Science Is Constantly Evolving

Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.

Take a card deck (no jokers). Pull out a card. What’s the probability that you’ll see a spade? 25%, right? What would you do if I don’t show you the card, but just give you a piece of paper asking “Is the card a spade, heart, club, or diamond?” You might reasonably want to circle all four,…
Oh, the inexhaustible charms of the Ediacaran! The first person correctly to identify the specimen here in the comments below will find his or her name forever enshrined in the annals of Answer Monday. The first person to ask, “What are fronds for?” or to comment, “With fronds like these …” will…
A high school teacher e-mailed @cenewman0 asking for a PDF for her class, “embarrassed she couldn’t afford $40”. :( pic.twitter.com/fEIW4ReP1h — Karen James (@kejames) February 26, 2016 A scientist on Twitter recently posted this request from a teacher, asking for a copy of a research paper…
In recent years, most state-level legislative attacks on the integrity of science education have taken one of two forms: “academic freedom” bills and bills to block or to repeal the adoption of state science standards. “Academic freedom” bills would permit, but would not require, teachers to…
“HUXLEY’S ARGUMENT FOR CHANCE EVOLUTION IS STILL CONSIDERED TO BE VALID IN MANY ACADEMIC CIRCLES TODAY. THE JOURNAL SCIENCE RECENTLY CITED IT AS SUCH. FEW HAVE RECOGNISED THE FATAL FLAW IN HIS REASONING.” That subheadline, in all its capitalized glory, caught my attention while I was looking…
Hello, readers! It’s been a while. I have a good excuse, though: I’ve been busy putting together the second issue of the “new” Reports of the NCSE (RNCSE), which you will receive sometime in early-mid April. (That’s assuming you’re a member. You’re a member, right? If not, that…
  Remember when Pope Francis called for action on climate change? That was back in the fall of 2015. Last week I had the opportunity to see what some Catholics are doing in response to his call for action when I visited one of our local partners, The Prairiewoods Center. The Center is run by…
Mixed Messages: How Climate Change is Taught in America's Public Schools, a detailed report of the first nationwide survey of climate change education in the United States, conceived and funded by NCSE and conducted in collaboration with researchers at Pennsylvania State University, is…
Lots of you identified the Ordovician element of the mélange here, but I wonder how many of you noticed the hint? I advised you to write big. And as it happens, the name of the genus of eurypterid you see here before you is Megalograptus—big writing. You might wonder why a genus of sea…