It might seem that much of what we do at NCSE is reactive, involving an endless thrust and parry with creationists and deniers of climate change. Although responding to flare-ups is essential to winning local battles, it's not enough to win the larger campaign. For that, we promote the…
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to…
In our continued quest to bring you nothing but skulls leading up to the Day of the Dead on November 1st, we bring you...another skull! Eric Meikle, one of our house anthropologists, had this to say about about this week's Fossil Friday fossil: "This specimen is possibly a close…
As Americans, we’re rightly proud to consider our nation a melting pot, bringing different groups together across national, ethnic, racial, religious, and ideological backgrounds to create an alloy, a unified whole that is stronger and greater than its constituent parts. As Crevècoeur wrote in…
Not everybody realizes that the primary mission of NCSE is to defend the teaching of evolution and climate science. That’s understandable, of course. “National Center for Science Education” certainly suggests a broad remit for the organization. I’m told that the name was chosen back in the early…
Climate change denier Mark Steyn is upset. Being upset is, I suppose, an occupational requirement for his brand of punditry, even in Canada. In this case, though, he’s upset that climate scientist Michael Mann is pursuing, so far successfully, a libel suit against Steyn and Steyn’s colleagues.…
At a meeting in Washington DC last spring in the offices of the US Global Change Research Program, Anthony Leiserowitz—the driving force behind the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication—brought up the fact that the word "consensus" has two meanings. One is 100% unanimous agreement,…
Last week we looked at some of the reasons why creationists can’t stop talking about the Cambrian explosion. Today let’s look at a new paper published in Science1 that explores possible causes of the Cambrian explosion, the seminal diversification of animal life that began about 530…
"Why can't science teachers simply teach science?" was the reaction of a columnist for the Charleston, South Carolina, Post and Courier (October 13, 2013), in the wake of the state board of education's discussion of the revised state science standards at its October 9, 2013, meeting.…