Like my last fossil, a common everyday trilobite, this specimen came from the Hunsrueck slate in Germany. You can see the fool’s-gold color typical of pyritization a bit better here. But what is it? I’ve told you the locality (and therefore the age), so I’m not going to feel bad that there is no…
Thomas Henry Huxley’s admiration of William Paley’s Natural Theology (1802) is relatively obscure, at least in comparison to that of Charles Darwin (who wrote to a friend just before the Origin was published, “I do not think I hardly ever admired a book more than Paley’s…
NCSE is pleased to announce that the latest issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education is now available on-line. The issue — volume 35, number 5 — contains Anila Asghar, Sarah Bean, Wendi O’Neill, and Brian Alters's "Biological Evolution in Canadian Science Curricula…
A milestone: there are now over 120,000 fans of NCSE's Facebook page. Why not join them, by visiting the page and becoming a fan by clicking on the "Like" box by NCSE's name? You'll receive the latest NCSE news delivered straight to your Facebook Home page, as well as updates on evolution-related…
You know how they used to peddle orange juice by saying, “It isn’t just for breakfast any more?” That’s how I feel about informal science education. No, silly: not that it isn’t just for breakfast any more. That it isn’t just for kids any more. (Unlike Trix, silly rabbit, which are…
Last Friday we took a look at a nicely preserved fossil from the Pennsylvanian. Since this is Answer Monday, I will drop the cagey act and tell you now that it is clearly a plant. Here you can see the fossil with scale. Regarding identification, while the UIowa fossil curator places this…
This week on Fossil Friday, we have a lovely specimen. The symmetry, the quality of the preservation: I think it’s quite beautiful. To deliberately confuse you, I’ve removed all reference to scale. How big is it? I won’t tell you. Looks like a plant? Maybe. I’m being cagey on this one. The…
Eric Davidson The eminent developmental biologist Eric Davidson died on September 1, 2015, at the age of 78, according to a September 2, 2015, notice from Caltech. Davidson was famous for his work on the role of gene regulation in evolution, helping to launch the idea of gene…
We’ve been developing some new initiatives at NCSE to try and better serve teachers. After all, teachers are ultimately going to make the difference if the next generation is to get an evidence-based science education. The Booster Club Project and NCSETeach are both big, multi-pronged approaches…