In part 1, I began with Woodrow Wilson’s famous endorsement of evolution, which Winterton Curtis quoted in his unheard testimony in the Scopes trial. Curtis solicited Wilson’s opinion in 1922, because a former student of his, F. E. Dean, lost his job as the superintendent of schools in Fort…
It’s hard to believe that Bob Schadewald would have been 71 today, had he not died much too young in 2000 from cancer. He was on the board of NCSE when I was hired, served as president of the board, and edited our publications. He was a good friend, and I’ve often thought of him over the years,…
The topic is still Noah Berlatsky’s “The Intelligent Design Theory That Inspired Darwin,” published at TheAtlantic’s website on February 8, 2014, written with the intention of placing the recent debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham in a broad historical context. In part 1,…
Public opinion about evolution, the Big Bang, and teaching evolution in public schools was reviewed in the National Science Board's Science and Engineering Indicators (PDF) 2014. The 2012 General Social Survey experimented with two versions of true/false questions addressing evolution…
Over at Buzzfeed, Matt Stopera has an interesting post originating from the recent Bill Nye/Ken Ham debate. He asked self-identified creationists at this debate to write a question to “the other side,” and have their picture taken while holding their question. It’s very interesting seeing the…
The Union of Concerned Scientists is running a clever Presidents’ Day contest asking which US president was the most science-friendly. The first round featured pairings between Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, Abe Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and George H. W. Bush, and John F.…
Photo Credit: PeterThoeny via Compfight cc This past week, I gave you a fossil sea creature that looked more like a footprint than anything else! Who was this little fellow? Why, an oyster, of course: from the Miocene, found in what is now Peru. Think it was as tasty then…
Last Wednesday was Darwin’s 205th birthday! Happy (belated) birthday, Chuck! It should come as no surprise that all of us here at the National Center for Science Education had our party hats on last week. But you might be surprised to learn that while we were toasting Darwin, we…
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 34, number 1 — features Joseph E. Armstrong and Marshall D. Sundberg's "Yes, Bobby, Evolution is True!"; Barbara Forrest's "Louisiana's Love…