Science Is Constantly Evolving
Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.
Having lived in Boston most of my life, I am used to weird weather. Seventy degrees in the middle of January? I’ve experienced that. Soul-crushing 6-foot piles of snow? Been there. Two full months of non-stop rain? My regularly-flooded basement could tell you stories. So when the weather turned…
A young person of my acquaintance, reading Scott Westerfeld’s young-adult novel Peeps (2005)—which has a disturbing amount of scientific information about parasitism in it— drew my attention to the following passage: “Evolution is mostly about mutations that don’t work, sort…
Most New Year’s resolutions fail. We know that only about 1 in 8 people stick by their resolutions, we know why, and we know there are some tricks that can help you succeed. But still, most people fail. That said, the great John Cleese offers this resolution, one we should all make. I would…
On the first day of every school year, I ask my students to draw a scientist. After questioning looks and a round of giggles, the majority of them draw the well-known ‘Einstein’ figure, an older white male with crazy hair and eyeglasses.This figure will inevitably be drawn next to a table of…
NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of the classic Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction, second edition (Greenwood Press/University of California Press, 2009), by NCSE's founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott. The preview consists of chapter 3, "Beliefs: Religion,…
In November, I attended WGBH’s forum on digital media in STEM learning. The topic: climate education. NCSE’s friends from the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) were there in force, as were representatives from NOAA Education, NASA, PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs, and Young Voices for the…
What are the challenges to creating a resilient and confident educational community capable of addressing natural hazards and climate change in a scientifically accurate and pedagogically appropriate manner? That was the question that NCSE’s Minda Berbeco and Mark McCaffrey addressed in their "…
Last week’s Fossil Friday specimen was, as I’m sure all of you could see, little more than a humble jaw. The question, of course, is whose jaw was it? Let’s take a look at the full picture: This week, as I start to make some early preparations for Darwin’s birthday, I’ll reveal that we are…
Tanks to our loyal readers! (The illustration shows a temporary library facility established in an abandoned water supply reservoir in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.) And best wishes for the new year from all of us at NCSE. A Yankee at Oxford: John William Draper at the British…