Science Is Constantly Evolving

Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.

Do Steroids Lead To More Home Runs?
Periodically, people get het up when someone suggests that climate change might be, in some sense, related to changes in extreme weather patterns. Lately, the targets of this outrage were Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and Barack Obama, the President Guy. For all the reasons Chris Mooney discusses in…
Evolution: Right in the Gut
People who downplay or deny evolution often forget that evolutionary processes have major, dynamic impacts on the quality and future of their lives. Case in point: microorganisms. I was thinking about evolution and microbes after listening to a recent Science Friday podcast . There was…
Climate Conference Cacophony, or How Good Intentions Go Bad When the Process is Rigged to Fail
Recently delegates from around the world gathered in Bonn, Germany, for a UN conference to discuss how the nations of the world can reach a “new, universal agreement on climate change.” This agreement is meant to outline how nations will work together to reduce greenhouse gases and limit, to the…
Misconception Monday: Viruses Are Not Omnipotent, Part 2
In Part 1, I told you about my work with the 1918 influenza virus, and promised to tell you more about why the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N2 (HPAIH5) influenza strain that is currently rampaging through chicken farms in the Midwest is unlikely to jump to humans. I ended Part 1 by…
Answer Monday
For our last Fossil Friday, we took a look at a particularly graceful little specimen rising out of the rock: But what was it? A crinoid, as many of you probably guessed, but not just any crinoid. This particular fossil is a holotype specimen for the species Cupulocrinus crossmani, as…
Fossil Friday
This week on Fossil Friday, we have a beautiful little specimen collected in Stewartville, Minnesota. Dating from the Middle Ordovician, this specimen is 460 million years old—give or take twenty million. What is it? Guess right and win bragging rights for the week…
Ravished into Admiration, Part 1
A few months ago, I devoted a two-part post (part 1; part 2) to a particular argument and counterargument concerning the age of the world in David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779). I’m returning to the Dialogues now to discuss a different passage, with two…
Say What? A Big Fail in Science News Magazine
A friend asked me recently why I kept calling out scientists on their public comments. They’re scientists, my friend said, they’re on your side, so stop being so nitpicky and mean! Am I being mean? I certainly don’t intend to be mean, so perhaps it is worth a few lines to reiterate the point of…
“Confess Your Sins, Repent, and You Will Be Saved!”
Those are pretty shocking words to read in a classroom, and even more so when coming from a student. But that is exactly what S.K. saw scrawled across the last page of a biology exam she graded last year. S.K. teaches middle school biology in a diverse community with a strong Christian base in…

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The National Center for Science Education is the only national organization that specializes in defending the teaching of controversial issues (such as evolution and climate change) in public schools. Because of our special expertise and experience, NCSE is often cotacted by members of the press who are writing about the evolution/creationism controversy, or about the teaching of global warming and other climate science issues that have come under political attack. Our staff can provide reliable information about creationism, evolution, climate change, and the state of science education in the United States.

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