Theories Evolve while Doctrine is just Static.

The New York Review of Books: Evolving Evolution

A must-read "review" of From DNA to Diversity: Molecular Genetics and the Evolution of Animal Design by Sean B. Carroll, Jennifer K. Grenier, and Scott D. Weatherbee,
serves as an overview of the last twenty years of evolutionary biology. Apparently we have a much deeper and more profound explanation of the mechanisms of evolution than I was taught in school. The link above goes to the Amazon.com page for the book, which contains much praise for the book itself, though it's stated to be a dense and difficult read.

The upshot is this makes evolution a far more robust theory than in my youth, one with real predictive value and engineering applications. That of course is the essence of any scientific theory - that one can use the theory both to explain what is known and to suggest directions of inquiry toward what is not yet understood.

Tip o' the hat to Mike the Mad Biologist for this excellent bit of brain candy.

And since we ARE tipping Mike, it should be observed that Intelligent Design and Creationism both fail predicatively and in the realm of engineering utility. I mean, unless by "utility," you mean they are useful in discounting the importance of stack emissions and heavy -metal contaminants.

tag: evolution, ID, intelligent design, evolutionary biology, theory of evolution,