Re: Wells and Molecular Phylogenies

From: Michael Roberts (michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk)
Date: Sat Oct 25 2003 - 15:22:36 EDT

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    Jack

    That's a good swipe about Oxbridge types (I 'll get my own back one day). In
    1971 I was laughed at in my seminary (americanism - as we call it a
    theological college) in Durham that YEC was to be a problem. YEC is now
    taught in some schools near Durham - which were found by among others one of
    my teachers in Durham and a fellow student. In UK it is LEGAL to teach such
    rubbish and here I have to say very reluctantly that the Americans have
    wisely made it illegal in every state so far.

    M ichael
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Jack Haas" <haas.john@comcast.net>
    To: "Michael Roberts" <michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk>; "ASA list"
    <asa@calvin.edu>
    Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 1:17 PM
    Subject: Re: Wells and Molecular Phylogenies

    > Michael,
    >
    > Your debating experience with the Aussie creationist John Mackay is
    similar
    > to that found earlier in
    > http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/debate_with_john_mackay.htm
    >
    > To think that all these years my oxbridge friends assured me that this
    kind
    > of thing was found only in the colonies. The times are changing.
    >
    > Cheers,
    > Jack Haas
    >
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: "Michael Roberts" <michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk>
    > To: <asa@calvin.edu>; "Terry M. Gray" <grayt@lamar.colostate.edu>
    > Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 6:25 PM
    > Subject: Re: Wells and Molecular Phylogenies
    >
    >
    > > This is the whole point. IDers say that if something can't be explained
    > then
    > > the Intelligent Designer did it. The problem is that when the something
    is
    > > expalined the gap is closed and God - sorry the Intelligent Designer -
    is
    > > squeezed out.
    > > In a review of Behe for Science and Christian Beleif I described Behe's
    > view
    > > as God of the Gaps wrapped up in amino acids. It was a bit cruel but
    apt.
    > >
    > > I have had a grim evening as I debated John Mackay in a local village
    > hall.
    > > Boy does he distrot things. He gave a serious distortion of radiometric
    > > age-dating and I was asked to comment . He had come out with so much
    > falsity
    > > so that I all could do was to quote the 9th commandment. That did not go
    > > down well One asked what God would say to me on the day of Judgement so
    I
    > > replied that we would compare notes and agree with each other! There was
    > > uproar and cries of heretic.
    > > Seriously is it worth debating with such guys, who only want to
    > misrepresent
    > > and cast slurs.
    > > Oh he even used Glenn Morton to contradict me and admitted privately he
    > was
    > > unfair
    > > Still someone's got to do it.
    > >
    > >
    > > Michael
    > > ----- Original Message -----
    > > From: "Terry M. Gray" <grayt@lamar.colostate.edu>
    > > To: <asa@calvin.edu>
    > > Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 6:21 PM
    > > Subject: Re: Wells and Molecular Phylogenies
    > >
    > >
    > > > Josh,
    > > >
    > > > Thanks for the tip. I've argued all along that this would be case
    > > > once more complete data is out. This is the key trouble with the
    > > > Wells, Behe, Nelson, and the DI folks in general. They take a very
    > > > pessimistic look at the data and look at weaknesses based in lack of
    > > > information. This is because the optimistic look at the data goes
    > > > contrary to their strong anti-evolutionary biases. Strickly speaking
    > > > and at the moment and in the particular case, they may be correct.
    > > > But the trend is and always has been there with the molecular data,
    > > > the more we know the more evolutionary explanations make sense.
    > > >
    > > > TG
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > >I think Wells' critique of molecular phylogenies will be much harder
    > > > >to sustain after papers like this (Nature 425, 798 - 804 (23 October
    > > > >2003):
    > > > >
    > > > >Genome-scale approaches to resolving incongruence in molecular
    > > phylogenies
    > > > >
    > > > >ANTONIS ROKAS*, BARRY L. WILLIAMS*, NICOLE KING & SEAN B. CARROLL
    > > > >
    > > > >Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, R.
    > > > >M. Bock Laboratories, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden
    > > > >Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
    > > > >* These authors contributed equally to this work
    > > > >
    > > > >Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to
    > > > >S.B.C. (sbcarrol@wisc.edu).
    > > > >
    > > > >One of the most pervasive challenges in molecular phylogenetics is
    > > > >the incongruence between phylogenies obtained using different data
    > > > >sets, such as individual genes. To systematically investigate the
    > > > >degree of incongruence, and potential methods for resolving it, we
    > > > >screened the genome sequences of eight yeast species and selected
    > > > >106 widely distributed orthologous genes for phylogenetic analyses,
    > > > >singly and by concatenation. Our results suggest that data sets
    > > > >consisting of single or a small number of concatenated genes have a
    > > > >significant probability of supporting conflicting topologies. By
    > > > >contrast, analyses of the entire data set of concatenated genes
    > > > >yielded a single, fully resolved species tree with maximum support.
    > > > >Comparable results were obtained with a concatenation of a minimum
    > > > >of 20 genes; substantially more genes than commonly used but a small
    > > > >fraction of any genome. These results have important implications
    > > > >for resolving branches of the tree of life.
    > > > >
    > > > >_________________________________________________________________
    > > > >See when your friends are online with MSN Messenger 6.0. Download it
    > > > >now FREE! http://msnmessenger-download.com
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > --
    > > > _________________
    > > > Terry M. Gray, Ph.D., Computer Support Scientist
    > > > Chemistry Department, Colorado State University
    > > > Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
    > > > grayt@lamar.colostate.edu http://www.chm.colostate.edu/~grayt/
    > > > phone: 970-491-7003 fax: 970-491-1801
    > > >
    > > >
    > >
    >
    >
    >



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