Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

Fossil redefines mammal history
(By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News, August 25, 2011)

A small, 160-million-year-old Chinese fossil has something big to say about the emergence of mammals on Earth.

The shrew-like creature is the earliest known example of an animal that used a placenta to provide nourishment to their unborn young.

Its features clearly set it apart from marsupial mammals, which adopt a very different reproductive strategy.

The discovery pushes back the date the two groups took up their separate lines, according to Nature magazine.

The journal carries a paper written by a team of palaeontologists led by Zhe-Xi Luo from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, US.

It describes the fossil remains of an animal unearthed in China's northeast Liaoning Province, which has produced so many stunning fossils in recent years.

The new specimen, which the scientists call Juramaia sinensis, records many of the key features of the long-dead organism, including its skull and even impressions of soft tissues such as hair.

But, most importantly, the Juramaia fossil also retains a full set of teeth and forepaw bones.

It is these parts that have enabled palaeontologists to place the creature among the eutherians, or what we more commonly would refer to as placental mammals; as opposed to the metatherians, whose descendants include marsupials such as kangaroos.

"The teeth of Juramaia show all the typical eutherian dental features," Dr Luo explained.

"Specifically, eutherians have three molars, and five premolars. This is in contrast to metatherians characterized by four molars and three premolars.

"Details aside, the difference in teeth of Juramaia allow us to identify it as belonging to the eutherian lineage. In addition, the forelimb and wrist bones show some eutherian features; they completely lack the important diagnostic features of metatherians-marsupials," he told BBC News.

The Liaoning specimen is especially significant because it means the fossil record now sits more comfortably with what genetic studies have been suggesting about the timing of the emergence of the different mammalian lineages.

These DNA investigations had indicated that eutherians should have been in existence much earlier than the previous oldest-known eutherian fossil - a creature called Eomaia, which lived about 125 million years ago.

Juramaia's appearance in the Jurassic Period of Earth history would appear to corroborate what the genetics has been saying.

Today, 90% of all mammals, which include humans of course, are placentals. Knowing the timing of the split from marsupials is fundamental to understanding the full story of the evolution of mammals.

Another interesting aspect of the discovery is what the fossil can tell us about the lifestyles of the early placentals, and it seems they were pretty adept at climbing.

"Juramaia is an insectivorous mammal. It weighed about 15 -17 grams, more or less the size of a shrew," Dr Luo said.

"Its hand structure suggests that it was a capable climber. So we interpreted it to be a tree-climbing insectivorous mammal hunting insects for living," the Carnegie Museum researcher told BBC News.

No, Governor Perry, schools can’t teach religion as science, even in Texas
(Charles C. Haynes, Opinion Essay, The Washington Post, August 25, 2011)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry needs to get home more often.

On Aug. 11, just days before Perry told a young boy in New Hampshire that “in Texas we teach both creationism and evolution,” the Texas Education Agency sent a memorandum to the State Board of Education finalizing approval of scientifically-accurate teaching material for use in Texas public schools.

Perry’s pronouncement notwithstanding, Texas schools teach evolution without any mention of creationism - despite years of political pressure from religious conservatives to include creationist ideas in the curriculum. Evolution, dismissed by Perry as “a theory that’s out there” with “some gaps,” is presented as sound science in Texas textbooks and supplementary materials.

But even if a majority of the Texas state board voted tomorrow to teach creationism alongside evolution in science classrooms, public schools may not do so without violating the Establishment clause of the First Amendment. So-called “balanced treatment” -- when you teach one, teach the other - -was explicitly struck down as unconstitutional promotion of religion in public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 (Edwards v. Aguillard).

The struggle to keep religion and science separate in the classroom is a never-ending battle in Texas, as is it in other states where anti-evolution sentiment runs deep. In 2009, the state board of education adopted science standards that require examination of “all sides of scientific evidence” - language that anti-evolution forces hoped would open the door to creationist critiques of evolution.

At the same time, the board rejected stronger language requiring schools to teach “strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories, a formulation many scientists and civil libertarians feared would be used to push unscientific objections to evolution.

Just what gets in and what doesn’t was tested earlier this year during a hot debate over supplementary high school lessons up for adoption (“supplementary” because the state can’t afford new textbooks). In July, the state board rejected modifications proposed by a board-appointed reviewer that critics charged would water-down and distort the teaching of evolution. Led by the Texas Freedom Network, an advocacy group that supports the teaching of evolution, many scientists, educators and religious leaders led a successful campaign to block the changes.

To mollify anti-evolutionists, the board left open the possibility of some revisions by charging Education Commissioner Robert Scott with continuing to work with the publisher on final changes that meet the 2009 standards. On August 11, Scott informed the board that the publisher had “sufficiently addressed” all of the objections.

According to the Texas Freedom Network, the final approval of these lessons means that “all of the materials approved from the nine publishers are in line with fact-based science and free of creationist attacks seeking to undermine science.”

Of course, students in Texas and everywhere else should be exposed to a variety of religious ideas about creation. And they should study the political and religious context for the long-running debate over evolution in the United States. Teaching about religion in public schools in the social studies and other courses is constitutional; teaching religion as science is not.

A good education should also include legitimate scientific questions about evolution. Even the most established scientific theories are open to further discovery. But religious objections to evolution with no scientific support may not be taught as “scientific” critiques of evolution.

No doubt many Texans, if not most, agree with Gov. Perry that schools should teach both creationism and evolution in science classes. But decisions about what counts as science should not be a popularity contest. No matter how many people object, public schools must teach what the vast majority of scientists and every leading science association affirms as sound science.

Rather than fret about the “gaps” in evolutionary theory, Gov. Perry should focus on the achievement gap that places American students 23rd in scientific literacy among the 34 developed nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Teaching the theory of evolution in public schools may not be popular in Texas or in other Bible-Belt states. But it’s right and necessary to do for the sake of good science education today - the key to economic prosperity tomorrow.

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No, Governor Perry, schools can’t teach religion as science, even in Texas
(Charles C. Haynes, Opinion Essay, The Washington Post, August 25, 2011)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry needs to get home more often.

On Aug. 11, just days before Perry told a young boy in New Hampshire that “in Texas we teach both creationism and evolution,”...

'No Dinosaurs' documentary tangles with creationism
(Gerald Ensley, The Tallahassee Democrat, August 25, 2011)

Eugenie Scott has no problem with those who believe in creationism, which is the belief God created the world in its present form a few thousand years ago. What she objects to is those who, "pass it off as supported by science. It isn't."

Making that distinction is the theme of "No Dinosaurs In Heaven," a 2010 documentary that will be screened in Tallahassee on Sunday. The documentary addresses the conflict between creationism and evolution that has infiltrated science education in the nation: Some school districts have either banned the teaching of evolution or teach creationism as an equal scientific theory to evolution.

The documentary was written, directed and produced by Greta Schiller, a science educator and filmmaker. Schiller's chief point is teaching creationism undermines the nation's science education.

Scott, the executive director of the National Center for Science Education, is interviewed in the film and will attend Sunday's showing in Tallahassee to answer questions.

"If children are told creationism is scientific, it distorts their understanding of what science is," Scott said. "Schools that teach creationism are advocating a sectarian religious idea not shared by all Christians, many of whom believe God created through evolution.

"Understanding evolution is basic scientific literacy, which Americans need more of if we are to prosper in the 21st century."

The documentary screening is sponsored by the Tallahassee Scientific Society and The Center for Inquiry. The film is being shown at the IMAX theater on Kleman Plaza. The 90-minute film starts at 7 p.m., followed by the Q&A session with Scott. Tickets are $10 at the door.

"We think this film has an important message," said TSS spokesman Frank Stephenson. "It shows how science educators around the country are under a lot of pressure from fundamentalist religious groups that object to kids being taught anything about evolution and how natural processes work."

The National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Berkeley, Calif., is dedicated to informing the public about the scientific, educational and legal aspects of the creationism vs. evolution debate. Scott, who has visited Tallahassee several times in recent years, laments efforts to undermine the teaching of evolution — but is confident the battle is not lost.

"Unfortunately, the heart and the gut take precedence over the brain for most people, and the evidence of science can be set aside if it conflicts with someone's ideology," Scott said. "(But) I like to think that if (scientific) information is presented clearly, and in a way that resonates with people, it will get a hearing."