NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of Donald R. Prothero's Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future (Indiana University Press, 2013). The preview consists of the whole of chapter 5, "Hot Enough For You? The Heated Debate over a Warming Planet," in which Prothero…
Last week's Fossil Friday was apparently a tough one. Only 4 guesses—and half of them were for sloths! The correct answer was quickly supplied by Joshua Vallejos. Says anthropologist Eric Meikle: "The fossil is usually referred to either Homo ergaster or Homo…
A Sorrowful and Foreboding Anniversary Saturday, October 19 marks the 22nd anniversary of the Oakland Hills Firestorm, one of the most destructive and costly wildfires in American history. Three thousand homes and twenty five lives were lost in a three-day tragedy compounded by…
It might seem that much of what we do at NCSE is reactive, involving an endless thrust and parry with creationists and deniers of climate change. Although responding to flare-ups is essential to winning local battles, it's not enough to win the larger campaign. For that, we promote the…
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to…
In our continued quest to bring you nothing but skulls leading up to the Day of the Dead on November 1st, we bring you...another skull! Eric Meikle, one of our house anthropologists, had this to say about about this week's Fossil Friday fossil: "This specimen is possibly a close…
As Americans, we’re rightly proud to consider our nation a melting pot, bringing different groups together across national, ethnic, racial, religious, and ideological backgrounds to create an alloy, a unified whole that is stronger and greater than its constituent parts. As Crevècoeur wrote in…
Not everybody realizes that the primary mission of NCSE is to defend the teaching of evolution and climate science. That’s understandable, of course. “National Center for Science Education” certainly suggests a broad remit for the organization. I’m told that the name was chosen back in the early…
Climate change denier Mark Steyn is upset. Being upset is, I suppose, an occupational requirement for his brand of punditry, even in Canada. In this case, though, he’s upset that climate scientist Michael Mann is pursuing, so far successfully, a libel suit against Steyn and Steyn’s colleagues.…