Stay Curious

SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND UNLOCK ONE MORE ARTICLE FOR FREE.

Sign Up

VIEW OUR Privacy Policy


Discover Magazine Logo

WANT MORE? KEEP READING FOR AS LOW AS $1.99!

Subscribe

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

FIND MY SUBSCRIPTION
Advertisement

Once More Into the Flaming Pinto, My Friends!

Explore the evolution of vertebrate development and discover the impact of genetic networks on species' divergence.

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, let me quickly recap (and then, at your leisure, read this post.) Last November, my article on the evolution of complex features came out in National Geographic. A few weeks later the article inspired a long but baseless attack from the Discovery Institute, an outfit that promotes intelligent design (a k a "the progeny of creationism"). The attack, authored by one Casey Luskin, came in three parts, climaxing in an argument for intelligent design that required me to wire my jaw back shut: "Was the Ford Pinto, with all its imperfections revealed in crash tests, not designed?" I took a lot of time to refute Luskin's various claims, pointing out how he contradicts himself, doesn't bother to consider the actual scientific evidence I wrote about in the article, and accuses me of deceptions I did not commit. And that, I thought, ...

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe
Advertisement

0 Free Articles