Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Evolution: "Overwhelming and Compelling"
January 03, 2008 3:55 PM
The National Academy of Sciences has released a book called "Science, Evolution and Creationism" -- a strongly-worded answer to the Creationist movement and the doubts about Darwin that many people express in polls and elsewhere.
"Evolution is both a fact and a process that accounts for the diversity of life on Earth," it says.
"Scientists treat the occurrence of evolution as one of the most securely established of scientific facts," says an opening letter. Later: "The scientific evidence supporting biological evolution continues to grow at a rapid pace."
It describes in detail the discovery of Tiktaalik, the four-legged fish fossil from the Canadian Arctic that appears to be the missing link between primitive fish and animals that walked up onto land. And it argues that without an understanding of evolution, such threats as the SARS virus would be impossible to fight.
As for the Intelligent Design movement, which lost a court battle in Pennsylvania and is now part of a debate in Florida over the use of the world "evolution" in school standards, the report says "the pressure to downplay evolution or emphasize nonscientific alternatives in public schools compromises science education."
The academy says the booklet -- actually an update of versions published in 1984 and 1999 -- is aimed at policy makers, school boards, science teachers "and others in the community who are committed to providing students with quality science education." It's also intended for "students as well as adults who wish to become more familiar with the many strands of evidence supporting evolution...."
The report is careful not to discredit religion; it describes science and faith as different ways of arriving at truth. Its closing line: "Many scientists have written eloquently about how their scientific studies have increased their awe and understanding of a creator.... The study of science need not lessen or compromise faith."
The Academy is offering the book as a PDF for free; click HERE for the full 86-page file. It is also offering the book for sale, and PDFs of shorter sections; you can find them HERE.
There will doubtless be replies. This is only one salvo in a debate that dates back to Darwin.
(Photograph: The Tiktaalik fossil, as published in the journal Nature in 2006.)
January 3, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (508)
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One simple question. How did mammals manage to survive while they waited for the complex design of procreation to "evolve". Global warming people are saying that mammal species are now dying out because they can't evolve fast enough to cope with the 1/4 degree increase in temperature, but somehow they managed the other.
Posted by: Jerry Nendel | Jan 3, 2008 4:22:19 PM
I can't believe we're still having this "debate" in 21st century USA. We've become the laughing stock of other advanced nations. :(
Posted by: Realist | Jan 3, 2008 4:24:33 PM
@Jerry Nendel:
We are the advanced nation.
Posted by: Jerry Nendel is a moron | Jan 3, 2008 4:28:35 PM
That comment was meant for Realist.
Posted by: Sorry Jerry Nendel | Jan 3, 2008 4:30:03 PM
I suppose that intelligent design included creatures so diverse to give the illusion of evolution. That a four legged fish was in fact created by god and we have misinterpreted it as the missing link between the water and land.
However, how can people be so brazen as to debate evolution? No one questions the origin of gravity or why the earth circles the sun, why debate something that so convincingly coincides with what science has already observed?
Posted by: Devon | Jan 3, 2008 4:34:59 PM
Jerry - A. The fossil record shows that mammals are relative latecomers to the Earth, and that they descended from earlier animals with different forms of procreation (egg-laying reptiles, etc.). B. 99.99% of all species that have ever lived on Earth are extinct. Some species will survive climate changes (or other environmental factors) relatively intact, some will die out completely, and some will evolve over time into different species. This is how evolution works.
Posted by: D | Jan 3, 2008 4:36:10 PM
We came from monkeys. LOL Whoever believes that must have the intellect of monkeys, so maybe they just evolved.
Posted by: Scott | Jan 3, 2008 4:38:26 PM
As long as everyone agrees that Jesus spoke English, the evolution argument means absolutely nothing.
Posted by: M. Elrod | Jan 3, 2008 4:39:24 PM
People that would laugh at a 12 year old that still believes in Santa or the Tooth Fairy still try to tell us that an imaginary being created the universe. Rather ridiculous, is it not?
Posted by: Irnotu | Jan 3, 2008 4:39:54 PM
The religious right was the last to be dragged onboard "the world is round" bandwagon. They'll get it someday.
Posted by: eric | Jan 3, 2008 4:43:30 PM
Ned, you should get ABC to change the headline on the main page. "Pro-Evolution Argument Gets Stronger" implies that this is something new. It's nice to keep getting new examples of evolution, but it hardly changes the fact that the scientific evidence for evolution has been "Overwhelming and Compelling" for more than a century.
Posted by: jock59801 | Jan 3, 2008 4:44:37 PM
If we evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys??
If I am wrong for believing in God, oh well. If the atheists are wrong, well, Hell.
Posted by: Cliff F. | Jan 3, 2008 4:46:09 PM
Sad that people still believe in evolution. It's a scientific community that is desperate to prove that it is still in control and that absolutely everything can be proved by experimentation. As a student of science and a student of the Bible, I see absolutely no reason why true science and religion don't harmonize. It's those so-called 'creationists' who advocate the Earth was created in six, literal, 24 hour days that do much discredit to people who believe in creation. Yes, evolution in general is indisputable, since germs and viruses evolve and so forth. But human evolution? Impossible. Impossible to the nth degree.
Posted by: Benjamin | Jan 3, 2008 4:46:46 PM
Here's what I don't understand about this whole debate. Why would you want Creationism taught in a SCIENCE classroom? What's scientific about it? There's nothing wrong with religion (necessarily), and as that excerpt points out, many scientists and proponents of evolution are deeply religious. But religion and science are still discrete issues and belong in separate classrooms. If you MUST give your child the counterpoint, then teach them at home or send them to private school. Religion has no place in public education. There wouldn't be time to teach them all!
Posted by: Charlotte | Jan 3, 2008 4:48:07 PM
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1
Posted by: Brian | Jan 3, 2008 4:48:31 PM
According to creationism, the bible indicates that the earth is only 6000 years old. I suppose we having mass halucinations of those million year old dinosaur bones in our museums.
Posted by: justme | Jan 3, 2008 4:48:37 PM
The only reason we are still having any debate over evolution vs. creationism is because of a bunch of religious kooks who refuse to accept scientifically based research and findings over what they read in a book that was written about 2000 years ago when people believed (among other now discredited beliefs) that the earth was flat.
Any educational institution that is serious about providing a quality, fact based education to it's students should not allow anything to do with creationism into it's science classrooms.
Posted by: Bruce in California | Jan 3, 2008 4:50:40 PM
God created the heavens & the earth ... and man ... Period ...
Posted by: plsenlightenme | Jan 3, 2008 4:53:02 PM
Evolution does NOT claim that we evolved from monkeys. It claims that humans and other primates may have had a common ancestor.
Posted by: Realist | Jan 3, 2008 4:55:38 PM
Human evolution impossible?
First off, we know the process is occuring in mankind...
h
Debate over. Humanity mutates. Thus, Humanity evolves.
All part of the Creator's plan. :-)
Posted by: myrdinn | Jan 3, 2008 4:56:09 PM
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