Science Is Constantly Evolving
Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.
Let me start this post by admitting that looking to the work of the Understanding Evolution team for examples of excellent science writing is not unlike looking to Glenn Branch for examples of quote-mining in obscure Scopes-related reporting—it’s pretty much a fish-in-the-barrel scenario. As I…
A generous member of NCSE recently offered to buy a few books from his local used and rare bookstore for us. Looking through the on-line catalogue of the bookstore, I spotted a couple of titles by the creationist Arthur I. Brown (1875–1947) that weren’t in our library (not even in The…
OMG! Is that Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) at the American Geophysical Union (#AGU2014) Fall Meeting? What is she doing with the 23,000 scientists, educators, and press at this extravaganza—think of a rave for geo-science geeks—at the Moscone Center in San…
BioLogos, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting evolution within evangelical circles, recently released a large survey examining how and why people develop their views on evolution. There’s a lot to mine there, though you can read the highlights in NCSE’s news item. I’m especially fascinated by the…
This past week on Fossil Friday, I gave you a pile of dino teeth! But which dino? It was a Spinosaurus, of course. Good for Sean Wells, who called it first. According to National Geographic: “Floating like a crocodile to stalk prey, the 50-foot-long (15.2 meters) predator bore…
Last week, we discussed some of the ways paleontologists order events in Earth’s history—using the principles of original horizontality, superposition, and faunal succession—but we did not talk about actual dates. Let’s do that now. Who’s up for some chemistry? Hopefully, you all know…
This week’s fossil comes from our Fossil Fan Dan Phelps! This is the description from Dan: More than 15 years ago I went to a bankruptcy sale in Louisville for the chain Natural Wonders. They had a bin labeled “Dino teeth $.50/lb.” I nearly got in a fight with a friend, but between us we got…
I recently received a copy of Theodore Graebner’s Essays on Evolution (1925). A Lutheran theologian who spent the bulk of his career at the Lutheran Synod of Missouri’s Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, Graebner (1876–1950) was a prolific author on a number of topics. On the…
Climate change deniers often fancy themselves “skeptics.” For those of us active in movement skepticism, it’s flattering to see others try to ride our coat tails, but it’s also frustrating. Skeptics are known for debunking bogus claims (from ghosts to psychics to the Loch Ness Monster), for…