Science Is Constantly Evolving

Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.

I’m serving up some arty photography this week! I feel that this looks a bit M. C. Escher-esque— as if the ridges are morphing into birds. Alternatively, it could be a cool relief map showing a basin and range mountain formation. Or it could be none of those things—but it is one thing, an…
July was hot. It was the hottest July on record, but more than this: it was the warmest month ever recorded on Earth. Let that sink in a moment. The first seven months of 2015 were all record breakers, and 2015 is on track to take the record for warmest recorded year. As Paris Hilton likes to say…
I was visiting Chicago, that toddling town, in late July and early August, 2015, and I was inexorably attracted to the Field Museum of Natural History—one of the world’s greatest natural history museums, according to my guidebook, as well as the permanent home of a T. rex named Sue. (…
NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of the second edition of Carl Zimmer and Douglas J. Emlen's Evolution: Making Sense of Life (Roberts and Company, 2015). The preview consists of a part of chapter 14, "Macroevolution." "The history of biodiversity — the processes and…
The best thing about NCSE’s Grand Canyon trip is the rafters. Also, the Canyon itself. And the food. And the amazing guides who run the boats and cook the meals and lead the hikes and know every bit of river lore you could desire. Among the best things about NCSE’s Grand Canyon trip are…
We laughed, we cried, we felt a thousand emotions. And when the dust finally settled, we were left with the usual pile of dead anti-science copycat bills, often from the usual players. We're looking at you, Missouri and Oklahoma. The tally was nearly identical to 2014's. Four bills targeted…
Last Friday we examined a very geometric view of an unusual fossil. Here it is in full, complete with scale.     I think it still looks pretty intimidating, but as you can probably tell it is a plant. Specifically, a fossil of Cycadeoidea. There’s a significant amount of…
This week on Fossil Friday we have a specimen that I think looks super-metal. Check it out. Extremely spiky and dangerous.     Also, no scale bars in the picture, but I will tell you that this fossil is not small. Frankly, it is big enough that lifting it was a bad idea on my part.…
A new poll on public attitudes toward Pope Francis's encyclical on climate change included questions on the occurrence of climate change itself. Asked "Do you think that global warming is happening, or do you think global warming is not happening?" 69% of respondents said yes, 16% said no, 15%…