Science Is Constantly Evolving
Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.
How is climate change being taught in America's public schools? The answers may shock you. How is climate change being taught in American schools? Is it being taught at all? And how are teachers addressing climate change denial in their classrooms, schools, and school districts…
The first nationwide survey of climate change education in the United States, conducted by researchers at NCSE and Pennsylvania State University, was described in "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers," published (PDF) in the February 12, 2016, issue of the journal Science. Based…
John Tyndall (right; 1820–1893), is, of course, the Anglo-Irish physicist remembered for demonstrating the greenhouse effect. But he was also a supporter of Darwin, and a member, along with his friend Thomas Henry Huxley, of the x Club, which promoted evolutionary ideas, opposed…
What do you do when you learn that an ally is a science denier? This is the fascinating problem our team faced last week, as we prepared for our “Corridor to the Stars” fundraiser. Claire Tucci, the UIowa graduate student who organized the event, came with me to visit the observatory for the first…
This past month I’ve slept terribly and it’s all because of the Big Bang. You see I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with Brian Kruse over at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific on a teacher workshop about the Big Bang this week (and again at NSTA next month). Why is NCSE interested…
As I anticipated, you guys jumped all over this one. Congratulations to Dan Coleman, who got it right in about 0.3 picoseconds. What is it? Edaphosaurus boanerges! Edaphosaurus is a member of the group too often called the “mammal-like reptiles.” I’m not a fan of that phrase…
Just a few choice reads this weekend because I know you’ll all be busy watching the Super Bowl L festivities. Wait, you don’t know what that is? It’s a football game—football, it turns out, is quite popular in the U.S. This is the last football game of the year and it’s being played right here in…
I’m not going to lie, guys: I’m still feeling pretty smug about stumping you all last week. Will I be able to do it again? I rather doubt it. Surely you’ll recognize this creature. It’s the next stop on my tour of awesome backbones. If you know what it is and leave the first comment identifying it…
Carelessness, thy name is T. T. Martin. Martin (1862–1939) was, as you’ll recall, the Mississippi evangelist described by Ronald L. Numbers in The Creationists (1992) as “among the earliest and most outspoken critics of evolution…an itinerant evangelist with a reputation for combining…