Daily Archives: February 20, 2008

Darwin and the Voyage: 10 ~ Rheas and the Birth of Evolutionary Theory

Everyone knows about Darwin’s Finches, of the Galapagos Islands. But of course, Darwin made observations of birds throughout his travels on The Beagle. Here, I present a number of passages from The Voyage that include some of these observations. Continue reading Darwin and the Voyage: 10 ~ Rheas and the Birth of Evolutionary Theory

Florida: Evolution Will Not be Watered Down. Sort of.

A good trick in child psychology is to come to a “compromise” in which the child, not knowing any better, gets what they think they wanted but it really turns out to be cod liver oil after all. Florida creationists got their cod liver oil when the Florida School Board voted, with a worrisome 4-3 count, to accept the proposed science standards that actually use the word “evolution.” Continue reading Florida: Evolution Will Not be Watered Down. Sort of.

Cafe Scientifique

Despite having only a couple of beers, I’m a little fuzzy this morning, but I do want to give a short update last night’s Cafe Scientifique at the Bryant Lake Bowl (sponsored by the Bell Museum of Natural History).First, thanks to everyone for coming, and I’m truly sorry for those of you (Mike, Rob, Betsy, Chris, and countless others) who could not make it it. It was nice to have a sold-out ‘performance’ but not nice that people schlepped all the way to LynnLake in sub zero weather! But, in the end, you probably had more fun drinking and bowling than sitting listening to me.Shanai Matteson did an excellent job, as always, moderating and guiding the entire process. Those of you who go to the Twin Cities Cafe Scientifique can’t see behind the scenes, but there is a lot of work that goes into organizing these events, and this is not Shanai’s only job at the Bell Museum! Peggy, Gordon, Shanai should get a raise…The questions and comments by members of the audience were fantastic and enjoyable. I very much appreciate that.Later on, I’ll post my power point slides and give a summary.