Paradigm Glossed

By Clay Farris Naff and Jim Bechtel

The firefly (Photuris pyralis) is a wonder of nature. Its tiny body contains luciferin and luciferase, two rare chemicals that scientists have been unable to synthesize. Yet, as any child who has grabbed one of the slow-flying insects on a summer evening knows, those substances produce a remarkable and beautiful phenomenon: cold light. Curiously, Photuris pyralis never came up in the Great “Intelligent Design” Debate held at winter’s end at Saint Paul United Methodist Church of Lincoln, Nebraska. Yet, somehow, the debaters — philosopher Paul Nelson of the Discovery Institute and evolutionary biologist Massimo Pigliucci of the University of Tennessee — managed to mimic the firefly’s trick: they cast much light with little heat. Continued at: http://ncseweb.org/rncse/23/2/paradigm-glossed-how-to-make-id-debate-worthwhile