NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2012/11/16
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2012-11-16 15:55.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, Carl Zimmer wins a prestigious science journalism award. And antievolution legislation is likely to resurface in Indiana.
CONGRATULATIONS TO CARL ZIMMER NCSE offers its congratulations to Carl Zimmer for winning the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award for 2012 in the large newspaper category. Zimmer will receive $3000 and a plaque at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston in February 2013, in recognition of three articles on evolution, microbes, and scientific journal retractions he wrote for The New York Times in 2011 and 2012. A press release issued on November 14, 2012, explained: *** The judges praised Zimmer's entry as an example of sustained excellence in reporting on a range of science topics. His story about evolution at work on organisms living in and around New York City -- from white-footed mice in an urban park to native ants to fish in the Hudson River -- was a "surprising, intriguing, and amusing look at science in unexpected places," said contest judge Laura Helmuth, science editor for the online magazine Slate. Robert Lee Hotz, a science writer for The Wall Street Journal, said Zimmer's reporting on urban evolution and on the microbes that exist on and in the human body "makes us see the world with new eyes." At the same time, Hotz added, Zimmer "does not shy from exposing the shortcomings and frauds of science, as retractions and examples of misconduct become more numerous." *** Zimmer is the author of a number of popular books about biology, including Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea (Harper Perennial, 2006), The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution (Roberts & Company, 2009), and, with Douglas Emlen, Evolution: Making Sense of Life (Roberts & Company, 2013) -- a sample chapter from the latter is available on NCSE's website. Zimmer also received the Kavli Award in 2009 and NCSE's Friend of Darwin award for 2005. For the press release from AAAS, visit: http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2012/1114science_journalism_awards.shtml For the sample chapter from Evolution: Making Sense of Life (PDF), visit: http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/excerpt--evolution.pdf ANTIEVOLUTION LEGISLATION ON THE HORIZON IN INDIANA Efforts to undermine the teaching of evolution are likely to be revived in the Indiana legislature, according to a columnist for the Lafayette Journal and Courier (November 10, 2012). At the center of the efforts is state senator Dennis Kruse (R-District 14), who told the newspaper that he plans to introduce a bill drafted by the Discovery Institute, presumably along the lines of the bills adopted, despite the protests of the scientific and educational communities, in Tennessee in 2012 and Louisiana in 2008. NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott was quoted as describing such bills as a "permission slip for teachers to bring creationism, climate-change denial and other non-science into science classrooms." In 2011, Kruse's Senate Bill 89 would have allowed local school districts to require the teaching of creation science -- despite the Supreme Court's ruling in the 1987 case Edwards v. Aguillard that teaching creation science in public schools is unconstitutional. SB 89 passed the Senate but was amended to delete the reference to creation science and to require reference to "Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology"; the speaker of the House of Representatives declined to let it come to a vote there, and the bill died when the legislature adjourned. Now, Kruse told the Journal and Courier, "We?re going to try something a little different this time." Although the text of the bill that Kruse eventually introduces in the senate may disclaim any intention to promote a religious doctrine, it seems likely that in Indiana as in Tennessee and Louisiana, it will be difficult for the legislative sponsors to avoid disclosing their true intentions. "I'd guess 80 percent of Indiana would be oriented with the Bible and creation," Kruse was quoted as saying. His previous efforts -- SB 89 and two similar bills he introduced in 2000 and 2001 while serving in the Indiana House of Representatives, plus a 1999 pledge to introduce legislation to remove evolution from the state science standards -- might also be taken as indicative. For the story in the Lafayette Journal and Courier, visit: http://www.jconline.com/article/20121110/COLUMNISTS30/311100042/bangert-evolution-pence And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Indiana, visit: http://ncse.com/news/indiana Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x305 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join
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