Getting ID confused with Science. Still happening…

Woah. Where to begin with this one?

Turns out that, according to a study of science teachers in the USA, 1 in 6 believe that humans have been on Earth fewer than 10,000 years. 1 in 8 present Creationism to their students as “a scientifically valid alternative to evolution”. During a school year, biology teachers might be lucky to spend 5 hours on the topic of human evolution. Nearly a half of these teachers believe that a supernatural being has a hand in evolution.

This boggles the mind.

Firstly, if this is correct then there is a significant number of American science teachers who are completely unaware of the meaning of the term ‘theory’ as it applies to their area of (alleged) expertise. Here is what Wikipedia has to say on it:

In science a theory is a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise verified through empirical observation.

I could have picked any one of a variety of similarly phrased definitions from ’round the web (go look for some yourself), but the point that it can be tested is critical; no faith-derived explanation can be, and future predictions from a faith perspective are notoriously imprecise or just plain wrong.

Secondly, it is probably against the law. Several recent court judgements in the US have underlined the need to keep ID out of the science classroom. Unfortunately, without any kind of standardised curriculum, the materials taught in Science classes are still vulnerable to being hijacked by the superstitious.

For a concise analysis of the highlights, I can recommend this blog entry, at LayScience.net

I imagine this happens in Australia too, although I’m proud to say that I know of no-one in my school or in my extended professional circle who would do this. Still, it could happen…

(cartoon from http://www.fsteiger.com/theory.html – a precis of the argument against ID)

Lost and found in the universe

Space may not be so empty after all. Astronomers are reporting that they have discovered material forming a ‘backbone’ for the universe, along which the galaxies we can see are arrayed, and that this is a store house of regular baryonic matter (protons, neutrons & electrons making up familiar atoms).

Again, the way this study has been done is really clever. The scientists were looking at the light coming from stars and studying the way it was changed as it travelled towards Earth. Along the way, baryonic matter absorbed light at predicatble wavelengths in fairly consistent ways allowing the observers to draw very solid conclusions about the nature and quantity of the ’stuff’ filling up space.

BTW, don’t confuse this stuff with dark matter. Baryons are attracted to the gravitational influence of dark matter to form the ‘cosmic web’ but that’s a whole ‘nother story…

(illustrations from Space Telescope Science Institute, STSI, at NASA)

Be a cat person, early

There may be a protective effect against asthma in being raised as a child in a household with a cat.

It was reported today that the Columbia Centre for Childrens’ Environmental Health (CCCEH) has described the development of an immune response, as early as 2 or 3 years of age, to cat allergens. They go on to show that by the age of 5 this translates into a lower risk of those children showing symptoms of asthma, such as wheezing.

In the centre’s own statement: “The presence of cats in the home at a very early age seems to help reduce the risk of developing asthma.”

I wonder if this might be the case in households with dogs or other common domestic pets?