Author Archives: Jonathan Smith

The Stephen Jay Gould Prize is awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize individuals whose sustained and exemplary efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education, and everyday life … Continue reading →

Eugenie Scott Executive director National Center for Science Education and friend of the Florida Citizens for Science has been named to Scientific Americas top ten people who have recently demonstrated outstanding commitment to assuring that the benefits of new technologies … Continue reading →

A fundamental but elusive step in the early evolution of life on Earth has been replicated in a laboratory. Researchers synthesized the basic ingredients of RNA, a molecule from which the simplest self-replicating structures are made. Until now, they couldn’t … Continue reading →

Here is a simple challenge to all the creationists who frequently visit this web blog with their strong opinions and often critical remarks.Give us the name of a gene in any animal or plant that you think is designed and shows no signs of … Continue reading →

Dr Genie Scott the director of NCSE spoke with the Science Supervisors on April 7, 2009.  She did a really great job. The discussion centered around the issues of evolution and creationism and how to deal with objections to new … Continue reading →

President Obam spoke before the National Academy of Science this morning (a audio recording can be found here ) and he announced some new and potentially historic investments in science. What I found to be of particular interest was his comments … Continue reading →

A  39 million year old mammal from the Canadian arctic is yet another example of a newly discovered transitional fossil, The creature  would have looked rather like a seal in life…with a prominent exception. No flippers, instead having very large … Continue reading →

Despite the good faith efforts of three representatives to improve the bills on high school science assessment and graduation requirements, today’s events in the Florida House of Representatives demonstrated how difficult it can be to get education policy right in … Continue reading →