Science Is Constantly Evolving
Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.
Not everybody realizes that the primary mission of NCSE is to defend the teaching of evolution and climate science. That’s understandable, of course. “National Center for Science Education” certainly suggests a broad remit for the organization. I’m told that the name was chosen back in the early…
Climate change denier Mark Steyn is upset. Being upset is, I suppose, an occupational requirement for his brand of punditry, even in Canada. In this case, though, he’s upset that climate scientist Michael Mann is pursuing, so far successfully, a libel suit against Steyn and Steyn’s colleagues.…
At a meeting in Washington DC last spring in the offices of the US Global Change Research Program, Anthony Leiserowitz—the driving force behind the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication—brought up the fact that the word "consensus" has two meanings. One is 100% unanimous agreement,…
Last week we looked at some of the reasons why creationists can’t stop talking about the Cambrian explosion. Today let’s look at a new paper published in Science1 that explores possible causes of the Cambrian explosion, the seminal diversification of animal life that began about 530…
"Why can't science teachers simply teach science?" was the reaction of a columnist for the Charleston, South Carolina, Post and Courier (October 13, 2013), in the wake of the state board of education's discussion of the revised state science standards at its October 9, 2013, meeting.…
Last week, on the Fossil Friday, I asked you to come up with the scientific names and common nicknames for one fossil. KC came up with the most names in the shortest amount of time. Go KC! So, who did this skull belong to? From Eric Meikle (one of NCSE's anthropologists): "This specimen is…
Well, you might have seen it coming. In my post about the National Academy of Sciences’s 1923 statement on evolution, approved but never used, I asked, “And what about the Smithsonian’s statement on evolution?” and answered, “Well, as with the NAS statement, [Ellis] Yochelson provided only a…
This week on Fossil Friday, we're bringing you another skull. Eric Meikle, one of our house anthropologists, says that guessing this week's skull might be too easy. But this skull has had several scientific names and nicknames over the many years. Choosing which one to…
I’ve always liked Tim M. Berra’s books, ever since, in college, I read his Evolution and the Myth of Creationism (1990), a wonderfully clear and succinct refutation of creationism. Berra focused mainly on young-earth creationism, since “intelligent design…