A new study suggests that textbooks that miseducate students about evolution and climate change may be in wide use in private schools that receive public funding through voucher or tax-credit schemes, according to Rebecca Klein in a lengthy article in the Huffington Post (December 7, 2017).In…
The other week I got to see something really amazing: a community where teachers have all the support they need to teach climate change and evolution.The 400+ attendees at the 2017 Northern Illinois Science Educators (NISE) conference were, for the most part, there to receive fully paid,…
The eminent biological anthropologist Colin Groves died on November 30, 2017, at the age of 75, according to a press release from the Australian National University. The university described Groves as "one of the world's leading anthropologists and taxonomists who identified more than 50…
The distinguished philosopher of mind Jerry Fodor died on November 29, 2017, at the age of 82, according to The New York Times (November 30, 2017). Often described as the leading philosopher of mind of his day, Fodor was particularly well-known for his contributions to the modularity of…
Thanks in part to NCSE's efforts, it was a bad year for those who would make it easier to miseducate kids about science, with one major exception: Florida. Signed into law in June 2017, Florida's House Bill 989 allows any county resident—not just any parent with a child in the…
At 9:30 p.m. on a recent work day, I called a reporter who had just e-mailed me, asking for comment on the latest developments with the New Mexico science standards. “Don’t you ever sleep?” he joked. I chuckled. Ten hours later, at 7:30 a.m. the next day, a different reporter called me, asking…
NCSE's Glenn Branch and Ann Reid's "50 Years Ago: Repeal of Tennessee's 'Monkey Law'" was selected for inclusion in "The Science Behind the Debates," a special edition of Scientific American dated December 2017.Taking the fiftieth anniversary of the repeal of Tennessee's Butler Act in…
The distinguished paleoanthropologist Alan Walker died on November 20, 2017, at the age of 79, according to a November 21, 2017, Facebook post from his wife Pat Shipman. A specialist in primate and human evolution, concentrating mainly on the Neogene record from East Africa, Walker was a…