Ready to dip a toe in the ocean of biological ingenuity? Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back, this time to discuss with host Andrew McDiarmid the engineering elegance and irreducible complexity of the process of bacterial cell division. You may wonder why we should care about something so minuscule as bacterial cells. After all, something so insignificant and unseen has little bearing on our daily lives. But if we’ve learned anything in the biological revolution of the 20th century, it’s that consequential things often come in very small packages. And if even the simplest forms of life exhibit stunning complexity and engineering prowess, all the more do we! And that complexity and design demands an adequate explanation. Here, McLatchie describes the remarkable process of cell wall breakage and re-synthesis that allows cell division to take place and explains why it’s a big problem for Darwinian evolution.

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Do living things evolve right before our eyes? Perhaps the most common evidence put forward to support evolutionary theory is the observation that organisms can adapt. But is this adaptability really a hallmark of a gradual Darwinian process? Or is it evidence of intelligent design? On this ID The Future, host Eric Anderson speaks with Dr. Emily Reeves about the adaptability of the humble guppy fish, a new icon of evolution heralded by biologists as proof positive of Darwinian evolutionary processes at work. In this episode, Dr. Reeves uses guppies to discuss why the adaptability of organisms is actually powerful evidence of design. She also explains how biologists can improve their abilities as scientists by learning more about engineering.

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If you enjoy the work of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, including our books, videos, articles, and research, you may wonder how you can get involved. Options include signing up for our weekly newsletter Nota Bene, joining the Discovery Society, and attending our events. But in the last few years, a new way to promote intelligent design at the local level has been, well, growing. It’s called Roots. On this ID The Future, Daniel Reeves, our Director of Education and Outreach, introduces us to this network of grassroots supporters promoting intelligent design in their local communities.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Eric Anderson begins a conversation with biochemist Michael Denton about Denton’s 2020 book The Miracle of the Cell, part of his continuing Privileged Species series exploring nature’s fine tuning for life. New research keeps unveiling ever more ways in which this fine tuning exists, from the cosmos to the atoms of the periodic table, and even to the subatomic level of quantum tunneling. Says Denton: “The miracle of the cell completes the overall fitness paradigm that unites galaxies with atoms in a vast web of fitness for life.” This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Are we common or rare? You can be on either side of the question and still be excited about the search for habitable planets capable of harboring life. On this episode of ID the Future, host and amateur astronomer Eric Anderson concludes his two-part conversation with Bijan Nemati, professional astronomer and expert on exoplanet search technology, to review the history of exoplanet research and share key details about upcoming NASA missions. Nemati is currently one of the lead scientists for the coronagraph instrument on the Roman Space Telescope, slated to launch within the next few years, and is also closely involved in early planning for the next-generation Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will be focused specifically on identifying signs of life on a small selection of exoplanets. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Don’t miss Part 1!

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One of the most exciting areas of space research is the search for Earth-like planets around other stars. Since the first discovery some 30 years ago, thousands of exoplanets have been identified and catalogued, but the vast majority bear little resemblance to Earth and would not be conducive to even simple life, much less large organisms such as ourselves. However, during the same 30 years, planet-hunting technology has also vastly improved. Where do things stand today, and what can we expect over the next decade as the hunt continues?

On this episode of ID the Future, host and amateur astronomer Eric Anderson begins a two-part conversation with Bijan Nemati, professional astronomer and expert on exoplanet search technology, to review the history of exoplanet research and upcoming NASA missions. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

For the last Humanize episode of the season, I thought it would be edifying to explore how the Discovery Institute’s institutional programs dovetail with the work of the Center on Human Exceptionalism. Who better to ask than our intrepid president, Steven J. Buri?

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For decades we were told that non-coding regions of our DNA are littered with evolutionary junk. But in recent years, numerous discoveries have revealed that function is the rule, not the exception, in the genome. On this episode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin reflects with host Jonathan McLatchie about his recent debate over junk DNA with Rutgers University evolutionary biology professor Dr. Daniel Stern Cardinale, known as Dr. Dan online. Luskin breaks down the main points he made in his debate as well as Dr. Dan’s responses. He and McLatchie conclude with a reminder of why intelligent design is a far superior approach to studying the genome than an evolutionary approach.

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Does a scientific worldview require atheism? Or are scientific discoveries of the last century pointing back to a God hypothesis? On this ID The Future, Piers Morgan sits down with “one of the most controversial philosophical minds on the planet,” Dr. Stephen Meyer, for a lively and wide-ranging discussion about the scientific arguments for intelligent design and the problems with atheism. We are grateful to the producers of Piers Morgan Uncensored for permission to re-post this interview on ID The Future.

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On this ID The Future marking the anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s death, we’re delighted to share Discovery Institute Vice President Dr. John West’s recent conversation with radio host Michael Medved discussing Reagan’s deeply personal argument for intelligent design. During remarks given at a National Prayer Breakfast event in 1988, Reagan shared his argument for intelligent design in unscripted, humorous fashion. But as Dr. West explains, Reagan’s commitment to intelligent design went much deeper than a few off-the-cuff laugh lines. Reagan fought against atheism and materialism in his diplomacy as president and even in his role as a father.

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On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes comedian and author Evan Sayet to the podcast to discuss the failure of the atheist origin myth, his journey from liberalism to conservatism, and the role of humor in the scientific debate. His latest book, Magic Soup, Typing Monkeys, and Horny Aliens From Outer Space, takes a cuttingly humorous approach to dismantling the origin myths promoted by atheists to explain away the evidence for design in life and the universe. Philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer calls Sayet’s book “a rambunctious romp…With his trademark humor, Sayet exposes the absurdities of the materialist superstition of our age.” Come for the laughs, stay for the serious scientific discussion!

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his conversation with Robert Waltzer, chair of the department of biology at Belhaven University and co-author of Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, on three big problems faced by naturalistic evolutionary theory. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Find more episodes at www.idthefuture.com!

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