Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Meme

2011-11-06T02:02:48Z

SLSmith:

Meme is a term used to describe the spread and modification of [[idea]]s in a selection and [[reproduction]] context. They are sometimes compared to viruses as an analogy, in that ideas pass to new people from those who already have that idea ("transmission"), and that they will also change over time to become more effective at catching people's attention and remaining in their mind. This is because someone who contacts the idea but doesn't like it is unlikely to spread the idea to others, so the easily transmitted ideas spread further.

That is, there are two main ways ideas can spread - by being transmitted easily, or by remaining in someone's mind for a long time (having a low transmission rate but many opportunities for that transmission to occur). The term has also been applied to the spread of [[viral]] fads on the [[Internet]] such as certain YouTube videos, because the fads spread rapidly and are only introduced to new people through those who have already contacted it. These are in the category of being transmitted easily, and since they have low staying power, they rarely remain popular for more than a few months each.

[[Category:Terms]]

Double standard

2011-11-04T04:06:37Z

SLSmith:

A '''double standard''' is a harsher or stricter attitude against someone else than one holds about himself or strangers, or a similar attitude against a particular idea or belief compared to another idea or belief. Causes of double standards include a lack of forgiveness and political bias. Another common cause is [[confirmation bias]].

Many people undergo dramatic life changes when they wake up to their own double standard, as in:

*holding [[conservatives]] to a higher standard than [[liberals]]
*getting angry when personally lied to, yet raising no objection to [[liberal deceit]]
*believing what is taught by liberals in school before believing what is taught in the [[Bible]]
*holding grudges against others who acted no worse than one's friends
*disparage voters when liberals lose, but act like majority vote means something special when liberals win
*immediately believe anything that is contrary to the Bible, yet reject numerous counterexamples to liberal theories

The son finally decides to return to his father in the [[Prodigal Son]] when he realizes that among the people he left his father for, "no one gave him anything," in contrast to his father's generosity. The son had been applying a double standard against his father, but no longer.

A useful approach to avoiding double standards in family situations is to "treat your friends like family, and your family like friends." Had the Prodigal Son done that, he never would have senselessly suffered as he did.
[[File:Flowchart1.jpg|thumb|600px| Double standard flow chart describing offensive remarks by politicians]]

'''Examples of [[liberal]] double standards include''':

*When the [[Republican]] [[Majority Leader]] [[Trent Lott]] made a remark with racial implications, he was forced to resign; but when the [[Democratic]] Majority Leader [[Harry Reid]] made a far more offensive racial remark, liberals defended his remaining in power.

*Wealth by a liberal, such as the tens of millions of dollars made by [[Al Gore]] and [[Bill Clinton]], is just fine; but wealth by a [[Christian]] preacher is somehow unacceptable.

*[[Global warming]]: Supporters of the [[Kyoto Protocol]] (an emissions reduction treaty) say that "[[correlation is not causation]]" when scientists point out the dozens of natural [[climate cycles]] linking changes in sunspots to changes in Earth's air temperature. But their argument for a [[runaway greenhouse effect]] is based on a single period from 1850 to present in which carbon dioxide levels and air temperatures have risen together.

*[[Evolution]]: Ardent supporters of the Theory of Evolution blindly accept any study that purportedly "proves" their theory, without addressing (or even allowing the criticism of) any flaws in such studies. But when it comes to alternative theories (whether it be [[Creationism]], intelligent design, or something else), the same people immediately reject them without even studying the details.

*[[Wikipedia]] is much harsher in describing [[conservatives]] and sites perceived to be conservative. Compare, for example, Wikipedia's entries on Conservapedia and Scholarpedia.

*Liberals supported and participated in a prayer for the late [[Ted Kennedy]] led by the chaplain for the House of Representatives, which expressly and repeatedly referenced the [[Lord]], yet the same liberals insist on the [[censorship]] of [[classroom prayer]].<ref>http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/08/29/Prayer-offered-for-Kennedy-at/1251586062.html</ref>

== References ==

<references/>

== See also ==

*[[Prodigal Son]]

[[Category:Political Terms]]
[[Category:Liberal Traits]]

Confirmation bias

2011-11-04T03:58:43Z

SLSmith:

'''Confirmation bias''' is the tendency to accept evidence confirming what one already feels justified in believing while ignoring, downplaying, or even rejecting evidence that might tend to contradict one's beliefs.

Confirmation bias sabotages objectivity by discarding or ignoring data which challenges the prevailing consensus. The best scientists consciously strive to overcome this psychological tendency, while advertisers, partisans and many journalists try exploit it. This is because almost everyone is subject to confirmation bias to at least some degree, and it is one of the most difficult logical fallacies to overcome. For example, when watching a favorite sports team, it is very difficult to spot infractions made by your own team, and very easy to spot those made by the other - while someone cheering for the other team will notice the reverse. The objective mindset is that certain infractions will be penalized regardless of which team you want to win.

[[Ronald Bailey]] wrote:
*Once a particular notion becomes conventional wisdom, evidence and stories confirming that conventional wisdom are easily accepted and published—and reported in the media. Those that contradict the prevailing views have a much harder time getting a hearing. [http://www.reason.com/news/show/34939.html]

Of course, just because a view is popular does not mean that it is due to confirmation bias. All ideas must be evaluated on their own merits; it is possible to succumb to confirmation bias in favor of something that is true, in which case you would end up believing correctly but for illogical reasons.

Confirmation bias can also be "transferred" between ideas when the same person is presenting them. That is, if someone you trust tells you something you have confirmation bias towards, then tells you other things that you haven't heard before, you might believe everything because otherwise you would have to recognize the person as fallible and possibly reconsider the other things that person has told you in the past. (This is related to the [[appeal to authority]].) To be objective, all ideas must be evaluated separately, and without considering who is actually presenting them.

The opposite of [[bias]] and [[prejudice]] is objectivity and even [[skepticism]]. Scientists who are open minded avidly seek out data which might potentially contradict their theories - or at least the theories of their colleagues. Ideally, if collected data contradict a prediction made by any theory, then the theory must be reevaluated or even discarded. This is part of the purpose of scientific [[peer review]]; the idea is to make sure that a particular experiment can convince scientists who might not believe a particular hypothesis (and are therefore not subject to confirmation bias).

If confirmation bias is not corrected for, this often leads to the situation in which an entire generation of scientists must grow old and die before the next generation comes up which is willing to examine newly discovered ideas; see [[Paradigm shift]]. It is unfortunate that advocates of [[global warming]] and [[evolution]] fall prey to confirmation bias, or even willfully allow it to cloud their judgment. Another example of a common confirmation bias is the "selection bias," such as if you only decide (select) that you will watch news that supports your own beliefs, which will almost always cause your beliefs to get stronger regardless of whether they are right. This is often unconscious, because those news channels are the ones that you probably enjoy the most.

==See also==
*[[Scientific method]]
*[[Evolution syndrome]]
[[category:psychology]]
[[category:Liberal Traits]]

White blood cell

2011-10-30T04:24:24Z

SLSmith:

'''White blood cells''' are a component of [[blood]]. As part of the body's [[immune system]], their function is to protect the body from disease and infection. White blood cells come in several varieties, each with a different role to play in neutralizing harmful foreign substances. White blood cells, like all [[blood cells]], are produced in the [[bone]] marrow.

They are also known as leukocytes. There are five main types of leukocytes, and these types are produced from immature cells in the [[lymphatic system]] in response to the body's needs. For example, infection with bacteria will cause more [[macrophage]]s to be produced and fewer NK cells, in response to "alarm signals" called [[chemokine]]s. Macrophages then exit the bloodstream, migrate towards the site of infection, and attempt to neutralize the invading pathogens. Others begin producing antibodies or recruit other systems to help.

The immune system of all [[vertebrates]] has [[memory]], which in this context means that it keeps a record of invaders it has previously encountered. Immune memory is not completely understood, but involves the cells that contributed most to fighting off the infection being stored away in the bone marrow. This system is why you will not usually get [[chickenpox]] if you have already had it, and is also why vaccines work (the vaccine looks similar to a pathogen such as [[polio]], so the immune system will "remember" it and then be ready if it should ever encounter the real thing).

==See Also==
*[[Red blood cell]]
*[[Platelets]]

[[Category:Anatomy]]

Mutation

2011-10-30T04:05:16Z

SLSmith:

In [[biology]], a '''mutation''' is any physical change in the [[genetic material]] of an [[organism]]. In most organisms, including humans, the genetic material is [[DNA]], while some viruses use [[RNA]]. Mutations can be caused by internal or external factors. In multicellular organisms there are two primary classes of mutation, [[germline mutations]] and [[somatic mutations]]. Germline mutations are those changes that can be passed down to offspring, while somatic mutations are mutations that only alter genetic material in the mutated organism. Somatic mutations are the root cause of [[cancer]]. There is some evidence that changes outside of the cell's genetic material, such as the [[cytoplasm]], [[proteins]], or the cell [[membrane]] can also be inherited.

Common external factors include [[ultraviolet]] radiation, chemical [[mutagens]], or parasitic organisms (such as [[viruses]] or [[bacteria]]). Most internal causes of mutations stem from errors in reproduction of genetic material.

Some organisms will respond to harsh environments by increasing the rate of mutations. This is known as [[hypermutation]] and is hypothesized to aid organisms by creating wider variation in the [[gene pool]] of the population, increasing the chances that at least some descendents might survive under harsh conditions. Hypermutation also occurs in the human [[immune system]], so that our antibodies have more variation and can respond to a greater variety of invaders.

==Classes of mutations==

DNA is not a static entity. It is subject to a variety of different types of heritable change (mutation). Large-scale chromosome abnormalities involve loss or gain of chromosomes, or breakage and rejoining of chromatids. Smaller scale mutations can be grouped into different mutation classes according to the effect on the DNA sequence. Mutations can also be categorized on the basis of whether they involve a single DNA sequence or whether they involve exchanges between two allelic or non-allelic sequences. According to molecular pathology, there are three main classes of mutation with several subclasses: [[deletion]]s, [[insertion]]s and [[substitution]]s.

===Deletion mutations===
Deletion mutations are mutations where part of a chromosome or DNA sequence is missing.

===Insertion mutations===
Insertion mutations are mutations where DNA is inserted into the genetic sequence.

===Substitution mutations===
A point mutation or ''substitution'' is the most limited type of mutation, whereby a single base [[nucleotide]] is replaced with another nucleotide.

For example, sickle-cell anemia is caused by a single point mutation in one allele of the beta [[hemoglobin]] gene, whereby a CCT codon is converted into TCT. The TCT then mistakenly encodes the [[amino acid]] serine instead of proline.

Sometimes the expression "point mutation" can also include the addition or subtraction of a single base pair, which is also referred to as an "indel".

Deletions and insertions can also occur on a large scale. Other large-scale genetic changes include inversions, where an entire stretch of DNA is removed from the chromosome and replaced in the opposite direction; translocations, where DNA is moved from one part of the genome to another; and duplication, where a region of DNA is copied multiple times and re-inserted into the genome (for example, an entire chromosome is duplicated in [[Down syndrome]]).

==Mutation subclasses==
The following is a list of mutation subclasses that can fall into the three major classes of mutation.

===Morphological===
Morphological mutants affect the outward appearance of an individual ([[phenotype]]). Plant height mutations could changes a tall plant to a short one, or from having smooth to round seeds, due to mutations in genes relating to plant growth.

===Biochemical===
Biochemical mutations have a lesion in a gene necessary for one specific step of an enzymatic pathway. For bacteria, biochemical mutants need to be grown on a media supplemented with a specific nutrient. Such mutants are called auxotrophs. Often though, morphological mutants are the direct result of a mutation in a biochemical pathway. In humans, albinism is the result of a mutation in the pathway from converts the amino acid tyrosine to the skin pigment melanin. Similarly, cretinism results when the tyrosine to thyroxine pathway is mutated. Therefore, in a strict genetic sense, if appropriate experiments are performed, a morphological mutation can be explained at the biochemical level.

For some mutations to be expressed, the individual needs to be placed in a specific environment. This is called the restrictive condition. But if the individual grow in any other environment (permissive condition), the wild type phenotype is expressed. These are called conditional mutations. Mutations that only expressed at a specific temperature (temperature sensitive mutants), usually elevated, can be considered to be conditional mutations.

===Lethal===
Lethal mutations are mutations that lead to the death of the individual. Death does not have to occur immediately, it may take several months or even years. But if the expected longevity of an individual is significantly reduced, the mutation is considered a lethal mutation.

Wild type alleles typically encode a product necessary for a specific biological function. If a mutation occurs in that allele, the function for which it encodes is also lost. The general term for these mutations is loss-of-function mutations. The degree to which the function is lost can vary. If the function is entirely lost, the mutation is called a null mutation. If is also possible that some function may remain, but not at the level of the wild type allele. These are called leaky mutations.

===Loss-of-function===
Loss-of-function mutations are typically recessive. When a heterozygote consists of the wild-type allele and the loss-of-function allele, the level of expression of the wild type allele is often sufficient to produce the wild type phenotype. Genetically this would define the loss-of-function mutation as recessive. Alternatively, the wild type allele may not compensate for the loss-of-function allele, and the gene is called haploinsufficient. In those cases, the phenotype of the heterozygote may be equal to that of the loss-of-function mutant, and the mutant allele will act as a dominant.

===Gain-of-function===
Gain-of-function mutations create a new allele that is associated with a new function. Any heterozygote containing the new allele along with the original wild type allele will express the new allele. Genetically this will define the mutation as a dominant.

'''Sickle hemoglobin''', where the function of the hemoglobin has changed in a way to be not conducive to [[malaria]] [[parasite]]s, is often cited as an example of a gain-of-function mutation, but it is actually a loss-of-function mutation that conveys a survival advantage in some circumstances. A proper example is the mutations that occur in the immune system in order to make and improve antibodies against invading bacteria and viruses.

{{QuoteBox|This is good evidence that natural selection plays a part in maintaining a higher frequency of this carrier state. If you are resistant to malaria, you are more likely to survive to pass on your genes. Nevertheless, it is a defect, not an increase in complexity or an improvement in function which is being selected for, and having more carriers in the population means that there will be more people suffering from this terrible [[disease]].<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/901/ Sickle-cell anemia does not prove evolution!], ''Creation'' 16(2):40–41, March 1994.</ref>}}

'''HIV-1 M subtype D's Na+ viroporin''', is known as an example of a Gain-of-Function mutation due to the viroporin being gated and specific to Na+ cations. A viroporin is an ion channel that allows for the movement of ions from one side of a membrane to another. A gated channel has an additional feature which closes the channel to prevent "leaking" of ions across the membrane. In this example the HIV types before HIV-1 M did not have this viroporin. To go from an ordinary viroporin's original form to the multisubunit structure with a new function required the development of a new binding site, which involves more than a single amino acid substitution<ref>Paul et al. (1998) Mutational Analysis of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Vpu Transmembrane Domain That Promotes the Enhanced Release of Virus-Like Particles from the Plasma Membrane of Mammalian Cells. J Virol, 72 (2): 1270.</ref>. Not just any binding site will do, for a mass of agglomerated protein would occur, not an ion channel with ion selectivity. As such, HIV-1 M's viroporin is a gated ion channel, not just a hole punched in the membrane, with a specific amino acid responsible for the gating<ref>Mehnert T, et al., Biophysical characterization of Vpu from HIV-1 suggests a channel-pore dualism. Proteins. 2007 Oct 1; doi: 10.1002/prot.21642.</ref>. What is important is that this mutation is beneficial to the virus; it increases viral particle release, spreading HIV more efficiently<ref>Paul et al. (1998) Mutational Analysis of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Vpu Transmembrane Domain That Promotes the Enhanced Release of Virus-Like Particles from the Plasma Membrane of Mammalian Cells. J Virol, 72 (2): 1270.</ref>.

===Neutral===

Neutral mutations cause neither a gain or a loss of function. For example, both AAA and AAG code for the amino acid [[lysine]], so a mutation (a single-letter substitution) of one to the other would be predicted to have no effect. Gene duplications can also be initially neutral, and then later turn out to protect the organism if one of the genes (which has a redundant function after the duplication) is mutated later on.

===Nonsense===

Nonsense mutations cause introduction of a stop [[codon]] into a gene, which will then be produced only in a truncated form. Nonsense mutations are almost always loss-of-function mutations as well.

===Dynamic===
Dynamic mutations are heritable mutations where the probability of the mutation is a function of the number of copies of the mutation, causing the chance of inheriting the mutation to be different than organism’s predecessor. These mutations are known to cause several genetic syndromes such as [[Fragile X syndrome]], Huntington’s Chorea, Myotonic Dystrophy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease to name a few.

===Frame shift===
Frame shift mutations are mutations where the reading frame is moved to cause a different translation of the DNA. This is due to the fact that codons that encode the genetic sequence are read in threes. Frame shift mutations are known to cause hypercholesterolemia as well as disabling several chemokine receptors.

===Reversions===
Reversion mutations are those which "undo" a previous mutation by chance (for example, a mutation of ATG to CTG in the start [[codon]] of a gene will prevent it from being transcribed, but a mutation at the same location might undo this back to ATG). A mutation at another location might also revert the phenotype (for example, if another gene which compensates for the lost function of the first is upregulated), although the genetic code is still different from before the two mutations had occurred.

==Mutations and the Theory of Evolution==
Most evolutionists believe that the processes of mutation, [[genetic drift]] and [[natural selection]] created every species of life that we see on earth today after [[Origin of life|life first came about on earth]]<ref name="Dawk">[[Jonathan Sarfati]], P.H.D., F.M., [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1855 Climbing Mount Improbable: A Review of Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins]</ref>, and of these, mutations are the only one supposedly capable of supplying new genetic information.
Evolutionist [[Theodosius Dobzhansky]] wrote: "The process of mutation is the only known source of the new materials of genetic variability, and hence of [[Theory of evolution|evolution]]."<ref>[[NorthWest Creation Network]], [http://www.nwcreation.net/geneticquotes.html Quotes on Genetics]</ref>

[[Image:Pierre Grasse.jpg|thumb|140px|right|Pierre Grasse]]
Mutations that allegedly create new genetic [[information]] have been described. Mutations are claimed to have led to the evolution of new genes<ref>[[Okada]] 1983</ref>, to the novel use of existing genetic information<ref> [[Sean Carroll]] 2005</ref>, and to the construction of new genes by shuffling and recombining of parts of existing genes<ref> [[Godzik A.]] 2008</ref>, although the claims are disputed<ref>Batten, Don, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/1586/ The adaptation of bacteria to feeding on nylon waste], ''Journal of Creation'' 17(3):3–5, December 2003.</ref> or are based on speculation rather than observation of the mutations actually occurring.
Creationists continue to claim that new information cannot be created.

However, mutations that create new genetic [[information]] have never been observed.
[[Pierre Grasse]], who served as Chair of Evolution at [[Sorbonne University]] for thirty years and was ex-president of the [[French Academy of Sciences]], said:{{QuoteBox|Some contemporary biologists, as soon as they observe a mutation, talk about evolution. They are implicitly supporting the following syllogism: mutations are the only evolutionary variations, all living beings undergo mutations, therefore all living beings evolve....No matter how numerous they may be, mutations do not produce any kind of evolution.<ref name="Grasse">Quoted on [http://www.veritas-ucsb.org/library/origins/quotes/mutations.html Veritas Forum]</ref>}}
Grasse went on to point out that bacteria, much studied by geneticists and molecular biologists, produce the most mutants,<ref>[http://www.veritas-ucsb.org/library/origins/quotes/mutations.html Veritas Forum]</ref>, yet bacteria are considered to have "stabilized a billion years ago!".<ref name="Grasse" />
Grasse regards the "unceasing mutations" to be "merely hereditary fluctuations around a median position; a swing to the right, a swing to the left, but no final evolutionary effect."<ref name="Grasse" />

Although he believed that random mutations produced new features, [[Harvard]] biologist [[Ernst Mayr]] admitted the difficulty with the idea: "It must be admitted, however, that it is a considerable strain on one’s credulity to assume that finely balanced systems such as certain sense organs (the eye of vertebrates, or the bird’s feather) could be improved by random mutations."<ref>[http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes9.html Ernst Mayr, Systematics and the Origin of Species (New York: Dover Publications, 1942), p. 296]</ref>

[[Creationism|Creation scientists]] argue that mutations ''cannot'' generate new genetic information.<ref>[[Answers in Genesis]], [http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/mutations.asp Mutations: Questions and Answers]</ref><ref>Dr. [[Jerry Bergman]], [http://www.trueorigin.org/mutations01.asp Darwinism and the Deterioration of the Genome]</ref><ref name="Dawk" /><ref>[[Jonathan Sarfati]], P.H.D., F.M., [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3831 ''Refuting Evolution'', Chapter 2, Variation and Natural Selection Versus Evolution]</ref><ref>[[Answers in Genesis]], [http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/selection.asp Natural Selection Questions and Answers]</ref>.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Other References==
Biology (7th Edition). Neil A. Campbell,Jane B. Reece. http://www.amazon.com/Biology-7th-Neil-Campbell/dp/080537146X.
*Okada, H., Negoro, S., Kimura, H, and Nakamura, S. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v306/n5939/abs/306203a0.html], [[Nature]] 306:203-206, 1983
* Sean B. Carroll, [http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030245&ct=1], [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] USA 89:e245, 2005
* Zhang Q, Zmasek CM, Dishaw LJ, Mueller MG, Ye Y, Litman GW, Godzik A., [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18680598?ordinalpos=6&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum], [[Genome Biology]] 9(8):R123, 2008

[[Category:Biology]]

Vertebrate

2011-08-21T18:12:20Z

SLSmith:

'''Vertebrates''' are defined as [[animal]]s that possess a [[spine|backbone]].<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Biology''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998</ref> They are a subphylum of the phylum [[chordata]].

Vertebrates include [[fish]]es, [[reptile]]s, [[amphibian]]s, [[bird]]s, and [[mammal]]s, all having a vertebral column, or a chain of bony elements ([[vertebrae]]) that run along the dorsal surface from head to tail and form the main skeletal axis of the body. The vertebral column surrounds and more or less replaces the [[notochord]] as the chief "stiffener" of the body in locomotion. Some characteristics shared by most or all vertebrates (in addition to those traits shared among all [[Chordata|chordates]]) include the following (after Hickman, 1994):

*A skin or membrane of two divisions, including an outer [[epidermis]] and an inner [[dermis]]
*A skin or membrane often modified to produce hair, scales, feathers, glands, horn, etc.
*Replacement of notochord by a vertebral column more or less complete, depending on group
*A bony or [[Cartilage|cartilaginous]] [[endoskeleton]] consisting of [[cranium]], [[visceral arch]]es, limb girdles, and two pairs of appendages
*A muscular, perforated [[pharynx]] - this structure is the site of [[gill]]s in fishes but is much reduced in adult land-dwelling forms, although it is extremely important in [[embryo]]nic development of all vertebrates
*Locomotion provided by muscles attached to endoskeleton
*A igestive system with large digestive glands, [[liver]], and [[pancreas]]
*A ventral [[heart]] with 2-4 chambers
*[[Blood]] with [[Erythrocyte|red blood cells]] containing [[hemoglobin]], and [[Leukocyte|white blood cells]]
* A well developed body cavity (''coelom'') containing visceral systems
*Paired [[kidney]]s with ducts to drain waste to exterior
*Most vertebrates have two distinct sexes, each with paired [[gonad]]s, although there are some exceptions
*A general body plan consisting of head, trunk, two pairs of appendages, and postanal tail (but these structures are highly modified in many vertebrates and sometimes absent).<ref>Myers, P. 2001. "Vertebrata" [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Vertebrata.html Animal Diversity Web] Accessed June 20, 2007</ref>

Vertebrates are often contrasted with [[invertebrates]], animals which do not have a backbone. Although most animals we tend to interact with in our daily lives are vertebrates, invertebrates are far more common, comprising more than nine phyla of life (while Vertebrata is only a single sub-phylum of the phylum Chordata).

==See also==
*[[Scientific Classification]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Biology]]

Chordata

2011-08-21T18:02:20Z

SLSmith:

'''Chordata''' is a [[phylum]] of [[animal]]s, named after their possession of a [[notochord]] at some point during their lives (embryonic, juvenile, or adult). Chordates have four other unifying characteristics, also possessed at some life stage: a dorsal [[nerve]] cord, an endostyle, a post-anal [[tail]], and [[pharyngeal pouches]]. Most chordates have a [[spinal cord]], and are therefore [[vertebrates]].

The phylum includes several [[class (biology)|classes]], the most well-known of which are vertebrates:
*'''Mammalia''' - the [[mammal]]s, such as the cats and the great apes
*'''Aves''' - the [[bird]]s
*'''Reptilia''' - The [[reptile]]s, such as the (extinct) [[dinosaurs]]
*'''Amphibia''' - the [[amphibian]]s (such as [[frog]]s, [[newt]]s and [[salamander]]s)
*'''Pisces''' - the [[fish]]

There are also several obscure non-vertebrate animals including the [[acorn worm]], [[lancelet]] and [[hagfish]].

Other common features include a single [[brain]] and a zig-zag [[muscle]] structure in the [[torso]], although these are not unique to the chordates.

Scientists believe that the chordata are closest to the [[arthropoda]] (shelled, joint-legged animals such as [[insect]]s and [[crustacean]]s), [[echinodermata]] (spiny-skinned animals such as [[starfish]] and [[sea urchin]]s), and [[annelida]] (earthworms) in biology, due to common features such as [[segment]]ation, which are not seen in other phyla such as the [[mollusca]] (molluscs) or [[coelenterata]] ([[jellyfish]] and [[sea anemone]]s).

==See also==
*[[Scientific Classification]]

[[category:Chordata| ]]

Penicillin (anti-biotic)

2011-08-18T23:12:33Z

SLSmith:

[[Image:penicillin.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Molecular structure of Penicillin]]
'''Penicillin''' is a beta-lactam [[antibiotic]], which prevents Gram-positive bacteria from growing by preventing them from synthesizing new [[cell wall]].

Credit for its discovery was given to [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[scientist]] [[Alexander Fleming]], though many others have previously noted anti-bacterial effects of Penicillium molds. Its discovery was considered one of the greatest breakthroughs of the 20th century in the field of [[medicine]]. However, since [[antibiotic resistance]] to early forms of penicillin and other beta-lactams is now very common, and new resistance is arising all the time, scientists are constantly working to come up with new and effective forms. Some of these have moderate to high effectiveness against Gram-negative bacteria as well.

Penicillin is grown from molds and has the general formula of C9H11N2O4SR , where "R" represents a chemical group that is different for different types of penicillin.

[[Category:Antibiotics]]

Conjugation

2011-08-18T22:50:17Z

SLSmith:

:''For conjugation in grammar, see [[Verb]].''
'''Conjugation''' is a temporary union of two [[organism|organisms]], usually [[bacteria]], for the purpose of [[DNA]] transfer.<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Biology''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998</ref> It is one of the three major ways in which [[genes]] can be transferred between different species (horizontal gene transfer), the others being [[transformation]] and [[transduction]]. Horizontal gene transfer is a major cause of [[antibiotic resistance]]; if a pathogenic bacterium picks up resistance genes by chance, and then is exposed to antibiotics, this causes [[natural selection]] and ensures that the resistant cells survive and multiply.

Conjugation between two cells of the same bacterial species involves a thin tube joining the cells and transferring DNA, but when two different species are involved the bacteria form a larger structure called a protoplast, where the cell walls form the bridge between the cells.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Biology]]

User:SLSmith

2011-08-18T22:19:25Z

SLSmith: Created page with "Hello! I'm calling myself SLSmith. I joined because I believe that the search for truth is one of the greatest goals in life, and that the distribution of truth is equally impo..."

Hello! I'm calling myself SLSmith.

I joined because I believe that the search for truth is one of the greatest goals in life, and that the distribution of truth is equally important. I know the most about chemistry- and biology-related subjects, which is where I'd like to spend most of my time, but I'm interested in many other things as well.

I'd rather not directly take positions on contentious issues - it saves a lot of time and helps keep me from becoming biased myself. However, I will object to particular arguments I think are incorrect, regardless of what side they come from, so I hope I don't get in trouble for that. :)

Unfortunately, my responsibilities may see me gone for long periods, but I'll always try to return. Please tell me on my talk page if you'd like to discuss anything, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Iridium

2011-08-18T21:23:20Z

SLSmith:

{{Element | name=Iridium | symbol=Ir | anumber=77 | amass=192.22 amu | state=Solid | class=Transition Metals | cstructure=Face-Centered Cubic| density=22.560 g/cm^3 | color=Silver, slightly yellowish | stableisotopes=2 | date=1803 | discname=Smithson Tennant | origname=From the Latin ''iridis'', meaning ''rainbow''. | uses=Used in conjunction with [[osmium]] to tip gold pen points, to make crucibles and other high-temperature containers. Also used to make alloys for standard weights and measures, as well as heat-resistant alloys. In addition, used in cancer irradiation, hypodermic needles, helicopter spark plugs and as hardening agent for [[platinum]]. | obtained=Found in gravel deposits with [[platinum]], [[iridosmium]], and [[osmiridium]] ores. }}

'''Iridium''' is an [[element]] in the [[transition metal]]s class of the [[periodic table of the elements|periodic table]]. It is hard and lustrous, and is perhaps the most corrosion-resistant metal known. It has the second-highest density of all elements, after [[osmium]].

An alloy of [[platinum]] and iridium was used in the international standard [[International_System_of_Units#Meter|meter]] bar, before the standard was changed in 1960. A similar alloy is still used in the international standard [[International_System_of_Units#Kilogram|kilogram]]. An alloy of 90% [[platinum]] and 10% iridium is widely used in both the jewelry and chemical industries, because it is strong, hard, beautiful, and impervious to almost all chemicals even at very high temperatures.

A layer of iridium in certain rocks, found all over the world, is part of the evidence implying that an asteroid strike caused the [[Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction]].

== Uses ==

Iridium does not have many "everyday" uses, but a few common ones are:

- Spark plugs.

- Phonograph needles.

- It forms an alloy with [[osmium]] used for tipping pens and compass bearings.

- Electrical contacts.

[[Category:Elements]]

Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction

2011-08-18T21:15:36Z

SLSmith:

Evolutionary biologists and geologists generally believe that a mass extinction of [[dinosaurs]] and other organisms happened 65 million years ago, the fifth mass extinction listed in geological history, at the end of the [[Cretaceous Period]]. Its primary cause is generally believed to be an asteroid or comet impact, linked to the Chicxulub crater off the Yucatan Peninsula of [[Mexico]], resulting in the extinction of 70% of all life on Earth.<ref>[http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/impact_cratering/Chicxulub/Discovering_crater.html Chicxulub Impact Event: Discovering the Crater.] Accessed April 24, 2007.</ref>

Some creation scientists believe that virtually the entire geologic record within which fossils, including dinosaur fossils, are found were laid down during the Flood or its immediate aftermath, thus there was no K/T event. <ref> [http://www.trueorigin.org/cfjrgulf.asp Assessing Creationist Stratigraphy With Evidence from the Gulf of Mexico.] Accessed February 24, 2008.</ref> Every dinosaur kind was created by God during creation week approximately 6,000 years ago, and Noah may have taken dinosaurs with him on the Ark.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/back3.html The K-T Event] - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

[[Category:Geology]]

Statistics

2011-08-17T18:21:24Z

SLSmith: /* Misuse of statistics */

{{statistics}}

''This article is about mathematical statistics. For statistics regarding [[Conservapedia]], see [[Special:Statistics]].''

'''Statistics''' can be described as "the practice or science of collecting and analysing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample."<ref>Soanes, C. and Stevenson, A. (eds.) (2005) 'Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised)' Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.</ref> It involves all stages of data collection and processing from the initial collection, to the analysis and ultimately to the conclusions and interpretations of the data. It is used in all research oriented disciplines from physics, chemistry and biology to economics, anthropology and psychology as well as many thousands of other fields. It is also used in businesses and governments.

Statistics analyzes data in two primary ways, the first is called [[descriptive statistics]] which describes and summarizes the data. Often this will include things like: [[mean | the mean]], [[standard error]], or [[standard deviation]] each of these is an example of a [[statistic]]. Also statistics can attempt to infer relationships between the data collected and various hypothesis or populations, this is called [[inferential statistics]]. Both descriptive and inferential statistics comprise applied statistics. There is also a discipline called mathematical statistics, which is concerned with the theoretical basis of the subject.

Statistics takes its name from the fact that it was traditionally taught to monarchs to enable them to manage affairs of state. <ref>http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=statistics</ref>

==Frequentist Approaches==

[[Frequency probability | Frequentist]] approaches are often referred to as classical approaches because it is the oldest and most used method of statistical analysis. The heart of this approach is to try and understand data as a relative frequency or ratio of a particular occurrence out of a total possible number of occurrences. For example, a frequentist would describe the number of times a coin turns up heads as a ratio of total number of heads out of total number of flips.

===Descriptive statistics===

Frequentist approaches to descriptive statistics mostly involve averaging. For example, the mean of a sample is calculated as the total value of all observations divided by total number of trials, and the standard error is calculated by taking the total error size for all samples and dividing by total number of trials.

These methods stem from the view of data as ratios probabilities.

===Inferential statistics===

Frequentist approaches to inferential statistics primarily involve trying to compare descriptive statistics of two data sets to determine if they are [[statistically significant | significantly]] different. One of the most common approaches is to test a given data set against a [[null hypothesis]] or the data set that would be created if the values were the result of random chance alone. For example, if a given head came up 9 times as heads and 1 time as tails you would compare the number of heads, 9, to the number of heads that would be expected if chance alone was operating, or 5.

Testing against the null hypothesis is sometimes referred to as an [[omnibus]] test since it is testing the idea that a given data set is the result of anything other than chance. Often it is much more desirable to test specific data sets against each other.

===Common frequentist methods===

[[Linear model]]

[[Analysis of variance]]

[[Chi-Square test]]

[[Students t-test]]

[[Z test]]

[[Linear regression]]

[[Multiple Regression]]

[[Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient]]

==Bayesian Approaches==

[[Bayesian inference | Bayesian statistics]] is a method of applying [[Bayes theorem]] to data analysis. One of the biggest difference between Bayesian approaches and frequentist approaches is that Bayesians attempt to determine the probability that a given hypothesis is true given the data, while frequentist attempt to define the probability of getting the data given that a particular hypothesis is true.

Bayesian approaches are becoming more and more popular in science because what most people are interested in is the probability of the proposed hypothesis, not the probability of the data. It also does not need to make prior assumptions about the data such as [[Normal distribution | normality]] and [[homogeneity of variance]]. However, Bayesian methods have come under fire from many frequentist proponents. This has led to very heated debate in statistical circles, though this has largely died now, about the respective validity of both methods. The primary complaint leveled at Bayesian statistics is that it must use a [[prior probability]] of a hypothesis in its analysis. This prior is intended to build contextual information into the analysis, but it may be seen by its critics as subjective or arbitrary. Commonly used prior distributions include the [[uniform distribution]] and [[beta distribution]].

===Descriptive statistics===

Bayesian methods all use Bayes' equation, this applies for both descriptive and inferential statistics. To find such things as the mean and standard deviation first a prior probability for all means and standard deviations must be assigned. In practice this usually means assigning uniform probabilities to values equally spaced between what we think is the minimum and maximum values for the statistic we are interested in (the number of values depends on the grid density, which is proportional to accuracy and inversely proportional to computation time). Then a likelihood of each value is then calculated based on the data and then Bayes equation is used to assign a [[posterior probability]] for each value. These posterior probabilities can be plotted as a [[probability density function]] (PDF) to see the various probabilites for the value given the data, or often simply the value with the highest posterior probability is simply chosen.

===Inferential statistics===

Inferential statistics in Bayesian methods looks much the same as descriptive statistics since both use the Bayes equation and the same basic approach. To compare to means you would calculate the PDF for each data set then subtract them from each other to figure out the probability that they differ.

In order to compare hypothesis [[Bayesian model selection]] is often used. This is when each hypothesis you want to test is assigned a prior probability, and then the likelihood of the data given each hypothesis being test is calculated. You can then us Bayes equation to determine the relative probabilities that each hypothesis is correct. This method is almost always testing relative probabilites since to calculate an absolute probability would require knowing every possible hypothesis. Usually this is not possible, but sometimes the subset is finite enough it can be tested.

Because of the large number of calculations needed for model selection Bayesian approaches have only became practical and popular with the advent of computers. But even with the most modern computers available many Bayesian models remain computational intractable. Recent developments in applying [[Markov chain]] [[Monte Carlo method | Monte Carlo methods]] to these problems have led to promising results.

==Non-parametric and Bootstrapping methods==

One of the greatest problems in frequentist approaches to statistics is that it often relies on making prior assumptions about how the data looks and was collected. Most commonly the data must be a normal distribution and have homogeneity of variance. Different statistical methods are more or less robust to violations of these assumptions, and some techniques have attempted to avoid them all together. The end result though is usually a significant loss of power and increased likelihood of error.

[[Non-parametric statistics]] are any one of many methods that attempt to define descriptive characteristics or make inferential claims with out the need of tightly confined parameters. The main goals is to try and eliminate the need for assumptions without sacrificing power and accuracy.

[[Bootstrapping statistics]] is a particularly popular non-parametric approach. Bootstrapping is computationally costly and has only recently become feasible for most data sets. It involves [[sampling with replacement]] from the given data set perhaps as many as 100,000 times in order to determine mean, error, best fits and comparisons of data sets.

==Misuse of statistics ==

Statistical data can often be manipulated to make it seem like it proves a certain hypothesis, whereas in actuality it does not. Because of the advanced mathematics involved in computing some statistics, people can sometimes be deceived by this. This type of deceit has been used by politicians and their supporters to give a false impression of voter preferences, for example. It can also be used by scientists with their own agendas to try to "prove" various otherwise unsupported theories. Since it is also possible to misuse statistics by accident, statisticians must always be very careful; for example, polls can be skewed if the wording of questions or other polling techniques unintentionally result in bias.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Probability and Statistics]]

Randomness

2011-08-17T18:18:34Z

SLSmith:

'''Randomness''' is a lack of order, purpose, cause, or predictability.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random#Randomness_in_science Randomness in science]</ref>

Paradoxically, it is still possible to make predictions involving randomness, because randomness tends to average out over time. For example, while nobody can predict the result of a coin toss, it is easy to predict that the coin should land either heads or tails approximately half the time. As a more advanced example, the motions of molecules are random, but it is possible to predict that randomly distributed molecules of water will come together in an ordered structure (ice) when the temperature drops far enough. The ability to make these predictions is an important part of [[statistics]].

==See also==
* [[Random number]]
* [[Random variable]]
* [[Entropy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Dictionary]]

Cancer

2011-08-17T17:50:16Z

SLSmith: missed quotation mark

The term '''cancer''' refers to many different diseases. They all have in common uncontrolled ''cell [[proliferation]]'' (growth and division). Cancers are usually named for the organ or cell type that is originally involved. After beginning at one site, the cancerous cells may ''metastasize'' (spread) to other organs and then continue to grow, causing more damage in the new location as well. The cancer is still named by its place of origin.

All known carcinogens (cancer-inducing agents), which include various chemicals, viruses, and ionizing radiation, act by breaking chemical bonds to produce [[DNA]] [[mutations]]. [http://www.livescience.com/health/cell-phone-radiation-cancer-100118.html] These mutations occur randomly throughout the genome, and if not repaired by the cell's DNA repair mechanisms, they can impede normal cellular functions. If enough unrepaired mutations occur in genes associated with cell growth, this can cause the cells to grow when they should not.

==Types of Cancer==
[[Image:Cancerxray.jpg|200px|right|thumb|X-Ray of patient with tumor cancer in right lung]]
[[Image:LUNG069.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Lung tumor]]
''Data are for USA''

*Most common cancers in men:
#[[Prostate cancer|Prostate]]
#[[Lung cancer|Lung]]
#[[Colon cancer|Colorectal]]

*Deadliest cancers in men:
#Lung
#[[Prostate cancer|Prostate]]
#Colon
#Pancreatic
#Leukemia
#[[Liver cancer|Liver]]
#Stomach
*Most common cancers in women
#[[Breast cancer|Breast]]
#Lung
#Colorectal

*Deadliest cancers in women
#Lung
#Breast
#Colorectal
#Pancreatic
#Uterus
#Stomach

see [[Mortality]]

==Prevention and Screening==
''Preventative strategies are continuously being revised. Please see references below for up to date information.''
*[[Breast cancer]]: In women without a family history of breast cancer, mammograms should be done yearly. Clinical breast exam by a medical professional should also be done yearly. Women who have had abortions are significantly more likely to contract breast cancer.
*[[Lung cancer]]: There are no currently accepted preventative guidelines
*[[Prostate cancer]]: evidence is inconclusive, but most doctors recommend yearly PSA blood test and digital rectal exam
*[[Colon cancer]]: in people without a family history of colon cancer, most sources recommend a colonoscopy at age 50, with further studies based on the results. Fecal occult blood testing should also be conducted yearly.
*[[Cervical cancer]]: yearly Pap smears should be done on all women who have been sexually active and have not had a [[hysterectomy]]. Over age 65, women in monogamous relationships and recent normal Pap smears probably do not need to be screened as frequently.
*[[Testicular cancer]]: the evidence is unclear, however most physicians recommend routine testicular exams in young men.
*[[Skin cancer]]: keep skin protected from sunlight by use of clothing and sunscreen, and watch you skin for new moles, or changes in existing moles.

==Treatment of cancer==

Cancer treatment requires destruction or removal of cancerous cells with minimal effect to healthy cells. Since the cancerous cells are descended from healthy cells and are thus very similar to them, this is very difficult. Furthermore, the small differences are dependent on what mutations initially caused the cancer in the first place, so most treatments are only effective against a certain percentage of cancers from any one tissue.

===Chemotherapy===
[[Chemotherapy]] is the use of drugs that kill [[tumor]] cells. Conventionally, the drugs that are used are those that target cells which are rapidly undergoing [[mitosis]]; this approach is effective but is limited by side effects, which occur because these drugs have an adverse effect on normal tissues that contain rapidly-dividing cells. Research is under way to find drugs with a wider [[therapeutic index]]. One approach is to study specific molecular markers that may be used to identify cancer cells, and to develop drugs that preferentially kill cells that exhibit those markers.

An example of chemotherapy is dichloroacetate (DCA), a chemical with the formula: CHCl₂COOH. DCA cures cancer by restoring the mitochondria of cancer cells. Cancer cells use glycolysis to produce energy since the mitochondria is damaged and there is not enough oxygen (see. [[Hypoxia]]) to go through respiration (oxidative phosphorylation)<ref>{{cite journal |author=Xu R, Pelicano H, Zhou Y, Carew J, Feng L, Bhalla K, Keating M, Huang P |title=Inhibition of glycolysis in cancer cells: a novel strategy to overcome drug resistance associated with mitochondrial respiratory defect and hypoxia |journal=Cancer Res |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=613–21 |year=2005 |pmid=15695406}}</ref>. Usually cells with a critical amount of damage (such as in cancer cells) kill themselves by [[apoptosis]] which requires properly functioning mitochondria. DCA restores the function of the mitochondria and thus apoptosis is restored. Cancer cells then begin killing themselves off.

DCA is available for purchase from websites and physicians, although it is still in the human testing trials in Canada. The trials have proved promising, but this off-label use of DCA to treat cancer has sparked lots of controversy. Most chemotherapy treatments are not so controversial, since they have undergone much more testing to guarantee their safety.

===Radiation therapy===
Radiation therapy involves the use of precisely-targeted [[radiation]] to destroy cancer cells. Because radiation damages [[DNA]] and thus has the ability both to treat and to cause cancer, this method of treatment must be administered by physicians highly-skilled in [[physics]].

===Surgery===
The goal of cancer surgery is to physically remove the abnormal cells. This becomes more difficult after the cancer spreads. Often, chemotherapy is used either before or after surgery to kill cancer cells that have [[metastasis|metastasized]].

===Immunotherapy===
The immune system contains a number of cell types, such as [[NK cells]] and [[cytotoxic T cell|killer T cells]] that have the capability to destroy other cells that have become infected with viruses or have become cancerous. [[Immunotherapy]] involves the enhancement or potentiation of these natural defenses against tumor cells. This is useful because some cancer cells may have mutations that make it hard for the immune system to recognize them as abnormal. A common procedure is to remove immature immune cells from the patient's [[bone marrow]], purify the T-cells and expose them to [[antigen]]s from the tumor. The activated cells are then re-injected, allowing them to seek out cancerous tissues.

== See also ==

*[[Mortality]]
*[[Mobile phones and brain tumor risk]]

==References==
*http://www.cdc.gov
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/stt/stt_0.asp American Cancer Society: Cancer statistics for 2007]
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_1_4X_What_Is_Chemotherapy.asp?sitearea=ETO American Cancer Society: What is chemotherapy?]
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_1_4X_How_Does_Chemotherapy_Work.asp?sitearea=ETO American Cancer Society: How does chemotherapy Work?]
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_1_4X_Whats_New_in_Chemotherapy_Research.asp?sitearea=ETO American Cancer Society: What's new in chemotherapy research?]
*[http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/pocketgd.htm Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Guide to Clinical Preventive Services]
*[http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/chemotherapy/CA00029/METHOD=print Mayo Clinic: Chemotherapy: Drug treatment uses chemicals to kill cancer cells]
*[http://women.webmd.com/guide/health-myths-know-truth?page=2 Myth: Cancer cannot be prevented]

[[Category:Diseases]]
[[Category:Demography]]
[[Category:Cancer| ]]

Cancer

2011-08-17T17:49:13Z

SLSmith:

The term '''cancer''' refers to many different diseases. They all have in common uncontrolled ''cell [[proliferation]]'' (growth and division). Cancers are usually named for the organ or cell type that is originally involved. After beginning at one site, the cancerous cells may ''metastasize'' (spread) to other organs and then continue to grow, causing more damage in the new location as well. The cancer is still named by its place of origin.

All known carcinogens (cancer-inducing agents), which include various chemicals, viruses, and ionizing radiation, act by breaking chemical bonds to produce [[DNA]] [[mutations]]." [http://www.livescience.com/health/cell-phone-radiation-cancer-100118.html] These mutations occur randomly throughout the genome, and if not repaired by the cell's DNA repair mechanisms, they can impede normal cellular functions. If enough unrepaired mutations occur in genes associated with cell growth, this can cause the cells to grow when they should not.

==Types of Cancer==
[[Image:Cancerxray.jpg|200px|right|thumb|X-Ray of patient with tumor cancer in right lung]]
[[Image:LUNG069.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Lung tumor]]
''Data are for USA''

*Most common cancers in men:
#[[Prostate cancer|Prostate]]
#[[Lung cancer|Lung]]
#[[Colon cancer|Colorectal]]

*Deadliest cancers in men:
#Lung
#[[Prostate cancer|Prostate]]
#Colon
#Pancreatic
#Leukemia
#[[Liver cancer|Liver]]
#Stomach
*Most common cancers in women
#[[Breast cancer|Breast]]
#Lung
#Colorectal

*Deadliest cancers in women
#Lung
#Breast
#Colorectal
#Pancreatic
#Uterus
#Stomach

see [[Mortality]]

==Prevention and Screening==
''Preventative strategies are continuously being revised. Please see references below for up to date information.''
*[[Breast cancer]]: In women without a family history of breast cancer, mammograms should be done yearly. Clinical breast exam by a medical professional should also be done yearly. Women who have had abortions are significantly more likely to contract breast cancer.
*[[Lung cancer]]: There are no currently accepted preventative guidelines
*[[Prostate cancer]]: evidence is inconclusive, but most doctors recommend yearly PSA blood test and digital rectal exam
*[[Colon cancer]]: in people without a family history of colon cancer, most sources recommend a colonoscopy at age 50, with further studies based on the results. Fecal occult blood testing should also be conducted yearly.
*[[Cervical cancer]]: yearly Pap smears should be done on all women who have been sexually active and have not had a [[hysterectomy]]. Over age 65, women in monogamous relationships and recent normal Pap smears probably do not need to be screened as frequently.
*[[Testicular cancer]]: the evidence is unclear, however most physicians recommend routine testicular exams in young men.
*[[Skin cancer]]: keep skin protected from sunlight by use of clothing and sunscreen, and watch you skin for new moles, or changes in existing moles.

==Treatment of cancer==

Cancer treatment requires destruction or removal of cancerous cells with minimal effect to healthy cells. Since the cancerous cells are descended from healthy cells and are thus very similar to them, this is very difficult. Furthermore, the small differences are dependent on what mutations initially caused the cancer in the first place, so most treatments are only effective against a certain percentage of cancers from any one tissue.

===Chemotherapy===
[[Chemotherapy]] is the use of drugs that kill [[tumor]] cells. Conventionally, the drugs that are used are those that target cells which are rapidly undergoing [[mitosis]]; this approach is effective but is limited by side effects, which occur because these drugs have an adverse effect on normal tissues that contain rapidly-dividing cells. Research is under way to find drugs with a wider [[therapeutic index]]. One approach is to study specific molecular markers that may be used to identify cancer cells, and to develop drugs that preferentially kill cells that exhibit those markers.

An example of chemotherapy is dichloroacetate (DCA), a chemical with the formula: CHCl₂COOH. DCA cures cancer by restoring the mitochondria of cancer cells. Cancer cells use glycolysis to produce energy since the mitochondria is damaged and there is not enough oxygen (see. [[Hypoxia]]) to go through respiration (oxidative phosphorylation)<ref>{{cite journal |author=Xu R, Pelicano H, Zhou Y, Carew J, Feng L, Bhalla K, Keating M, Huang P |title=Inhibition of glycolysis in cancer cells: a novel strategy to overcome drug resistance associated with mitochondrial respiratory defect and hypoxia |journal=Cancer Res |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=613–21 |year=2005 |pmid=15695406}}</ref>. Usually cells with a critical amount of damage (such as in cancer cells) kill themselves by [[apoptosis]] which requires properly functioning mitochondria. DCA restores the function of the mitochondria and thus apoptosis is restored. Cancer cells then begin killing themselves off.

DCA is available for purchase from websites and physicians, although it is still in the human testing trials in Canada. The trials have proved promising, but this off-label use of DCA to treat cancer has sparked lots of controversy. Most chemotherapy treatments are not so controversial, since they have undergone much more testing to guarantee their safety.

===Radiation therapy===
Radiation therapy involves the use of precisely-targeted [[radiation]] to destroy cancer cells. Because radiation damages [[DNA]] and thus has the ability both to treat and to cause cancer, this method of treatment must be administered by physicians highly-skilled in [[physics]].

===Surgery===
The goal of cancer surgery is to physically remove the abnormal cells. This becomes more difficult after the cancer spreads. Often, chemotherapy is used either before or after surgery to kill cancer cells that have [[metastasis|metastasized]].

===Immunotherapy===
The immune system contains a number of cell types, such as [[NK cells]] and [[cytotoxic T cell|killer T cells]] that have the capability to destroy other cells that have become infected with viruses or have become cancerous. [[Immunotherapy]] involves the enhancement or potentiation of these natural defenses against tumor cells. This is useful because some cancer cells may have mutations that make it hard for the immune system to recognize them as abnormal. A common procedure is to remove immature immune cells from the patient's [[bone marrow]], purify the T-cells and expose them to [[antigen]]s from the tumor. The activated cells are then re-injected, allowing them to seek out cancerous tissues.

== See also ==

*[[Mortality]]
*[[Mobile phones and brain tumor risk]]

==References==
*http://www.cdc.gov
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/stt/stt_0.asp American Cancer Society: Cancer statistics for 2007]
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_1_4X_What_Is_Chemotherapy.asp?sitearea=ETO American Cancer Society: What is chemotherapy?]
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_1_4X_How_Does_Chemotherapy_Work.asp?sitearea=ETO American Cancer Society: How does chemotherapy Work?]
*[http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_1_4X_Whats_New_in_Chemotherapy_Research.asp?sitearea=ETO American Cancer Society: What's new in chemotherapy research?]
*[http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/pocketgd.htm Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Guide to Clinical Preventive Services]
*[http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/chemotherapy/CA00029/METHOD=print Mayo Clinic: Chemotherapy: Drug treatment uses chemicals to kill cancer cells]
*[http://women.webmd.com/guide/health-myths-know-truth?page=2 Myth: Cancer cannot be prevented]

[[Category:Diseases]]
[[Category:Demography]]
[[Category:Cancer| ]]

Peer review

2011-08-15T17:36:57Z

SLSmith: rearranged the lead to make it stronger and eliminate repetitive statements

'''Peer review''' in general refers to submitting scientific work to the scrutiny of other scientists (called "reviewers," or "referees"), especially before publishing it in a scientific journal or making announcements to the general public. It has been found to be rooted in the Biblical tradition and is a proper Christian conduct.<ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/arj/v1/n1/theology-peer-review Theology of Peer Review], Answer: Research Journal</ref>

Peer review is a largely secretive process whereby referees review a scientific paper in strict confidence before an editor accepts the paper for publication. Because the referees usually have some expertise regarding the article's subject, this process will usually catch subtle errors in scientific work. In common practice, peer review is synonymous with '''anonymous peer review''', where the journal editor removes the names of reviewers from their comments before passing them to the authors. After receiving comments, the author may respond, change the article to clarify things, or retract the article. When enough referees approve the publication the paper is published.

The referees are usually selected from a pool of people who already published in that journal, and may be recommended by the authors. However, if the authors find out that the recommended referee was actually selected, this situation (among others) may become an easy way to abuse the process. The scientific journals may ask the referees to check numerous criteria, such as whether the referee believes that the topic of the article fits into the journal. If that would not be the case, the referee will usually suggest another journal to publish the article in. The next important thing is that the article should be coherent. This means it should not contradict itself, and if parts (e.g. measurement results) are ambiguous, this should be pointed out. The next criteria is obviously that the article should present sufficiently new material, and that the new material should be clearly distinguished from material [[citation|cited]]. The next step is originality of the article. Even if new data are consistently presented, they may not fit into a given Journal. Last but not least, the style guidelines of the Journal should be followed quite exactly, and also a minimum standard in the language used must be adhered to. Peer review is not very efficient against scientific misbehavior or plagiarism.

A controversial form of peer review is when physicians on the staff of a hospital pass judgment on a fellow physician, and recommend that he be excluded from the medical staff. This has potential for abuse to eliminate competitors, which is known as [[sham peer review]].

==Theology of Peer Review==

In a landmark paper, the process of peer review has been established by many scholars <ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/arj/v1/n1/theology-peer-review Theology of Peer Review], Answer: Research Journal</ref> as rooted in several [[Christian]] [[virtue]]s, such as:
* reflecting [[Christ]]
* being [[honest]]
* seeking [[wisdom]]
* humbly submitting
* showing Christian [[love]]
* correcting error, and
* being accountable

In accordance to this, several peer reviewed [[creationist]] journals such as [[Answers Research Journal]], Creation Research Society Quarterly, Journal of Creation, Occasional Papers of the BSG, Proceedings of the National Creationist Institute, and Origins have been created despite the scorn and ridicule from [[liberal]] [[professors]].

==Abuses by the IPCC==

:"...the climate reconstruction of {{Lhs|Michael|Mann}} passed both peer review rounds of the IPCC without anyone ever really having checked it." [http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/system/old/GrassrootPerspective/HockeyStickScandal.shtml]

:[[Hendrik Tennekes]] wrote: 'The IPCC review process is fatally flawed....' [http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/system/old/GrassrootPerspective/HockeyStickScandal.shtml]

==Limitations of peer review==

[[Richard Lindzen]] wrote:
:The combination of increased scale and diminished emphasis on unique talent is, from a certain point of view, a devastating combination which greatly increases the potential for the political direction of science, and the creation of dependent constituencies. With these new constituencies, such obvious controls as peer review and detailed accountability begin to fail and even serve to perpetuate the defects of the system. Miller (2007) specifically addresses how the system especially favors dogmatism and conformity.<ref> [http://ecoworld.com/features/2008/10/30/climate-science-is-it-currently-designed-to-answer-questions/ Climate Science: Is It Designed To Answer Questions?]</ref>

==Peer review and [[due diligence]]==

[[Steve McIntyre]] wrote:
:[[IPCC]] proponents place great emphasis on the merit of articles that have been 'peer reviewed' by a journal. However, as a form of [[due diligence]], journal peer review in the multiproxy climate field is remarkably cursory, as compared with the due diligence of business processes. Peer review for climate publications, even by eminent journals like ''Nature'' or ''Science'', is typically a quick unpaid read by two (or sometimes three) knowledgeable persons, usually close colleagues of the author.
:It is unheard of for a peer reviewer to actually check the data and calculations. In 2004, I was asked by a journal (''Climatic Change'') to peer review an article. I asked to see the source code and supporting calculations. The editor said that no one had ever asked for such things in 28 years of his editing the journal. [http://www.climateaudit.org/index.php?p=66]

==Time taken for Peer Review==
The time taken for the peer review varies with the subject and the paper, but it not usually very long and some magazines aim for an ''average'' of 28 days from submission to decision. <ref>[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7H-4HHWW4J-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a7c00b5c0df5183cb9c02d162a4828ee 28 days from submission to decision.]</ref> The actual time taken by the reviewer is much ''shorter'' and varies from five hours <ref>[http://www.publishingresearch.org.uk/documents/PRCPeerReviewSummaryReport-final-e-version.pdf Five hour Peer Review]</ref> to one and a half hours. <ref>[http://www.ama-assn.org/public/peer/7_13_94/pv3110x.htm One-and-a-half hour Peer Review ]</ref>. Obviously more important papers will tend to be reviewed first.

==See also==
[[Richard Lenski]]

==External links==

*[http://www.climateaudit.org/index.php?p=66 Some Thoughts on Disclosure and Due Diligence in Climate Science] - Steve McIntyre
* Kulikovsky, Andrew, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/5613 Creationism, Science and Peer Review] 2nd February 2008 (Creation Ministries International) (Documents some problems with and limitations of peer review).

==References==
<references/>

[[category:science]]
[[category:peer review]]

Socrates

2011-08-15T16:59:24Z

SLSmith:

[[Image:Socrates.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Greek philosopher Socrates]]

'''Socrates''' was an ancient [[Greek]] philosopher, who lived between approximately 470 and 399 BC. He is best known for his method of argument (''elenchus'', or the Socratic Method), which poses questions that may expose logical errors underlying an opponent's argument, though he usually stated that his purpose was not to argue but to pursue the truth in alliance with his opponent. Socrates had served in the army in his youth, like all Greek men of his time. To modern readers he is most familiar as a character in many books by his disciple [[Plato]] or his contemporary [[Xenophon]]. If Socrates wrote any books himself they are lost. Eventually the courts of [[Athens]] found him guilty on charges of [[impiety]] and corrupting the youth, and sentenced him to drink hemlock, a poison that took his life. Socrates had an opportunity to escape from prison, but declined to do so. <ref>http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/socratesbio.html</ref>

==Time line==
His elementary school education included literature, music and gymnastics. He then studied Philosophy and Public Speaking. He was a sculptor like his father. His statue, ''The Three Graces'', was at the entrance to the Acropolis for over six hundred years. He had no formal students. A veteran of the Peloponnesian war, he began philosophical conversations and debates with people in restaurants and stores. His teachings included that ignorance is the cause of all vice, and he emphasized being rational and questioning one’s own thoughts and inner voice. He was condemned by a small majority rather than unanimously. His defense was that what he did wasn’t bad enough to receive death, but might be worth a small fine.<ref>based on Funk & Wagnals New Encyclopedia. ''Socrates.'' F & W’s bibliography for their article on Socrates includes: Guthrie, W.K.C. ''A History of Greek Philosophy.'' 1981. Cambridge. (about the course of Greek philosophy), and Montuori, Maria. ''Socrates: Philosophy of a Myth.'' Humanities. 1981. (about Socratic mythology.) and other books.</ref>

==The question of the historical Socrates==

The major problem in studying the thought of Socrates is that we have to rely on the writings and reports of others since Socrates himself wrote nothing. There is also no historical record of anybody named Socrates ever existing; a vast majority of what we know of the man comes from his pupils, especially [[Plato]], who wrote more about Socrates than anybody else.

[[Aristotle]] examines Socrates in his ''Metaphysics'', and [[Xenophon]] provides some additional information. But [[Plato]], who was Socrates' pupil, is our principal source of information. He (Plato) wrote numerous dialogues in which Socrates figures either as the main speaker or as a secondary character. The problem is separating out from these dialogues what is Socrates and what is Plato. And the chief question is the origin of Plato's "Forms Theory".

[[Frederick Copleston|Coopleston]], in his ''History of Philosophy'', takes the traditional view, largely accepting Aristotle who stated that Socrates did not "separate" the Forms. On this view, although the historical Socrates is presented, especially in the early dialogues, the fully developed theory of Plato's is an elaboration or development of Socrates' views and, especially in his later writings, Plato has used the character of Socrates to expound these views.

There are two aspects of the historic Socrates' life that can be reasonably assumed to be true because they appear to be consistent among most accounts: that he was a critic of [[Athenian democracy]] and that he was executed by the state because of it.

==Some famous Socrates quotes<ref>http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Socrates</ref>==
*The unexamined life is not worth living.
*Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
*Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
*Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.
*I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

== See also ==
*[[Xantippe]]
*[[Euthyphro]]
*[[Apology of Socrates]]
*[[Phaedo]]

== References ==
<references/>

Plato, Christopher Gill, ''The Symposium''. London: Penguin Books, 1999

[[Category:Ancient Greek Philosophers]]

Logical fallacy

2011-08-15T16:49:48Z

SLSmith:

A '''logical fallacy''' is an error in [[formal logic|logical]] reasoning. While the common usage of the word ''fallacy'' would include ''any'' error in [[reason]]ing, in logic a fallacy is defined as a particularly [[deceit|deceptive]] argument which seems correct, but upon further examination is found to be incorrect.<ref name="copi">Copi, Irving M. and Carl Cohen. "Introduction to Logic, 12e". Pearson Education: 2005</ref> The maker of such an argument, however, need not be aware of its fallacious nature.

Logical fallacies fall into two general categories: formal fallacies and informal fallacies. Formal fallacies apply to [[deductive argument]]s, and are those which relate to an improper application of a rule, whereas informal fallacies apply to [[inductive argument]]s, and are those which involve the improper use of the content of an argument. That is, an informally fallacious argument gives a conclusion which may be true or false, but which the fallacious argument does not prove; a formally fallacious argument gives a conclusion which is always false.

There are four categories of informal fallacies: fallacies of relevance, fallacies of defective or weak induction, fallacies of presumption, and fallacies of ambiguity.

A logical fallacy ''is not'' the same as [[lie|lying]], although it is still an error if you commit one (and dishonest if you know you are committing one). A ''lie'' in logic is a [[premise]] that one offers while knowing that it is false.

==Fallacies of Relevance==
Fallacies of relevance are fallacies which are due to a lack of a relevant logical connection between [[premise]] and [[conclusion]].

===Appeal to force===
An appeal to [[force]] (Lat: ''argumentum ad baculum'') is an argument which uses a threat of [[violence]] or force as a justification for the conclusion. An appeal to force argument follows the form:

*If person A does not accept P, then Q
*Q is a threat of force
*Therefore P is true

For example: "If you do not pay me $30 I will break your leg. Therefore you owe me $30." It is fallacious because no amount of force can change the truth or falsity of the initial proposition.

===Appeal to pity===
Also called [[emotion]]al appeal, (Lat: ''ad misericordiam'') this fallacy is characterized by a use of emotion as a justification for the conclusion. An appeal to [[pity]] follows the form:

*Person A argues P
*Person B agrees P, but adds X, where X is an emotional argument unconnected to P

For example: "Yes, [[police|officer]], I realize I was speeding, but you shouldn't give me a ticket because I was racing to see my wife who is in the [[hospital]]." While this argument uses an emotional appeal to convince the officer not to hand out a citation, there is no logical connection between the premise ("you shouldn't give me a ticket") and the conclusion ("I was racing to see my wife").

Appeals to pity are very commonly seen in business. A factory manager may make the following argument: "our factory's overheads are too high, and we cannot maintain our business if we continue here. Therefore we should relocate to an area where labour is cheaper." An appeal to pity would be of the following type: "but our workers have bills to pay, families to support, we cannot fire them." That statement may be true, but is fallacious because it is not relevant to the manager's argument.

===Appeal to Consequences===
An ''appeal to consequences,'' or, more fully, ''appeal to adverse consequences'' or ''appeal to consequences of a belief,''<ref>[http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-consequences.html Fallacy: Appeal to Consequences]</ref> is an attempt to motivate belief with an appeal either to the good consequences of believing or the bad consequences of disbelieving. This may or may not involve an appeal to force. Such arguments are fallacious because the consequences of believing or disbelieving have no bearing on the truth or falsity of a belief. The following is an example:

* If you believe in evolution, then you'll be miserable, thinking that life is meaningless
* Therefore, evolution is false

This argument commits the ''appeal to consequences'' fallacy because it provides no evidence for its conclusion; all it does is appeal to the consequences of believing in evolution. Evolution is not disproven solely because it leads to bad consequences for those who believe in it. The following is a similar example:

* If you believe in evolution, then you'll be more respected in academic circles
* Therefore, evolution is true

This makes an appeal to the positive consequences of believing in evolution, without actually providing any proof of evolution itself. Just because belief in evolution makes you more respected by [[liberal]] professors, this does not mean that evolution is correct.

To use a more extreme example, but one doubtless familiar from everyday life, the mere fact that a child's belief in [[Santa Claus]] can have positive consequences does not prove that Santa Claus exists.

===''Argumentum ad hominem''===
: ''Main Article: [[Ad hominem]]''

''Ad hominem'' arguments (Lat: "argument directed toward the man") fall into two forms: ''ad hominem'' abusive and ''ad hominem tu quoque'' (circumstantial).

====''Ad hominem'' abusive====
An ''ad hominem'' is an argument which tries to disprove another argument by attacking the person who made it, rather than by focusing on the actual logical reasoning. The goal of an ''ad hominem'' argument is usually to take focus off of the actual argument by calling attention to a flaw of the person making it. This form of argument follows the form:

*Person A argues that P
*Person A is Q
*Q is some derogatory description not related to the argument at hand
*Therefore P is false

====''Ad hominem tu quoque''====
A ''tu quoque'' argument (Lat: "you're another") is one which argues that, because someone does that which they are arguing against, that person must be wrong. This form of argument follows the form:

*Person A argues that P should not happen
*Person A does P
*Therefore Person A's argument is incorrect

For example: "You can't tell me not to eat cheeseburgers, I just saw you eating one last week!" Another common example is often found in business: "why are you punishing me for dumping waste in the river? My opponent does the exact same thing and you don't punish him!" In this case, dumping waste into the river is wrong (and illegal) regardless of how it is enforced for any other company.

====''Poisoning the well''====
Poisoning the well is a particular type of ''ad hominem'' argument. It consists of attempts to discredit a speaker (and, by extension, their argument) by criticizing unrelated opinions that they hold or, alternatively, by presenting unfavorable information (be it true or false) about the person to discredit in advance any argument that that person may make.<ref>[http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/poisoning-the-well.html Fallacy: Poisoning the Well]</ref> The first variant of the argument follows this form:

*Person A makes argument X.
*Person B counters that person A also believes Y, where Y is something unacceptable, foolish, or easily disprovable, but unrelated to X.
*Person A is wrong about Y.
*Therefore, person A must also be wrong about X.

The second variant follows this form:

*Person B, knowing that person A will make argument X, introduces unfavorable information about person A that is unrelated to X.
*Person A makes argument X.
*Therefore, person A must be wrong about X.

One example of the first variant was by the actor [[Matt Damon]], who attempted to discredit [[Sarah Palin|Sarah Palin's]] political credibility on the basis that she was a young-earth creationist: {{cquote|You know, the hockey mom, you know, "I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska," and she's the president. And it's like she's facing down Vladimir Putin and you know, using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink, you know, it's just absurd. It's totally absurd, and I don't understand why more people aren't talking about how absurd it is. I...it's a really terrifying possibility. The fact that we've gotten this far and we're that close to this being a reality is crazy. Crazy. I mean, did she really - I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. That's an important - I want to know that. I really do. Because she's gonna have the nuclear codes. You know, I wanna know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago, or if she banned books or tried to ban books. I mean, you know, we can't have that.<ref>Page F30. [http://www.pagef30.com/2008/09/matt-damon-on-sarah-palin-with.html ''Matt Damon on Sarah Palin with transcript''] (2008)</ref>}}

An example of the second variant is to introduce information (true or false) about a distateful or objectionable aspect of someone's personal life to persuade the listeners to reject out of hand whatever that person may say, when that aspect of the person's personal life may have nothing to do with the truth or falsity of the positions that that person will take.

When spelled out in the above form, the fallacy is easily seen, but it is used very frequently in political debate where skillful use of rhetoric can mask the underlying fallacy. The argument is fallacious because a person's opinions on one subject do not affect the truth or falsity of their statements on other subjects or because the asserted unfavorable information has no bearing on the truth or falsity of the position being attacked. There is some overlap between poisoning the well and ''ad hominem'' abusive, although poisoning the well in the second sense is used to mean introducing the irrelevant information preemptively.

===Genetic fallacy===
In general, this is the attempt to assert or reject a theory by citing its origins as either reputable or disreputable. The usual expression of this fallacy is "consider the source!" Thus it becomes a form either of ''argumentum ab auctoritate'' or of ''argumentum ad hominem'', depending on whether one seeks to verify or disprove the theory by this method. This type of argument follows the form:

*If P then Q
*Q is true
*P is false
*Therefore Q is false

When the origin of ''evidence'' or of ''premises'' is relevant to the reliability of the same, then asking a hearer to "consider the source" is valid. Judges in courts of [[law]], for example, routinely reject as unreliable the testimony of any witness who has demonstrably lied about a point that matters in the case at hand. The facts that such a witness is asserting might still be true, but they cannot stand without corroboration from another, more reliable witness.

But when corroboration is established, the origins of a conclusion, however tainted, become irrelevant.

As an example, [[Gregor Mendel]] established the genetic theory that remains current today, even though Mendel's experimental technique was badly flawed, and he even stands accused of falsifying key data. But succeeding [[science|scientists]], using accepted methods of verification and statistical assessment, have achieved results consistent with this theory. Thus the theory remains valid even though Mendel's original presentation was fraudulent. Any attempt today to discredit Mendel's theory on account of Mendel's sloppy methods would be an example of a genetic fallacy.<ref name=Genetic>[http://www.fallacyfiles.org/genefall.html Genetic Fallacy] on [http://www.fallacyfiles.org/ The Fallacy Files]</ref>

===Proof by numbers===
Also known as "appeal to the people" (Lat: ''ad populum''), this is an argument that a person bases on the numbers of people holding to its conclusion, rather than on the premises that might support that conclusion. An appeal to the people follows the form:

:Most people believe P
:Therefore P is true

"Ninety nine point nine percent of all respondents can't be wrong" is the classic phraseology of this fallacy One does not effectively disprove such an argument by challenging the numbers. Instead, one reminds the other person that the numbers of people holding to any given conclusion are irrelevant to establishing the truth or falsehood of that conclusion. [[History]] is in fact replete with multiple examples of conclusions that memorable [[science|scientists]] and other great discoverers have shown to be false even though large numbers of people believed them. [[Antoine Lavoisier]], who disproved "phlogiston" as the principle of fire, was one such person. [[Christopher Columbus]] and [[Ferdinand Magellan]] are two others. After all, millions of people believed in the roman gods, but they were proven wrong.

===Special pleading===
: ''Main Article: [[Special pleading]]''

[[Special pleading]] means applying to other people a set of standards that one is not willing to apply to oneself, without offering sufficient grounds, called the ''relevant difference'', to support such exemption. Special pleading follows the form:

*If Person X is in set P then Q happens to person X
*Person A is in set P
*Person A cites R circumstance, unrelated to P or Q
*Therefore Person A is not subject to Q

For example: a political or military leader who urges his subjects (or those under his command) to observe "iron rations" without similarly depriving himself leaves himself open to a charge of special pleading.

==Fallacies of Defective or Weak Induction==
Fallacies of defective or weak induction are fallacies which are due to a lack of understanding for how well premises lead to a conclusion.

===Argument from silence===
''Argument from silence'' (in [[Latin]], ''argumentum ab silencio'') or ''argument from ignorance'' (Lat: ''ad ignorantium'') is an assertion which states that, because there is no evidence to support a given argument, the opposite must be true. The fallacy follows the form:
*If P then Q
*P cannot be shown true
*Therefore Q is false

For example: "Nobody has ever seen God, so clearly he doesn't exist".

This fallacy is often associated with and best remembered by the phrase: "the absence of evidence does not constitute evidence of absence."

A particular form of the argument from silence is the ''argument from personal incredulity,'' which takes the form "I cannot believe/understand/explain ''P;'' therefore, not-''P.''" For example, someone who does not understand why [[God]] would condemn [[homosexuality]] or condemn sinners to eternal [[hell]] may commit this fallacy and conclude that the relevant Bible passages should be [[Cafeteria Christianity|rejected]].

===False cause===
False cause (Lat: ''non causa pro causa'') is a fallacy which arises when a poor cause/effect link is used within an argument, especially if coincidence or chance are not taken into account. The fallacy follows the form:

*P causes Q (faulty reasoning)
*P is true
*Therefore Q is true

For example: "I used to be a well paid teacher until I started being a tougher grader. When my students' grades went down, so did my salary. Therefore, I must have been paid based on my students' grades." While this sounds like a logical explanation, not all factors are taken into account. For example, the teacher's school could have been subject to budget cuts, or maybe the teacher was overpaid at first and now his salary corrects his true worth.

====''Post hoc ergo propter hoc''====
''Post hoc ergo propter hoc'' (Lat: "after the thing, therefore because of the thing") is a subcategory of false cause fallacies. In this type of argument, a close temporal proximity is used as a justification of a cause/effect relationship. ''Post hoc ergo propter hoc'' arguments follow the form:

*P happened, and then Q happened
*Therefore P caused Q

For example: "Right around the time the sun goes up my alarm clock goes off, so the sun causes my alarm clock to go off." Clearly this is not the case.

===Non sequitur===
: ''Main Article: [[Non sequitur]]''

A ''non sequitur'' (Lat: "It does not follow") is an argument which moves from a premise to a conclusion without showing a valid connection, or sometimes any connection at all. This form of argument follows the form:

*P
*Therefore R is true

For example: "Crime rates are high, so we should increase the penalty for drug possession."

===Overgeneralization===
Overgeneralization (also called hasty generalization, converse accident, or painting with too broad a brush) is an error in reasoning which comes about by making a logical leap far greater than what the data allow. Overgeneralization follows the form:

*P is/does Q.
*P is a member of the set R.
*Therefore, everyone/everything in the set R is/does Q.

For example: "I just read that three kids were arrested yesterday for drug possession. Teens in this country are really going downhill!"

Overgeneralization the central problem in trying to conclude something about a population from a non-representative sample, or about a larger group from a non-representative subset of that group.

====Proving too much====
Proving too much is a form of overgeneralization in which one attempts to use a set of premises to sustain more conclusions than he can reasonably sustain using the argument presented. Proving too much includes reaching a conclusion that contradicts either things known to be true or [[stolen concept|the premises used to reach that conclusion]]. The term comes from the medieval saying, "What proves too much proves nothing."

===Proof by authority===
Also known as ''argumentum ab auctoritate'' ("argument proceeding from clout") or ''argumentum ad verecundiam'' ("appeal to unqualified authority"), this is an argument that a person bases on authority, either his own or that of another person, rather than on the merits of the position. When the authority involved is a relevant source who has access to more information about the topic than the people discussing it, then the argument becomes a ''citation.'' However, a valid citation must be in an area of study, research, or mental discipline in which the authority being cited is a recognized [[expert]].

*P says Q
*P is an authority in his field
*Therefore Q is true

A classic example of argument from unqualified authority is a reference to a celebrity or religious leader for their opinion on a matter of science or public policy, when that celebrity or cleric has never adequately studied the subject. A standard argument from authority is often used by evolutionists. A notable scientist claims that evolution is true, and based on that the average person is expected to believe in it as well. This becomes fallacious if the "notable scientist" has never considered alternatives which also provide the answers to the asked questions.

==Fallacies of Presumption==
Fallacies of presumption are fallacies in which an unstated or shaky presumption is made.

===Accident===
The fallacy of accident occurs when a generalization is inappropriately applied to an individual. A fallacy of accident follows the form:

*Some P are Q
*R is in P
*Therefore R is Q

For example: "You are from [[Ohio]], which is a [[red state]], so you must be a [[Republican]]".

===Contradiction===
:''Main article: [[Contradiction]]''

A contradiction is a statement that contradicts its own terms. [[Aristotle]] famously stated that contradictions cannot exist. In any case of a contradiction, some of the premises must be false. A contradiction is an argument which includes in its reasoning:

*P
*Not P

===Loaded question===
: ''Main Article: [[Loaded question]]''

A [[loaded question]] is a question that assumes facts, usually unflattering, that are not in evidence, with the intent of trapping the other person into admitting those facts. The classic loaded-question example is "When did you stop beating your wife?" Another example is, "Do you disbelieve in [[global warming]], which 99.9 percent of all reputable scientists now accept?"

===Proof by assertion===
Proof by assertion is an argument that states something as true without offering supporting evidence or attempting to construct a valid argument. This form of argument follows the form:

*P is true

Often the argument is simply repeated over and over, and no evidence for support is given.

Proof by assertion can also be broken down into several subcategories of fallacies: circular reasoning, infinite regression, manufacturing facts from a theory, and your theory does not work under my theory, so your theory must be wrong.

====Circular reasoning====
:''Main article: [[Circular reasoning]]''

[[Circular reasoning]], also called begging the question (Lat: petitio principii), is a form of proof by assertion in which one asserts a premise, then asserts a conclusion from that premise (directly or indirectly), and then tries to show that the last conclusion ''supports'' the original premise.

====Infinite regression====
: ''Main Article: [[Infinite regression]]''

An infinite regression results when one asserts that a given event caused another, and yet that first event requires another, identical event, to cause ''it.'' An infinite regression follows the form:

*P1 causes Q1
*Q2 causes P1
*P3 causes Q2
*Q4 causes P3
*And so on, forever

For example: [[Panspermia]], an alternative to [[abiogenesis]] as a proposition about the origin of life, suffers from the infinite-regression flaw so long as it fails to state positively what conditions could have brought about an origin of life on a planet other than the earth, ''other than'' the alleged mechanism of the "seeding" of life on the earth itself.

====Manufacturing facts from a theory====

Manufacturing facts from a theory is the assertion as fact of an undemonstrated, unobserved idea for no better reason than that a given theory requires that fact.

In the early stages of formulating a model, this sort of behavior is acceptable. But when repeated efforts to demonstrate such a new fact have failed, the proper logical response is to discard or revise the theory, and not merely to assume that the "fact" still exists and someone hasn't tried hard enough to find it. This is especially true when someone develops evidence that the inferred "fact" could not possibly exist.

====Your theory does not work under my theory, so your theory must be wrong====
: ''Main article: [[Your theory does not work under my theory, so your theory must be wrong]]'' 

This fallacy occurs when one theory is judged by the premises and assumptions of another theory, rather than against its own premises and assumptions. This form of fallacy follows the form:

*Theory A says that if P then Q
*Theory B says that if P then R
*Therefore theory A is wrong

For example: "Dinosaurs died 65,000,000 years ago, so the earth couldn't have been created 6,000 years ago."
It should be noted that although the above argument by itself is a fallacy, strong evidence supporting the death of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, as well as other evidence, would result in the argument being a proof by contradiction, not necessarily a fallacy.

===Straw man===
:''Main article: [[Straw man fallacy]]

A straw man fallacy occurs by first incorrectly attributing an argument to someone, disproving this argument, then claiming that the person was wrong. A straw man argument follows the form:

*If P then Q
*Person A says P
*Therefore Q

Straw man arguments can sometimes be hard to detect, because a valid statement may be used in a distorted fashion. For example:

*Person A believes that a military program should be cut
*Person B argues that since Person A wants to cut military funding, he wants to leave the country defenseless to attack

This is fallacious reasoning, because there is no way to know ''why'' person A believes what he does, and Person B has used one reason which suits his own purpose. For example, it's quite possible that Person A wants to cut the program because he wants to change the funding to something which he thinks does a ''better'' job at defending the country.

===Tautology===
:''Main article: [[tautology]]''

A [[tautology]] ([[Greek]] '''ταυτο-''' ''tauto-'', "the same") is an argument that becomes a repetition of a definition. Literally it means "the study of the same." Such an argument, or statement, can prove nothing beyond itself and is useless as a premise.

==Fallacies of Ambiguity==
Fallacies of ambiguity are fallacies which arise from ambiguity in language used.

===Amphiboly===
Amphiboly is an ambiguity which arises though loose or awkward phrasing:

For example: "Save soap and waste paper".

===Composition===
The fallacy of composition occurs when the parts of a whole are incorrectly used to describe the whole.

For example: "Since one of the battleships is ready to deploy, the whole fleet is ready to deploy".

===Conflation===
Conflation is the treatment of two different concepts as one.

For example: "Comparing apples to oranges".

===Division===
The fallacy of division occurs when it is argued that what is true for the whole must be true for its parts.

For example: "That company is very important. Since Joe works at that company, he must be very important."

===Equivocation===
Equivocation is the use of word with multiple meanings, and then using a different meaning in the conclusion than in the premise.

For example: "The coach said we should eat light, so take your heavy coat off."

===Moving the Goalposts===
[[Moving the goalposts]] is jargon used almost exclusively by evolutionists to decline to answer a question that is the logical next step in their argument. This next step is avoided by evolutionists by claiming that their critics are "moving the goalposts."

For example, Darwinists claim that asking how the theory of evolution explains the origin of life is "moving the goalposts," even though it is a logical question to ask.

==References==
<references/>

==See Also==
* [[Debate:Is infinite regression ever valid as a form of reasoning, or acceptable as a way the universe works, or came to be?]]
* [[Liberal logic]]

==External Links==
*[http://creationwiki.org/Logical_fallacy Logical fallacy] by [[CreationWiki]]
*[http://www.creationsafaris.com/crevbd.htm The Baloney Detector]
*[http://www.theskepticsguide.org/logicalfallacies.asp SGU-Top 20 Fallacies]
* Sagan, Carl. "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection" in ''The Demon-Haunted World, Science As a Candle in the Dark';' Ballantine: New York, pp. 201-218 (1996)

{{Liberalism}}
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Logical Fallacies]]

Critical thinking

2011-08-15T16:33:10Z

SLSmith:

'''Critical thinking''' is an approach to gathering data and making inferences about the world. It draws heavily on ideas from the [[Scientific revolution]] and advocates an approach of data acquisition and rational assessment. When applying critical thinking, the goal is to collect as much relevant [[data]] as possible, assess that data for accuracy, and finally use the data to arrive at the most justified conclusions possible.

Critical thinking is an ongoing process, and even ideas that one feels are well supported need to be occasionally reevaluated to see if new information might change one's mind. For example, critical thinking eventually showed that [[Copernicus]] was correct in claiming that the Sun was the center of the [[Solar System]], even though many people believed this to be false at the time. However, this didn't make him completely correct either, since more critical thinking showed that he was wrong on other things (he also thought that the Sun was the center of the universe).

Critical thinking uses many aspects of [[formal logic]] and [[informal logic]]. It also focuses on discovering [[bias]], [[propaganda]], [[delusion]] and [[deception]] (more generally, [[logical fallacies]]) both in the sources of one's information and one's own views and approaches to reasoning problems out. Teachers often cite learning critical thinking as one of the most important goals of getting an education.

== Recommended books ==

*''The Thinker's Way'' by John Chaffee, Ph.D, 1998, Publisher: Little Brown and Company ISBN 978-0-316-13317-3

== External links ==

Websites:

*[http://www.criticalthinking.org/ Criticalthinking.org]

Videos:

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?playnext=1&index=0&feature=PlayList&v=_VPg_cGAfHk&list=PL160B4FE1E81FFDE3 Critical Thinking and the Basic Elements of Thought]

[[category:science]]
[[category:philosophy]]

Natural selection

2011-08-15T16:08:17Z

SLSmith:

The fundamental statement of '''natural selection''' is that heritable traits which are beneficial will tend to become more numerous in successive generations, while heritable traits which are harmful will tend to become more scarce. The traits are defined to be beneficial if they become more numerous in successive generations. This principle is general, and applies to any system of individuals which reproduce; it is most commonly applied to systems of living organisms.

It is sometimes summarized by the slogan, ''survival of the fittest'', where the "fittest" are the organisms which leave the most offspring. This means that "fitness" is determined by the environment; for example, a penguin is very good at producing offspring when it lives in Antarctica, but wouldn't be so good if it lived in the Sahara.

Natural selection is often thought of as being synonymous with [[Theory of evolution|evolution]],<ref>For example, a draft [[New Zealand]] science curriculum confuses the two. Lamb, Andrew, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/5047/ Evaluating an evolutionary science curriculum], 14th April, 2007 (Creation Ministries International).</ref> although they are distinct concepts, and most [[creationism|creationists]] accept that natural selection is a real, observed, process.

==General Requirements==
Natural selection will automatically take place in any system which follows a certain set of rules. These rules are:

#There must be a set of individuals.
#These individuals must reproduce somehow.
#The probability or rate of reproduction must be somehow dependent on a heritable trait of the individual (where a heritable trait is one that is more likely to be present in an individual's offspring than it is in the general population).

In any such system, individuals whose traits allow them to reproduce more effectively will soon come to dominate the population.

Natural selection has been called a tautology because it follows from its definition, and because it has no observable consequences by itself that anyone has ever tested against an alternate theory.
However, even if it is a tautology, this doesn't make it untrue.

==Variation and Randomness==
Natural selection becomes interesting when there is the possibility of random variation in the [[duplication]] of individuals--in other words, when an individual is copied, the copy may be slightly different from the original. It is important to note that, as stated above, the ''mechanism'' for this variation is not explained or even taken into account by natural selection. All that matters is that there is ''some'' process that produces variation. In this case, some of the offspring of an individual will be better (where "better" is defined as "more likely to successfully reproduce"--one can think of it as scoring higher on an evaluation) and some will be worse. The higher-scoring offspring will soon come to dominate the population, and over successive generations the average score will also rise.

==Role in Life Sciences==
Natural selection is a principle that was popularized by [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Alfred Russel Wallace]], who noted that organisms which were better adapted to their environment tended to survive longer and reproduce more than less well-adapted organisms. They used the term "natural" to mean that it occurred in nature, as opposed to selection performed by animal breeders or by a deity. The term "survival of the fittest" is often attributed to Darwin but was in fact coined by the philosopher and sociologist Herbert Spencer.

Together with [[mutation]] (an altogether distinct phenomenon that should not be confused with natural selection), natural selection forms the basis of evolutionary theory. As stated above, in any system where selection combines with random variation, successive generations will become better adapted to reproduce. [[Evolution]] is the theory that this combination of genetic variation (which may be either mutation of the parent or, in most cases, sexual reproduction) and natural selection leads to [[speciation]].

Natural selection has been used to explain many organism traits. For example, deer run fast because slower deer have been eaten by predators, and the faster deer are more likely to pass their traits to the next generation. [[Selection pressure]] is seldom so one-sided; for example, the long tail of the [[peacock]] leaves it vulnerable to predators. However, since peahens are far less likely to mate with short-tailed peacocks, a long tail is an overall advantage and thus is selected for.

==An Example==
Here is an example of how an engineer might use an algorithm that is analogous to the combination of mutation and natural selection in the evolution of organisms.

An engineer starts with 10,000 different sets of plans for a hydroelectric dam. His dam must complete two basic tasks: it must hold back a lake with minimal flooding of the surrounding area, and it must maximize power generation. The intrinsic worth of a dam is determined by how well it completes these tasks; a dam which produces 100 kW of electricity while only raising water levels 2 feet is superior to one which produces 10 kW of electricity while raising water levels 5 feet.

In our simplified example, let us assume that the design of a dam is based on just a few numerical parameters: height, width, thickness, concrete mixture, hydroelectric turbine size, curvature, etc. After evaluating all the plans, the engineer picks the 100 best and discards the rest. He then copies each of these plans 100 times. When copying, the engineer randomly introduces minor differences: say he rolls a die each time he copies a design parameter; if he rolls a six, he then changes that parameter by 1%, flipping a coin to determine if he will increase or decrease the parameter.

Once he has finished copying, he will have 10,000 more plans, most of them very similar to the original 100 but with some small differences. He then evaluates these 10,000 plans again, picks the best 100, and copies them again, introducing random "errors" in the same way. After completing this process several thousand times, the engineer has 10,000 plans, all of which perform excellently. He picks the best of them and thus has an excellent design, without ever doing any real "design" himself.

Note that this engineer need not be conscious of the overall goal--he is just applying a simple algorithm over and over. Indeed, the engineer need not be conscious of anything at all--his task could be performed automatically and without sentience or intelligence. Note also that the final plan may be very different from any of the original plans.

==Local and Non-Local Improvement==
The above section illustrates how natural selection and random variation can combine to create improved individuals. However, it is important to note that there is no long-term planning involved in natural selection. This means that all changes must be locally beneficial in order to survive. Essentially, no improvement can take place if a deterioration must take place first. In order for a change to propagate to future "generations" of individuals, it must not be significantly harmful to ''any'' generation.

In the language of the above example, let us say that one of the plans would be much improved if the curvature were increased by 10%, but would be worsened considerably if the curvature was 3 to 7% higher. Since curvature can only change by 1% at a time, and a regime of "bad" curvature lies between the current regime and the regime of "good" curvature, the dam will never reach the "good" regime. Thus, in order for a large change to take place over several generations, it must be beneficial (or at least not significantly harmful) at ''each'' generation.

Again returning to the peacock, it might be an overall advantage to have a very short tail or no tail at all, since predators would be easy to avoid. However, since a ''slightly'' shorter tail gives little help in avoiding predators and also is much less attractive to females, short tails are unlikely to come about.

==Natural selection and evolution==
Natural selection is often considered to be synonymous with [[Theory of evolution|evolution]], but the two ideas are distinct.

Concepts similar to Natural Selection were described by a number of people before Darwin, and in particular by creationist [[Edward Blyth]], from 1835 to 1837.
Blyth described it as "a mechanism by which the sick, old and unfit were removed from a population; that is, as a preserving factor and for the maintenance of the status quo—the created kind".<ref>Grigg, Russell, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/493/ Darwin’s illegitimate brainchild], ''Creation'' 26(2):39–41, March 2004.</ref>

Evolution uses the idea of Natural Selection to explain why some living things survive at the expense of other living things, but Natural Selection doesn't explain how the variations to select from came to be.
Variations can arise in at least two different ways.
* When male and female produce offspring, half the offspring's [[Deoxyribonucleic acid|DNA]] is derived from each parent. Thus the offspring have a different selection of genetic [[information]] than either parent.
* Mutations can alter the genetic information.
Some of the variations produced by these mechanisms are better suited for given environments than other variations.
Natural Selection removes the variations that are unsuited or less suited to those environments, in favour of those more suited ("fitter") to those environments.

According to evolution, mutations can give rise to new genetic information, thus the offspring can have new capabilities that were not coded in the DNA of their parents, and that Natural Selection will therefore select for these new capabilities if they constitute a survival advantage.

Creationists reject this claim (of mutations producing new genetic information), on the grounds that it has not been observed in science.

In the example above of plans for a dam, the engineer started off with plans that had been designed by someone, and although some of the measurements were altered, nothing new was introduced.
For example, if the original plans did not include a bypass tunnel, no amount of altering measurements on the plan would produce one.

This is analogous to what we observe in nature.
We see that variations only come to already-existing plans (DNA), and that changes to the plans produce nothing new.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Genetics]]
[[Category:Evolution]]

Nucleotide excision repair

2011-08-15T15:58:53Z

SLSmith:

'''Nucleotide excision repair''' is a type of DNA repair that mends [[pyrimidine]] dimers in DNA. In this repair pathway, an [[oligonucleotide]] containing the lesion is excised from the [[DNA]] and the resulting single-strand gap is filled in. This helps living things to prevent potentially harmful mutations from occurring.

In E. coli, pyrimidine dimers are recognized by a multisubunit enzyme, the product of the uvrA, uvrB, and uvrC genes. This UvrABC endonuclease, is an [[ATP]]-dependent reaction, cleaves the dimer-contain DNA strand at the seventh and fourth phosphodiester bonds on the dimer's 5' and 3' sides, respectively. The excised oligonucleotide is replaced through the action of a DNA polymerase, most probably Pol I, followed by that of DNA ligase.
[[Category:Biochemistry]]

Scientific theory

2011-08-15T15:51:59Z

SLSmith:

A '''scientific theory''' is a plausible and consistent explanation for observable [[phenomena]]. While a [[scientific law]] describes something that always happens in the same way, a scientific [[theory]] explains what causes it to do so.

For example, doctors have long known that being near a person who has a communicable disease exposes you to a risk of catching it (see [[quarantine]]). It was a "law" of [[contagion]] that staying far away protected you from catching the disease, even before Pasteur's [[germ theory of disease]] provided the modern scientific explanation (the "theory").

A successful theory is most consistent with the actual behavior of the universe. When a phenomenon is discovered that is inconsistent with the prevailing theory, the theory is either revised or thrown out entirely. An example of this is [[Newtonian mechanics]]--while Newton's 3 laws of motion provide extremely accurate descriptions/predictions of the behavior of medium-sized objects at low speeds, they are inconsistent with the behavior of very large, very fast, or very small objects. Newtonian mechanics has been shown to be a limiting case of the [[theory of relativity]] (in the limit where velocity goes to 0) and [[quantum mechanics]] (in the limit where [[Planck's constant]] goes to 0, essentially the limit of large objects). Usually a theory which is inconsistent with some experimental evidence is not completely falsified; it is instead shown to be a simplified version of a more complete theory.

==Scientific usage==

A theory is more substantial than a conjecture or [[hypothesis]], but may not be verified as consistent with [[empirical]] data. <ref>For example, scientists may refer to phlogiston theory or ether theory, which originally sounded plausible even though empirical verification was lacking. As a result, these theories are no longer accepted by scientists.</ref> Controversially, some scientists have declared that causes other than natural, observable ones should not be examined - and that theories involving such causes are "not scientific", e.g., [[behavioral psychology]]. This limitation and its implications for the [[philosophy of science]] plays a large role in the [[origins debate]].

For many philosophers of science, a theory must be ''[[falsifiable]]'' to be considered [[science|scientific]].
This means that there must be some way to do experiments that could counter the theory's predictions, thus disproving the current theory. <ref>"A theory not only explains known facts; it also allows scientists to make predictions of what they should observe if a [[theory]] is true. Scientific theories are testable. New evidence should be compatible with a theory. If it isn't, the theory is refined or rejected." [http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/evolution/theory.php] </ref>

Generally accepted scientific theories have survived over time, have evolved when appropriate, and modified toward consistency with newly discovered data, have not been shown to be false and can make predictions about natural phenomena. <ref>http://www.thefreedictionary.com/theory </ref> Scientific theories can sometimes be used as the basis for industrial and technical developments.

A scientific theory should have to have strong experimental support or accepted by the scientific community. However, some scientists mistakenly refer to untested theories and competing theories. Theories are generally extremely well-confirmed, such as conservation of energy. Some more speculative 'theories' are more accurately labelled 'hypothesis' within the scientific community, such as String Theory.

== Common usage ==
Some evolutionists frequently claim that the word "theory" means very different things to scientists and non-scientists. For example, a PBS TV show says: <ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/11/2/e_s_1.html</ref>
:''When we use the word "theory" in everyday life, we usually mean an idea or a guess, but the word has a much different meaning in science. This video examines the vocabulary essential for understanding the nature of science and evolution and illustrates how evolution is a powerful, well-supported scientific explanation for the relatedness of all life.''

The American Museum of Natural History exhibit on Darwin says: <ref>http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/evolution/theory.php</ref>
:''In everyday use, the word "theory" often means an untested hunch, or a guess without supporting evidence. But for scientists, a theory has nearly the opposite meaning. A theory is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses and facts.''

In fact, it is hard to find anyone who makes this distinction, outside those who are promoting the theory of evolution to the general public.

An example of the term 'theory' in scientific literature is in the field of speculative physics, which proposes something commonly deemed 'String Theory'. At it's most basic level, string theory states that the entirety of the universe is made up of tiny, multi-dimensional strings. However, this proposal cannot currently be verified or refuted by modern science - that is, scientists cannot determine if this is right or wrong. Since String Theory makes no verifiable predictions about the universe, either, scientists cannot say that String Theory fits any facts we currently know. Therefore, String Theory is not the sort of scientific theory which is evidenced by facts and must make correct, verifiable predictions about the future. <ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/science/07stri.html?ei=5090&en=fd15a74e2dca3af0&ex=1260075600&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=all&position=] used the word "theory" 70 times without any suggestion that ideas must be well-substantiated before they qualify as a theory. Physicist Lawrence Krauss used the term "string theory" even though the theory has "yet to have any real successes in explaining or predicting anything measurable". [http://genesis1.phys.cwru.edu/~krauss/08essay.html] A month later, he argued that it should really be called the "string enterprise" because using the word "theory" causes problems with intelligent design advocates and those who say that evolution is "just a theory". [http://genesis1.phys.cwru.edu/~krauss/newscieditorial.html]</ref>

==Common scientific theories==

* Cell Theory - how our bodies are made up of cells. <ref>[http://library.thinkquest.org/12413/theory.html]</ref>

* Gravitational Theory - the explanation for how matter attracts other matter. <ref>[http://users.ameritech.net/dennisreynolds1/GravitationalTheory.html] </ref>

* Atomic Theory - the current understanding of the basic makeup of living and nonliving things. <ref> [http://library.thinkquest.org/27948/bohr.html] </ref>

* Possibly the [[Theory of Evolution]]. While this is the most popular term for it, science philosopher [[Karl Popper]] asserted that it could be considered a metaphysical research program depending on the definition being used, <ref>The science philosopher Karl Popper famously called Darwinian evolution a "metaphysical research program".</ref> and other science philosophers have called it a scientific law.

== See also ==

*[[Computing]]
*[[Evolution and science]]

*[http://wilstar.com/theories.htm Scientific Laws, Hypotheses, and Theories - The Scientific Method]

==Notes and references==
<references/>

[[Category:Science]]

Written Language

2011-08-15T15:41:08Z

SLSmith:

'''Written Language''' is the symbolic representation of language in some physical medium, often with an alphabet but also possible with hieroglyphs or other pictographic characters. Unlike unrecorded [[speech]], it is a form of [[communication]] that has a lasting nature, in that it still exists or can be seen after it is completed. This makes it much easier to share knowledge with other people, since many people can read the same book and there is no danger of the author's original intention being misunderstood through transfer of knowledge by word of mouth.

==History==
:''For more information, see [[History of Written Language]].''
The forerunners to writing were carved sticks or knotted cords that conveyed information. Prehistoric writing took the form of cave art such as found in [[France]]. The cultures that developed in [[Egypt]] and [[Sumeria]] both started with pictorial forms which led to Egyptian [[hieroglyphics]] and Sumerian [[cuneiform]]. The [[Hittites]], Egyptians and Mesopotamians all devised symbols for specific sounds known as phonetic writing. During the 2nd millennium B.C., Semitic [[alphabet]]s emerged allowing writing as know it. The [[Greeks]] and the [[Roman]]s both copied these earlier alphabets.

Writing in Mesoamerica had developed into a fully articulated system by 900 BC.

In India, the Indus Valley civilization used a logographic writing system over 35 hundred years ago.

==Kinds of Writing==

There are two primary kinds of writing: '''alphabetic''' and '''logographic'''. Alphabetic systems use a single symbol to express a single sound, and thus by writing these symbols next to each other, a string of sounds is described which create a word in the language being written. In a logographic system, a single symbol can be used to refer to an idea or a syllable, depending on the context, and frequently the syllables or other sound symbols will provide the intangible framework (ie, thinking, when?, etc.) for the concrete ideas (tree, house, etc.) which are expressed by single symbols.

'''Alphabetic Writing Systems:'''
*Latin Alphabet
*Cyrillic Alphabet
*Greek Alphabet
*Arabic Alphabet
*Korean Alphabet

'''Logographic Writing Systems:'''
*Chinese Writing
*Japanese Writing

==References==
<references />

==Sources==

The New American Desk Encyclopedia, Penguin Group, 1989

[[Category:Communication]]

Citation

2011-08-15T15:33:00Z

SLSmith:

'''Citation''' is the written reference to legal authorities, precedents, reported cases, etc., in briefs or other legal documents. The purpose is to provide direct proof for a statement which the writer claims to be true, so that others can verify it.

For example, a judge might use a previous legal case to support an argument that a particular law is unconstitutional. He needs to include a citation telling the reader what case it is, because other people need to be able to check whether or not he was right. To make his case stronger, he might cite more than one previous case, while his judgement and the factual accuracy of his statement might be questioned if he failed to provide any citation at all. Citations are also used in a similar way in scientific research.

A court '''citation''' is a [[writ]] or order issued by a court commanding the person named therein to appear at the time and place named.
[[Category:Legal Terms]]

== External links ==

*[http://dictionary.law.com/ Law Dictionary]

Genome

2011-08-15T12:24:16Z

SLSmith:

A genome is all the [[hereditary]] information held by an [[organism]]. This includes both expressed and non-expressed genetic [[information]]. In most organisms, it is stored in [[DNA]]; however, [[retrovirus]]es store it in [[RNA]], another type of [[nucleic acid]]. The information is encoded in the form of triplets of organic molecules called [[nucleotides]].

[[Eukaryotic cell|Eukaryote]]s (including humans) have two types of genomic material:
# the [[Nucleus|nuclear]] genome: Information found inside the nucleus of a cell.
# the [[Mitochondria|mitochondrial]] genome: Information found in the [[mitochondria]]<ref>http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3580</ref> (this separate genome is used as evidence for the [[endosymbiotic hypothesis]], although it can also be explained by creationist models).
In addition, organisms often inherit other material from their parents, such as proteins, RNA molecules, and other chromosomal factors like methyl groups attached to certain base pairs. These are regarded as the purview of [[epigenetics]].

The [[Human Genome Project]] mapped the genome of humans (''Homo sapiens'') in a 13-year study, and is considered one of the marvels of modern human [[medicine]] and [[biology]]. All of the information is stored in a database.<ref>http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml</ref> It is expected that the results of the project will allow scientists to predict how genetics influences drug interaction with the body, and lead to target specific drugs.<ref>Collins, Francis S. and McKusick, Victor A. [http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/285/5/540 Implications of the Human Genome Project for Medical Science] ''JAMA'', 2001;285:540-544, 7th February 2001.</ref>

Genomes of other species have been recorded as well, such as mice,<ref>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/guide/mouse/</ref> chimpanzees<ref>http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/chimpgenome/index.html</ref> and yeast.<ref>http://www.yeastgenome.org/</ref> The mouse genome sequence from the C57BL/6J strain has about 30,000 genes, and 99% of them have direct counterparts in humans.<ref>http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v420/n6915/full/420509a.html</ref>

The chimpanzee represented the first non-human primate sequenced. The differences in the chimpanzee and human genomes are small, with 99% of the DNA sequence preserved. <ref>http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/aug2005/nhgri-31.htm</ref> The differences can be classified in terms of differences in local single nucleotide substitutions, insertions, deletions and repetitions of sequences. A relatively large number of difference between the chimpanzee and human genomes are not due to substitutions.<ref>http://207.210.67.162/~striz/docs/chimpc.pdf</ref> When this is taken into account, humans and chimpanzees still share 96% of their sequence, and are genetically closer than rats and mice.<ref>http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/aug2005/nhgri-31.htm</ref>

== Creationist View ==
Instead of seeing DNA as evidence for [[evolution]], creation scientists see DNA as confirming evidence of [[God]]'s divine plan. He has encoded into DNA His blueprints for making life. It is thus no surprise that the DNA of similar animals shares many sequences. DNA can be seen as a successful prediction of creation science.<ref>Matthews, Michael, [http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/0425dna.asp DNA—what does it prove?] Answers in Genesis, 25th April, 2003.</ref>
== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Molecular Biology]]
[[Category:Medicine]]

Human Genome Project

2011-08-15T12:16:50Z

SLSmith:

The '''Human Genome Project''', which began in 1990, is an international research project to map each human [[gene]] and to completely sequence human [[DNA]]. The project finished in 2003 with a full map of the human genome. The project was led by [[Francis Collins]], a devout Christian and author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Research still continues today in an effort to reduce the already low error rate in the original project.

== Sources ==
http://www.genome.gov/glossary.cfm?key=Human%20Genome%20Project
[[category:genetics]]

User talk:SLSmith

2011-08-15T12:06:21Z

SLSmith: Created page with "Hello! Any constructive feedback is welcome."

Hello! Any constructive feedback is welcome.

Cigarette

2011-08-15T12:02:34Z

SLSmith:

[[Image:NoSmoking.png|thumb|200px|right|Smoking is harmful.]]
A '''cigarette''' is a product typically comprised of cured [[tobacco]] leaves rolled in paper into a cylinder shape.

Despite the fact that smoking is an enjoyable and relaxing pastime, cigarettes are [[addiction|addictive]] due to the presence of the toxic chemical [[nicotine]], and even occasional use carries a high risk of causing [[asthma]], [[emphysema]], [[heart attack]], [[cancer]] of the [[lung]] and [[mouth]], and severe damage to the [[fetus]] of a [[pregnancy|pregnant woman]]. The presence of these chemicals further exacerbating health problems. Numerous studies have shown that on average, nonsmokers live 10 years longer than smokers.

A cigarette works as follows: The tobacco is lit and the resulting smoke is inhaled by sucking it through the cigarette. This encourages the rest of the tobacco to burn. Cigarettes often have a filter on the mouth end, to provide a smoother and cleaner smoke, for increased ease of inhaling and also for improved taste.

Smoking has become one of the most derided lifestyle choices in modern times. Though it has been glamorized<ref>http://smokingsides.com/docs/glamor.html</ref>, particularly during the Industrial Revolution and up to the 20th Century, increasing awareness against the dangers of smoking have resulted in strict regulations against marketing of cigarettes. These include, but are not limited to, bans on television advertisements, and warnings printed on cigarette packages.

<references/>

[[Category:Drugs]]
[[Category:Health]]
[[Category: Tobacco Products]]

Biblical scientific foreknowledge

2011-08-15T12:00:10Z

SLSmith:

[[File:Newton.png|thumb|alt=scientific foreknowledge in the bible|250px|[[Isaac Newton]], cornerstone of the [[scientific revolution]], based his research on the scientific authority of the Bible and sought enlightenment in scripture.]]‎
'''Biblical scientific foreknowledge''' is how the [[Bible]] shows a comprehension of [[science|scientific]] knowledge far ahead of its time. ''Biblical scientific foreknowledge illustrates what is possible.''

[[Bible denier]]s — such as [[atheist]]s and [[evolution]]ists — engage in [[liberal denial]] about the many truths in the Bible. '''''Their irrational [[Essay:Quantifying Openmindedness|closed-mindedness]] against the Bible obstructs the advancement of science'''''.

'''Biblical scientific foreknowledge''' has another benefit: it facilitates improvements in the translation of verses that describe scientific-related events, such as [[Jesus]]'s [[Essay:Calming the Storm|Calming the Storm]].

== Geology ==

===Flood===
Modern scientists long opposed a young earth [[creation|created]] by God and the suggestion that cataclysmic flooding, such as the [[Great Flood]] as described in the Bible, shaped the landscape. However, ample [[counterexamples to an old earth]] exist and the discovery in the Northwest of "giant ripple marks, 50 feet high and 200-500 feet apart" proved that a cataclysmic flood did indeed occur. As a result, "[a]mong geologists, the concept of a catastrophic flood came to be accepted by the late 1950s."<ref>http://www.iafi.org/floods.html</ref>

===Continental drift===
[[Continental drift]] was first proposed by a creationist in 1859 based on Genesis 1:9-10, which implies that all of dry land was in one place.<ref>http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c001.html#1</ref> [[Atheists]] mocked the concept for about 100 years, until finally accepting its truth.

=== Underwater springs ===

Only in moderns times have scientists become aware of enormous underwater springs feeding into the oceans, and the very deep valleys at the bottom of the oceans.

But the Bible repeatedly describes this thousands of years earlier: "on that very day '''''the deep subcrustal springs were broken open''''', and the windows of the sky were thrown open." ([[Genesis_1-8_%28Translated%29#Chapter_7|Genesis 7:11 (CBP)]], emphasis added). And again, in 2 Samuel 22:16, the Bible says, "And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered ...." ([[KJV]])

=== Agriculture ===

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, intellectuals insisted that the world's population would grow larger than the food supply, resulting in mass starvation. Yet there are examples in both the Old and New Testaments of the food supply increasing to be more plentiful than expected. Indeed, by 2011 obesity was far more prevalent and harmful than hunger.

== History ==

The Bible describes a [[Great Flood]] occurring around 3300 B.C., or about 5300 years ago. It involved a cataclysmic rainstorm of a magnitude never seen before or since. For centuries atheists have denied its possibility.

In 1991, an "ice mummy" was discovered: a remarkably preserved ancient body, including even the contents of his last meal, due to an extraordinary ice storm in the [[Alps]]. By scientific dating the occurrence of this massive ice storm in the mountains (and rainstorm below) was 5300 years ago.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/icemummies/iceman.html</ref>

==Health, Biology and Medicine==

===Eighth Day Blood Clotting Factors===

In Genesis 17:12, God mandated that Abraham circumcise his sons on the 8th day after birth. In 1935, it was discovered that Vitamin K, together with prothrombin, causes blood coagulation, (important in any surgical procedure). On the 8th day, the amount of prothrombin present is elevated above 100% of normal and is therefore the only day in the male’s life in which this will be the case (normally). If surgery is to be performed, day 8 is the perfect day to do it as vitamin K and prothrombin levels are at their peak.

===Lifespan===

The Bible put the maximum lifespan for man at 120 years (Genesis 6:3), the typical lifespan at 70 years and the typical for a good-living person at 80 years (Psalm 90:10).

Thousands of years after that was written, despite immense advances in medicine and technology, these figures remain remarkably accurate. The longest recorded life of a man is precisely 120 years (Shigechiyo Izumi), the average lifespan for a man is roughly 70 years, and the average for a good-living man is about 80 years.

[[Jeanne Calment]] lived to age 122, only two years past 120. She was said to have never worked and used olive oil on her skin, outliving many of of her [[feminist]] counterparts.

===Oldest Human Ancestor===

The Bible suggests that the oldest maternal ancestor -- [[Eve]] -- first lived slightly more than 6000 years ago.<ref>http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/ussher.html</ref> The mutation rate of [[mitochondria]] indicates roughly the same date for the oldest common human ancestor.<ref>http://creationwiki.org/Mitochondrial_Eve_lived_only_6500_years_ago_%28Talk.Origins%29</ref>

===Anesthesia===

The first surgical operation described in the Bible was the removal of a rib from [[Adam]], which was performed by first putting Adam into an unconscious, "deep sleep-like trance."<ref>[[Genesis 1-8 (Translated)|Genesis 2:21]]</ref> This was the equivalent of anesthesia -- thousands of years before anesthesia using inhaled ether was developed by William Morton in 1846. Had scientists and physicians been more [[Essay:Quantifying Openmindedness|openminded]] about Genesis 2:21 (perhaps they had considered it a miracle, and thus impossible for humans to achieve), they may have discovered anesthesia far sooner, and saved many more lives.

===Bloodletting hastens death===
At the time of Jesus and for centuries afterward, arteries and veins were thought to be filled with air, and blood was viewed as something to be used up rather than recirculate. Bloodletting -- the practice of intentionally draining blood from a patient -- was common medical practice through the time of [[George Washington]], hastening his death prematurely for reasons not understood until years later.<ref>http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/37212.php</ref>

Most victims of crucifixion in Roman times languished on the cross for days. But the Bible describes how Pilate, who crucified many, was surprised at how quickly Jesus passed away. 2000 years later, scientific knowledge has advanced to understand that this was caused by his prior loss of blood during his scourging (being brutally whipped), a punishment typically given ''instead of'' crucifixion.

===Homosexuality and disease===
The Bible's prohibition against [[homosexuality]] predated knowledge about the [[Homosexuality and Health|many diseases and disorders associated with homosexuality]], and thus showed scientific wisdom prescient for its time.

=== Eyesight ===

The description in the [[Mark 1-8 (Translated)|Gospel of Mark 8:24]] for the sensation when one's eyesight is restored includes his perception of "trees walking." This perception was first confirmed nearly 2000 years later as physicians developed medical techniques for restoring eyesight.<ref>This newspaper account is not specific but describes the overall sensation of restored sight: [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-138886/Robot-eye-restore-lost-sight-20-years.html]</ref>

=== Maximum Human Height ===

Atheists thought the size of [[Goliath]] in the Bible to be absurdly large (over nine feet tall), until [[Robert Wadlow]] grew to nearly 9 feet tall and was still growing when he died at a young age in 1940.

=== Quarantining Against Leprosy Epidemics ===

Although leprosy is not as contagious as other infectious diseases, and some forms of it (such as tuberculoid or paucibacillary form are not contagious), Leviticus 13 and 14 set forth rules to prevent epidemics of this disease among the people of Israel. Western science did not catch up until, in 1663, such laws were introduced in America in an attempt to curb an outbreak of smallpox.

Centuries ahead of medical science, Jesus subsequently explained that leprosy was not as contagious as people thought.

=== Hygiene ===

Millennia before germ theory was proposed in the late 19th century, Leviticus 15 mandated hygiene laws that included bathing, washing of clothing, destruction of contaminated pottery and washing of hands.

In Matthew 15:2, Jesus then curbed compulsive hand-washing by explaining why it n no longer typically necessary (in a non-farming, non-medical context) with respect to man's digestive system.

=== Digestive System ===

It was common thought throughout history that infections and illness resulted from the digestive system, based on unclean hands or food. Jesus rejected that view, and declared hand-washing before meals to be typically unnecessary. It took many centuries before science caught up to the Bible on this.

=== Feasibility of [[Abiogenesis]] ===
Although scientists dismissed ideas involving [[Abiogenesis|abiogenesis]], or the process from which life emerges from nothing, as nothing more than archaic beliefs in [[spontaneous generation]], the Bible very clearly depicts an occurrence of this phenomenon, for beginning in Genesis 1:20, [[God]] creates life from nothing. It was not until the early 20th century that science finally began to accept the viability of abiogenesis, a view that the Bible had held for almost 2000 years, except that [[atheists]] falsely claim that abiogenesis is somehow possible without a creator.

=== Awareness while Unborn ===
[[Abortion]] advocates argue that it is ok to terminate a baby while dismissing the pain inflicted by ending an innocent life. They argue that a fetus cannot feel pain because senses are incomplete. There is a heart-beating human in the womb that can feel even though still unborn and developing. In modern times, we now know the baby in the womb is alert, aware of their mother's emotions, recognizes voices, responds to stimuli and music. The Bible tells us the baby feels (1 Luke 44), ''"the babe leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice."'' The inwomb developing baby, John the Baptist, notices the presence of the unborn [[Lord]] in [[Mary]], and is excited. In addition (St. Paul to the Galatians 1:15), ''"God… from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace."'' Paul's very first thought, feeling, awareness began while unborn.

=== The significance of blood ===

The Old Testament teaches that the [[life]] of all flesh is its [[blood]] ({{Bible ref|book=Leviticus|chap=17|verses=13-14|version=KJV}}). Secular science remained ignorant of the properties and circulation of blood until the 17th century A.D.

=== Menstruation ===

The Biblical laws concerning [[menstruation]], including the setting apart of the menstruating woman and the prohibition on intimacy during menstruation, address health concerns that were not known to secular science until the 20th century.<ref>Neuburger, Max. History of Medicine. Oxford University Press, 1910, Vol. I, p. 38.</ref>

==Cosmology==

===UFOs and Extraterrestrial Life===

For most of the 20th century, scientists typically believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life, despite the lack of any reference to it in the [[Bible]]. After spending many billions of dollars looking for such life, and investigating countless reports of UFOs, no such life has been found.

===Number of Stars===

The [[Bible]] repeatedly refers to the number of stars as being innumerable,<ref>''See'' Genesis 15:5, Jeremiah 33:22 and Hebrews 11:12.</ref> despite scientists insisting throughout most of history that there were only about 6000 stars. In the early 17th century [[Galileo]] turned a telescope to the heavens and discovered a great number of stars that had been previously invisible to the naked eye.<ref>http://galileo.rice.edu/lib/student_work/astronomy95/orionpleiades.html</ref>

Not until the 20th century did scientists discover the tremendous number of stars:<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey/index.html</ref>

:There are "10 times as many stars as grains of sand on all the world's beaches and deserts," totaling "7 followed by 22 zeros or, more accurately, 70 sextillion.

But even that scientific estimate was much too low. On December 1, 2010, scientists admitted:<ref>http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1201/Universe-might-hold-three-times-more-stars-than-previously-thought</ref>

:"a cosmic embarrassment of riches – ''the universe appears to hold three times the number of stars many [[astronomer]]s might have estimated only a year ago''."

===Spherical Earth===
The Book of Isaiah establishes that the true shape of the earth is a sphere:
{{cquote|He sits above the sphere of the earth, and its inhabitants look to him like grasshoppers. He stretches out the galaxies like a curtain, spreading them out like a tent to live under: - [[Isaiah_34-42_(Translated)#Chapter_40|Isaiah 40:22 (CBP]])}}

Note that Isaiah was written circa the 8th century BC, centuries before Greek philosophers, beginning with [[Pythagoras]], theorized the earth was round.

=== Earth free floating in space ===
The book of Job states that God "hangs the earth on nothing." This presaged the fact that space is in fact empty, which wasn't known until the dawn of the 20th century, when ether theory was disproved. It also contrasts with pagan mythologies such as [[Atlas]] holding up the earth or the earth being supported by a giant turtle, as in ancient Hindu and native American myths.

=== Darkness, and Unexplained Ripples in Cosmic Background Radiation ===

[[Genesis 1-8 (Translated)|Genesis Chapter 1]] explains that [[God]] created light first, rather than merely stars. A "big bang" would result in light everywhere, without darkness, and without ripples in cosmic background radiation. Yet in the 21st century ripples were discovered in cosmic background radiation, which can only be plausibly explained by recognizing that light was created first.

=== Meteoroids ===
The Revelation of Saint John notes,
{{cquote|And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. Revelation 8:8-9 (KJV)}}
This accurately describes meteoroids, essentially large chunks of rock lit on fire by the shock of entering the earth's atmosphere. They were not discovered until 1801, and their composition was not otherwise known until the 20th century.

=== Stellar proper movement ===
In [[Job]], there is a list of challenges that are constructed in the form of questions, with the idea that man can't do it, but God can.

Among those challenges, two are remarkable: one mentions the ''untying'' of Orion's belt, and the other is the ''binding'' of the Pleiades. One recently astronomers could measure the proper movement of those stars; Orion's belt is moving apart, with each star going in a different direction, while the Pleiades are moving together.

=== Space flight ===
Many theorize that the book of [[Ezekiel]] contains descriptions of spaceships and rockets, as they would have been described by someone thousands of years ago. [http://www.spaceshipsofezekiel.com/ Author Blumrich] has even published an entire book about this.

===Expanding universe===
The [[Bible]] explains, in 17 different verses, that [[God]] "stretched out" the heavens<ref>http://www.creationists.org/God-streched-out-the-universe-bible-verses.html</ref>, in other words, expanding the fabric of space-time from a smaller size to a much larger one. Scientists have discovered only in the last 100 years that, by studying the red shift of galaxies, the universe indeed appears to have been "stretched out".

== Meteorology ==
=== Existence of the [[Jet Stream]] ===
Ecclesiastes 1:6 notes, "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits." This described the jet stream long before its 19th-20th century discovery.

=== Water cycle ===

The existence of the water cycle was not known until imperial Roman times, but the Bible described it over a thousand years before that!
See [[Ecclesiastes]] 11:3, [[Job]] 26:8 and [[Amos]] 9:6

== Physics ==

=== Light and Color ===

Prior to the work of [[Isaac Newton]], white was considered to be the fundamental color of light, and other colors (such as red, green and blue) were formed by adding to white light. Under that traditional theory, the fullness of all light (a combination of all colors of light) would result in something other than pure white.

The transfiguration of Jesus is described with remarkable consistency in all three synoptic [[Gospel]]s: in the fullness of light Jesus and his clothing display an intense white, whiter than any bleach could produce. This illustrates what was not discovered and accepted until nearly 1700 years later: that white is the combination of other fundamental colors, and the purest white light is formed by a perfectly full combination (see [[Prism]]).

=== Action-at-a-distance ===

[[Jesus]] demonstrated [[action-at-a-distance]], as recounted in [[John 1-7 (Translated)|John 4:46-54]]. Scientists, particularly [[atheists]], denied the possibility of this phenomenon for thousands of years. When Newton proposed action-at-a-distance as the basis of gravity, scientists continued to reject it, but eventually accepted it as being true.

Later the [[Theory of Relativity]] again denied the possibility of action-at-a-distance, but [[quantum mechanics]] subsequently proved that it does occur.<ref>See also [[Counterexamples to Relativity]].</ref>

=== Quantum Mechanics ===

==== Observation of the Wave Function ====
The second chapter of the [[Gospel of John]] describes the conversion of water into wine by [[Jesus]] at a wedding reception. [[John_1-7_(Translated)#Chapter_2|John 2:9]] states: "When the host of the wedding feast tasted the water, it had been made into wine." This passage implies that the drink was not wine until it had been tasted, or observed. Possibly, the drink was a superposition of the state of wine and the state of water until it was observed as wine.

The miraculous [[Essay:Calming the Storm|calming of the storm]] is typically translated as the result of a "rebuke" by [[Jesus]] of the bad weather. But a closer look at the Greek reveals that the key term means "judge" rather than "rebuke", and thus it was the act of Jesus observing the chaos that caused it to "collapse" into an orderly state, similar to the effect of observing a wave function.

In Matthew 16:19, Jesus draws a then-unusual distinction between what is fixed and what is uncertain by declaring, "Whatever you make binding on earth will be binding in heaven, and whatever you set loose on earth will be set loose in heaven."<ref>http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Matthew_10-19_%28Translated%29&oldid=870778#Chapter_16</ref> This may describe the fundamental uncertainty that continues unless and until there is human observation that then causes the wave function to collapse into a particular ("bound") state.

==== [[Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle]] ====

Both the Old and New Testaments refer to a fundamental uncertainty that requires observation to resolve, akin to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle discovered in the 1920s:

* "The earth came to exist in an utterly formless and empty state." [[Genesis 1-8 (Translated)|Genesis 1:2]].
* The master refusing to order the removal of the weeds sowed among the wheat because of the uncertainty in distinguishing between the two until later: [[Matthew 10-19 (Translated)|Matthew 13:24-30]].

==== Wave-Particle Duality ====

Particles are subject to gravity; waves are not. Wave-particle duality, first discovered in the 20th century, allows for a particle to sometimes be subject to gravity and sometimes not.

The wave-particle duality was described nearly 2000 years earlier in the Gospel account of Jesus walking on water: [[Mark 1-8 (Translated)|Mark 6:45-54]]. A close reading of the passage reveals the wave-like (or light-like) characteristic of the walking on water:
{{cquote|he walked on the surface of the lake and came to the boat, ''nearly passing it''. But when they saw him walking on water, they thought it must have been ''a ghost'', and cried out.}}
[[Mark 1-8 (Translated)|Mark 6:48-49]] (italics added).

In a more general sense, [[Jesus]] could be viewed as the "particle" and the [[Holy Spirit]] as the "wave" of [[God]]. A fuller understanding of the [[Trinity]] could have opened the eyes of scientists much earlier to the fundamental wave-particle duality of nature ... and still could.

==== Quantum tunneling ====

[[Quantum tunneling]] is the ability of particles to move through energy barriers even though ostensibly impossible based on classical laws of mechanical physics. This was not discovered by scientists until the 20th century.

[[Jesus]] proved this was possible in [[John_15-21_(Translated)#Chapter_20|John 20:26]], when he appeared before the [[Apostles]] in a closed room with completely shut doors.

=== Classical Relativity ===
Romans 10:6-7: But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7"or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

Equating ascending into heaven to bringing Christ down is an example of the fact that there is no universal reference frame, and only relative speeds matter.

=== Modern Relativity ===
The [[Theory of Relativity]] denies the possibility of action-at-a-distance. But several passages in the Bible, such as [[John 1-7 (Translated)|John 4:46-54]] and [[Matthew 20-28 (Translated)|Matthew 27:51]], describe simultaneous actions from afar.

The list of [[Counterexamples to Relativity]] has grown in recently, and modern experiments in [[quantum mechanics]] have confirmed action-at-a-distance.

=== [[Second Law of Thermodynamics]] ===

The [[Genesis 1-8 (Translated)|Book of Genesis]] states that the darkness or chaos in the universe can never overcome the light, or order. This same concept was not discovered in physics until the development of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which holds that heat (or order or light) always travels in the direction of cold (or disorder or darkness), and never in the opposite direction.

=== The nature of air ===

Until about 300 years ago, common knowledge believe that the air was "empty" and didn't weigh anything. But [[Job]] 28:25 says "To establish a '''weight''' for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure" indicating that the divinely inspired author knew the air had substance and weight.

== Mathematics ==

=== [[Banach-Tarski Paradox]] ===
The only miracle described in all four [[Gospels]] is the multiplication of loaves and fish by [[Jesus]], thought for thousands of years to be a mathematical and physical impossibility. But the 20th century discovery of the so-called [[Banach-Tarski Paradox]] proved a mathematical basis for creating identical copies of an object.

=== Axiomatization of Arithmetic ===
The full set of axioms for integer arithmetic may be found in the Bible, as demonstrated by J.C. Keister.<ref>http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/027a-MathandtheBible.pdf</ref> For example, [[Luke 9-16 (Translated)|Luke 12:52]] is a striking statement of the commutative law for addition: "For from this point forward there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three." This understanding presaged both later attempts at the axiomatization of arithmetic by Peano and the development of [[abstract algebra]] in the 19th and 20th centuries.

== Zoology ==

===Inability of Animals to Understand Morality===

[[Genesis 1-8 (Translated)|Genesis 3:1-10]] explains that only humans understand good and evil, and clothe themselves because of it. Repeatedly scientists have attempted to demonstrate that animals can understand morality also, but every attempt has failed. Despite denial by [[evolutionists]], no animal (other than humans) has ever been found that clothes itself.

===Existence of dinosaurs===
[[Dinosaur]] fossils were not discovered until the 19th century, but the book of [[Job]] describes enormous creatures called behemoth and leviathan, the descriptions being similar to dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. It may also have referred to another similarly giant now-extinct species.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i2/behemoth.asp</ref>

===Lions' killing methods===

Until the 1970s naturalists believed that lions killed their prey by biting through the neck or by breaking the neck with a swat of a paw, while the Bible says that lions strangled their prey. (Nahum 2:12) It was not until the 1970s that it was discovered that the [[Bible]] was correct.<ref>http://ed5015.tripod.com/BLions87.htm</ref>

=== Giant sea creatures and Jonah ===

The [[Jonah (Translated)|Book of Jonah]] describes his survival in the belly of a giant sea creature for 2.5 to 3 days. Scientists declared this to be impossible due to powerful stomach acids that quickly break down any material.

Then, in 2010, scientists were astonished to find the following materials intact in the belly of a gray whale that had died after being stranded on a Northwest beach:<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/19/pair-sweat-pants-garbage-beached-whales-stomach/</ref>

*a pair of sweat pants
*a golf ball
*over 20 plastic bags
*small towels
*duct tape
*surgical gloves
*a functioning laptop accessing ''Conservapedia'' (just kidding about this last item)

Of course, many sea creatures have gone extinct in the thousands of years since Jonah lived.
===Worker ants===
Proverbs 6:6-8 correctly states the sex of worker [[ant]]s (female), using the correct one of the two [[Grammar#Gender|grammatical genders]] available in Biblical [[Hebrew]]. Secular entomologists would not discover that fact until the 19th century.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=rzwSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA6&dq=ant+undeveloped+female+worker+date:1700-1850&lr=&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES#v=onepage&q&f=false The study of medicine, Volume 5 By John Mason Good]</ref>

==Linguistics==

===Common Descent?===
The [[theory of evolution]] suggests that all languages are descended from a common ancestral language, and for a century (1860 to about 1960) scientists clung to that view. But now most linguists identify many different families of languages that have no common ancestor, just as described in Genesis 11 with the [[Tower of Babel]].

===Earliest Hebrew Writings===
Skeptics have claimed that [[Hebrew]] writing did not exist before the 6th century B.C. But a recent Israeli archaeological dig dated four centuries earlier, in the 10th century B.C., included an artifact found at Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Elah Valley. This artifact contained a written inscription in Hebrew relating to "slaves, widows and orphans." Haifa University Professor Gershon Galil noted that this disproves the theory that the Bible could not have been written before the 6th century.<ref>http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/01/08/Bible-may-be-centuries-older-than-thought/UPI-21171262997765/</ref>

== Economics ==

Jesus stated that there will always be poverty,<ref>See Mark 14:7, Matthew 26:11 and John 12.8.</ref> yet [[liberals]] repeatedly insist that poverty can be eliminated with more government spending. Every attempt to eliminate poverty has failed just as Jesus predicted. In 1991 [[Ronald Coase]] won a [[Nobel Prize]] in [[Economics]] for the [[Coase Theorem]], which implies that government attempts to reduced poverty will interfere with efficient operation of the economy, and thereby reduce wealth.

==Engineering examples==

Biblical scientific foreknowledge about these engineering developments has been proposed:<ref>http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2191</ref>

{{cquote|automobiles (Joel 2:3-4); airplanes (Isaiah 31:5, also 40:31); submarines (Revelation 9:1-11); radio (Ecclesiastes 10:20); and television (Revelation 11:3-12)}}

Classical photography, using negative imaging, was predated by the [[Shroud of Turin]] with respect to the imaging on the Shroud likely due to the light of the [[Resurrection]]. The Shroud ([[Greek]]: σινδών - sindón) is mentioned in three Gospels: Matthew 27:59, Mark 15:46, Luke 23:53, while John 20:5-7 talks about a face cloth or napkin ([[Greek]]: σουδάριον - soudárion) - perhaps the [[Sudarium of Oviedo]] - and stripes of linen ([[Greek]]: ὀθόνιον - othonion). The description by the eyewitness John implies that his sighting of the Shroud may have confirmed his [[faith]], though he doesn't mention its photograph-like image <ref>''"How is it possible that those sacred historians, who carefully related all the miracles that took place at Christ's death, should have omitted to mention one so remarkable as the likeness of the body of our Lord remaining on its wrapping sheet? This fact undoubtedly deserved to be recorded. St John, in his Gospel, relates even how St Peter, having entered the sepulchre, saw the linen clothes lying on one side, and the napkin that was about his head on the other; but he does not say that there was a miraculous impression of our Lord's figure upon these clothes, and it is not to be imagined that he would have omitted to mention such a work of God if there had been any thing of this kind."'', [[John Calvin]]: ''Traité des Reliques'', Geneve 1543, translated by '''Valerian Krasinski''': ''A treatise on Relics'', Edingburgh 1854</ref>.

== Alleged absurdities and contradictions ==

Biblical scientific foreknowledge is an underpinning of creation science, and is widely credited by Christian scientists and apologists, including the organizations [[Creation Ministries International]], [[Answers in Genesis]], and [[CreationWiki]].<ref>http://creationwiki.org/index.php/Bible_scientific_foreknowledge.</ref><ref>[http://creationwiki.org/index.php/Bible_scientific_foreknowledge Bible Scientific Foreknowledge]</ref><ref>http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/1718/</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i1/medicine.asp</ref>

Atheists unsuccessfully attempt to discredit the Bible based on science. Here are some examples:

=== Bat as a bird ===
A favorite evolutionist canard is that Leviticus 11:13-19 labels the [[bat]], a [[mammal]], as a [[bird]]. But this is an obvious failure of translation, as the Hebrew term '' 'owph'' did not entail the "clade" of birds, but was a non-biological category referring to any winged creature, mammalian, avian, or insect. The KJV translation as "fowl" is simply incorrect.

=== Incorrect value of Pi ===
Two sections of the bible (1 Kings 7, 23-26, 2 Chronicles, 4, 2-5) appear to indicate that the correct value of [[Pi]] is 3, whereas Pi is in fact an irrational number, equalling approximately 3.14159. It has alleged by atheists, including [[Sam Harris]] and [[Richard Dawkins]], that this value indicates the fallacious nature of scripture.<ref>The Richard Dawkins Foundation, ''Reply to a Christian'', Sam Harris - [http://richarddawkins.net/articles/139]</ref> However, a simple explanation of the claimed "contradiction" is that the Bible records the ratio of the actual object which Hiram created, not that of a mathematical [[sphere]]. The claim that it was round all about does not equate to a claim that it was a perfect sphere, as atheists have claimed.<ref>''Theology'', Volume 59, Issues 427-438, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (Great Britain), London, 1956, p. 23 </ref>

Moreover, [[Pi]], when expressed as one significant digit, is equal to 3.

==See Also==
*[[Christianity and Science]]
*[[Creation vs. Evolution Videos]]
*[[The Bible]]
*[[Evolution]]
*[[Atheism]]

==External Links==
*[http://www.creationwiki.org/Bible_scientific_foreknowledge Bible scientific foreknowledge] by [[CreationWiki]]
{{Template:Creation vs. evolution}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Creationism]]

Islam

2011-08-15T03:58:48Z

SLSmith:

[[File:Madina Haram at evening .jpg|center|800px|thumb|Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet) in [[Medina]], [[Saudi Arabia]], the site of [[Muhammad|Muhammad's]] tomb.]]

'''Islam''' is a [[monotheism|monotheistic]] [[Abrahamic religion]] based on the teachings of [[Muhammad]] (or often [[Mohammed]] and other variants), a seventh century [[Arab]] merchant, diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, military general, and, according to Muslim belief, an agent of divine action. Muhammad was also born to the descendents of Abraham. Muhammed claimed to have received revelations from archangel Gabriel, which he wrote down in the [[Qur'an]] ([[Koran]]) - thus forming the core teachings of Islam. The word "Islam" means "submission" (to [[Allah]]) in [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. Islam teaches that one must gain salvation through submission to the one true God. Islam is known as one of the world's most violent religions; there have been over 16,000 terrorist attacks committed in the name of Islam since 2001.<ref>http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/</ref> [[Liberals]] however, frequently ignore the violence of Islam (refering to critics as "racists" and "Islamophobes") while they focus on baselessly attacking Christianity, a religion with a long history of charity and self sacrifice which has never attacked the Islamic world,<ref>http://www.ccusa.org/</ref><ref>http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/charity.html</ref> except during the [[Crusades]]. <ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades</ref>

A follower of Islam is called a "[[Muslim]]" or "Moslem", a term which means "one who submits (to Allah)". The older terms "Mohammedan" and "Muhammedan" ("follower of Muhammad"), have fallen out of use.<ref> Additional archaic terms for Muslims include "Hagarene", and "Saracen". Saracen as a term for Muslims was limited to the Crusade era, although it makes frequent re-appearances in pre-modern polemics. Hagarene was a more common term in pre-modern works, as it denotes the biblical connection of Hagar the mother of Ishmael who is reported as the patriarch of Islam. Additional names for Muslims in pre-modern and Medieval works are generally derived from misspellings.</ref>

==Theology==
There are no clergy, but there are religious teachers, or [[Imam]]s, who have their followings. All Muslims are supposed to follow the teachings of Muhammad, whom they believe to be Allah's ('''الله''' in [[Arabic]]) last and greatest [[prophet]]. The teachings of Muhammad are transmitted through the [[Qur'an]], the Hadith, and the Sunnah. The Sunnah is a general term for "the life and doings of the Prophet", which all Muslims are called on to replicate. The faith teaches that the Archangel [[Gabriel]] appeared to Muhammad in a cave reciting verbatim a revelation from Allah. The first word that Gabriel says to Muhammad is "Iqra" or "Recite/Proclaim",which is found in the 96th Sura of the Qur'an.

Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur'an (or Koran) to Muhammad. The key miracle of Islam comes from the historical condition of the illiterate and uneducated Muhammad, as the Qur'an is composed in an erudite and complex form of Arabic prose and poetry<ref>Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not.(Surah 96:1-5)</ref>. The Qur'an was not written down in a systemised fashion until a decade after Muhammad died, preferable transmission being through oral recenscion.The Qur'an is considered to be the pure and holy word of God, uncreated and eternal. In Islamic theology the term uncreated is very important, as it implies that there is no author for the Qur'an, only the delivering ot the word to Muhammad who delivered it to the Sahab and the Salaf (The Companions and the Pure), who delivered it to the scribe delegated to record it in the reign of the Caliph Uthman bin Affan.

==Origins==
Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam originated in the Middle East. Islam claims to trace its roots back to Abraham through his son Ishmael. Muslims do not believe that Muhammad was the founder of Islam, rather that he restored the original faith of Abraham and the prophets that followed as recorded in the lost books of the Tawrat and Injil.

Based upon this belief, the [[Bible]], both the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s, is believed to have become corrupted through the [[Bible translations|translations and misinterpretations]] accumulated over several millenia. The criticism of the [[Torah]] centers around the reconstruction of the existing Biblical text required after the "[[Babylon]]ian captivity". The criticism of the New Testament centers in the many disputed gnostic texts which contradict the orthodox biblical canon. Interestingly, Islamic jurisprudence accepts that the Injil was complete and whole up until the revelation of Muhammad. Therefore there is some inconsistency in the claims made against the New Testament. For more information, see [[The Bible versus the Qur'an]].
[[Image:Mecca.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Mecca]], one of the holy cities of Islam.]]

==Today==
Islam is the worlds second largest religion, with over 1.6 billion followers, the number of Muslims is rapidly growing, mainly due to conversions, high birth rates, and redefinitions of the term 'Muslim'. Conversions to Christianity (from ''any'' faith or lack thereof) outnumber those to Islam, but cannot keep up with the birthrate discrepancy.<ref>[http://www.bible.ca/global-religion-statistics-world-christian-encyclopedia.htm World Christian Encyclopedia]</ref>
<ref>[http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/AlJazeerahAfrica.php Translation of AL-Jazeerah interview between Maher Abdallah and Shiekh Ahmed Katani]</ref>

[[Indonesia]] has the largest Muslim population in the world.

==Historical Background==

According to Islamic belief, in approximately 610 A.D., [[Muhammad]], a 40-year-old merchant of the Quraysh tribe in [[Mecca]], located in the Hijaz (now eastern [[Saudi Arabia]]), was commanded by the angel [[Gabriel]] (or Jibreel) to "recite" the message of Allah (The Muslim god). Gabriel said mankind had lost sight of Allah's previous messages to earlier prophets, [[Adam]], [[Noah]], [[Abraham]], [[Moses]], [[Solomon]], and [[Jesus]], among others, and that Muhammad was to spread Allah's message to all people so that mankind would know how to live, how to show respect for Allah, and how to prepare for the judgment day.

The message to Muhammad was to be God's last and fullest revelation, a direct copy of the Umm Al Khitab, the mother of all books located in heaven next to God; Muhammad was the "seal of the prophets." Muhammad won some converts to Islam in his local area, but his [[monotheist]] preaching threatened to undermine the profitable [[polytheist]] pilgrim traffic supporting many Meccan merchants. In 622 A.D., the merchants drove Muhammad and his followers out of Mecca to the city of Yathrib (later renamed [[Medina]], or the city - as in the city of the prophet). This flight (hijra) from Mecca to Medina marks the beginning of the Muslim lunar calendar, and is celebrated each year in the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Muhammad's forces, composed of the sahaba (companions) from Mecca ,and the Ansar (allied tribes from Yathrib) started attacking the trade caravans going in and out of Mecca, cutting off its economic lifeline. After a series of battles between the Meccans and Muhammad's forces, Mecca finally accepted Muhammad's ultimatum to succumb and convert to Islam. The city welcomed the prophet back in 630. Muhammad died in 632.
[[File:Islam750.jpg|thumb|590px]]

Tribal elders in a traditional council called the "Shura" elected [[Abu Bakr]] to be Muhammad's successor, or [[Caliph]] (Khalifa). Abu Bakr united the tribes of the Arabian peninsula during his two years as head of the new faith. Upon his death, the elders elected [[Umar ibn al-Khattab]] the next Caliph. During Umar's ten year reign, Islam invaded and spread through conquest and negotiation into [[Egypt]], [[Syria]], [[Palestine]], [[Iraq]], and parts of [[Iran]]. Umar was assassinated by a Persian (modern day Iran) in 644, and was succeeded by [[Uthman ibn Affan]], who continued the invasions to spread Islam into [[North Africa]], [[Cyprus]], the rest of Iran, [[Afghanistan]], and parts of [[India]] and [[Pakistan]]. Over the next two centuries, Islamic armies continued to expanded Islam's empire into sub-Saharan Africa, [[Spain]], South-east and Central Asia, and [[Turkey]].

The Muslim armies conquered and superseded the ancient Sassanid and Byzantine empires which had ruled before. Within a generation of Muhammad's death Muslim armies occupied an empire stretching from the Nile river to the far off Iranian province of khorasan. Reasons for the rapid conquest are varied and obscure. The Arab armies were more akin to tribal war bands raiding and settling where and when they could. The Byzantine and Sassanid empires had been at war for centuries. The constant simmering conflict between Constantinople and Persia reached a climax in the early 7th century. The Sassanids conquered briefly Egypt and the Levant threatening the central Byzantine heartland of Anatolia. Under the military reforms of the emperor Heraclius, the Byzantine army consolidated and counter attacked, recapturing all that they had lost and capturing the Sassanian capital of Ctesiphon in 628.

This brief end of the Roman-Persian wars disrupted the frontier areas which had predicated their economies on raiding and mercenary activities. Two major areas in Arabia were directly affected. The Lackmid tribe and the Gassanid tribe both acted as mercenaries for the Persians and Romans. The official religion of both tribes analogically mirrored that of their overseers. Monophysite Christianity was common, particularly of the Jacobite sect. The death of Muhammad and the subsequent Ridda wars occupied these warrior tribes until the reign of Caliph Umar. Additionally, there was great religious unrest in the levant and Egypt. These areas resented the ruinous taxes and the harsh orthodoxy imposed by the emperor in Constantinople.

The same climate was present in the Sassanid realm with the rise of the dualism of the Manicheans. Under the Caliph Umar ,the Arab tribes which had concluded the infighting following the death of Muhammad were allowed to raid into the Byzantine and Sassanid fronteirs. The weakened state of both regimes from both military and economic exhaustion and religious unrest made them fertile picking grounds for the tribal warbands. The Arabs were chiefly successful in holding these areas in that they upheld a lightweight regime of low taxes based in the Islamic laws and distant government. Rather than employing an army of bureaucrats and nobility, the early Arab empire was more favorable towards maintaining the existing government structures under the leadership of Arab tribes. In this atmosphere it is hardly surprising to note the reports from both Muslim and Christian sources of peaceful capitulation and invitation of the invading forces.

==Divisions Within Islam==
Uthman was assassinated in 656 A.D. by soldiers who then installed Ali ibn Abu Talib, Muhammad's son-in-law, as [[Caliph]]. Ali's followers believed Muhammad had chosen Ali to be Muhammad's heir, and had disagreed with the selections of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman as Caliphs. Ali's claim to the position was challenged by Muawiyah, a kinsman of the murdered Uthman. Five years later, Ali was assassinated by Kharjites, religious dissidents who broke away from the main body of Muslims because they rejected Ali's accepting arbitration to resolve his leadership dispute with Muawiyah. Ali's supporters, or the Shiah al-Ali (or Shiat Ali, partisans of Ali) believed that Ali was the true Caliph and was, in part, divinely inspired. Ali's sons, Hassan and Husayn followed as [[Shia]] Caliphs, Hassan dying in 669 or 670 A.D., possibly by poisoning, and Husayn slain by soldiers of his rival, the [[Sunni]] Caliph Yazid, in 680 A.D.

The Shia Muslim community has divided further as followers coalesced around several of Ali's descendants or successors, called [[Imam]]s. The "twelvers," predominant in Iran, believe the twelfth Imam is in hiding and will reveal himself just before judgement day. Ismailis rejected the seventh Imam and practice a spirituality that seeks hidden meaning in scripture. Ismailis ruled much of [[North Africa]] as the [[Fatimid Dynasty]] of [[Egypt]] in the tenth through the twelfth centuries, and today are found primarily in [[Pakistan]], [[Afghanistan]], and [[India]]. The Sunni majority reject the premise that men can be divine, including Muhammad, Ali, or Jesus, and did not accept any of the Imams who followed Ali. Sunnis remain more committed to traditions and less inclined to accept Shia mysticism. Today, about 15% of the world's Muslims are Shia and 85% are orthodox Sunni.

There are other factions within Islam. Sufis, a name possibly derived from the wool garments they wear, developed around mystical practices and trance-induced revelations. Sufis are found today in [[Turkey]], [[Syria]], and parts of [[Africa]]. Other movements have taken reform tracks, such as the Unitarians of [[Saudi Arabia]], also called [[Wahhabi]]s after their 18th century reformist founder Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The conservative Wahhabis are found today in Saudi Arabia and [[Qatar]]. Today the Wahhabi line has a tendency to produce extremists, such as [[Osama Bin Laden]]. Some critics would argue that the [[Taliban]] of Afghanistan took conservative reform to an extreme. Other sects or break-away groups include, among others, the Alawis found in Syria and Turkey, the [[Druze]] in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel, the Ibadhis (Kharjites) in Oman and Africa, the Ahmadiya of Pakistan, and the Zaydis of Yemen.

==Religious Guidance==
During his lifetime, Muhammad's companions learned and later transcribed the verses (surrahs) of the Qur'an as Muhammad spoke them. In Islam, the teachings of Mohammed were believed to be direct divine revelation from God.

The third Caliph, Uthman, collected and codified the various versions of the surrahs into one written Qur'an that became the standard Arabic text used by the world's Muslims today. The Qur'an is longer than the Bible and written in general order of longest chapters to shortest rather than in any order of when they were spoken, sometimes making the work appear to be confusing. In all there are 114 chapters. Most of the later recorded sayings of Mohammed, which were also more warlike, actually appear earlier in the text. Present-day Muslims look first to the Qur'an as a guide to life, then to the [[Sunnah]], or the way of the Prophet (his life as an example for others) as recorded by his early companions, and then to the [[Hadith]], a collection of the Prophet's sayings, comments, advice, and descriptions.

Frequently, Muslims disagreed over how to interpret certain passages in the Qur'an, the Sunnah, or the Hadith in their search for the ideal life and perfect path to heaven. From these interpretations Sunni Muslims developed four schools of law, or interpretations of law, named after their founders or early leaders: the Hanbali, considered the most strict school and predominant today in Saudi Arabia; Shafi, the school of widest acceptance, found in Egypt, parts of Palestine-Syria, south Arabia, and the Far East; Maliki, prevalent in North Africa, Sudan, and Nigeria; and Hanafi, considered the most moderate school, predominant in Ottoman Turkey and today found primarily on the Levant and Indian subcontinent. Frequently, Muslim countries have two separate legal systems, one for civil, criminal, or commercial law, and a second, and separate, system for religious law. Religious courts and their judges (qadis) might handle issues dealing with marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance, religious education, charitable or religious property (Waqf), or family matters. Among Middle Eastern countries, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen have Shariah courts serving alongside their secular courts or have adopted [[Sharia]]h (Islamic law) as the basis of their legal systems.

====Clergy====
Sunni Islam does not have a priesthood or clerical hierarchy to conduct religious services or interpret scripture, but it does have prayer leaders, called Imams, and religious scholars, called Ulama, who often are educated men familiar with the Qur'an and able to offer commentaries on Qur'anic verses. Sunni Muslims also respect the teachings and interpretations of scholars, judges, and academics who may interpret laws, write treatises on Sharia (religious law) or Hadith, and issue Fatwas, religious declarations intended to enlighten or guide Muslims.

Shia Islam has a hierarchy that resembles a priesthood. Mullahs are prayer leaders, but usually do not interpret religious law. Mujtahids are religious scholars who may interpret law or passages from the Qur'an or Hadith. The lower order of Mujtahids are called Hojjatolislam. Ayat Allah (literally sign of God, also Ayatollah) is a higher order of Mujtahid who may issue Fatwas, or religious edicts, in addition to leading Islamic schools, interpreting religious law and the Qur'an, and offering sermons or discourses on proper Islamic behavior.

===Five Pillars of Islam===
*'''Shahadah (Profession of Faith)''' -The Shahadah is the Muslim profession of faith. 'ašhadu 'al-lā ilāha illā-llāhu wa 'ašhadu 'anna muħammadan rasūlu-llāh, a loose English translation reads "''There is none worthy of worship except God, and [[Muhammad]] is the messenger of God''" This testament can be seen as the foundation of all of the other tenets of Islam.

*'''[[Salat]] (Ritual Prayer)''' -All Muslims are required to Pray to God five times each day while facing [[Mecca]].

*'''Zakat (Charity)''' Able Muslims must donate to the poor based on the wealth one has accumulated. In current usage it is interpreted as 2.5% of the value of most valuables and savings held for a full [[lunar year]].

*'''Sawm (Fasting)''' All able-bodied Muslims (children, the elderly, and the ill are exempt) must fast during daylight hours during the daylight hours of the entire month of [[Ramadan]]. According to Muslims, this purifies the body and soul. Some Muslim sects allow military, police and emergency services personnel to receive an exemption from fasting from an imam, on the grounds that their work supports the community or national good.

*'''Hajj (Pilgrimage)''' All able-bodied Muslims must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives.

==Other Aspects of Islam==
[[Image:Quran.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Pages from the Qur'an, the holy book of the Islamic religion.]]
====Jihad====
Jihad is the "effort" or "struggle" each Muslim faces in the everyday trials of life, such as the effort to get better grades in school, or the striving to achieve better results from a job, or the struggle to avoid sinful temptations. Jihad also can be applied to warfare; participating in jihad in Allah's cause was the third most important good deed listed in the Hadith, after prayer and honoring one's parents. Jihad often was a rallying cry for the military spread of Islam in the seventh through tenth centuries against non-Muslims.

====Osama bin Laden and Fundamentalists====
[[Osama bin Laden]], a follower of a particular brand of Islam popular in Saudi Arabia, has stated that Islam is at war with the United States and its allies. Some observers maintain that the number of Muslims who believe as bin Laden does is growing, and others go further to suggest that all "fundamentalist" Muslims are enemies of the West. But other observers differentiate between conservative "fundamentalists" and the "extremists" who follow murderers such as bin Laden or other terrorists. These observers suggest that the fundamentalists disagree with bin Laden as much as do Westerners, yet remain silent out of fear or disrespect for non-believing "infidels". Many westerners are still haunted by the images of cheering crowds dancing in the streets when the 9/11 attacks were announced and were disappointed at the lack of prominent condemnation of the attack from Islamic circles worldwide.

====People of the Book====
Christians and Jews are called "people of the Book" in the Qur'an and are considered earlier forerunners to Islam and viewed as brothers as long as they pay an extra tax when under Islamic rule. Islam, tracing its roots back to Abraham through his son Ishmael instead of Isaac as the Jews did, believes that they are the descendants of God's promise. Islam believes that both the Old and New Testament were corrupted and corrected by the Qur'an, but there is still an earlier link between the three religions. The view of Jews and Christians varied within different parts of the Qur'an and Islamic history. Much of current Islamic culture, even in places that were once very tolerant such as Egypt, has seen an upsurge in persecution and violence against Christians and Jews.

====Women in Islam====
[[File:Muslim girls at Istiqlal Mosque Jakarta Indonesia.jpg|left|thumb|240px|Muslim girls at Istiqlal [[Mosque]], Jakarta.]]
In pre-Islamic times women's rights were defined by tribal laws which differed amongst the tribes. Some women had absolute equity and the ability to hold power, while some women were treated worse than chattel; bride prices, unlimited polygamy, and female infanticide were a common theme. Islamic law standardised the situation on the Arabian peninsula, at a level slightly above the lowest,granting women limited rights an distinct legal individuals, a restricted right to divorce, and required her not to directly object to a marriage contract in order for it to have validity. It also limited polygamy to a maximum of four wives at any one time, though the use of "temporary" marriage in effect rendered this restriction meaningless. That was over a thousand years ago and there has been little progress since. The reality of traditional Sharia law as applied in the modern era has shocked the modern conscience. <ref>Linda Rae Bennett, ''Women, Islam and Modernity'' (2005)</ref>.

Women are treated as inferiors to men in almost every regard. For example, women are required to cover the head and body in public, by wearing the hijab. Hijab is applied in different ways: a small scarf around the head and western street clothes may be acceptable in Cairo or Damascus but a full length opaque [[Burqa]] was enforced in Taliban Afghanistan. The treatment of women may depend upon rural or urban settings, educational level, society norms, tradition, or other factors. As of 2008, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan are the most significant Middle Eastern countries where the government requires women to wear some form of restrictive garb, though cultural pressure in most Islamic countries lives women little choice but to submit to the dictat of hijab. [[Honor killing]] is winked at.

Islamic dress is a regular grounds for conflict in multicultural education.

Treatment of women varies widely by country. In the Islamic state of Saudi Arabia women are forbidden from driving a car, traveling in public without their husband or a male family member as an escort, leaving their home without wearing Islamic dress, working or voting. Though not formally forbidden from owning property, they have no way of obtaining this as work is forbidden and only males are permitted to inherit - should a man die, his brothers, sons and father will all inherit before his wife. These restrictions are part of the criminal law of the country, and enforced by the police and a special Islamic office. Pakistan has similar restrictions, but to a lesser extent. In contrast, Turkey has a majority Muslim population yet still grants women rights near-equal to those of men including property ownership, employment, and education to university level.

Muslim apologists suggest the extremely repressive policies of countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are cultural rather than religious, though these are the countries were traditional Islam is strongest. They point to the more moderate Islam practiced in Turkey as a demonstration that Islam and womens' rights are compatible, ignoring the efforts of traditionalists in Turkey to end the freedoms women enjoy.

Muslim women's status is controversial. Whilst Muslim men control and oppress Muslim women by compelling them to remain hidden behind the veil, sequestered in the home, and ignorant of the world by denying them access to education and worldly opportunities, Islamic apologists defend some practices suggest that many of them, such as the veil, are cultural traditions that pre-date Islam and are intended to protect women from predatory men.

====Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem====
Muhammad's home city of Mecca was the site of his earliest preaching and conversions, and is the location of the Kaaba, traditionally held to be the foundation stone of the first mosque built by Adam and later restored by Abraham, and now the focus of the annual pilgrimage (hajj). Some historians suggest that the Kaaba, a black stone probably meteoric in origin, was venerated by pre-Islamic polytheistic religions.

At first, Jerusalem was Islam's holy city and the focus of prayers, but Mecca became the center of Islam after Muhammad's return in 630. Medina, because of its early association with Muhammad and as the site of Muhammad's tomb, is second in importance to Mecca. Jerusalem is revered by Muslims as the site of Solomon's temple, Abraham's near sacrifice of his son Ishmael, and the scene of Muhammad's miraculous midnight journey, the latter two now enshrined in the [[Dome of the Rock]] mosque. According to the Qur'an (Surrah 17:1, Isra) and Hadith, Muhammad and Gabriel were taken on winged mules from Mecca to Jerusalem, where they ascended through the seven heavens to the presence of Allah. During the visit, Muhammad learned, among other points, that Muslims were to pray five times each day and to honor Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the other prophets.

====Restrictions====
Observant Muslims are not supposed to eat pork and in general do not have dogs as pets; both swine and canines are considered unclean. Muslims can have dogs for safety. Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcoholic beverages, gambling, and from collecting interest on financial transactions.

===Female Genital Mutilation and Honour Killings===
FGM (also known as female circumcision) is mentioned in Hadith as an "honorable" condition for a woman, and act to carry out. It is a pre-Islamic tradition in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab world, though not in Coptic Egypt as some Islamic apologists claim. Female circumcision is not called for nor is it supported by the Qur'an.

Another pagan practice practice continued in Islamic countries is [[honor killing]], in which a brother, father, or uncle "restores" or "defends" a family's honor by killing the sister, daughter, or niece that "dishonored" the family through supposedly, "promiscuous" behaviour. This "promiscuous" activity often includes women from Islamic societies living in the West aspiring to a more open lifestyle. The "honor killing" is more ancient, and pagan in origin, but tolerated and practised more or less openly in some Muslim societies. Honor killings are not supported by the Qur'an and are directly commanded against with the Surah "Who so ever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and who so ever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind."

==Islam and Christianity==
see [[Dhimma]]

While Muslims do not believe Jesus to be the Son of God or in the Resurrection, they consider Him and His mother to be of God's most important prophets (Marian and Isa) otherwise known as Mary and Jesus. However, the Qur'an warns against worshipping Jesus, Muhammad, and other humans for fear of [[idolatry]].<ref>[http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Islam/Islam.htm Christian Churches of God Articles on Islam], March 10, 2007</ref>

The Qur'an states that non-believers will be punished, though the nature of the punishment is not specified (same as similar statements in the Bible and the Torah):

{{cquote|Surely, disbelievers are those who said:
'Allah is the third of the three (in a Trinity).' But there is no god but One, Allah.
And if they cease not from what they say, verily, a painful torment will befall the disbelievers among them.

Will they not repent to Allah and ask His Forgiveness? For Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.

The Messiah , son of Mary, was no more than a Messenger; many were the Messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a Siddiqah (i.e. she believed in the words of God and His Books ).
They both used to eat food (as any other human eat).
Look how We make the signs clear to them, yet look how they are deluded away (from the truth)."
}}
::(Qur'an 5:73-75)

However, Islam does recognize Christians and Jews as "people of the book" since both refer to one God only, and recognize Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) as a founding prophet.

==Sharia==
[[Image:StarCresent.png|thumb|right|220px|The Star and Crescent is a symbol of Islam. It is featured in the national flag of [[Algeria]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Malaysia]], [[Tunisia]], [[Mauritania]], [[Pakistan]], and [[Turkey]], amongst others]]
[[Sharia]] is the body of Islamic law. The term means "way" or "path"; it is the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Muslim principles of jurisprudence. It is not actually part of the canonical Qur'an; that is to say, it is not believed to be the direct word of God by Muslims, but rather the interpretation of it.

Sharia deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including politics, economics, banking, business law, contract law, sexuality, marriage, divorce, and social issues. Most Islamic scholars regard Sharia as the body of precedent and legal theory established during the early stages of the Islamic Empire, though a few scholars also believe contemporary legal cases can and should shape the law, though such thinkers may be subject to ridicule and even threats from Islamists.

Sharia law proscribes often brutal punishments for acts, that, in the western world, are relatively minor. For example, under sharia law, converting from Islam is punishable by death,<ref>[http://www.ntpi.org/html/whyoppose.html]</ref> whilst women found guilty of adultery is punishable by stoning to death, which often includes many rape victims, as Sharia courts often regard a rape victim as guilty of adultery unless she can provide four witnesses to the act of rape.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6148590.stm</ref> In cases involving the death penalty of corporal punishment, methods of carrying out the punishment are often barbaric, and include public beheading, chopping off of the hand, and flogging.<ref>http://saudiwoman.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/punishment-in-saudi-arabia/</ref> Many Islamist groups have been attempting to have Shariah courts set up in European countries, initially to rule over civil cases between Muslims in Europe.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,422661,00.html</ref>

==Terminology==
Additional archaic terms for Muslims include , but are not limited to, "Hagarene" and "Saracen". The term Hagarene was more common in post-crusade Europe as it made specific reference to the biblical mother of Ishmael. Ishmael in the Muslim faith plays an analogous theological role to Isaac. Muslims do not use it today to avoid confusing worship of [[Muhammad]] with worship of [[Allah]]<ref>Schimmel, (1992)</ref>

==Ex-Muslims==
[[Michelle Malkin]] highlights a group of Ex-Muslims hoping to change the terms of debate about Islam in Europe. Maryam Namazie, the head of the British group said "Too many things in the media and government policies have been geared to pandering to the political Islamic movements and Islamic organizations." <ref> [http://michellemalkin.com/2007/06/20/ex-muslims-stand-up-in-britain/ Ex-Muslims stand up in Britain]</ref>

<ref>''Some of the text for this article was taken from "Islam: A Primer", Congressional Research Service Report for Congress (2003), a work in the public domain'' [http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/islam.htm#back] </ref>

== See also ==
[[Image:Africa islam 87.jpg|thumb|Islam in Africa]]
*[[Arab American]]
*[[Islamic republic]]
*[[Qur'an]]
*[[Ramadan]]
*[[In the midst of a Maelstrom: the Holy Spirit and silence: an essay]] encounter of Israeli Messianic Jew and Egyptian Muslim in Alexandria

==Further reading==
* Armour, Rollin. ''Islam, Christianity, and the West: A Troubled History'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Islam-Christianity-West-Troubled-History/dp/1570754071/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342713&sr=1-32 excerpt and text search]
* Armstrong, Karen. ''Islam: A Short History'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Islam-History-Modern-Library-Chronicles/dp/081296618X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342302&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Berkey, Jonathan P. ''The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Formation-Islam-Religion-Society-600-1800/dp/0521588138/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342713&sr=1-27 excerpt and text search]
* Campo, Juan Eduardo. ''Encyclopedia of Islam'' (2009), basic introduction
* Esposito, John J. ''The Oxford History of Islam'' (2000) [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-Islam-John-Esposito/dp/0195107993/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342302&sr=1-6 excerpt and text search]
* Glasse, Cyril. ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' ( 2nd ed. 2008)
* Lewis, Bernard. ''Islam in History: Ideas, People, and Events in the Middle East'' (2001), by leading conservative historian [http://www.amazon.com/Islam-History-People-Events-Middle/dp/0812695186/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342525&sr=1-15 excerpt and text search]
* Martin, Richard C. et al. ''Encyclopedia of Islam & the Muslim World'' (2003), more advanced
* Newby, Gordon. ''A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Concise-Encyclopedia-Islam-Gordon-Newby/dp/1851682953/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342942&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Robinson, Chase F. ed. ''The New Cambridge History of Islam'' (Volume 1) (2009), summarizes advanced scholarship
* Ruthven, Malise, and Azim Nanji. ''Historical Atlas of Islam'' (2004)
* Schimmel, Annemarie. ''Islam: An Introduction''. (1992)
* Sonn, Tamara and Mary Williamsburg. ''A Brief History of Islam'' (2004) [http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Blackwell-Histories-Religion/dp/1405109009/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342302&sr=1-12 excerpt and text search]
* Wheatcroft, Andrew. ''Infidels: A History of the Conflict Between Christendom and Islam'' (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/Infidels-History-Conflict-Between-Christendom/dp/0812972392/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259342525&sr=1-13 excerpt and text search]

==External links==
*[http://muslim-canada.org/islam_christianity.html Islam and Christianity] - excellent article comparing and contrasting the two.
*[http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/ Qur'an online in English]
*[http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/ Sahih Bukhari (Hadith collection) online in English]
*[http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muslim/ Sahih Muslim (Hadith collection) online in English]
*[http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/abudawud/ Sunan Abu-Dawud (Hadith collection) online in English]
*[http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muwatta/ Malik's Muwatta (Hadith collection) online in English]
* Congressional Research Service, "Islam: A Primer", Report for Congress (2003), a work in the public domain and the source of part of this article [http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/islam.htm#back]
*[http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2011/01/islamists-torch-pope-in-effigy-again.html Islamists Torch Pope in Effigy, Again]
*[http://www.tribecatrib.com/news/2010/december/849_kind-strangers.html Muslims Saving Jews During World War II.] By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh.
*[http://differencesbetween.com/islam-and-muslim/ Difference Between Islam and Muslim]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Islam]]

Biology

2011-08-15T03:31:34Z

SLSmith: /* Principles */

'''Biology''' encompasses several fields of study, including [[genetics]], [[biochemistry]], [[cell biology]], [[structural biology]], [[mammalian physiology]], [[biophysics]], [[medicine]], [[botany]], and [[zoology]]; in addition, studies such as [[ecology]] and [[evolution]] also fall under the purview of biology.

An Oxford University book states:
<blockquote>
It is 'the study of living organisms, which includes their structure (gross and microscopical), functioning, origin and evolution, classification, interrelationships, and distribution.' <ref>Martin, E. and Hine, R. (2008) 'A Dictionary of Biology' Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.</ref>
</blockquote>

==Principles==

The study of biology works from several basic foundations:

1. The [[cell]]ular theory of life. All life is composed of at least once cell, which undergoes the classical processes of cellular life, such as [[reproduction]]; the cell is the basic unit of all macrobiotic life. The chemical composition of all cells in nature is similar, and all existing cells have emerged from prior cells through the processes of cellular division, generally through [[mitosis]] but with meiosis playing a significant role.

2. Genetic theory. All cells encode their genetic information in the form of DNA, the fundamental component of genes. These genes transfer the physical, and often psychological, traits of one generation of organism to the next.

3. Homeostasis. All living organisms will attempt to reach some form of dynamic equilibrium with their environment - both through the metabolism of individual creatures, and the population dynamics of whole populations.

==History==

More than ten thousand years ago, Mesopotamia showed evidence of the domestication of goats, sheep, and grains; while this was most likely unintentional, at least at first, it can be placed as the first point at which human study of the nature of life itself began. From these humble beginnings, all of modern biology eventually flourished.

The discoveries of the nineteenth century spurred the development of modern biology. Mendel's breeding experiments initiated [[genetics]]; the microscope initiated [[microbiology]]; and the synthesis of urea initiated [[biochemistry]]. In the early twentienth century the field of [[population genetics]] spurred the development of [[statistics]]. Advances in [[analytical chemistry]] permitted scientists to determine the structure of important biological molecules, such as DNA. These discoveries lead to the rapid development of [[molecular genetics]]. Coming full circle, these developments, combined with population genetic theory, is permitting scientists to examine the process of crop and animal domestication.

==Modern Research==
Modern biological research is heavily focused on identifying [[gene]]s and characterizing their [[gene expression|expression]] and function. Progress in this field has enabled scientists to analyze organisms as [[complex]] molecular systems. The study of complex systems has also been applied to ecology. There is also rapid characterization of the [[biodiversity]] of the [[Earth]]. This is especially pronounced in [[microbiology]], where surveys of diversity have only become possible with the development of modern molecular techniques.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Biology]]

Action at a distance

2011-08-15T03:15:43Z

SLSmith:

'''Action at a distance''' consists of affecting a distant body instantaneously. At the atomic level, this is known as "non-locality".

Examples of action at a distance in physics are:

* Newtonian gravity
* Electrostatics (before Maxwell's equations in the 1800s)
* Quantum entanglement within [[quantum mechanics]] (called "non-locality")

Other observed examples of action at a distance are:

* Action at a distance performed by Jesus, as described in [[John 1-7 (Translated)|John 4:46-54]] and [[Matthew 20-28 (Translated)|Matthew 27:51]].

Some scientists have long resisted the possibility of action at at distance (non-locality), and the [[theory of relativity]] assumes that information traveling instantaneously, or faster than the speed of light, is impossible.

Several theories have been developed as ways of denying '''action at a distance''' (non-locality). These include:

*gravitons
*string theory
*quantum field theory

[[category:philosophy]]
[[category:physics]]

Carbon dating

2011-08-15T03:01:52Z

SLSmith: /* Widespread misunderstandings */

'''Carbon dating''', or carbon-14 dating, is a method for comparing the ages of organic materials such as bones or artifacts made from anything that once lived.
Unlike many other radiometric dating methods, carbon dating has been calibrated for historical periods and within that range can give reliable results.

== Principles ==

[[Image:C-14decay.JPG|framed|The first-order decay curve of carbon-14 based on the half-life of 5730 years.]]
The technique is based on comparing the levels of 14C and 12C [[isotope]]s in the sample.
14C is produced in the atmosphere by cosmic ray [[neutron]]s replacing a [[proton]] in [[nitrogen]] (14N), producing 14C.<ref name="TH">Higham, Thomas, [http://www.c14dating.com/int.html Introduction], Radiocarbon web-info.</ref>

14C is unstable and [[radioactive decay|decays]] back to 14N, at the rate of 50% every 5,730 years (so after 11,460 years 25% will be left, after 17,190 years 12.5% will be left, and so on).

In the meantime, however, the 14C will combine with [[oxygen]] in the atmosphere to form [[carbon dioxide]], which enters the food chain via [[photosynthesis]] in plants.<ref name="TH" />
By this means, most living things also have 14C and 12C in the same ratio as in the atmosphere.
This ratio is about one 14C atom for every 1,000,000,000,000 12C atoms.<ref name="TH" />

However, when the sample dies, it stops ingesting 14C, so as the 14C decays to 14N, the ratio of 14C and 12C changes.
This ratio of 14C to 12C is measured and a calculation turns the measurement into a figure representing how long ago the sample died.

Depending on the method used to measure the 14C, after about 50,000 years or so there is not enough left to measure, although advanced techniques can possibly stretch that to 100,000 years.<ref>Nave, R., [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/cardat.html Carbon Dating], Georgia State University.</ref>
This then becomes the maximum age that can theoretically be derived by this method.

Therefore, any sample with too little 14C to measure must, in theory, be older than 50,000 to 100,000 years, and it is not possible to determine how much older.
Similarly, any sample with measurable 14C must be younger than 50,000 to 100,000 years, assuming that adequate precautions have been taken to eliminate contamination.

== Limits of Carbon Dating ==

Carbon dating, like other [[radiometric dating]] methods, requires certain assumptions that cannot be scientifically proved.
These include the starting conditions, the constancy of the rate of decay, and that no material has left or entered the sample.

=== Calibration ===

Unlike other radiometric dating techniques where it is not possible to [[calibration|calibrate]] the method against historically-known dates, limited calibration is possible for carbon dating.
That is, samples with dates known from historical records can be used to check the accuracy of the method.
Despite this, however, caution is still necessary in accepting dates derived from carbon dating.

Claims have been made of the method being calibrated back to 10,000 years using [[dendrochronology]],<ref name="TH" /> however these older dates derived via dendrochronology have themselves been derived with the assistance of carbon dating<ref>Batten, Don, [http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/2441 Tree ring dating (dendrochronology)] (Creation Ministries International).</ref>, making this circular reasoning.

=== Variable intake ===

Not all living things do have 14C:12C ratios the same as the atmosphere.
{{QuoteBox|...various plants have differing abilities to exclude significant proportions of the C-14 in their intake. This varies with environmental conditions as well. The varying rates at which C-14 is excluded in plants also means that the apparent age of a living animal may be affected by an animal's diet. An animal that ingested plants with relatively low C-14 proportions would be dated older than their true age."<ref>Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Resource Center, [http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Radiography/Physics/carbondating.htm Carbon-14 Dating"]</ref>}}

=== Atmospheric variability ===

The method relies on the assumption that we know how much 14C is in the atmosphere, but this has been known to change.
Nuclear testing since the 1950s has resulted in a large increase in the amount of 14C in the atmosphere, but because the levels have been measured since the 1950s, calculations can be adjusted for these changing levels, meaning that dating of recent samples is possible.<ref name="K12">Higham, Thomas? [http://www.c14dating.com/k12.html K-12] Radiocarbon web-info.</ref>

However, atmospheric levels are also known to have changed since the start of the [[industrial revolution]], making dating items from this period more difficult.<ref name="K12" />

Dating laboratories do not make any allowance for the change in atmospheric levels that would have occurred as a result of [[Great Flood|Noah's Flood]].
This means that radio-carbon dates cannot be used to prove that the Flood did not occur, because it ''assumes'' that it did not occur.<ref>Batten, Don, (Ed.) [http://www.creationontheweb.com/images/pdfs/cabook/chapter4.pdf What about carbon dating?] Chapter 4 of the ''Creation Answers Book''.</ref>

=== Solar-Earth effect ===

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Physikalish-Technische-Bundesandstalt in Germany have reported "unexplained periodic fluctuations in the [nuclear] decay rates of Si-32 and Ra-226... strongly correlated in time, not only with each other, but also with the distance between the Earth and the Sun." It is likely that similar discrepancies and fluctuations occur with other nuclear decay rates, such as that of 14C. It remains for scientists to perform experiments to explore these emerging issues. <ref>[http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.3283 Evidence for Correlations Between Nuclear Decay Rates and Earth-Sun Distance], Jenkins et al. Abstract: Unexplained periodic fluctuations in the decay rates of Si-32 and Ra-226 have been reported by groups at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Si-32), and at the Physikalisch-Technische-Bundesandstalt in Germany (Ra-226). We show from an analysis of the raw data in these experiments that the observed fluctuations are strongly correlated in time, not only with each other, but also with the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Some implications of these results are also discussed, including the suggestion that discrepancies in published half-life determinations for these and other nuclides may be attributable in part to differences in solar activity during the course of the various experiments, or to seasonal variations in fundamental constants.</ref>

== History ==

Carbon Dating was developed by [[Willard F. Libby]] and his team of scientists at the [[University of Chicago]] in 1949.<ref name="TH" />
They initially measured the 'half-life' (a term that Libby coined)<ref name="TH" /> as 5568±30 years, and this became known as the ''Libby half-life''.<ref name="TH" />
It was later measured more accurately to be 5730±40 years, now known as the ''Cambridge half-life''.<ref name="TH" />

== Widespread misunderstandings ==

Many people believe that carbon dating has proved that the Earth is millions or billions of years old, much older than the biblically-derived date of around 6,000 years. However, as explained above, carbon dating is incapable of providing dates in the range of millions or billions of years, so other forms of dating must be used instead.

Some also argue that carbon dating should only be used on samples that fall within the range over which it can measure.
However, this prompts the question of how one might determine this prior to using carbon dating to determine the age.
They further argue that dating much older items will result in anomalous dates, which might fall within the range that carbon dating can measure.
This is incorrect. Any sample that is older than the range that carbon dating will measure will record zero 14C, and can therefore not be confused with younger samples.

==See also==
*[[Martin Kamen]]
*[[Willard Libby]]

== References ==

<references/>

[[Category:Chronology]][[Category:Earth Sciences]]

Theories of evolution

2011-08-15T02:42:49Z

SLSmith:

There are a number of '''theories of evolution'''. In 2000, scientist Simon Conway Morris wrote in the peer-reviewed [[science]] journal ''Cell'': "When discussing organic [[evolution]] the only point of agreement seems to be: 'It happened.' Thereafter, there is little consensus, which at first sight must seem rather odd." He uses this statement to introduce a call for more investigation into the mechanisms of evolution.<ref>http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WSN-4195FC1-1&_user=681891&_coverDate=01%2F07%2F2000&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000037419&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=681891&md5=1806889a6d57f9282db2e4c04d32e8f7</ref>

==Recent clamour to revise the modern evolutionary synthesis==

''See also:'' [[Recent clamor to revise the modern evolutionary synthesis]] and [[Theory of evolution and little consensus]]

One of the more popular evolutionary paradigms among evolutionary scientists is the [[modern evolutionary synthesis]]. The '''[[modern evolutionary synthesis]]''' is a school of evolutionary thought which incorporates the concepts of natural selection, mutations, and studies in population genetics.<ref>http://creation.com/ariel-a-roth-biology-in-six-days</ref>

In 2005, Massimo Pigliucci, in a book review for the prestigious science journal ''Nature'', wrote: "The clamour to revise [[Neo-Darwinism|neo-darwinism]] is becoming so loud that hopefully most practising evolutionary biologists will begin to pay attention. It has been said that science often makes progress not because people change their minds, but because the old ones die off and the new generation is more open to novel ideas."<ref>http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2008/07/25/how_much_of_evolutionary_theory_needs_fi</ref> In July of 2008, Elizabeth Pennisi
wrote in the prestigous science journal ''Science'': "Seventy years ago, evolutionary biologists hammered out the modern synthesis to bring Darwin's ideas in line with current insights into how organisms change through time. Some say it's time for Modern Synthesis 2.0."<ref>http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2008/07/25/how_much_of_evolutionary_theory_needs_fi</ref>

==Theories of evolution employing methodological naturalism ==
Some of the more notable [[naturalism|naturalistic]] theories of the evolution which employ or have employed the concept of [[methodological naturalism]] are the following:

===Current naturalistic theories of evolution===

*[[Modern evolutionary synthesis]] which incorporates the concept of [[phyletic gradualism]]

*[[Punctuated equilibrium]] (Originally incorporated [[saltationism]] but later was declared merely complementary to [[phyletic gradualism]])<ref>Ernst Mayr, 1982a. Speciation and macroevolution. Evolution 36, page 1128</ref><ref>http://creation.com/punctuated-equilibrium-come-of-age</ref>

*[[Symbiogenesis]]<ref>http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j17_2/j17_2_19-25.pdf</ref>

*Neutral theory of molecular evolution

*Nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution
[[File:goldschmidt.jpg|right|thumb|170px|[[Richard Goldschmidt]]]]

=== Past naturalistic theories of evolution ===

*[[Quantum evolution]]<ref>http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j17_2/j17_2_19-25.pdf</ref>

*[[Goldschmidt's hopeful monster theory]]

*[[Lamarckianism]]

*[[Zoogenesis]]

*[[Emication]]

*[[Orthogenesis]]<ref>http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j17_2/j17_2_19-25.pdf</ref>

*[[Pangenesis]]<ref>http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j17_2/j17_2_19-25.pdf</ref>

*[[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of evolution (The amount of credit Darwin actually deserves for the theory is disputed). <ref>Russell Grigg, [http://creation.com/charles-darwins-illegitimate-brainchild Darwin’s Illegitimate Brainchild: If You Thought Darwin’s Origin Was Original, Think Again!]</ref><ref>http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j16_3/j16_3_58-63.pdf</ref>

==Non-naturalistic theories of evolution==
Below are some non-[[naturalism|naturalistic]] theories of evolution which do not strictly apply the ideology of [[methodological naturalism]]:

*[[Theistic evolution]]

*Creative evolution<ref>http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j17_2/j17_2_19-25.pdf</ref>

==Creation science commentary on the various naturalistic theories of evolution==
The prominent [[creation science|creation scientist]] Creation scientist Dr. [[Jonathan Sarfati]] wrote concerning the various theories of evolution:
{{cquote|...supporters of ‘jerky’ evolution [[saltationism]] and its relative, [[Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium|punctuated equilibria]]) point out that the fossil record does not show gradualism, and that the hypothetical transitional forms would be disadvantageous. But supporters of [[phyletic gradualism|gradual evolution]] point out that large, information-increasing changes are so improbable that one would need to invoke a secular miracle. Creationists agree with ''both'': punctuational evolution can’t happen, and gradual evolution can’t happen—in fact, particles-to-people evolution can’t happen at all!<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/news/scientific_american.asp</ref>}}

[[Image:Image014.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[[Karl Popper]]]]

==Evolutionary Paradigm - Karl Popper Commentary ==

''For more information please see:'' [[Falsifiability of evolution]]

[[Karl Popper]], a leading philosopher of science and originator of the falsifiability as a criterion of demarcation of science from nonscience,<ref>
* http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/
* http://www.discovery.org/a/3524</ref> stated that Darwinism is "not a testable scientific theory, but a [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] research programme."<ref>http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/PoE/pe05scnc.html</ref> Leading Darwinist and philosopher of science, Michael Ruse stated the following regarding Popper's statement and [[Falsifiability of evolution|the actions he took after making that statement]]: "Since making this claim, Popper himself has modified his position somewhat; but, disclaimers aside, I suspect that even now he does not really believe that Darwinism in its modern form is genuinely falsifiable."<ref>http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/PoE/pe05scnc.html</ref>

The [[Sweden|Swedish]] cytogeneticist, Antonio Lima-De-Faria, who has been knighted
by the king of Sweden for his scientific achievements, noted that "there has never been a theory of evolution".<ref>[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0807/S00053.htm Altenberg 16: An Exposé Of The Evolution Industry, July 6, 2008, by Suzan Mazur]</ref><ref>http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-tales-from-altenberg-suzan-mazurs.html</ref>

==Inflated claims of evolutionists growing in frequency and intensity ==
In recent times, evolutionists have tried to convince the public of the supposed validity of the evolutionary position by increasingly and frequently using the term "overwhelming evidence" or similar terms in relation to the alleged existence of evidence that supports their position.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0612school-year.asp</ref>
For example, prominent [[atheism|atheist]] and evolutionist [[Richard Dawkins]] claimed in an interview with journalist [[Bill Moyers]] that there is "massive evidence" for the theory of evolution.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript349_full.html</ref> Yet, there is [[evolution|not any real evidence for the evolutionary paradigm]].

==See also==
*[[Theory of Evolution and Cases of Fraud, Hoaxes and Speculation‎]]
*[[Theory of Evolution, Liberalism, Atheism, and Irrationality]]
*[[Atheism and deception]]

==External Links==
*[http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j17_2/j17_2_19-25.pdf The Century-and-a-half failure in the quest of new genetic information] by [[Jerry Bergman]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Evolution]]