Science Is Constantly Evolving

Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.

Goodbye, Tom Magliozzi, and Thanks for All the Science
Just a quick note to say goodbye and thank you to Tom Magliozzi, one half of Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and co-host, with his brother Ray, of the popular NPR call-in show "Car Talk". Tom’s death from complications of Alzheimer’s disease was announced yesterday. I guess you either loved…
Climate Shift
Wouldn’t it be great if you could measurably increase teenagers’ understanding of climate change in just one hour? Well, it turns out you can. A study conducted by researchers at Stanford, Yale, and George Mason Universities, found a single hour-long assembly had the following impact: * Students…
A preview of Extinction and Evolution
NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of Niles Eldredge's Extinction and Evolution: What Fossils Reveal about the History of Life (Firefly, 2014). The preview consists of the first pages of chapter 6, "Extinction," in which Eldredge explains, "Extinction is not news to a…
Answer Monday
Last week on Fossil Friday, I suggested that the fossil in question might come from a grazer that once pranced across what is now Nevada. What was it? Well, it came from the antilocapridae family. From the University of Texas: “The family is endemic to North America, with one living species (…
Buzz: Say It Ain't So!
Dear Buzz, Don’t you just hate it when people reject settled science and mountains of evidence? Oh, wait, I know you do.You once decked a moon landing denialist who was pestering you to swear on a Bible that you really did go to the moon. So isn’t it just a tad ironic that you cavalierly reject…
Fossil Friday!
This week on the fossil Friday, I bring you a bone from the Hemphillian North American Stage (about 5-10 million years ago) found in what is now Nevada. If I was a gambling lady, I’d say that this animal was a lightweight runner, possibly even an herbivore prancing across the plains. But who…
Thank a Teacher Thursday: White House Edition
As Associate Director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Jo Handelsman  “helps to advise President Obama on the implications of science for the Nation, ways in which science can inform U.S. policy, and on Federal efforts in support of scientific…
Fobbing Off Evolution
In 1995, the governor of Alabama, Fob James, spoke before the state board of education, which was then considering a proposal to insert a disclaimer about evolution in all biology textbooks used in the state. In The Creationists (2006), Ronald L. Numbers primly writes, “The Republican…
What, and Why, Is Science Literacy? Part 2
The issue of whether Sherlock Holmes is science literate led to some fascinating discussion in the comments section, though not, I fear, to a consensus. But let’s turn to a matter closer to my own heart and examine what we can learn about someone’s science literacy based on whether they reject…

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