TheScientist.com - Magazine of the Life Sciences, Every Day, Online
  Please Login or Register
  • Home
  • Community
  • Current Issue
  • Browse Archive
  • Careers
  • Video & Multimedia
  • Subscribe

Front Cover
Front Cover
Survey Series
  • Best Places to Work
  • $alary $urvey
  • Lab Web Site and
    Video Awards

The Scientist Daily
  • Science headlines delivered daily.
    Register today.

For Advertisers
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact Ad Team
  • 2008 Media Kit




By Jack Woodall

Intelligent Design: The Clincher

A butterfly explodes the theory.


At first sight, nothing could seem less intelligent than the design of a flying insect. From an egg laid in or on a food supply, it hatches into a slow-moving eating machine that keeps outgrowing its skin, so that it has to molt every few days. At the moment of molting, it is extremely vulnerable to predators and parasites. Then, inexplicably, it stops moving and grows a hard shell, inside which it completely redesigns its body from square one, to emerge into a thing with wings that launches itself into hundreds of cubic miles of atmosphere in search of a mate, and a food plant, with nothing to guide it but a few stray molecules - pheromones and plant odors - blowing in the wind.



(continued >>)

To continue reading this full article, you must be a subscriber to The Scientist.

You are only a few minutes away from unlimited access.

If you already have an online subscription, please Log-In Now.
New to The Scientist? Register to get access to a selection of our content, interactive features and useful tools free without a subscription.

Subscribe to The Scientist to get unlimited access to our premium content

Get unlimited access to this article and over 20 years of The Scientist archives. You won’t miss a word – all for as little as $4.95.  Subscribe now.

The Scientist offers site licenses to institutions and organizations. Recommend us to your librarian and get online access through your place or work or study.




About TS | Contact | Advertise | Editorial Advisory Board | Privacy Policy
© 1986-2008 The Scientist