Columbia, SC — After months of debate, today the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee unanimously ratified high school biology standards requiring students to understand why “scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.” The South Carolina State Board of Education adopted the standards unanimously last month, and submitted them to the EOC for approval. South Carolina’s new evolution standard does not require teaching the theory of intelligent design. The biology standard approved requires students to be able to, “Summarize ways that scientists use data from a variety of sources to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.” This falls under the overall biology standard which says that “The student will demonstrate an understanding of biological evolution Read More ›

On June 12, 2006, South Carolina will likely become the fifth state to adopt science standards requiring critical analysis of evolution. Four other states whose science standards require full disclosure of the scientific evidence about evolution include New Mexico, Minnesota, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. Previously Ohio also had standards calling for critical analysis of evolution.On May 31, 2006, the South Carolina Board of Education unanimously approved science standards which require students to “Summarize ways that scientists use data from a variety of sources to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.” On June 12 the standards will go to South Carolina’s Education Oversight Committee for final approval.

Judge John Jones world tour continues on with no sign of the Judge slowing down. This Knight-Ridder story appeared in Kansas today and one wonders if the Judge can be far behind. By his own count he’s done ten speaking gigs just recently, many of them commencement speeches. None in Dover though. Judge Jones knew full well that the eyes of the world were upon him during the Dover case, and so chose that moment to deliver a “civics lesson.” Jones said he had no agenda regarding intelligent design but, rather, was taking advantage of the worldwide interest in the case to talk about constitutional issues important to him.“I’ve found a message that resonates,” he said. “It’s a bit of Read More ›

Columbia, SC — The South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC) will vote Monday, June 12, on whether to give final approval to science standards for biology that require students to summarize how scientists “investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.” The standards were approved unanimously by the South Carolina Board of Education on May 31. Four other states (Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and New Mexico) already have science education standards encouraging critical analysis of evolution. “Darwin’s theory should be taught as a theory open to scientific scrutiny, not as an orthodoxy that cannot be questioned,” said Casey Luskin, Program Officer for Public Policy & Legal Affairs at the Discovery Institute. “South Carolina’s new biology standards, if adopted, will improve science Read More ›

Now in a mirror-image scenario mapped out by astronomers Aden and Marjorie Meinel in today’s San Diego Union-Tribune, radiation turns the savage into the scientist: they argue that a spike in cosmic radiation well may have contributed to the evolution of modern humans by accelerating the rate of genetic mutations.