As Grant said earlier, there is a rich mine of potential posts in this particular website… This time, let’s review its author’s take on the phylogenetic relationship between Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes. We are indeed linked to chimpanzees – by a common Designer.
Continue readingTag: creationism
what about archaeopteryx?
As a distraction (or should that be ‘procrastination’?) from what’s currently filling up my diary (ie processing student enrolments), I’ve decided to look at another of those ‘science’ statements from the school documents I linked to in my last post. "What about the archeopteryx?" they ask. Well, what about it? This, from their webpage: The […]
Continue readingpicking & choosing what to believe in…
In my last post on a ‘creationist biology curriculum’ I asked the question: what, exactly, do they teach? Over on the Sciblogs site (where this blog is syndicated), a commenter answered by pointing me at another school’s curriculum. As I read through it, I could feel the area beneath my collar getting distinctly heated. This […]
Continue readingwhat, exactly, do they teach?
I was spurred to write this by a comment Grant made on my previous post on the various NZ political parties’ stances on science education. In that post I linked to the website of a ‘special character’ school: one with a religious underpinning & which states that they replace ‘evolution’ with ‘creation’ in the school’s science […]
Continue readinga re-run of ‘fact and theory’
Sometimes I think that the word ‘theory’ has to be one of the most misunderstood, and misused, words in science. A couple of science concepts that people often seem to have difficulty with are fact and theory: what the terms mean, and how we distinguish between them. One of my scientific heroes, the late Stephen […]
Continue reading“how do you know?” always trumps “were you there?”
Young-Earth creationist Ken Ham proudly teaches children to ask ‘were you there?’ of anyone making statements about evolution, the age of the Earth, or indeed of any scientific statements involving long periods of time. This isn’t a genuine question, as someone who’s been coached by Ham & his ilk will feel that they already know the […]
Continue readingbirds exist, so evolution is an incoherent theory…
On the way to her exam this morning, the Daughter brought me a poster that she’d plucked from the noticeboard down the corridor [1}. We read it together, & much hilarity ensued.
Continue readingif pharyngeal slits turn into gills, why don’t humans have gills?
It seems that Intelligent Design advocates have challenged PZ Myers to answer ’10+1′ questions about evolutionary biology, while he’s on an upcoming visit to Glasgow. PZ’s published the list here. One in particular caught my eye, because it mentioned lungs (the subject of a recent post of my own), so I thought I’d have a […]
Continue readingwhy geologists are wrong, wrong, wrong! about the age of the earth
I came across the following diagram on Peter Bowditch’s wonderful The Millenium Project. Like him, I hope it’s a poe; but nonetheless, I find it has a certain dreadful fascination. Who knew that geologists could get it so wrong?
Continue reading‘darwin’s dilemma’ – id in nz
A little while ago Ken alerted me to an Intelligent Design website that appeared to be set up to provide ID ‘resources’ to teachers & others who might be interested. Today I found time to wander over & have a look at what was on offer (not much, at the moment). The site’s owner is […]
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