Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is formerly a doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas, in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not battling creationists or modeling species ranges, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.
The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.
As a retiring Republican state legislator endorses a Democrat to replace him, conservative activists go on the attack.
Hack Republican commentator and former Party County Chair John Altevogt whines: "It doesn’t matter. I've never had any use for Ray Cox. It would please me greatly if he would…
After crunching the numbers on the trends in NIH funding, some interesting patterns emerge.
Clearly, the drop in funding of both R01 (initial grants) and R02 (renewals) are substantial over the Bush years. But intriguingly, the average size of a grant funded has risen. This may seem like a good…
The Scientific Activist documents the atrocities. Basic research is the proper domain of government funding, because the benefits accrue broadly. Sometimes we learn something narrow enough to be patentable, but often the result is fundamental enough to open up whole new realms of opportunity, new…
There's some sort of new pissing contest raging over whose watch is nerdiest. And while I can't compete in the sliderule competition, I think my watch prowess stands on its own.
I have no watch. No, that's false. I have a couple of watches somewhere or other. But I don't wear a watch. Why…
Responding to Ed and PZ, EvolutionBlog writes of the speech Ken Miller gave at KU (previously discussed here):
According to the account given by Hayes, Miller did not say simply that conclusions about God are non-scientific and philosophical. He also informed his audience that creationists are “…
I've always been a big fan of Steve Case. As head of the committee appointed to draft the science standards for the state of Kansas, he's been at the center of an often blistering battle, but I've never seen him anything but calm and friendly. Whatever smears are aimed at him personally, he's…
DefCon Blog and Tom Sawyer's campaign report that efforts to promote bogus debates in science classes ("Challenge everything" was one supporter's battle cry) have failed for the nonce. Other ideas were debated until time for the debate proposal ran out, but it may still be revived. This is why it…
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline wants you to think he's a spiritual man. He sues family planning clinics, tries to peek into women's medical records for evidence of sin, he even has his staff sort through donated CDs, making sure impure lyrics don't wind up in our libraries.
As the campaign…
What everyone seems to remember about 9/11 was how beautiful and clear the day was. Certainly it was lovely in Kansas, and across the Eastern seaboard, the sun shone brightly. As days go, it seemed like a good one. I woke up, as always, to NPR's Morning Edition. Who knows what exactly they…
First debate focuses on economy’s health. Jim Barnett asks a question we've all pondered "Why haven’t we not been keeping up?"
His supporters showed up dressed as cockroaches, a decision reported to have confused the audience.
Meanwhile, Sebelius focused on the way that our state economy has grown…
I couldn't make the speech by Ken Miller, the inaugural speech in KU's series on "Difficult Dialogues." Fortunately, the audio is out there so I can catch up on the controversy.
The controversy seems to center mostly on the section of his talk described like this by the Journal World:
Miller said…
On Fridays, we like to highlight some of the remarkable and beautiful things you find right under your nose.
This week, a reader sends in some photos of Lycoperdon pulcherrimum, Latin for "most beautiful wolf-fart."
What we see is the fruiting body of a fungus. Most of the biomass of fungi is…
Akron's Beacon Journal explains how the attacks on science by creationists are expanding to climate change and stem cells.
There's a lot that has to be unpacked about that, but one thing stands out: evolution, climate change and stem cells are not scientifically controversial. All exist, and are…
That's how rubidium and cesium are described in this video about the explosive consequences of mixing alkali metals and water.
Gotta love the Brits. See also the competition between thermite and liquid nitrogen. Round two matches the winner against a Peugeot engine, and then the car's gas tank.
Spook Larry Johnson explains new revelations from reporters at the Nation:
Valerie Plame was working undercover as a senior CIA operations officer.
Valerie Plame was working on issues related to Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to keep America safe.
Valerie Plame traveled overseas as part of…
I didn't really say anything when scientists announced a potential new way to generate stem cell lines. The technique involves extracting one cell from a blastula, just as is done in normal in vitro fertilization for genetic testing, and then growing that one cell into a stem cell line, while the…
Adventures in Ethics and Science announces "It's a nerd-off." And I have to admit that Stemwedel is pretty nerdish.
But seriously, does she bring out the fabulous work of Tom Glazer or Marais and Miranda to enlighten her science labs? No, I think not. Who but a nerd god would dare attempt to use…
The Panda's Thumb issues an Ohio Call to Action:
Please write the Board of Ed TODAY. Politely urge them to hold a vote of the entire Board –at their Tuesday Sept 12 meeting – establishing that additional language is NOT needed to replace the creationist nonsense removed at the Feb 06 mtg.
The Board…
Before we begin, I should point out that the ozone hole and the greenhouse effect are totally different. A lot of people get confused about that, and I'm about to talk about both phenomena, so I'd hate to contribute to that confusion.
In 1980, scientists examining satellite measurements of the…
Election Poll 2006: Kansas Governor:
Now that Republican State Senator Jim Barnett has won the August 1 primary, Governor Kathleen Sebelius leads her challenger 48% to 37%, a drop from seventeen percentage points to eleven.
…the incumbent continues to enjoy high favorables and job ratings, with 35…
I've never seen a train wreck. At least not outside of news reports and movies like The Fugitive. So I can't be certain if reading the commentary at Billy Dembski's blog is exactly like watching a train wreck, or if the right analogy is less bloody and more entertaining.
Today, PaV asks How…
At long last my copy of the new paperback edition of The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney has arrived.
The book is excellent, and always was. Had Mooney not written this detailed history and analysis of the ways that the Republican Party and its main constituencies have attacked the…
In Science, two biologists reported on the effects of fishing in South American rivers. Removing a large fish, Prochilodus mariae, from the river causes rapid changes in how carbon (stored energy) passes through the river, decreasing the cycling of carbon. In fact, they explain, "Impacts of…
On Labor Day, we should remember the heroes of labor, the people who gave us weekends, overtime and safe worksites. Yes, people like Joe Hill People like my grandfather, who came to this country from the Ukraine in 1922, where he had trained as a typographer.
He went through Ellis Island, and came…
Saying "This compares with any treasure anywhere in the world,":
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the Nature Conservancy on Friday announced the donation of a conservation easement encompassing 10,000 acres [of tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills].
The tallgrass prairie once stretched in a giant sea of…
While responding to the foolishness of IDolators has become increasingly dull business, there are occasional opportunities in it. The problem is that they offer nothing essentially new, which is why it isn't science. The advantage is that they give us insights into how they view the world, and by…
They used to be just like me and you
They used to be sweet little boys
But something went horribly askew
Now killing is their only source of joy
The Decemberists' new album, due out in October, has been leaking out in various fora. The album is loosely organized around a Japanese tale of a man who…
