In discussing dissent in science, Explore Evolution continues to misrepresent the nature of science itself. Science is treated as a courtroom trial with scientists serving as "expert witnesses" and students acting as juries, selecting their preferred outcome from several debating advocates. The "Case for"/"Case against" structure of the book is held out as an example of how science works and should work, with disagreeing voices presented without a context of experimentation and hypothesis testing.

Summary of problems:

There are mammals that lay eggs. There are reptiles that have a rudimentary placenta. A May, 2007 errata from the authors corrects only one of the four major errors in these two sentences.

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This is one of the most baffling claims in the entire textbook. Here is the original text from EE:

Summary of problems with claim:

Fossils are not the only evidence that mammals have a common ancestor with reptiles, and living transitional forms exist illustrating the evolution of the organ systems they cite as examples.

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Explore Evolution acknowledges the evidence of fossilized forms transitional between reptiles and mammals, but asserts that:

Summary of problems:

Modern species and fossil evidence all give us insight into evolutionary history, and of the sequence of evolutionary changes leading from the common ancestors of modern species to the modern forms.

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Summary of problems:

The dinosaur ancestors of birds probably did not have diaphragms. The one researcher cited to oppose this view also rejects the evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs; his views on both topics have been widely refuted.

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Paleontologist Matt Wedel explains: