“The Wedge Strategy” refers to a document (the Wedge Document) developed by the Discovery Institute in 1998 and leaked by Tim Rhodes in 1999. It outlines a strategy to insinuate a specific subset of Christian Fundamentalism into the public education system. Although Wedge Proponents have denied this, the Wedge Strategy is still very much in use (more or less), so it is important for people interested in protecting our system of education from religious freaks to know about it. You can download a copy of it here (large PDF, 0.5 megabytes).
Monthly Archives: February 2008
The Tangled Bank
This is the February 20, 2008 edition of The Tangled Bank web carnival. The next edition will be hosted at Archaeoporn. Continue reading The Tangled Bank
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.
Mitosis. With Shoes
Mitosis Interpretive Dance and Rap
Fidel Castro Will Step Down Sunday
Fidel Castro Will Step Down SundayCuba’s ailing leader Fidel Castro has announced he will not accept another term as president, ending the communist revolutionary’s 49 years in power.
Evolution, Cuisine and Romance
Greg Is Doing a Cafe Scientifique…“Evolution, Cuisine and Romance”
This Tuesday at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Continue reading Evolution, Cuisine and Romance
The Potato and Human Evolution
Fallback foods are the foods that an organism eats when it can’t find the good stuff. It has been suggested that adaptive changes in fallback food strategies can leave a more distinct mark on the morphology of an organism, including in the fossil record, than changes in preferred food strategies. This assertion is based on work done by the Grants and others with Galapagos Island finches, by Richard Wrangham and me with hominids, and by Betsy Burr and me with rodents. Continue reading The Potato and Human Evolution
What did the immediate ancestor of chimps and humans look like?
Comparing living chimpanzees to living humans, in reference to the species that gave rise to these two closely related species, is one way to frame questions about the evolution of each species. Continue reading What did the immediate ancestor of chimps and humans look like?
Gene Genie Blog Carnival is Available
Here.. at Gene Sherpas.
Mitosis Rap
Darwin and the Voyage: 09 ~ Fossil Quadrupeds
Charles Darwin wrote a book called Geological Observations on South America. Since Fitzroy needed to carry out intensive and extensive coastal mapping in South America, and Darwin was, at heart, a geologist more than anything else (at least during the Beagle’s voyage), this meant that Darwin would become the world’s expert on South American geology. Much of The Voyage is about his expeditions and observations. Part of this, of course, was figuring out the paleontology of the region. Continue reading Darwin and the Voyage: 09 ~ Fossil Quadrupeds
Did Science Debate 2008 Die in Boston? We wanted w00t, they gave us m00t.
Science Debate 2008 always was a liberal, Democratic Party leaning effort, but it might be the case that it has now become a perfectly partisan past time with no further relevance. I hope not, but I fear this may be true. Continue reading Did Science Debate 2008 Die in Boston? We wanted w00t, they gave us m00t.