What happens when a huge lake disappears overnight? A disaster of epic proportions, that’s what! In the mountains of Chile's southern Patagonian region of Aysén, Lake Cachet II is formed by the massive but shrinking Colonia Glacier. The ice historically has dammed a valley to form a lake…
Photo by Paul Selden This week on Fossil Friday, we're unveiling a celebrity fossil! Well, maybe not a celebrity, but it sure has been making news lately. These two spiders (a lady and gentleman) were originally misidentified as another species. What was that…
When you hear the name of Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth president of the United States, what do you think of? His 1912 campaign slogan “The New Freedom”? His success in the three-way contest over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and Bull Moose candidate Theodore Roosevelt? His 1916…
A few weeks ago, I gave you a polished slab of coral for Fossil Friday, thinking that the answer would be quite simple! I was told that it was obviously a Permian coral, specifically from the order Rugosa (aka horn coral). But then the answers started coming in, and people were certain it was…
Photo Credit: daryl_mitchell via Compfight cc This past week on the Fossil Friday, I gave you a toothsome fossil. What was it? Where was it from? What epoch did it date to? You were quick to respond (not slothful at all). And what was the answer? It was the cheek…
Recall that William A. Dembski, in his No Free Lunch (2002), posed the twin questions “Is intelligent design falsifiable? Is Darwinism falsifiable?” and answered, “Yes to the first question, no to the second question.” In part 1, I explained that although the questions are posed in…
It's like the ultimate movie monster: invisible, slowly creeping until it rears its ugly head, suddenly lashing out, disguised as dramatic extreme events, growing more powerful and destructive over time. It strikes fear and terror in the populace, causing some to deny its existence and…
Last week on the Fossil Friday I gave you a really tough challenge...well, not that tough, but it was a plant, and plants are hard, apparently. So this week, I'm heading back over to the land of the animals, where we can bask in the glow of tibias and mandibles.…
With the addition of Stefan Roitsch on January 15, 2014, NCSE's Project Steve attained its 1300th signatory. A tongue-in-cheek parody of the long-standing creationist tradition of amassing lists of "scientists who doubt evolution" or "scientists who dissent from Darwinism," Project Steve mocks…