For decades, evolutionary biologists considered non-coding regions of DNA as evolutionary junk, a paradigm that long dissuaded researchers from studying these little-understood portions of the genome. But a series of discoveries starting in 2008 has forced a major change in thinking about so-called "junk" DNA. Many examples of function have since been identified for the non-coding regions of DNA, and more are being uncovered each year. On this ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin reports on a pair of American biologists who were recently awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of function in what was previously considered junk DNA.

We are grieving the recent loss of Walter Bradley, a longtime Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute and namesake of the Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. So today, out of our archive, we bring you the first half of Robert J. Marks's 2020 interview with Walter Bradley, co-author of the seminal 1984 intelligent design book The Mystery of Life’s Origin. The book is now available in a revised and expanded edition with updates from multiple contributors discussing the progress (or lack of it) in origins science in the 35 years since the book’s original publication. In this first of two podcasts, Bradley discusses the history of the attempts to explain life’s origin naturalistically, and how the three authors of the 1984 book came together to shake up the world of origin-of-life science. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

Do you believe in evolution? That’s a good question that could start a very productive conversation about the origin and development of life on Earth. But the first steps are clarifying what the word “evolution” actually means and why unguided evolutionary processes are limited in power and scope. Today, host Andrew McDiarmid invites you to revisit a segment from Dr. Stephen Meyer's 2023 interview with Joe Rogan. Meyer answers Rogan's probing question comprehensively. Yes, he tells Rogan, he believes in “real evolutionary processes,” but he also believes in the limitation of those evolutionary processes, and he takes several minutes to unpack and explain some of the challenges the standard neo-Darwinian account of life faces today. McDiarmid follows up by summarizing Meyer's response and sharing excerpts from Meyer's book Darwin's Doubt to explain the importance of Meyer's arguments to the debate over evolution.

Architects, painters, musicians, and other creators apply recognizable patterns of thinking to their craft, resulting in a trademark style that sets them apart from others. Can recognizable patterns of thinking also be found in nature's design? On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie, a resident biologist and fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, dives into the microscopic world to explore examples of what he calls recurring design logic in living systems. These recurring themes and logic are widespread in diverse, often unrelated biological systems. On the perspective of intelligent design, they'd be expected. But an unguided evolutionary perspective would have difficulty explaining this compelling line of evidence.

On this ID The Future from the vault, host David Boze interviews filmmaker Fred Foote, writer and producer of the feature-length drama Alleged, which seeks to tell the real story behind the infamous 1925 Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, which pitched Darwinian evolution against belief in God. Through his own research, Foote discovered that Inherit the Wind was "almost exactly wrong" on many crucial points. Foote discusses how his movie strives to present both sides in the famous trial as fairly as possible.

The Scopes "Monkey" trial of 1925 has cast a long shadow over the evolution debate in the last century, thanks in large part to the Hollywood film Inherit the Wind, which caricatured the trial and promoted stereotypes that still persist today. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues a conversation with Dr. Casey Luskin about the long history of the Scopes effect in science and how intelligent design has managed to flourish in spite of it. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

The Scopes “Monkey” Trial Turns 100 this year. According to secularist legend, the Scopes trial represented a great showdown between ignorant, fundamentalist religion and enlightened, scientific progress. But what really went down in 1925? And a hundred years later, is science still suffering from the Scopes effect? On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin begins a conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid about the famous trial, the play and movie based on it that reinforced unrealistic stereotypes, and some of the flashpoints in science since the trial that have fanned the flames of the debate over evolution. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

Every Friday we pull a gem out of our archive for those who may not have enjoyed it yet. On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Oxford’s John Lennox, Lehigh University’s Michael Behe, and Darwin’s Doubt author Stephen Meyer continue a probing conversation with host Peter Robinson on what they see as the growing evidence for intelligent design and the scientific and philosophical problems with Darwinian materialism. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. This interview appears on ID The Future with the kind permission of Peter Robinson and the Hoover Institution.

How does an intelligent agent go from idea to artifact? What can the process of art teach us about the evidence of design in the natural world? Today, medical illustrator and artist Jody Sjogren joins host Andrew McDiarmid to discuss the similarities between machines and living organisms and the insights art can give us about the mind of intelligent designers. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

Artistic license has been used to promote Darwinian evolution since the late nineteenth century. Icons of evolution have appeared in textbooks, journals, magazines, and other visual media to promote a materialist worldview that is light on evidence and weighty on assumption. But in 2000, a book came along – Icons of Evolution – that finally exposed the myths, exaggerations, and outright fakery behind ten of the most infamous icons of Darwin’s theory. Today, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes the illustrator of that ground-breaking book, medical illustrator and artist Jody Sjogren, to discuss her experience of bringing these famous icons to life and working with author Dr. Jonathan Wells on the project. Jody also shares some of her memories of Dr. Wells, Read More ›