meetings beginning January 5, 1919, but the April General Conference, with its "solemn assembly", was postponed until May.

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Notes:

1. Apparently the First Presidency continued to function for several days in the absence of Joseph F. Smith.

Following the death of President Joseph F. Smith, on November 19, and his burial in the City Cemetery, November 22, 1918, the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was disorganized and the Council of Twelve Apostles became the presiding quorum of the Church.(Improvement Era Vol 22, Jan 1919 No. 3)

Current Church doctrine is that upon the death of the President of the Church, the First Presidency is automatically dissolved and the Quorum of the Twelve become the governing body, with the President of the Quorum of the Twelve as the leader.

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Influenza (Avian and 1918)

Six years ago I read Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It, by Gina Kolata. Last week represented a significant step in understanding where the 1918 flu came from and why it was so deadly. Tara Smith of Aetiology summarizes that story here. (If you are interested in infectious diseases, keep an eye on Aetiology.)

She has also done a series of posts dealing with avian influenza. Check them out.

Day 1: History of Pandemic Influenza.

Day 2: Our adventures with avian flu.

Day 3: Challenges to pandemic preparedness

Day 4: 1918 influenza virus reconstructed

Day 5: How ready are we, and what can YOU do?

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STD's Among the Nephites?

Earlier this week the Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology went to Barry Marshall and J. Robin Warren for the discovery that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori can cause ulcers. Their hypothesis was not well received at first, but they continued to build support for it--including by Marshall fulfilling Koch's Postulates on himself by swallowing the bacteria, giving himself gastritis, and then curing himself with antibiotics.

About half of the world's population is infected with the bacteria; only a small percentage move on to develop gastritis, ulcers, or cancer. Carl Zimmer explains that H. pylori is a useful tool for investigating human migrations. Changes in the genome (micro-evolution, if you will) ought to correspond with the movement of humans.

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The Molecular Ecology article that Zimmer links to is a review article about this kind of investigation. Not all microbes are well-suited for this kind of study, but in addtion to H. pylori another microbe that is useful is Human Papillomavirus (HPV), particularly the sexually transmitted ones. HPV types 16 and 18 are notorious for their involvement in cervical cancer. Researchers have looked at these HPVs around the world and found that they cluster into groups that are consistent with the current view of human migration. (Origin in Africa, movement to Europe and Asia, and from Asia into the Americas.)

This paragraph in the article caught my eye:

A closer look at isolates from Native Americans also revealed unexpected results. Although an association between isolates from Greenland Eskimos and lineage E [Euoropean] was not surprising due to the proximity between Greenland and Europe, the same link was observed in many isolates from Navajo, Pueblo and Amazon Indians! These latter ethnic groups originated from North Asiatic emigrants via the Bering Strait and should therefore be associated with the AA [Asian/American] lineage. Even more surprising was the isolation of the Af1 [African 1] lineage from one Inuit and the Af2 [African 2] lineage from two Navajos. However, despite these discrepancies and possible [lateral gene transfer], the population structure of HPV-18 viruses does largely mirror human migrations reliably and shows reasonable congruence between independent genes within and between subtypes, unlike many other viruses.

Now there are probably ten very good explanations for why the African lineages have shown up in Native Americans. But of course, given our belief in the Book of Mormon, any hints of pre-Columbian contact with the Old World are of special interest.

Overall, the human and microbial genetics support an Asian origin of Native Americans. It would be irresponsible to draw any conclusions about these HPV anomalies--especially any about support for the Book of Mormon. I only bring it up as a matter of interest.

Having said that, I would pay money to hear someone get up in church and say, "There is evidence that the Nephites brought a sexually transmitted disease to America."

(The original research paper is available here.)

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The Onion on "Intelligent Design Trial"

From the Onion:




(Monkeys make anything funny.)

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Podcasts I Recommend

In case you are not aware of them, I want to draw your attention to a few podcasts. If you are unfamiliar with the term "podcast," never fear. As far as I can tell it is just a fancy term for recording someone talking and making an mp3 of it. You don't need special software, other than something to play mp3 files. Just right-click and save the files. (You need to follow the links on this page first.)

First up is an interview of Duane Jeffery (BYU Zoologist) at a Sunstone Symposium a few years ago. The interview was also published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 35 No. 4. However, the Dialogue article is not freely available yet. The two match pretty well, although there are a couple of extra gems in the audio version.

John Dehlin as a few good ones at Mormon Stories. He has interviewed Gregory Prince about his new biography on David O. McKay. Part 1 is more general--and includes a brief discussion of Joseph Fielding Smith and Man, His Origin and Destiny. Part 2 is specifically about Blacks and the Priesthood, and the Civil Rights movement.

John has also interviewed a Mormon Mason.

They are all interesting listening. Here's a tip: do the dishes while you listen and your family will likely leave you alone.

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Ancient Oxygen Levels Correlate With Animal Evolution

A paper in this week's Science correlates rise in atmospheric oxygen with the evolution of large placental animals.

The concluding paragraph of the paper states:

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The data presented here provide evidence of a secular increase in atmospheric oxygen over the past 205 My that broadly corresponds with three main aspects of vertebrate evolution, namely endothermy, placentation, and size. Particularly notable are high stable O2 levels during the time of placental mammal origins and diversification and a close correspondence between marked increases in both atmospheric oxygen levels and mammalian body size during the early to middle Eocene. Although increases in mammalian body size, morphological disparity, and inferred ecological heterogeneity during this interval may have been influenced as well by other environmental factors such as warm global temperatures and the spread of tropical and subtropical habitats, the correlation between evolutionary changes in mammalian body size and increased atmospheric O2 has a physiological basis related to placental mammal reproduction. The changes in oxygen appear to have been driven by tectonics and increased burial efficiency of organic matter on continental margins.

The correlations are represented in this accompanying figure (click to enlarge):



Here are a few more details from news@nature.com:

They have found that the amount of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere 200 million years ago was only about half what it is today. And the appearance of large placental mammals, around 50 million years ago, happened at the same time as the oxygen level more or less doubled.

This is also about the same time that the Atlantic Ocean opened up: a supercontinent split into the Americas, Africa and Eurasia, creating the ocean between them.

This continental movement created thousands of kilometres of coastline that helped to wash organic carbon into the sea, locking it away from the process of decay. Because such carbon escapes chemical processes that would turn it into carbon dioxide, the more carbon is washed away, the more oxygen remains in the atmosphere...

Placental mammals began to appear at the end of the Cretaceous, but they were small, rodent-sized creatures. "We don't really see large mammals until the Eocene," says Falkowski.

This, he suggests, was made possible by the sudden oxygen rise at that time. Large mammals have a lower density of capillaries than small mammals, so they can only distribute oxygen around their bodies efficiently if there is a lot of oxygen in the air. Placental reproduction also needs a lot of ambient oxygen, because only a small proportion of that in the mother's blood reaches the fetus.

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Philosopher of Science: Robert Pennock

Robert Pennock is a philosopher of science and has also been a prominent critic of the intelligent design movement. He is the author of Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism, and testified as an expert witness in the Dover trial.

His website is one you may want to check out. He has done work on modeling evolution using digital organisms and his site provides the original Nature paper, as well as Carl Zimmer's article in Discover Magazine describing the work. He has a number of his other publications available as well--including "Creationism and Intelligent Design," which was published in the 2003 Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics.

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Biologist: Kenneth Miller

Kenneth Miller is a professor of biology at Brown University. He is a prominent defender of evolution and critic of intelligent design. As a vocal defender of evolution, Brown in somewhat unique in that he is also a believing Catholic--which combination is the impetus for his book, Finding Darwin's God. (I have not read the book, but Jeff summarized some of it at Mormons and Evolution.) Brown has a website that you may want to look through.

Here is a partial transcript of Miller's testimony in the Dover, PA trial:

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Q. (By Witold Walczak) The School District argues, you know, it takes a minute to read this statement. I haven't timed it. It takes about a minute to read this statement. What's the big deal? What's the harm in reading this to Dover School District students?

A. (By Kenneth R. Miller) That's a very interesting point. And if they raised the issue, what is the harm in reading it, one might well turn around and say, well then why read it in the first place, if it makes so little difference, if it is of so little consequence? Then why have you insisted on doing this and why are you in court today? The only thing I can infer from turning that question around is that the Dover School Board must think this is enormously important to compose this, to instruct administrators to read it, to be willing to fight all the way to the court. They must think that this performs a very important function.

Now turning it around back to my side of the table, do I think this is important? You bet I think this is important for a couple of reasons. One of which, first of all, as I mentioned earlier, it falsely undermines the scientific status of evolutionary theory and gives students a false understanding of what theory actually means. Now that's damaging enough. The second thing is, it is really the first attempt or the first movement to try to drive a wedge between students and the practice of science, because what this really tells students is, you know what, you can't trust the scientific process. You can't trust scientists. They're pushing this theory. And there are gaps in the theory. It's on shaky evidence. You really can't believe them. You should be enormously skeptical. What that tells students basically is, science is not to be relied upon and certainly not the kind of profession that you might like to go into. And thirdly, that third paragraph that we haven't talked about very much right now points out that intelligent design, which has implicit endorsement in this statement, because we don't hear that it's just a theory, we don't hear that it's being tested, it sounds like it's a pretty good explanation. It's available. It's good stuff. And students will understand immediately, as anybody does who reads Pandas, that the argument is made on virtually every page of Pandas for the existence of a supernatural creator designer. And by holding this up as an alternative to evolution, students will get the message in a flash. And the message is, over here, kids. You got your God consistent theory, your theistic theory, your Bible friendly theory, and over on the other side, you got your atheist theory, which is evolution. It produces a false duality. And it tells students basically, and this statement tells them, I think, quite explicitly, choose God on the side of intelligent design or choose atheism on the side of science.

What it does is to provide religious conflict into every science classroom in Dover High School. And I think that kind of religious conflict is very dangerous. I say that as a person of faith who was blessed with two daughters, who raised both of my daughters in the church, and had they been given an education in which they were explicitly or implicitly forced to choose between God and science, I would have been furious, because I want my children to keep their religious faith. I also want my students to love, understand, respect, and appreciate science. And I'm very proud of the fact that one of my daughters has actually gone on to become a scientist. So by promoting this, I think, this is a tremendously dangerous statement in terms of its educational effect, in terms of its religious effect, and in terms of impeding the educational process in the classrooms in Dover.

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ID Prediction Is Malarky

The Washington Post has an article explaining the strength of evolutionary theory. I want to focus on this portion:

Asked to provide examples of non-obvious, testable predictions made by the theory of Intelligent Design, John West, an associate director of the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based ID think tank, offered one: In 1998, he said, an ID theorist, reckoning that an intelligent designer would not fill animals' genomes with DNA that had no use, predicted that much of the "junk" DNA in animals' genomes -- long seen as the detritus of evolutionary processes -- will someday be found to have a function.

(In fact, some "junk" DNA has indeed been found to be functional in recent years, though more than 90 percent of human DNA still appears to be the flotsam of biological history.)

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This is malarky. That prediction does not follow from intelligent design (at least the type the DI pushes) any more than evolution predicts that "junk DNA" should exist. All evolution predicts is that if "junk DNA" exists, unless there is a mechanism to remove it, it should be found in organisms in a pattern consistent with common descent. (As an aside, I should point out that to the extent that "junk DNA" has been found to have function, it is not the ID folks who have made the discoveries.) Now let's turn back to intelligent design.

ID proponents have repeated over and over again that intelligent design is about identifying features of the universe where design can be inferred because of their complexity. When scientists point out the many design flaws (or oddities) in nature--and even in the human body--ID proponents respond that the motivations of the designer are not relevant to the discussion about whether something is designed or not. They argue that we can infer design from the thing itself--questions about who the designer is or what his/her/its motivations were are not relevant. Further, although they do not repeat it much, they claim that ID can be compatible with much of evolutionary theory.

If they were sticking to their rules, they would say that intelligent design is silent on the issue of "junk DNA". Now West is trotting out a prediction that is clearly rooted in assumptions about what a designer would or would not do. He cannot have it both ways. Either issues of poor, inefficent, or malevolent design are legitimate in this debate or they are not.

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Evo-ID Smackdown Begins

Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District goes to trial today in Pennsylvania. Most of the major news sources have stories--here is one from MSNBC.com.

Why the court battle?

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It all stems from a science policy that the Dover, PA school district adpoted that required the following statement to be read to students:

The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin’s theory of evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is a part.
Because Darwin’s theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The theory is not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.

Intelligent design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin’s view. The reference book, “Of Pandas and People,” is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what intelligent design actually involves.

With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the origins of life to individual students and their families. As a standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on standards-based assessments.

As I understand it, many science teachers refused to read the statement so administrators did it for them.

The NCSE has a website that is tracking the case. It has background information and copies of court documents. The book "Of Pandas and People" was published in the late '80s. The NCSE has many reviews of the book. The Panda's Thumb also has links to various information sources, including previous posts relevant to the case.

The Foundation for Thought and Ethics, the publisher of the book, sought to intervene in the lawsuit. Their request was denied, but what is interesting is some of the information that came out in the process. Althought the FTE claimed not to be a religious organization, tax documents said otherwise. Also, early drafts of the book used forms of the word "creation" where "intelligent design" ultimately appeared. The publisher claimed that "creation" was only used as a placeholder term.

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Whales: From Land to Sea

A couple of months ago I read Carl Zimmer's book, At The Water's Edge, which deals with the transition of aquatic life to land and back again. The "back again" part concerns the evolution of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, etc.) If you are interested in these two steps in evolution then you should read the book.

Now Zimmer has a post dealing with whale evolution and the creationist attack thereon. Here are a few links to go along with it.

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The webpage of the Thewissen lab is definately worth exploring. (Thewissen is a major player in the discovery of transitional whale fossils.)

This article, originally from the NCSE has some good background information, although it looks slightly out of date. One of Thewissen's important papers was published in Nature about a month after the above article was posted on talk.origins.

And then there is this illustration of whale transition--and this too.

Although not a scholarly source, Wikipedia seems to have a pretty good page.

On a final note, a reminder of why gap arguments are a bad idea:

"Finally, and most glaringly obvious, if random evolution is true there must have been a large number of transitional forms between the mesonychid and the ancient whale: Where are they? It seems like quite a coincidence that of all the intermediate species that must have existed between the mesonychid and whale, only species that are very similar to the end species have been found."

- Michael J. Behe

Anti-Darwinian, Intelligent Design conjecturist,
writing against the validity of evolution less than a year before three transitional species between whales and land-dwelling Eocene Mesonychids were found.

P.S. I forgot to include this. Note that not all relationships are set in stone.

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