Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

.been to any good gladiator games ? They are full of a lack of religion.

who pretends to be a working scientist.

If you cant see a problem with me reading 10000 of your posts, then I shouldnt explain sarcasm either.

So while you are not pretending but claiming to be when clearly you arent

If you are truly asking a quetion, Id suggest reading all about "knockout genes" and behavioral studies, as well as Ernst MAyrs own words about behavioral genetics (cf "instinct")

Its an interesting area of work and there are several geneticists working on behavioral genetics via knockout gene studies.

Im a geologist, not abgenetecist, but I do try to read as much as any layman in this arena. We do have a real geneticist on the boards. He sometimes joins in and corrects our discussions with his more scholarly views.

dont think you could find your ass with both hands so why should I give a damn about what you think? Youve been a source of shaky bullshit for your many months on this board. So why should you change now, unless youve been doing some actual reading then I say, congratulations, If Ive been a resource or an inspiration I will remain humble in assisting you in your journey.

Im a geologist,

Fresno science teacher awed by Galapagos
(By Ron Orozco / The Fresno Bee / September 4, 2010)

Scott Hatfield, a Bullard High School science teacher and Christian, stepped into the world of Charles Darwin this summer with a visit to the Galapagos Islands.

Charles Darwin's visit to just four islands in five weeks in the 1830s had a resounding impact on his writings as the basis for the modern understanding of evolution.

Hatfield traveled to the islands, which are in the Pacific Ocean on the equator, with a group of 16 people, including Fresno City College science instructors, a psychologist and graduate students. The group traveled 500 miles in a boat with national parks officials and took eight plane rides over 10 days.

He plans to give talks in the classroom and in the community about his experience.

Hatfield says making the trip was important because he wanted to gather information to use in his teaching to inspire students to choose careers in science. He says he's struck by how many students who live in Fresno still haven't visited the area's national parks.

"To see the Galapagos -- it's impressive on its own," he says. "It's fresh; it's isolated. Isolation is like a natural laboratory for doing science."

Hatfield says he was able to connect experiences in the Galapagos that Valley students and fellow science instructors can observe locally.

Here are 10 things he learned about the Galapagos that inspired him:

The sheer physical scale -- The archipelago is very, very large, Hatfield says, and is very, very exhaustive to navigate.

He found that many of the anecdotal things he has heard about the Galapagos have more to do with the individual species, such as the marine iguanas, tortoises or finches, rather than the place's dimensions.

The feeling of a world before time -- Words such as "prehistoric" or "ancient" don't do the Galapagos justice, Hatfield says.

"When you see the iguanas clustered in large groups over black lava shorelines, with no vegetation in sight, you can easily imagine you are in a primeval world, at the center of creation," he says.

Approachability of wildlife -- There is probably no other place on Earth, he says, where you can get right next to so many different creatures.

He swam with sharks.

The volcanoes -- Hundreds of volcanoes, including a handful still active, make the Galapagos a geological wonderland, he says.

Some are shield volcanoes. Some are cinder cones. Others are a mixture of materials.

The birds -- It's a bird-lover's paradise, he says. One of the islands, Genovesa, is about a fourth the size of Clovis, yet home to more than a million birds of various species.

The blue-footed Booby stands out. Hatfield says he saw them plunge-dive to steal fish from pelican's mouths.

The marine iguanas -- The only ocean-going lizards in the world, they are well-adapted to the Galapagos, he says.

On some islands, there are so many that Hatfield couldn't even step onto black lava where they congregate. "They opened their mouths and I didn't see any teeth," he says.

The equal fluidity of land and sea -- Hatfield remembers waking up one morning on a ship that was floating in a bay formed from the collapse of a volcano: land.

The next morning, he hiked a recently formed lava flow that connected islands previously separated: ocean.

"It was an epiphany moment," Hatfield says.

The giant tortoise -- The breeding program in the Galapagos is a success, he says. It produces hundreds of hatchlings each year. It also has placed more than 3,000 adults back into the wild on various islands in the past 20 years.

The giant tortoise weighs more than 500 pounds and has a bluish shell. It also didn't care for Hatfield getting too close. "They hiss," he says.

The sea lions and pups -- Hatfield says he watched a female interact with her newborn, an estimated two days old.

"The placenta was right by it on the beach," says Hatfield, who captured the moment on video. "This was the money clip."

The world in transition -- Hatfield says mangrove forests along the lava cliffs on some islands blur the distinction between land and ocean.

"Pelicans and boobies nest in the mangrove branches, sea lions nap below the tap roots at low tide and sharks and rays glide through the narrow inlets," he says.

His final thought: The Galapagos is a wonder.

That article did more to make me want to visit there than anything I have read in many years.

Intellectuals must 'push back,' urges teacher sued by student
(By SCOTT MARTINDALE, Orange County Register, September 5, 2010)

IRVINE – High school history teacher James Corbett, found to have violated a student's First Amendment rights last year by disparaging Christianity in class, on Saturday urged "intellectuals of all political persuasions" to push back against the "right-wing authoritarianism" that is eroding mutual tolerance and democracy in America.

Speaking at a convention in Irvine hosted by the Orange County chapter of the high IQ society Mensa, Corbett railed against what he described as anti-intellectual conservatives who rely on "submission" and "cherished cultural myths" to maintain power and influence.

"Intellectuals of all political persuasions have an obligation to push back," Corbett told a roomful of 20 people at the Atrium Hotel in Irvine during a two-hour morning seminar. "RWAs (right-wing authoritarians) would drag the world into a world of war, fear and intolerance."

Corbett, who is in the process of appealing his court case, explained how he became the target of these so-called right-wing authoritarians after one of his Advanced Placement European history students at Mission Viejo's Capistrano Valley High School, Chad Farnan, sued him in 2007 over remarks he made about Christianity during classroom lectures.

Corbett said Farnan's attorneys – from the Murrietta-based Christian law firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom – seized on Corbett's unconventional teaching style to build a case that religious students were under attack in public schools. The attorneys drummed up national publicity, then used that publicity to solicit donations, Corbett said.

"There was nothing in my statements that could be construed as anti-religion," said Corbett, denying he has ever disparaged religion.

"If they (Farnan's attorneys) can create fear, namely among the RWAs, it's to their advantage to file lawsuits, even if they aren't likely to win. ... As long as the case is winding its way through the courts, they are continuing to raise donations."

Advocates for Faith & Freedom has maintained that the Farnan case is about protecting public school students' constitutional right to be able to learn in an environment devoid of religious hostility. The law firm says on its website that America's Judeo-Christian foundation is "slowly being eroded" by legal challenges to religious freedom.

Farnan, now a freshman at Pepperdine University in Malibu, is appealing his case, seeking a broader ruling against Corbett. Corbett also is appealing to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to be exonerated.

"Now is the time to fight back," Farnan told a roomful of local GOP donors at a fundraiser last year, "so our rights as Christians and conservatives can be taken back."

Court briefs were filed by both sides this summer, and the appeals court decision might come as early as December – or perhaps never, Corbett said Saturday.

Corbett explained that the 9th Circuit may decline to rule because he got to keep his teaching job and no attorney fees were awarded to either side.

"The 9th Circuit may very well look at this and say, 'It's a moot case,'" Corbett said.

Corbett was found by U.S. District Court Judge James Selna in Santa Ana to have violated the First Amendment's establishment clause when he referred to creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense" during a fall 2007 classroom lecture.

Farnan did not seek monetary damages in his lawsuit, but he asked that his former European history teacher be fired or that the court issue an injunction barring Corbett from disparaging religion in class.

Selna ruled against issuing such an injunction, and Corbett remains in his teaching position at Capistrano Valley High.

During Corbett's talk Saturday, the 20-year Mission Viejo history teacher said he was troubled that parents increasingly seem to think public schools should be places where children learn facts, rather than how to think critically.

Such sentiments, he argued, are fueled by anti-intellectual conservatives, who actively work to ensure cherished cultural myths continue to be taught in schools.

As evidence, he cited the cultural myth that America was founded by pious Puritans – gentle, God-fearing people who wore buckles on their hats and broke bread with Indians.

In reality, Corbett noted, they were such intolerant people that they hunted and killed those who did not conform to their views and lifestyle – the Salem witch trials of 1692.

"The Puritans have become an unassailable myth," Corbett said. "My telling them (my students) the truth about them upsets them. ... (But) these were deeply flawed people whose intolerance knew no bounds."

Mensa club member Marvin Hoffman, who attended Corbett's talk, said the discussion was "fascinating" and personally resonated with him. In the early 1950s, when he was attending a public high school in Los Angeles, one of his teachers visited his home in an apparent attempt to convince him to convert to Christianity, an experience that made him uncomfortable, he said.

"I enjoy hearing an educated person talking," said Hoffman, a computer programmer analyst from Harbor City. "He is very articulate and makes me wish I was a lawyer and can go pro bono and help him out."

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