Darwin Central

Massimo Pigliucci and the Woodstock of Evolution

July 10th, 2008 midwifetoad

The blogworld of creationist and cdesign proponentsists has been buzzing about the Altenberg 16 and the secret meeting coming up in austria. Typical of the commentary is this from telicthoughts.

What it amounts to is a gathering of 16 biologists and philosophers of rock star stature – let’s call them “the Altenberg 16″ – who recognize that the theory of evolution which most practicing biologists accept and which is taught in classrooms today, is inadequate in explaining our existence.

TelicThoughts specializes in analyzing science news and asserting new discoveries support creationism rather than supporting what the resesearchers say their findings support.

So is this the beginning of the end for Darwinism? Let’s see what the organizer of the Altenberg conferences has to say:
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John G. West is an Idiot

July 8th, 2008 RWA

UPDATE: Jim Manzi offers his own response to West here.

Oh my dear NRO, is there a more bipolar on-line journal around? You regularly publish brilliant pieces by John Derbyshire, Mark Steyn, Deroy Murdock and Thomas Sowell, but then you turn around and post something like…this. John West of the Discovery Institute is already notorious for his rabid anti-science views and dogged determination to be ignorant of the very things he pretends to have authority to discuss, but man, this article is so stunningly stupid, that after you read it, you’ll be like one of the zombies in Return of the Living Dead, running around screaming “brains brains!” in a desperate attempt to replenish your cerebral cortex following its accelerated decay. It starts out has just another yawn-inducing Discoveroid diatribe crowing over their “victory” in Louisiana but as you near the end of the first page, the stupidity really begins:

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Former state science director sues over intelligent design e-mail

July 3rd, 2008 midwifetoad

The Dallas Morning News - ERV - Pharyngula

AUSTIN – A former state science curriculum director filed suit against the Texas Education Agency and Education Commissioner Robert Scott on Wednesday, alleging she was illegally fired for forwarding an e-mail about a lecture that was critical of the teaching of intelligent design in science classes.

“The agency’s ‘neutrality’ policy has the purpose or effect of endorsing religion, and thus violates the Establishment Clause,” the lawsuit said.

Lawsuit filed by Christina Comer (text pdf)

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Ice, Mud and Blood

July 2nd, 2008 midwifetoad

From Pharyngula we have a review of a new book on climate change.

I’m very fond of Chris Turney’s book, Bones, Rocks, and Stars. It’s a slender, simple description of the many tools scientists use to figure out how old something is, and when arguing with young earth creationists, it’s become the first thing I recommend to them. It’s short and easy to read, and focuses on explaining how dating methods work.

Turney has a new book out: Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past. This is the one you’ll be able to hand to climate change denialists, and it’s a winner.

An interview with the author can be found here.

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Evolving proteins in snakes

June 30th, 2008 midwifetoad

Panda’s Thumb

And so it is. Some of the most successful predators of small amphibians are another herpetological marvel, the garter snakes, Thamnophis. Unfortunately, if you feed ordinary garter snakes a diet of rough-skinned newts, they tend to move more and more slowly as the innervation of their skeletal muscles undergoes a toxin blockade, and if they eat enough, they die. This is not a good thing from the snake’s perspective, although the newts do get revenge and their relatives benefit from the subsequent reluctance of snakes to eat them. It also presents an evolutionary opportunity, in that resistance to TTX in snakes can be a real advantage, since they won’t die and they’ll be able to feast on squishy purplish-brown and orange tubes of meat.

This is happening right now. Populations of garter snakes, T. sirtalis, in California, Oregon, and Idaho are showing different degrees of resistance to TTX, and these differences are being traced right down to specific changes in the amino acid sequence of the snake sodium channel. It’s happening repeatedly, too, with different populations independently acquiring different variations that confer differing degrees of resistance.

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Jindal watches goodwill evaporate

June 29th, 2008 midwifetoad

Jindal watches goodwill evaporate

Of this, there can be no dispute: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s honeymoon is over.

The consensus at home is that Jindal lost his luster by declining to veto the Legislature’s lavish pay raise. But Jindal is also playing to a national audience these days, and on that front, he’s taking a different sort of hit.

While Louisiana voters are up in arms over the revelation that Jindal is not above cutting political deals, the deal killer elsewhere in the country could be an unrelated bill that he signed last week, state Sen. Ben Nevers’ “Louisiana Science Education Act.”

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Do You Like Rehashed Ken Ham?

June 26th, 2008 midwifetoad

Slide show.

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Conservatives Confronting Creationism, continued.

June 20th, 2008 RWA

One of the most disheartening developments for us pro-science types has been the passage of the grossly misnamed “Academic Freedom” Bill in Louisiana, awaiting only the signature of its governor to become law. Sure, we’ve seen a similar flurry of such state legislation lately, but most of them mercifully were either DOA or, as in the case of Oklahoma’s recent bill, but few have sailed through with such ease, or are in such danger of becoming law of the land. Worse yet is what it will to do for the already currently funked-out state of American conservatism. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has been hailed as the next great leader of the Republican party, but with his sympathies to teaching ID already well known, he is danger of not only shouldering responsibility for depriving a generation of Lousianans the science education they need, but becoming the straw that broke conservatism’s back. If he signs the law, he will confirm in the eyes of many that the future of the Republican party remains in the hands of theocrats for whom Biblical idolatry takes precedence over the defence of the Constitution.

Maybe that’s why we are (finally!) starting to see conservatives shout louder, following the spirit, if the not the letter of Bill Buckley in yelling STOP! to what is perceived as an inexorable path towards a certain direction. Of course, the indefatigable John Derbyshire is among them, with a post title meant to invoke Reagan’s greatest quote. AllahPundit of HotAir is also on the case, offering video of and commentary on Jindal’s dodge on the issue, and LGF offers the full text of the LA Coalition for Science’s letter to Jindal, as well as choice comments from his former genetics teacher. Lately, LGF head Charles Johnson has been blogging more on science issues, including evolution. I particulary enjoy his running “OOPS” gag, as used here and here. For some reason, it never gets old…probably because its targets never give up.

It pays to say it again: creationism is not conservative. As Milton Friedman said of economics, there is no left-wing or right-wing science, just good or bad science, and people across the political spectrum should stand united for good science, as much as they do for common decency.

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