Orchid bees

protozoa, such as those that cause sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, and even malaria, predominantly reproduce clonally, which is, of course, of considerable medical significance. In May 1991, Tibayrenc returned to my lab, now at UC Irvine, for 14 months of additional research. We have continued collaborating to the present. Are science and religion compatible? Evolution and religious beliefs need not be in contradiction. Indeed, if science and religion are properly understood, they cannot be in contradiction, because they concern different matters. Science and religion are like two different windows for looking at the world. The two windows look at the same world, but they show different aspects of that world. Apparent contradictions only emerge when either the science or the beliefs, or often both, trespass their own boundaries and wrongfully encroach upon one another's subject matter. Could intelligent design be taught in the schools as an alternative to the theory of evolution? Intelligent design is not a scientific theory. It asserts, first, that organisms have been designed for certain functions and ways of life. Then, it adds that only an omnipotent Creator could account for their functional design. Science advances explanations concerning the natural world, explanations that are tested by observation and experiment. Intelligent design does not advance any scientific hypothesis that can be tested by observation and experiment (except for some negative claims that have been shown to be wrong). Intelligent design may be considered natural theology, which is what William Paley called it in his Natural Theology of 1802. It could be taught in history or religion classes, but not in science classes, because it is not scientific. The theory of evolution needs to be taught in the schools because nothing in biology makes sense without it. You have said that intelligent design is incompatible with the religious belief in God: what do you mean? One difficulty with attributing the design of organisms to the Creator is that imperfections, dysfunctions, and cruelty pervade the living world. Consider the human jaw. We have too many teeth for the jaw's size, so that wisdom teeth need to be removed and orthodontists can make a decent living straightening the others. Would we want to blame God for this blunder? A human engineer would have done better. Evolution gives a good account of this imperfection. Brain size increased by natural selection over time in our ancestors. The remodeling of the skull to fit …