ERV has just posted an interesting item on the interplay between medicine, genotype, and perceived racial differences. There’s a family of genes (CYP450) that produces the cytochrome enzymes involved in drug metabolism. Depending on an individual’s particular set of alleles, they may not be able to metabolise a given drug, or might metabolise at a […]
Continue readingCategory: critical thinking
peppered moths – another ‘icon’?
You’ve probably heard about ‘peppered moths’ in class. They’re an example of the ability of natural selection to shape a population in a relatively quick time. But Jonathan Wells asks: Q: PEPPERED MOTHS. Why do textbooks use pictures of peppered moths camouflaged on tree trunks as evidence for natural selection — when biologists have known […]
Continue readinganother one of jonathan wells’ ‘icons’ of evolution
This one leads us into the concept of transitional fossils (the so-called ‘missing links’ whose apparent absence is dear to many creationists). Wells asks Q: ARCHAEOPTERYX. Why do textbooks portray this fossil as the missing link between dinosaurs and modern birds — even though modern birds are probably not descended from it, and its supposed […]
Continue readingevidence-based thought
Here’s another blog that’s well-worth a visit: Evidence Based Thought. And it’s a kiwi blog too!
Continue readingwells is peeved with haeckel’s embryos
Another misleading offering from Icons of Evolution: VERTEBRATE EMBRYOS. Why do textbooks use drawings of similarities in vertebrate embryos as evidence for their common ancestry — even though biologists have known for over a century that vertebrate embryos are not most similar in their early stages, and the drawings are faked?
Continue readingwells’ third ‘icon’ – homology
The concept of homology is another of Jonathan Well’s ‘icons of evolution’ – ideas that he wrongly labels as ‘key’ to teaching evolution, and then describes as incorrect, misleading, or out-of-date. Let’s see what he has to say about homology – & why he’s wrong.
Continue readingthe cambrian ‘explosion’
Wells’ second ‘question’ centres on what’s often been called the Cambrian ‘explosion’ – the seemingly rapid appearance in the fossil record of a wide range of different organisms. (‘Rapid’ = over a period of 10-20 million years or so.)
Continue readingobfuscation galore!
While doing a bit of tidying in my office (a mammoth task!) I came across a printout of Jonathan Wells’ infamous list, "10 questions to ask your biology teacher". Wells is a senior fellow with the US-based Discovery Institute, which actively promotes intelligent design as an alternative to evolution. His list of questions is (I […]
Continue readinganother bit of creationist misinformation
Some of our local letter-writers are quite busy at the moment, pouring out their opposition to the fact and theory of evolution. Sometimes they seem a bit confused about how evolution works, but at others their letters contain an awful lot of misinformation… [An earlier writer] managed to take the ploy of elephant-hurling (in debate) to new […]
Continue readingwhy you should study evolution
I’ve just been talking with some of my students about evolution: fact, theory, process of, the whole lot. And why it’s important that people learn about it. I wish I had seen this piece by Olivia Judson beforehand – I could have referred them to it there & then. And because she says it so […]
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