Creationism and Answers in Science: One weekend in Texas (with fossil porn!)
This past week, Houston hosted several major players in both the anti- and pro- evolution camps. The Texas Home School coalition had their annual convention on Aug 1-3, and unfortunately chose to...
View ArticleCreationism in Texas: good news!
If you read my post on Kathy Miller’s recent talk at the Answers in Science event, you’ll recall that the Texas Board of Education is currently reviewing science textbooks for statewide adoption. This...
View ArticleAdventures with the Texas State Board of Education
I’ve written before about the ongoing battle to maintain decent science standards in Texas schools, and why this is not just a regional issue, but important for science education in the United States...
View ArticleThe Discovery Institute challenged me. Here’s my response.
Casey Luskin, a blogger for the Discovery Institute, recently took issue with my proposal that when reading a scientific paper, one should check the institutional affiliation and credentials of its...
View ArticleWhy does the media want you to believe that we are primate-pig hybrids?
I had a “driveway moment” last night listening to Alex Jones rant about science topics on his radio program. He was obsessed with the hypothesis that humans are the descendents of a primate-pig...
View ArticleIs evolution in trouble?
According to a recent article in the Daily Beast by Dr. Karl Giberson, 2013 was a terrible year for evolution for several reasons: “The year ended with the anti-evolution book Darwin’s Doubt as...
View ArticleWe were wrong about Bill Nye
Many of us in the scientific community have a longstanding policy not to debate with creationists, in part because doing so gives an unwarranted credibility to their disingenuous arguments. So when...
View ArticleThe Good Fight Part 1: The Fine Art of Talking to People Who Are Wrong
It doesn't matter what your goal is if you let yourself forget that you're talking to a real person. Personalizing an argument, making it about the people instead of the issues, poisons conversations....
View ArticleWhy there still are monkeys: lessons learned from teaching evolution in Kansas.
Edit: A reader informed me that the first source I cited (christwire.org) was actually a satirical site. How embarrassing! I’ve since updated the post with a legitimate example. Fortunately (or...
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