What are the two subjects you don't discuss at the dinner table in America? ...more

February 21, 2009

It is altogether possible that by the end of the day, Florida once again could be held up to the rest of the nation as more backward than Dogpatch, making even Mississippi look like a golden age of Enlightenment. ...more

February 19, 2008

Science classes in Florida public schools are among the weakest in the nation, despite taxpayer-funded initiatives to make the state a major hub for biotech and bioscience. ...more

February 19, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote today whether to place the words "scientific theory of" in front of the term "evolution" in proposed science standards. ...more

February 18, 2008

I was sorely disappointed when reading that the Highlands County School Board had backed down after listening to a few speeches by people who were claiming that evolution is a proven scientific fact, and that any other theory had no right to a discussion in science classes! Correct me if I am wrong, but it is my understanding that a scientific "theory" is accepted on the basis of such criteria as the following: 1. It must be observable. 2. It must be reproducible. 3. It must be predictable. If evolution had those three characteristics, perhaps we could accept it as a viable explanation for what we see all around us; the astonishing complexity of life, the world and the universe. ...more

February 17, 2008

The goal of science is not to prove or disprove the existence of God. Science is not a religious belief. Just as psychology is a discipline that explores the workings of the human brain, science is a discipline that seeks to understand and explain the processes of the physical world. Evolution explains, in very specific physical terms, how living things change through time (for example, how does bacteria become resistant to antibiotics? How did jungle fowl become domesticated chickens?) Thousands of sophisticated scientific tests have been used to study evolution and the evidence is overwhelming. When preeminent biologists disagree, it's not the existence of evolution they question. They simply disagree about the specifics of how certain adaptations occurred. These questions are an integral part of the scientific process. ...more

February 16, 2008

Editor: Bill Clark's response to John Mooney's letter to the editor on Dec. 29 clearly demonstrates why the defenders of creationism and intelligent design must be kept at bay in the field of public education. ...more

February 12, 2008

Louise Laferriere's "Scientific Theory" was excellent and the scientific community made a good point in that letter to the editor pertaining to the teaching of evolution in a science environment classroom. As stated, especially as it pertains to DNA, "the theory of evolution explains a huge body of evidence, and it is predictive." The warning about the overuse of antibiotics was another good example of how bacteria may become resistant to control due to evolution. The example that, "Newton's theory of gravity contends that masses attract each other" being wrong is good news for those of us who teach people to fly small airplanes. (We don't want the Earth to be attracted to us until we are ready to land). In this perspective it was stated that gravity may not be used in aerospace. Actually, the physics of lift, thrust, weight (gravity), and drag are the elements affecting an airplane in flight. ...more

February 12, 2008

Mayr Malool wrote a beautiful letter on evolution and Intelligent Design. This was followed with a thoughtful written letter by Bob Glavey who raised good points. Both these letters are topical given the proposed school board resolution on evolution. I am concerned about the misunderstandings surrounding the scientific theory. The word "theory" is confusing this important debate because it means something different in the context of science. Here, a theory must satisfy three criteria: it must explain the outcomes of many experiments, it must be tested, and it must be predictive. Newton's Theory of Gravity, for example, predicts how quickly an object will fall to the earth. ...more

February 7, 2008

SEBRING — Four of five members of the School Board of Highlands County oppose the proposed change in the state's science standards that would present evolution as fact to students. Some school board members across the state have opposed the proposed revisions to the science curriculum that specifies that evolution be taught as "fact" as opposed to a "theory," School Board Attorney John McClure said at a recent school board meeting. Would the board consider a resolution opposing the proposed change in the Sunshine State Standards that would present evolution as fact? he asked. "I would for one," would support such a resolution, School Board Member Richard Norris said. ...more

January 25, 2008