Showing posts with label evolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evolution. Show all posts

US Candidates on Evolution

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Barack Obama accepted Nature's invitation to answer 18 science-related questions in writing; John McCain's campaign declined. ....wherever possible, Nature has noted what McCain has said at other times on these topics.

Do you believe that evolution by means of natural selection is a sufficient explanation for the variety and complexity of life on Earth? Should intelligent design, or some derivative thereof, be taught in science class in public schools?

Obama: I believe in evolution, and I support the strong consensus of the scientific community that evolution is scientifically validated. I do not believe it is helpful to our students to cloud discussions of science with non-scientific theories like intelligent design that are not subject to experimental scrutiny.

McCain said last year, in a Republican primary debate: "I believe in evolution. But I also believe, when I hike the Grand Canyon and see it at sunset, that the hand of God is there also." In 2005, he told the Arizona Daily Star that he thought "all points of view" should be available to students studying the origins of humanity. But the next year a Colorado paper reported him saying that such viewpoints should not be taught in science class.

enough said.

that's taken from US election: Questioning the candidates.


Evolution in the flask

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These clever guys kept colonies of E-Coli evolving in flasks for years. E-Coli can't digest citrate...well these guys got E-Coli that can, and were able to track the mutations that led the way there. If I understand it correctly, the chain of mutations that made the infamous bacteria turn into citrate eaters is very unlikely, yet their evolution was somehow repeatable.

PNAS paper to appear soon.