The old evolution cartoons about the ascent of man were never very accurate, but new research indicates that they are even more off than scientists have thought. Two forms of early humans depicted in those cartoons appear to have lived at the same time, according to new research on two African fossils. What this means is that human evolution is a “chaotic kind of looking evolutionary tree rather than this heroic march that you see with the cartoons of an early ancestor evolving into some intermediate and eventually unto us,” study co-author Fred Spoor, a professor of evolutionary anatomy at the University College in London, told Associated Press. It also means, Spoor said, that there is some still-undiscovered common ancestor that probably lived 2 million to 3 million years ago, a time that has not left much fossil record.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Even though voters approved a constitutional amendment last year protecting embryonic stem-cell research, expanded research hasn’t happened yet in the state, the New York Times reported. That’s in large part because some state lawmakers in Missouri are still fighting the issue, introducing new bills to try to block certain types of research. As a result, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research has suspended its plans for a $300 million expansion, citing the "persistent negative political climate," the Times reported. A Harvard University professor who put off his plan to move to Missouri to work at Stowers called what has happened since the amendment passed "a big disappointment."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
"Looks like Texas is on the move to be as stupid as Kansas," a HoustonPress blog said last week about Texas Gov. Rick Perry (in photo) appointing conservative ideologue Don McLeroy to head the State Board of Education. "The expectation," the blog said, "is that McLeroy will lead the way into creationism in the upcoming board debate over state textbooks."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Even before Congress changed hands, a gap existed between it and President Bush on federal funding for new embryonic stem-cell research. His second veto of a bill to bolster such research brought talk of an override attempt or yet another legislative do-over. Bush’s executive order urging on those who do “ethically responsible” research won’t satisfy the many who see embryonic stem cells as the pluripotent key to curing major illnesses. Both sides are just working the process as they can. But does the repeatedly stated will of the legislative branch mean nothing to Bush?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
President Bush should heed the will of Congress and the majority of the public (64 percent, according to a new Gallup poll) and sign a bill loosening restrictions on federally funded stem cell research. But Bush vowed Thursday that he would veto the bill, just as he did a similar bill last July. That’s too bad, especially given that the stem cells would come from unused frozen embryos that fertility clinics plan to discard.
But there was also promising research published Thursday. Scientists were able to make cells equivalent to embryonic stem cells using the skin cells of mice. If the process can be replicated in humans, it could avoid the ethical objections to embryonic stem cells.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The new $27 million Creation Museum near Cincinnati has lots of glitz and high-tech animatronic displays.
But is it science? No.
The evangelical group that built the museum says science backs its claims that biblical stories such as Adam and Eve and Noah’s ark are literally true and that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. Dinosaurs are shown co-existing with humans.
The founders have every right to create a museum extolling their beliefs, which are shared by many Americans. What they don’t have a right to do is claim that this has anything to do with science.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The evolution question from the GOP presidential debate (in which Sen. Sam Brownback and two other candidates raised their hands when asked if anyone doesn’t believe in evolution) is still generating commentary. Tom Teepen had a column in Wednesday’s Opinion pages saying that it was embarrassing even to have to ask the question. Kathleen Parker had a column Sunday arguing that the issue is more complex than a simple yes/no question.
That could be true, as the evolution debate is extending beyond biology into political science. Some conservative intellectuals are arguing that “Darwin’s scientific theories about the evolution of species can be applied to today’s patterns of human behavior, and that natural selection can provide support for many bedrock conservative ideas, like traditional social roles for men and women, free-market capitalism and governmental checks and balances,” the New York Times reported.
Then again, Parker joked, the presidential debate presented Darwinists with a contradiction: “If Darwin was right, how did these knuckle-draggers make it to the presidential campaign podium?”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback’s high-profile opposition to embryonic stem-cell research isn’t going unchallenged by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (in photo), who last week stepped up to defend this promising field. In a letter to the U.S. Senate signed by eight other governors, Sebelius called President Bush “out of touch” on the issue and urged senators to pass a bill authorizing federal funding (the Senate did so, but Bush has vowed a veto). “Every day, thousands of families in our states struggle as a loved one suffers from juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injuries or other conditions that might be cured if restrictions are lifted,” Sebelius said in the letter. “For over five years, these families have been forced to wait as the Bush policy has obstructed this vital research.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
We knew about identical twins, where a fertilized egg divides to form two embryos with the same genetic makeup, and fraternal twins, where two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm, resulting in twins no more alike than any other siblings. Now researchers have found a third type that they are calling semi-identical, in which two sperm cells fertilized one egg cell. The resulting twins were one with typically masculine genitalia and the other with sexually ambiguous genitalia.
This discovery, along with the Vanishing Twin Syndrome, in which an embryo can be absorbed by its twin — and take on some of its twin’s genetic characteristics — raises questions about the nature or nurture of homosexuality. Is it really a “lifestyle choice” when it can be the result of how an egg cell develops?
Posted by Patrice Hein
The Web site Borowitzreport.com lampooned the latest science standards vote this way: “The Kansas State Board of Education voted to teach evolution in public schools, with the six human members of the board outvoting the four monkeys.”
Meanwhile, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial took approving note of the “intelligent move” in Kansas schools’ “continuing passion play” and warned that “unless moderate Kansans keep hold of the democratic process, it can happen again. All states, all voters: Take note.”
And columnist John Young wrote that “opportunists seized on low-glamour elected policymaking roles that turned out to have a tremendous impact on the state. Indeed, they made Kansas a running joke.” His solution against such takeovers: “It takes people stepping forward as candidates, getting more involved in the political dialogue, and voting.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Check out the slide show of some of Richard Crowson’s editorial cartoons over the years about the Kansas evolution debate — and his original song “Evolution Blues.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
State lawmakers have a bad habit of passing tough-on-crime laws without regard to the impact on the prison population. At least this one should have no such effect, unless there’s some unknown cluster of Dr. Frankensteins operating in the state: State Rep. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, and 38 other House members want to make it a felony to create animal-human hybrids in Kansas.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A couple of news stories this week that some will probably claim are part of the liberal media’s agenda to promote homosexuality and undermine fatherhood: An Oregon scientist has been taking undeserved heat for his research on why about 8 percent of rams seek sex exclusively with other rams instead of ewes, the New York Times reported. And a Komodo dragon in England had five babies (see photo) even though a male has never been near her — the first documented virgin birth by a Komodo. What’s next, a story about dogs and cats living together?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Is famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking lost in space? He’s once again calling for human colonization of the universe as the only way to prevent extinction of our species.
He says it will take the development of “Star Trek”-like warp drives to get us there.
Right. And friendly Vulcans would help, too.
I’m all for space exploration. But his obsession with escaping Earth seems a bit out there and misdirected. Instead, why not use some of his brainpower to solve the more immediate problem of how to keep humans from destroying our home, the Earth, and ourselves through nuclear war or global warming?
True, space happens. A team of scientists claimed recently that the dinosaurs became extinct from the impact of a single huge asteroid 65 million years ago. (Ben Affleck apparently wasn’t there to divert it.)
But deep space travel and inhabitation are far into the future. The technology doesn’t exist, except on “Star Trek.” And I, for one, like my chances right here on Earth. It’s a beautiful place.
Beam me down, Stephen.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
America’s problems in Iraq probably aren’t due to low-tech weapons, but the U.S. military has a new high-tech one to use there.
Wired News reports on the Air Force’s Active Denial System, a nonlethal weapon that uses something akin to microwaves to heat the surface of the skin and prompt what the service euphemistically calls “prompt and highly motivated escape behavior.” In other words, it hurts so much, so quickly, that targets run away.
According to Wired News, the system has been extensively tested on volunteers and is supposed to produce no lasting ill effects — if used properly.
And yes, it has been certified for use in Iraq. It’ll be interesting to see how well that goes over.
Posted by Dave Knadler
It’s easy to be skeptical about any expensive idea hatched by a government agency, but NASA’s plan for a permanent outpost on the moon sounds a note of optimism and forward thinking that couldn’t come at a better time.
As outlined Monday, the base would tap lunar resources to sustain itself and perhaps provide fuel for eventual manned missions to Mars. After shutting down the tired shuttle program, NASA hopes cooperation from international partners and space businesses might make the project feasible without any dramatic infusion of new money.
Or maybe not. But it sounds good to me. It surely can’t hurt to lift our eyes, at least briefly, once more to the sky.
Posted by Dave Knadler
One of the studies that has emerged from tragedies such as Sept. 11, the Asian tsunami and the tragic nightclub fire in Rhode Island looks at a group’s immediate reaction to a crisis situation. Humans have a need to comprehend a situation before they react, and those 60 seconds could cost them their lives. The Washington Post reports that human behavior in hindsight shows that people have a tendency to try to explain what is happening collectively, rather than just evacuate and ask questions later. The larger the group of people, the more likely they are to stay in an attempt to the discern the event, as in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, rather than escape to safety, as sociologist Benigno E. Aguirre of the University of Delaware discovered. He also discovered that larger groups tend to look after one another rather than think only of themselves and rush to safety.
Living in Kansas, we find ourselves in this situation frequently when the tornado sirens sound. How many of us actually seek shelter, as our vigilant forecasters urge? Or do we wait for some sign — like being hit by a tree?
Posted by Angie Holladay
I’m feeling nostalgic about the solar system. Planets aren’t what they used to be — Pluto is no more.
Who says all scientists think alike and stifle dissent? This debate had all the drama and reversals of fortune of a WWE smackdown.
As I say in today’s column, as long as scientists were revising the solar system, why couldn’t they have renamed Uranus? I mean, how many more moon and probe jokes do we have to endure?
Meanwhile, Richard Crowson pondered in his editorial cartoon today (click on image to enlarge it) whether the demotion of Pluto, which was discovered by Kansan Clyde Tombaugh, was payback for our state science standards.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
