National Center for Science Education
NCSE files amicus in Freshwater case
By providing a friend of the court brief (PDF) to Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals on January 10, 2012, NCSE is supporting a local school district that fired a middle school science teacher over his inappropriate religious activity in the classroom — including teaching creationism.
A second antievolution bill in Missouri
House Bill 1276, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 11, 2012, and not yet referred to a committee, is apparently the fifth antievolution bill of 2012 — and the second in Missouri.
"Intelligent design" bill in Missouri
House Bill 1227, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 10, 2012, would, if enacted, require "the equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design," according to the legislature's summary of the bill.
Polling pastors on evolution
A poll of Protestant pastors in the United States found that they "overwhelmingly believe that God did not use evolution to create humans and think Adam and Eve were literal people," according to a press release (January 9, 2012) issued by LifeWay Research.
NESTA poll on climate change education
The National Earth Science Teachers Association released the executive summary of its 2011 on-line survey on climate change education, which examines (PDF) the responses of 555 K-12 educators in the United States who teach about climate change.
NCSE and the Grand Canyon 2012
Explore the Grand Canyon with NCSE! Seats are still available for NCSE's next excursion to the Grand Canyon — as featured in the documentary No Dinosaurs in Heaven.
James F. Crow dies
The eminent geneticist James F. Crow died on January 4, 2012, at the age of 95, according to the blog of his colleague John Hawks (January 4, 2012).
Opposition to Indiana's creationist bill
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (January 3, 2012) editorially criticized Indiana's Senate Bill 89.
The Granite Geek on New Hampshire's antievolution bills
The Nashua Telegraph's science columnist revisits the two antievolution bills recently prefiled in the New Hampshire legislature.
Creationist legislation in Indiana
Senate Bill 89, prefiled in the Indiana Senate and referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development, would, if enacted, amend the Indiana Code to provide that "[t]he governing body of a school corporation may require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science, within the school corporation."
Monitoring antievolution bills in New Hampshire
The two antievolution bills in the New Hampshire legislature attracted the attention of the Concord Monitor (December 29, 2011).
The latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach
The latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach — the new journal promoting the accurate understanding and comprehensive teaching of evolutionary theory for a wide audience — is now published. The theme for the issue (volume 4, number 4) is Evolution and Medicine, edited by Kristin P. Jenkins and Michael F. Antolin.
Antievolution legislation in New Hampshire
The two antievolution bills on the horizon in New Hampshire have now been prefiled in the state House of Representatives.
RNCSE 31:6 now on-line
NCSE is pleased to announce the sixth issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education in its new on-line format.
The Freshwater case still continues
With a brief filed (PDF) in Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals, John Freshwater is appealing a court's ruling to uphold his termination as a middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
County school superintendent blasts evolution
The superintendent of the school system in Hart County, Kentucky, is complaining about the emphasis on evolution in the state's new end-of-course test for biology, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader (December 13, 2011).
Evolution censored in Turkey?
Evolution "ranks alongside pornography and terrorism as topics that the Turkish government's controversial new Internet filtering scheme keeps out of the hands of children," according to a post on the ScienceInsider blog (December 9, 2011).
A preview of The Magic of Reality
NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of Richard Dawkins's book for children The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True (Free Press, 2011).
Creationism in British higher education
Writing in The Telegraph (December 3, 2011), the geneticist Steve Jones reflects on his experience in teaching university students who reject evolution — and refuse even to learn about it — because of their religious objections.
Creationism in job discrimination case
"A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has opted to let a jury decide whether NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory discriminated against a former employee who claims he was fired for discussing intelligent design," according to the Pasadena Star-News (November 30, 2011).
