Like the rest of the blogosphere, we here at Darwin Central mourned the loss of the lovely and brilliant Cathy Seipp at the far too young age of 49. Not only will we miss her witty and elegant prose, but she had a refreshing no-nonsense attitude that frequently put her at odds with the religious right as well as the cultural left (she was pro-choice on abortion but opposed to gay marriage. I’m the exact opposite on the two issues, and also consider myself a conservative. Go figure). When she did write about science, her attitude was that of the informed layperson which we don’t see enough of these days, someone who is aware of her limitations in discussing expert knowledge, but smart enough to try to learn the basic facts and more importantly, to try to understand what the scientific method is really all about.

Consider, for instance, her ode to Richard Feynman. Not only does she provide an appreciation of Feynman’s ability to explain and illuminate complex scientific facts, but she draws important lessons from Feynman for today regarding the importance of maintaining scientific integrity and improving scientific literacy. She admits that she believes in a form of intelligent design, but in the classical Deistic sense, not the pseudoscience being propagated by the new breed of creationists, and recognizes that the the demarcation point between personal belief and external facts is crucial to science. Then there’s this passage from Seipp’s very last column, her take on the cult of global warming in Hollywood:

Now even as a Republican, of course I believe in global warming: there’s just too much scientific evidence, just as I dislike seeing even conservative Republicans starting arguments against evolution. It doesn’t make either side look particularly smart.

What else needs to be said? RIP Cathy, we’ll miss you, and we’ll need you more than ever.