Science Debate Topics for Students

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• I forfeit conduct points for this debate and would ask the voters vote based on their interpretation of the debate up until R3, even if that may be a full 7 point concession by me.This debate was totally and utterly messed up, and if Liz still even wants to debate me, we could…
• Due to family issues, I will not be able to post an argument. I have clarified the situation with Debatability, and if she does not otherwise OK me posting a conclusion in replacement with a no round R4, I tentatively concede this debate (unless she would also otherwise clarify…

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• I saw your previous debate with Alexander_The_Great (Here: http://www.debate.org...) and must admit, that even though I accept evolution, I think you won the debate because of his lack of convincing argument and data on Pro's side. I also felt that the title and some of the…
• Cum Hoc useMy opponent asked if I implied tha causation can never be 100% known, and that is true. The challenge in this debate is to prove evolution *beyond reasonable doubt*, not to prove it to be the actual *Truth* as I can't do that with anything.No, I don't have to compare…

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• My basic argument is that there is no way to assign a value to the function 0^0. If we determine the limit as x approaches 0 of 0^x, we get one; if we determine the limit as x approaches 0 of x^0, we get 1 - this concludes that we get two different values for the limit of x^x…
• Hello. I saw your debate on whether or not 0 to the 0th power equals 1, and I would like to debate you on that topic if you are interested. Please use the first round for acceptance. Good luck.

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• It is not necessary to disprove the existence of God, but scriptures that come from basically farmers and merchants who had no idea of biological processes cannot be credited. Priests over time have even acknowledged it, stating "I do not [see] that 'the accidental evolution of…
• The Bible's Genesis provides no scientific fact other than simply taking the word of an ancient book, where the religion's followers have picked and chose whatever beliefs they sought fit to their agenda of providing a moral standard. The scientific evidence provided is flawed…

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• While it is true that I am arguing based on Kondrashov's abstract, it is not true that it is the crux of my arguments. Although to answer Con's question, no, Kondrashov did not conclusively answer his question. In the abstract, he clearly gives a short description of several…
• Thanks to Con for a concise opening. I will begin by clarifying that Loewe was using Muller's ratchet, which is a theory of recombination. I will endeavour to use the same format as him.Addressing Con's arguments (Which does not prohibit extinction)C1: This contention has…

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• Scientists have discovered a wealth of evidence concerning human evolution, and this evidence comes in many forms. Thousands of human fossils enable researchers and students to study the changes that occurred in brain and body size, locomotion, diet, and other aspects regarding…
• Im sorry for being the worst opponet its my first debate i will try harder next time

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• Con says: "This site clearly shows that the clock that approaches the black hole slows down in time until no time passes, in essence singularity." How does showing that a clock would slow down if it gets near a black hole prove that time itself would be slowing down? Yes, we…
• When your watch gets broken, does time stop passing? No, it doesn"t. So even if the distortion of gravity makes a clock slow down till it stops, this doesn"t mean that time has slowed down, it simply means the clock slowed down. When Einstein put a clock on a plane travel at…

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• "Eh... I took this debate because I thought it would be fun crushing an ignorant evolutionist who actually equivocates theory with fact.... but since it seems to have been an honest mistake, I'll go ahead and debate this the way Pro intended. What I have to do to negate the…
• Alright, thanks for debating with me! But first, when I said "fact", I did not mean 100% true and there is no possible way that it could be false. I am simply saying that evolution has enough evidence that theres no reason to not accept evolution. Also, I believe that you…

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• Firstly the definition of science; "by systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment" And since evolution (1-5) has never been observed or experimented the fact that it is considered a form of science makes…
• Hi I'm Thiest and I believe that evolution and science is an oymoron because science by definition is a study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. and since evolution does none of those things I challenge anyone to…

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• Introduction I suppose my opponent's definitions are sufficient. However, I would like to add to the definition of Bohmian mechanics: "Bohmian mechanics, which is also called the de Broglie-Bohm theory, the pilot-wave model, and the causal interpretation of quantum mechanics,…
• I will be arguing that Bohm mechanics is probably false, Con will be arguing that Bohm mechanics is probably true; the burden of proof will be shared.

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• If we kill animals for food it's survival of the fittest. Testing them for our life is survival of the fittest. We are the better species our form of communication is more complex than any other species. If it's for a greater cause then we should use our resources to save lives.
• Yes they should if it could help save thousands of lives. If it was your son or daughter would you like them to have tested the surgery on something else. If it's brand new then you no idea what could happen, and that makes everyone including the doctors nervous.

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• I believe in CREATION which was supported by the Bible versus Theory of Evolution who started by Charles Darwin.
• To my opponent, I apologize for not being too elaborate on the stands that I want to take; I was trying to make it as simple as possible that the existence of man was by Creation of the Almighty & NOT by Evolution. You are correct that my stand will be based on what the Bibles…

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• MrJosh, in order to understand the intelligence argument, you need to understand it is basic to assume there was an intelligent cause of intelligent things. In metaphysics, that is a basic assumption. Unless you present arguments to the contrary it shoudl be assumed this is the…
• I accept my opponents definitions. In this debate I will be arguing that the things in nature exhibit intelligence, and intelligent things can only be formed ultimately by an intelligence. I believe that is obviously true, at least more so than its negation, that blind nature…

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• In a response in his debate, feverish made this declaration "Reliable historical works do not contain descriptions of supernatural events." He is saying that if an ancient event is described as supernatural by the observer then de facto the document is unreliable. This is a…
• Thank you Sir Freeman for accepting the challenge for I have been quite confused by the inability of the two poles to communicate and agree to what should be plain and common to both, that is the evidence existent. As to the rewording of the resolution, it is accurate as an…

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• "natural experimentation"Natural experimentation may be accepted by the scientific community however it is in no way an accurate form of experimentation. "Also, because natural experiments usually take place in uncontrolled environments, variables from undetected sources are…
• The key piece missing from evolution and the scientific method is experimentation.* experimentation - a test, trial, or tentative procedure [1]In short there is no way to test for evolution in a labratory or in the field that yields positive results in favor of evolution. In…

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• According to http://www.fda.gov...... • cloning poses no unique risks to animal health, compared to the risks found with other reproduction methods, including natural mating• the composition of food products from cattle, swine, and goat clones, or the offspring of any animal…
• Well you said something about aid and aid will not always been the case. As countries have problems of their own.With cloning animals we can have: Agriculture and Drug Production:Not only can the best traits be perpetuated but farm animals could also be used as "machines" for…

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• GMOs would create too much dependency on biotechnology companies
• Genetically modified food is too new and little researched to be allowed for public use.

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• I find it disrespectful for you to have even begun to respond so close to the deadline. However, I shall treat your comment as if though it were your actual argument. "These calculations,or proof as you claim, are based on what Answers Magazine claims to be "the infallible Word…
• "The opposing religious viewpoints I encounter to my claim maintain that it says in the Bible that the lord created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh, and that it also states in the Bible that a thousand years to mankind is a day unto the lord,…

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• Sigh. I didn't invite you. I posted an open debate. Thanks so much for ruining my first ever online debate.
• I'm sorry, this doesn't really answer the question. I agree that the media misrepresents almost everything, but textbooks are the foundation of our education. We study them, we learn out of them, we write exams based on them to get us to higher levels. Kids may question the…

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• No one denies the fact that the Earth is growing worse minute by minute. Global warming, climate change, and many other things make Earth slowly grow to a place humans cannot live in. And because of that, in order to survive, we need to take a one-way trip to Mars. Before…
• Humans who do not feel 'greed' or a 'need to survive', whichever way you call it, can stay at Earth and see the last chances of escaping from this slowly dying Earth. They can also stay when the Earth is being destroyed. A one way trip to Mars is not only for expanding human…

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• Ok besides the spaceship lets look to other possibilities. The Hubble space telescope: This telescope has provided pictures of untold possibles, before it's time. An investment in this is bound to happen. The Hubble telescope doesn't have to go to those unknown worlds it can…
• Still it does remain that the planets that are close to us have not been thoroughly explored. Our own moon is not completely explored. Mars though takes about 9 months to get their and the same back yet humans still have not found a better way to get there. This leaves room for…

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• I can put my "foot" through "your" head using photoshop, and have you crying on the floor, praying to your mama. Did I "really" just kick your butt? Yes, "yes" I did. I win. Also, the Game.
• We won't colonize the moon or Mars or Venus in our lifetime, never in the next 100 years. The future of space exploration is robots, and mankind will stay stuck on the fringes of our atmosphere. Tell me why I'm wrong when you accept.

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• extend.
• Um im not really sure what to do here. Thank you for the debate, even though it was quite short.

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• I believe that evolution should not be taught in school.
• My opponent says that I am going against my side the debate, because I say that "Evolution should be taught in school along with Creationism. " Although I am not saying that Evolution should be taught in school. What I am trying to get across to people is that Creationism is…

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• Scientific findings are constantly being updated, corrected, proven wrong, etc... Are you able to provide any other sources besides this one to support your claim?
• This is deeper than just one paper. There have been over a dozen papers from multiple different groups published showing positive evidence for the impact. One possible reason for the papers outcome that is cited above is the Clovis-era radiocarbon plateau. Fiedel, S., 2015, The…

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• We know that a bottomless pit can't exist. We know that a box can't have an infinite length. We cannot draw a line that goes on forever. It simply isn't possible. Everything has to have a beginning and an end.Why then, should it be different with time and space? Time is a…
• Please accept!

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• However, I would like to clarify a number of important details from the outset. The proposition being debated is "Young Earth Creationism is negated by much of modern science, not just the theory of evolution". This is the debate you have accepted. I will fulfill my burden of…
• In this debate, I will argue that Young Earth Creationism conflicts with much of modern science, not just the theory of evolution. As such, it is an untenable position. My opponent will defend that this is not the case either by demonstrating how much of modern science is in…

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• "The analogy is a bit off as the typography of the universe is somewhat flatter than that. " Good point, I just copy pasted from Wiki on that one, as its explanation was far more eloquent than mine. "Big Bang Theory does NOT state matter has 'always existed'. " I won't quote…
• Basically, I'm saying that the Big Bang theory cannot be completely true, in short, the world could not have been created solely through the Big Bang. Just a quick parameter, this debate is really geared towards science and physics rather than metaphysics, as I only have time…

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• Human cloning produces sub-humans without ordinary souls.
• Reproductive cloning generally diminishes human individualism

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• In your opening sentence you claim that "nobody contends that the starting size of the universe was the size of an atom." I beg to differ. A Belgian priest by the name of Georges Lemaitre was one of the first to receive attention for a big bang model. And his claim, which still…
• Your first point to support the big bang is the red-shift of light. This does indeed show that the universe is expanding. But to draw the inference that our beginning must've begun with a singularity the size of an atom is a bit of a stretch. From the start there are two…

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• All products we consume have been warded off with all the harmful insects and bacteria that could be bad for our immune system. (Also, many people enjoy eating fruits/vegetable but that will be another debate topic). All crops have been somewhat modified either naturally or…
• We should ensure the safety of GMO foods because of the following reasons; insect resistance, larger production, and nutritious foods. Some GMO foods have been modified to resist insects/pests, making costs for farmers go higher due to the amount of crops saved and money from…

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• Thanks for the rebuttals. Here is my defense: 1) Human Spaceflight Con says that the ISS provided no benefits. However, I can show that it provided many. (a) The ISS allowed humans to live in space for the long term [2]. If we want to put a man on Mars, we must first learn what…
• Here are my rebuttals to his arguments:1) The cost given by my opponent for Virgin galactic is not the cost of the mission but rather, the price that 6 customers would pay to go to space. My opponent cannot say that Virgin Galactic is cost effective unless he can prove that the…

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• So if you look in the comments why I forfeited and I thought that I had lost it but apparently it auto saved so here it is. Round 3 So where is the evidence that genes changing is fatal because I haven't seen it. So what if it's 1.5% or 5%, if it isn't fatal it doesn't matter.…
• Abiogenesis is not part of evolution. http://atheism.about.com... DNA is not information, it is a molecule, and last time I checked DNA can mutate and change causing it to be a new DNA strand. http://livinglifewithoutanet.com... http://www.huffingtonpost.com... I feel that this…

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• I think your looking for the term, existence, Nothing Existence Death Life Reality Philosophy is the exploration of the imaginary space where nothingness reigns supreme only when one wants to make existence does anything come to be, but existence comes death for existence can…
• Universe as in physical, but nice try on the imaginary approach, but don't feel like diving into philosophy, so let keep it to the realms of science.

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• This debate has been made impossible to accept, and if anyone wants to actually take on this debate, then these are the guidelines:1. You must be knowledgeble about this topic2. You must either have completed THREE serious debates on the main site, or be someone who I've been…
• As this debate comes to a close, I will first provide a summary of all of the things Con has failed to address that I have brought to the table in order to demonstrate my position as valid, in order from my R2 to R4:What Con Hasn't Addressed An inability to explain how it is…

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• -I'm sorry, I haven't realized that you were arguing against time travel, I thought you were for time travel. Anyways, my position is I believe that time travel is possible. In fact, time travel has been proved scientifically possible; we, humans travel and walk through time…
• I accept this challenge, but I will argue that time travel is impossible during our current era that we live in. I do believe that it could be very possible during the future, but nowadays I will argue that it isn't even plausible.

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• I will explain. I. The Perihelion Precession of Mercury Pro continues to ignore my argument. I proved that the sun's loss of mass is basically irrelevant when determining the overall trend of perihelion precession. It has around an 0.0001% effect. I am unfortunately going to…
• I. The Perihelion Precession of MercuryMy opponent doesn't seem to grasp the science behind this proof. I will explain why my opponent's criticism is unwarranted. First, my opponent is trying to blow the sun's loss of mass way out of proportion. As this explains, "Over one year…

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• Democritas, i hate to say it but your argument is an epic fail....
• I urge Democritas to write.....perhaps she has a legitimate reason for not responding, but you'd think 72 hours would me more than enough....oh well- my argument still stands.

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• "Once the matter is present to create life what more does it take in order to form life and why do you need such a great mass? What happens during that time that makes a cell alive?" Life is a tricky thing to define, but in general it is encompassed by the following…
• "However my opponents contention the entire first part seems to say that Science has figured out a lot of things without using anything supernatural so they will probably figure out where life came from without using supernatural explanations" While this is a decent…

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• We humans occupy a infinitesimally small part of the cosmos and we don't even have the slightest idea of the scale of the universe we are dealing with. Upon that we have ventured out to explore the entire cosmos with tiny little specs of dust called spacecraft's .my argument is…

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• It is widely believed that a Chernobyl-type accident can occur with any nuclear reactor. That's what the Union of concerned Scientist guy was claiming, and he got on television as being some sort of authority on the subject. Its part of the superstitious bad science that…
• I wish Con well in his future career as a lawyer. 1. The verb "can" is in the present tense. http://www.thefreedictionary.com... Therefore the "cannot" is in the present tense as well. Therefore the resolution is posed in the present tense, and since the their are no…

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• Since energy cannot be created or destroyed, and consciousness is energy, we cannot be destroyed either. Whether a higher power is real is not relevant, because no matter what we do in this life, the next timeline we live in will be different. There are multiple universes, and…

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• The problem with fossil is it has been recalled for inaccuracy time and time again. How do we know that your sources don't get recalled like 99% of the fossil record already have. Many times have someone thought to discover the missing link between man and ape often called…
• The theory of evolution as no evidence to support the claim of transitional species. For example a monkey slowly evolved into a human being or that mammals slowly evolved into whales. Nobody has every seen any animal produce anything but it's own kind. This debate does not…

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• This is my first debate. I understand that the first round is acceptance. So let me give some definitions Normally, people don't realize that evolution can be divided into two: Micro-evolution and Macro-evolution. ALL experiments Darwin did were all for microevolution. He never…
• I have provided enough proof that macroevolution can't be achieved by microevolution processes. I did mention what the Conference of Chicago consisted of, check my post in round 2. Yet Con has not given any evidence to the contrary, just denial. Wisdom teeth are not…

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• I'm guessing my opponent had all his questions answered in depth. I hope he now understands the truth of evolution and may be willing to re-examine his beliefs in favor of scientific truth.
• "Can you give any proof that the Big Bang theory is true?" I believe scientists have detected trace amounts of energy where there should be none in space, and mapped out such that the energy came from one source and one direction. Overall, I choose not to debate on the big…

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• So disappointing.
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• Semiotic InformationCon's argument is essentially this: 1. Life contains semiotic information 2. Semiotic information is impossible via. natural processes C. Life is impossible via natural processes Con probably has his own formulation of this, but this is essentially contains…
• What is lifeNote the definition I provided was:"Systems that can self-replicate and evolve via. natural selection"This is important because it is such a system which is proposed to continue rather automatically via. evolutionary processes established in the theory of evolution…

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• Thank you Con.Theoretical: Adj.1: confined to theory or speculation often in contrast to practical applications2: existing only in theory(1)3: of, pertaining to, or consisting in theory; not practical(2)4: Of, relating to, or based on theory.5: Restricted to theory; not…
• Starting now with the Basics.==============================================================The below image helps us understand the basics. As we can see from it, our Starting Point (Dividend) is 4. From there we have two paths, Negative and Position. Negative Numbers moves…

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• As Theta Pinch challenged me to this debate, I get the last word.Theta Pinch said that he was wrong about a spherical earth and the earth hanging on nothing being common knowledge in Bible times, and that he wasn't intentionally lying, so it's cool.A similar question would be…
• You've been a good opponent. I only hope you consider my arguments to be worthy of refuting. As stated before, my brain is not scientific. And thank you for changing your font. All right, let's do this thing. You started out by saying that a spherical earth was common knowledge…

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• 1) The Standard Model is the name given to the current theory of fundamental particles and how they interact . This theory includes: § Strong interactions due to the color charges of quarks and gluons . § A combined theory of weak and electromagnetic interaction, known as…
• 1) The Intro Yes, photons have weight, so photons are matter. If you search for divisibility, you will find it everywhere in everything! This is part of a theorized universal law of nature. http://analaytical.wikia.com... All the laws of nature are discoverable in everyone and…