A Response to Questions from a Biology Teacher: How Do We Test Intelligent Design?A biology educator recently wrote me asking how we test intelligent design using the scientific method, how ID is falsifiable, and how ID explains patterns we observe in nature. These are very common questions that we receive all the time from teachers, students, and interested members of the public, and they're usually legitimate, sincere, and thoughtful questions. In this case, they certainly appeared to be such, and below I post a slightly modified version of my response to the teacher, withholding any information about the teacher to protect his/her identity:Dear [Snip],Greetings and thanks for your e-mail. ID is most definitely testable and falsifiable. It uses the scientific method and explains many patterns we observe in nature.Let's start with how ID uses the scientific method. The scientific method is commonly described as a four-step process involving observations, hypothesis, experiments, and conclusion. ID begins with the observation that intelligent agents produce complex and specified information (CSI). Design theorists hypothesize that if a natural object was designed, it will contain high levels of CSI. Scientists then perform experimental tests upon natural objects to determine if they contain complex and specified information. One easily testable form of CSI is irreducible complexity, which can be discovered by experimentally reverse-engineering biological structures to see if they require all of their parts to function. When ID researchers find irreducible complexity in biology, they conclude that such structures were designed.Regarding testability, ID makes the following testable predictions:(1) Natural structures will be found that contain many parts arranged in intricate patterns that perform a specific function (e.g. complex and specified information).(2) Forms containing large amounts of novel information will appear in the fossil record suddenly and without similar precursors.(3) Convergence will occur routinely. That is, genes and other functional parts will be re-used in different and unrelated organisms.(4) Much so-called junk DNA will turn out to perform valuable functions.In this regard, ID is falsifiable. When we test these predictions, ID passes those tests. For example:Regarding prediction 1, natural structures have been found that contain many parts arranged in intricate patterns that perform a specific function (e.g. complex and specified information), such as irreducibly complex machines in the cell. The bacterial flagellum is a prime example. The specified complexity of protein bonds and the simplest self-reproducing cell are other examples. For details, please see Intelligent design (ID) has scientific merit because it uses the scientific method to make its claims and infers design by testing its positive predictions or Asking the Right Questions about the Evolutionary Origin of New Biological Information or you might also enjoy reading the book Signature in the Cell by Cambridge University Ph.D. philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer.Regarding prediction 2, biological novelty appears in the fossil record suddenly and without similar precursors. The Cambrian explosion is the prime example. For details, please see Intelligent Design Has Scientific Merit in Paleontology.Regarding prediction 3, similar parts have been found in organisms that even Darwinists see as separated by more closely related forms that do not contain