Gerald told us about a video the other evening. It’s a clip from the BBC1 documentary ‘Science Friction: Creation’ circa 1996. This is Dayton, Tennessee.
The last comment by the student is the best (worst). It’s painful to watch but sadly funny at the same time.
Happy Darwin Day everyone! Today is Darwin’s birthday and in honor of him, I thought I’d post this article about Liquid Glass, which could possibly be the coolest nanotech material I’ve seen in some time. I think it’s so cool mainly because of its versatility and the fact that it’s already in use in Germany, the UK and Turkey.
Why am I talking about nanotech on Darwin’s birthday? If you think about it, without evolution, we wouldn’t be able to manipulate our world so deftly and with such finesse. About 195,000 years ago homo sapiens first appeared in the fossil record. We started leaving Africa about 70,000 years ago, and migrated as far as the Americas 14,500 years ago.
A mere 10,000 years ago, we were mostly hunter-gatherers in nomadic groups. The first proto-states were developed only 6,000 years ago. Think of that! Look how far we’ve come in such a short time!
Think of how we lived just 100 years ago in 1910.
Things they didn’t have in 1910: Read the rest of this entry »
I found this 2 part video Richard Dawkins did for the BBC in 2006. It’s a very good overview of his ideas and concepts of religion, evolution and atheism. See below for the descriptions of each episode.
I thought this would be good to see more of what the “religion is a virus” concept was all about, right from Dawkins, since we’re reading The God Virus this month for the book club.
The Root of All Evil? Part 1: The God Delusion. (Richard Dawkins, 2006) – 47:51
The Root of All Evil? – The Virus of Faith (2 of 2) – 47:58
Here’s a description of the first episode: Read the rest of this entry »
At Sunday’s meeting, Brent talked about John Maynard Smith and a talk he gave to the Royal Institution in 1995. He was a British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist.
So here is that video. It’s about an hour long and quite interesting.
A few of his books include: Read the rest of this entry »
Tim has offered to host a potluck dinner on Darwin’s birthday to celebrate the man, the work and the science.
Friday, February 12, 6:30 pm. Potluck dinner, so bring something tasty and bring your own beverages.
We will talk about Darwin and maybe, just maybe, have someone come in and speak to us.
See below for directions to Tim’s house.
Also, here is information from the International Darwin Day Foundation, sponsored by the American Humanist Association, looking for people to sign an online petition to make February 12 Darwin Day officially.
Here is the petition:
Dear President Obama, Read the rest of this entry »
~ Update: We had a nice meeting about Darwin and evolution. We talked mainly about what people were thinking before Darwin, observable evolution since the Industrial Revolution, and all kinds of other interesting topics.
Thanks for braving the weather and roads to join us everyone! 
~
We are meeting February 7 at 5pm, probably at the Blue Moose. Our Topic of the evening will be celebrating Darwin and Evolution.
Please bring something to do with Darwin, his life, his work, or evolution in general to share with us.
Darwin Day is on or around February 12, his birthday, so we’re celebrating a bit early. You might find information and inspiration to share at the International Darwin Day Foundation. They have pages on Darwin’s Life, Evolution, and even have a free online evolution course. This foundation is administered by the American Humanist Association (AHA).
Growing Up In The Universe is a series of lectures by Dr. Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor. He presents five lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it. With brilliance and clarity, Dawkins unravels an educational gem that will mesmerize young and old alike. Illuminating demonstrations, wildlife, virtual reality, and special guests (including Douglas Adams) all combine to make this collection a timeless classic.
This is from 1991 but besides the antiquated computer technology, it’s interesting and enlightening for young and old alike. You can buy all 5 hour long episodes on DVD from Dawkin’s store.
Episode 1: Waking Up In The Universe
Monday, October 12, 2009 at 7:30 pm in the Mountainlair Blue Ballroom.
You are invited to the 2009 Eberly College Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, in association with the Division of Sociology and Anthropology, on Monday, October 12, 2009. Dr. Jonathan Marks, professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, will be delivering a presentation entitled Darwin’s Ventriloquists, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Blue Ballroom. There will be a reception held afterwards in the Gold Ballroom.
This event is intended as a counterpoint to last spring’s lecture by J. Philippe Rushton.
Human evolution expert Jonathan Marks, Ph.D., professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, believes today’s training of modern scientists commonly shields them from the history and politics of their work, forcing generations of evolutionary geneticists to rediscover the intimate connection between science and culture.
“What we learn from the social study of evolutionary theory is that the natural and the cultural invariably co-produce the scientific,” said Marks. “Scientific claims, however, are made with a voice of cultural authority about human diversity that are especially sensitive to cultural influences.”
He argues the biggest challenge to contemporary evolutionary theory comes not from creationists, but from biologists themselves, and thinks that evolutionary biology cannot afford to tolerate scientific racism, which is the act of justifying social inequalities between presumptively natural groups of people by recourse to science.
He is author of “Human Biodiversity” (Aldine/Transaction, 1995), and “What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee” (University of California Press, 2002), which received the W.W. Howells Prize in Biological Anthropology from the American Anthropological Association and the J.I. Staley Prize from the School of Advanced Research. His new book, “Why I Am Not a Scientist,” was recently published by the University of California Press.
More information available in the press release.
Here is a video clip from the Colbert Report the other night (Sept 30). Stephen Colbert interviews Richard Dawkins. It’s almost 6 minutes long:
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c |
| Richard Dawkins | |
Oh, and take note of Dawkin’s tie! It’s Crocoduck tiled! LOL! 
Cross-posted from Heaving Dead Cats
PZ Myers talked about science education in America the other day. It was based on a scientific review of the country regarding evolution and the science curriculum standards of each state. Here is a handy map from the review:
As you can see, West Virginia got an F. There was a review in 2000 by another group (see the review for links) where we also got an F. So over 9 years, we have made barely any improvements in science standards regarding evolution. Apparently there is no mention of human evolution at all, but a reference to some biological evolution. Unfortunately the F grade means there is either creationist jargon included and/or disclaimers.
Unfortunately the information on West Virginia in this review is sparse. But in their appendix, is a table that shows the grade for various aspects of evolution in state science standards. Here is the part for West Virginia in 2009:
| State | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| WV | 10 | 30 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 45.5 | F |
Notes for the table columns:
The book they used for this review: 21st Century Science 9-12 Content Standards and Objectives for West Virginia Schools, adopted in 2008.
PZ Myers said a few things that I think are important:
First thing you have to keep in mind is that state science standards just say what should be taught, not necessarily what is taught. States with great standards can still have many teachers who are doing a poor job and not meeting those standards; similarly, there are great teachers in those failing states that go above and beyond to teach evolution well. The standards merely represent what direction the educational authorities in that state want their schools to take. A state with an A standard is declaring that they are aiming high for their students; the F states have essentially announced that they are giving up and diving for the basement.
If your standards are good, don’t be complacent: keep them that way, and also work locally to make sure your school districts actually implement them. If your state is shading into the dark grays…look for a state citizens for science group, or if you don’t have one, create one. Write to your representatives and let them know what’s going on; maybe send them a copy of the Mead and Mates paper and shame them a little bit.
Do something, though. It would be nice to see the United States get straight As someday.
Well, our standards are not very good at all. I don’t know what we can do, but I figure the first step is awareness of the problem.
Your thoughts are welcome.
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