It may be possible to teach about energy without ever digging into the dynamics of human-caused climate change. (Quick note: I don’t endorse that tack, but it’s possible.) Indeed, many energy education programs sidestep or avoid climate change altogether. It’s easy to see, for example,…
Explore the Grand Canyon with NCSE! Reservations are still available for NCSE's next excursion to the Grand Canyon — as featured in the documentary No Dinosaurs in Heaven. From July 2 to July 10, 2015, NCSE will again explore the wonders of creation and evolution on a Grand Canyon river run…
In Miller’s Crossing (1990), one of my favorite movies of all time, the corrupt chief of police O’Doole speculates that the boss of the town, Leo O’Bannon, is losing his grip, whereupon O’Bannon’s right-hand man Tom Reagan reproaches him, ending, “there are plenty of coppers I know who…
I love desktop sticky notes. I use them for everything, including keeping track of ideas for Misconception Monday posts. At the top of the stack is this: “Things that people think are controversial but aren’t (peppered moth, horse evolution, embryos, etc.).” I realize, however, that these topics…
This week on Fossil Friday, I went out on a limb and gave you what I thought would be an easy paw of an answer. But no—people actually found this one tricky! We got a vote for a Dimetrodon and a vote for a Eusuchia, but a mystery guest was the first to get the…
The physicist and popular science writer Victor J. Stenger died on August 27, 2014, at the age of 79, according to the Friendly Atheist blog (August 29, 2014). Toward the end of his long career as a research scientist, Stenger began devoting his efforts toward popular writing. He continued…
Worried that K-12 students aren't learning about climate change? Guess what—neither are college grads. Grads with BS and MS and PhD degrees in biology, ecology, and related subjects. At least, it seems that way.At a recent Ecological Society of America conference, I interviewed scores of…
This week on the Fossil Friday, I give you one more item from our fossil friend, Gerald. This one I love—long, thin phalanges with nails that are deeply in need of a manicure. Can you tell from this photo what it was? Any guesses what it ate? How it moved? Where it lived? Doing some research…
I really wanted this next installment to be a Well Said! But then I found this short video in the It’s Okay To Be Smart series, produced by PBS Digital Studios, and I couldn’t resist. The video starts off with the narrator, Joe Hanson (a Ph.D. in biology, for what it’s worth), introducing…