vincent Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Harvard University is beginning a research project to study how life began. The team of researchers will receive $1 million in funding annually from Harvard over the next few years. The project begins with an admission that some mysteries about life's origins cannot be explained. Most scientists believe that life on Earth originated in a soup of chemicals, but nobody knows how the chemistry moved from organic to biological. Theorists also suggest that life here could have arrived embedded in a space rock kicked up from Mars billions of years ago. Still another idea is that microscopic life is common in the universe and could have reached Earth from another location. "My expectation is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention,'' said David R. Liu, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard. The "Origins of Life in the Universe Initiative'' is still in its early stages, scientists told the Boston Sunday Globe. Harvard has told the research team to make plans for adding faculty members and a collection of multimillion-dollar facilities. Evolution is a fundamental scientific theory that species evolved over millions of years. It has been standard in most public school science texts for decades but recently re-emerged in the spotlight as communities and some states debated whether school children should also be taught about creationism or intelligent design. Intelligent design holds that life on Earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation. Backers of intelligent design argue that because scientists don't have all the answers, there must be a designer we can't grasp. Scientists say that intelligent design and evolution makes no scientific predictions and is not testable, and so it is not a scientific theory. Scientists freely admit they don't know everything, but they cite the history of figuring things out as evidence that mysteries do not imply divine, undecipherable solutions. Harvard has not been seen as a leader in origins of life research, but the university's vast resources could change that perception. "It is quite gratifying to see Harvard is going for a solution to a problem that will be remembered 100 years from now,'' said Steven Benner, a University of Florida scientist who is one of the world's top chemists in origins-of-life research. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaving_ Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 I wish I could get some of that Harvard dole... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrStoo Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Theres so many questions about life and the universe and so little answers, if they research in this maybe there will be more answers, i'm glad they are researching into something like this it is so amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny1810 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 There'll be complaints about this no doubt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 There'll be complaints about this no doubt 586387236[/snapback] Oh yea, Then there is the whole idea of "Intelligent Design" that our good ole Bushy Wushy wants to implement in the schools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny1810 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Oh yea, Then there is the whole idea of "Intelligent Design" that our good ole Bushy Wushy wants to implement in the schools 586387274[/snapback] I have no problem with it being taught but not in science class, if you wish to teach it in bible class then fair enough. Scientists don't demand that Big Bang theory is taught during RS/RE etc so why should creationism be taught during physics class? :crazy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 I have no problem with it being taughtbut not in science class, if you wish to teach it in bible class then fair enough. Scientists don't demand that Big Bang theory is taught during RS/RE etc so why should creationism be taught during physics class? :crazy: 586387301[/snapback] Exactly, to me Intelligent Design under estimates nature. we shouldn't even question the limits of nature, just study the complexity of it as we make more discoveries. I personally doubt there is a limit on how "complex" nature can get. ID is just Religion's way of taking credit for everything and putting the "god" stamp on it and says "well you discovered this and how it works, i just wanted to let you know that this was God's work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny1810 Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 I love the whole 'its perfectly suited to us, therefore it must be made for us' argument. it's just like a net a load of holes tied together :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fighter-X Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Exactly, to me Intelligent Design under estimates nature. we shouldn't even question the limits of nature, just study the complexity of it as we make more discoveries. I personally doubt there is a limit on how "complex" nature can get. ID is just Religion's way of taking credit for everything and putting the "god" stamp on it and says "well you discovered this and how it works, i just wanted to let you know that this was God's work" 586387328[/snapback] hahaha I agree :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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