Science Is Constantly Evolving

Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.

Fossil Friday
Yes, I know; I know; I know. (What I tell you three times is true.) It’s a trilobite. But which trilobite? This unbroken specimen presumably lived by the sea and wanted salt. With a mighty heart it roamed beyond borders of the hell’s kitchen that was the Ordovician sea—…
Polling meteorologists on climate change
A new survey of members of the American Meteorological Society finds (PDF) that nearly all respondents think that climate change is happening and that a majority of respondents think that human activity is causing most of the changes in the climate over the past fifty years. Presented with the…
Did Darwin Fear Priestley’s Fate?
When he wasn’t discovering oxygen or trying to confute the philosophy of David Hume or writing a definitive treatise on the history of the study of electricity or helping to found Unitarianism, Joseph Priestley (1733–1804)—one of those dismayingly polymathic figures of the eighteenth century—was…
Glyptodonts Weren’t Just Armadillo Cousins, They Were Armadillos
Well-established by now on this blog is my love for and obsession with xenarthrans. So let it be a sign of my devotion to getting the upcoming issue of RNCSE out on time and full of awesome that I allowed not one but two xenarthran stories in the news to pass without comment.…
Answer Monday
It looks like a fern, right? But it’s not a fern. It’s not even a plant. It’s Charnia, sometimes described as “Leicester’s fossil celebrity,” especially by people in Leicester—the genus was named after Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire. Charnia is especially important because…
What We’re Reading
What is actually going on in classrooms when it comes to climate change? I’m so glad you asked. This week, we recommend NCSE’s own latest report detailing the results of our national survey of middle and high school science teachers. Plus starfish, plus neanderthal sex, plus super clear climate…
The latest climate poll from Gallup
A record was broken in a new poll from Gallup, which found that 65% of Americans believe that increases in the earth's temperature over the last century are due more to "the effects of pollution from human activities" than to "natural causes in the environment that are not due to human…
Confusion, Indifference, and Compromise: How Do We Answer Surveys When We Don't Know the Answer?
Take a card deck (no jokers). Pull out a card. What’s the probability that you’ll see a spade? 25%, right? What would you do if I don’t show you the card, but just give you a piece of paper asking “Is the card a spade, heart, club, or diamond?” You might reasonably want to circle all four,…
Fossil Friday
Oh, the inexhaustible charms of the Ediacaran! The first person correctly to identify the specimen here in the comments below will find his or her name forever enshrined in the annals of Answer Monday. The first person to ask, “What are fronds for?” or to comment, “With fronds like these …” will…

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The National Center for Science Education is the only national organization that specializes in defending the teaching of controversial issues (such as evolution and climate change) in public schools. Because of our special expertise and experience, NCSE is often cotacted by members of the press who are writing about the evolution/creationism controversy, or about the teaching of global warming and other climate science issues that have come under political attack. Our staff can provide reliable information about creationism, evolution, climate change, and the state of science education in the United States.

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