February 2009 Archives

Aside from the gentle giant Elephant, Whales may be my favorite animal around. As a child I would go to Cape Cod where my grandparents live and go on whale watches on the Atlantic side of the Cape.

I remember standing on the side of the boat with my chin rested on the hand rail and holding my grandmother's hand waiting and watching for any glimpse of these aquatic giants. With every whale breach I would tug on my Grandmother's windbreaker and point out something that she could obviously see. It was genuine excitement and amazement that only a child can have and something we tend to lose as we grow. Visits to the Cape were always a huge treat for me, and looking back on them were some of the best moments of my life.

Whales are some of the most magnificent animals on the planet and at a time of environmental change are in need of more attention from all of us. Oceans are getting more polluted and in areas over fished. Whales are, at times, unnecessary victims.

On Sunday March 8, beginning at 8p, Nat Geo Channel chronicles the path of Blue Whales. It is a program that follows the path of nature's biggest animal from the coasts of California to the waters of Costa Rica. I had a chance to screen this show recently and it is one of the better natural history films that I have seen in some time. Its right up there with Eye of the Leopard and Relentless Enemies. Its a film that is great to pop some popcorn, order a pizza and watch with the entire family or loved ones.

For more detail check out these:
- Kingdom of the Blue Whale
- Still Blue
- Tracking Blue Whale Game

Between 1968 and 1973 the Zodiac killer terrorized the Bay Area with unspeakable crimes. Sunday Nat Geo showcases the people that cracked his code and figured a way to solve these crimes.

This isn't the only case that we dive in to. Watch the preview below to see a clip before the show premieres on Sunday at 8p e/p.

Let us know what you think or of possible codes that we should crack!

For more check out the official site: Code Breakers

Happy 200th Birthday Charles Darwin

Modern Darwins Continue and Build On Your Legacy

(10:04pm) Greg: My final question of the night is this - in Darwin's letter to Joesph Dalton Hooker he wrote "If I lived twenty more years and was able to work, how I should I have to modify Orgin, and how much the views on all points will have to be modified! Well, it is a beginning and that is something" --If you had the chance to add a chapter in the Orgins of Species, what would the final chapter title be and what would you write about.

Dr Miller: That's easy. My final chapter would be about the molecular basis of evolutionary change. Darwin's ideas about mutation and inheritance were rudimentary, and in many respects quite wrong. In a sense, genetics and molecular biology put every aspect of Darwin's theory to the test -- a test they could have failed. In reality, these new sciences placed evolution on a sounder empirical footing that Darwin could ever have imagined. I think he'd be dazzled by the revolution in understanding that he started, and deeply satisfied that he got the fundamentals of evolution right in every respect.

Mrs Peebles:Genetics, the proof of things imagined.

Dr Hewlett: It would be hard to add anything after that incredible last chapter that Darwin wrote (unceremoniously entitled "Recapitulation and Conclusion"). As a molecular biologist, I would probably add a chapter before that one, summarizing the Mendelian view of inheritance and how it substantiates the model, giving natural selection a substrate of variants upon which to act. That was the principle weakness of the original, and such a chapter would certainly have changed how the "final edition" would now be read.

Dr Peters: This chapter has been written. In fact, a handful of chapters. See Ted Peters and Martinez Hewlett, A Scientific and Theological Commentary on Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008). Can I simply share this plug among our new friends at National Geographic Channel?

Professor Williamson:Just in the context of the book On the Origin of Species---since Darwin didn't really talk all that much about speciation and he didn't have a good idea of the hereditary process--I'd probably add a chapter on the molecular basis of inheritance and variation as the clay for natural selection....working back into the tree metaphor to leave tree branching (speciation) as the segue into the next book.

Brad Williamson is a long-time, Kansas biology teacher who has taught in small, rural schools, large suburban high schools, community colleges and universities for more than 30 years. Throughout his career he has taken an active role in biology education reform programs such as NSF's Global Lab Project, NSF's GLOBE project and NSF's Project GENE.

Along with Chip Taylor, in 1992, Williamson co-founded the internationally known Monarch Watch project that involves students and other citizen scientists in the study andconservation of the monarch butterfly. He is co-author of the web-intensive, high school biology text, Biology, Exploring Life. Currently Williamson is working with the UKanTeach program at the University of Kansas helping to prepare the next generation of science and math teachers. He has served in a number of leadership roles during his career, including president of the National Association of Biology Teachers in 2002. As a member of the Kansas science standards writing committee in 1999, Williamson was directly involved from the outset of the Kansas evolution education controversy. He has taken a prominent role promoting and defending good science education, both locally and nationally.

Martinez Hewlett is an emeritus professor in the department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He has published 30 scientific papers and a novel, Divine Blood (Ballantine 1994). He is a founding member of the St. Albert the Great Forum on Theology and the Sciences at the University of Arizona. He serves as an adjunct professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology at the GTU. He is co-author, with Ted Peters, of three books on evolution: Evolution: From Creation to New Creation (Abingdon, 2003), Can You Believe in God and Evolution? A Guide for the Perplexed (Abingdon, 2006), and A Theological and Scientific Commentary on Darwin's Origin of Species (Abingdon, 2008).

On why he feels it is important to discuss evolution today.

"Why is it important to discuss evolution today? If we take progress in the biological sciences seriously, from basic understanding of the world around us to applications in the field of human medicine, then a clear understanding of what biological evolution is and what it is not becomes critical. So much of the so-called "war" between science and religion over the issue of evolution is based upon mistaken notions of what the Darwinian model means."

Dr. Hewlett's View of the Key Moments in Evolution

1. The decade in the 19th century from 1859 to 1869. Three events took place during this period which, at the time, were not thought to be related: Darwin's publication of Origin of Species in 1859; Mendel's publication of his work on heredity in pea plants in 1868, and Meischer's discovery of nuclein, which is DNA, in 1859. By the middle of the 20th century these three things come together in the neo-Darwinian synthesis, the underlying paradigm of modern biology.

2. The challenge of intelligent design. This modern rediscovery of the so-called "design argument," originally defended by Reverend William Paley in 1802, and now championed by scientists such as William Dembski and Michael Behe. This seemingly scientific, but basically flawed approach has been alluring to many non-scientists looking for a compromise position in the debate.

3. The Human Genome Project. The culmination of the molecular paradigm in biology actually brings about a deep philosophical restructuring of the field. Molecular biology has given way to systems biology as the best explanatory model for living systems at all levels of organization.

Mrs. Peebles holds a B.S. degree in biology and chemistry from the University of Arkansas at Monticello, and an M.A. degree +30 in science education from Louisiana State University. She has taught biology (and various other science classes) in middle and high school for 21 years, has taught Science Methods and Current Issues in Science Education for the LSU College of Education, and currently serves as a science learning team leader mentoring alternative certification teachers for the Teach Louisiana program. She has received the Louisiana Outstanding Biology Teacher Award, the Tandy Technology Award, and an Access Excellence Fellowship. She is active with the National Association of Biology Teachers, having served as Regional Coordinator for the southeast region, Louisiana OBTA director, state director, Awards committee chairman, and is currently serving for the third time on the national board. She is a member of the Louisiana Science Teachers Association, and will receive an award at their spring meeting for her contributions to science education in Louisiana. She is a founding member of the Louisiana Coalition for Science, which seeks to prevent the intrusion of intelligent design and other religious attacks on evolution into the classroom. Mrs. Peebles testified before the Louisiana senate and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education regarding the Louisiana "Science Education Act" and its implementation.

On why she feels it is important to discuss evolution today.

"This is a time of challenge for science education. Legislation has been introduced in many states to ostensibly allow "critical thinking" in science class. Of course, critical thinking is already taking place in science class, and is mandated by national and state science standards. This legislation does not come from teachers or scientists, but from religious groups who are seeking to challenge evolution under the "disguise" of critical thinking. The general public does not realize the risk involved from this "foot in the door". Evolution is THE unifying principle in biology, and these efforts to undermine it could produce a significantly poorer understanding of the nature of science. 0ur students deserve the best science education possible to prepare them for a science-filled future." 

Patsye Peebles' View of the Key Moments in Evolution

Pivotal Moments in evolution would of course have to include the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859. Other pivotal moments for me as a teacher were several court cases that made it clear that evolution and only evolution should be taught in science class. One important case was the 1987 ruling in Edwards vs Aguillard, which struck down the Louisiana Creationism Act and clearly showed it as an attempt to teach religion and limit the teaching of evolution. Another would be the Freiler vs Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education in 1997 because the court recognized that "intelligent design" is just another iteration of "creation science", that neither is really science, and that evolution is not religion. Kitzmiller et al vs Dover in 2005 was another pivotal case for teachers because it clearly established that intelligent design is not science, and it is not allowed in science class.

The second member of the the panel is Professor Ted Peters.  Ted Peters teaches theology and ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, published at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. He is author of The Stem Cell Debate (Fortress 2007) and Anticiating Omega (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht / Eisenbrauns, 2007). Along with biologist Martinez Hewlett, he co-authored A Scientific and Theological Commentary on Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (Abingdon 2008) and Can You Believe in God and Evolution? (Abingdon 2006).

On why he feels it is important to discuss evolution today.

"This year, 2009, we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species as well as his 200th birthday. The Darwinian model of evolutionary change has provided a necessary framework to pursue contemporary research into genetics and related medical sciences that lead to the healing of so many persons from disease. Thank God for Darwin's science!"

Professor Ted Peter's View of the Key Moments in Evolution

1. It is extremely important to distinguish between the science of the Darwinian model of evolution from ideologies built upon this science. In the late nineteenth century we saw the rise of Social Darwinism, a social ethic that promoted the success of big business and decreed that society should "leave the poor to die by the roadside." During the same era we saw the rise of the Eugenics movment, and attempt to speed up evolution through improving heredity. Positive eugenics policies in Britain and the U.S. sought to encourage intelligent and healthy persons to marry and have large families; while negative eugenics in the form of "racial hygiene" in Nazi Germany used mass murder to elimate persons whose lives were "not worth living." Darwinian science should be celebratred while Darwinian ideology should be decried.

2. The John T. Scopes Trial of 1925 flags a point in history where fudamentalist Protestantism and secular Darwinism clashed in a battle for the public schools and for the wider American culture. Fundamentalists such as William Jennings Bryan decried the heartless ethics of Social Darwinism that had taken over militarisitc Germany; and he sought to preserve a wholesome and caring public ethic in America. Clarence Darrow and the media argued to the contrary, saying such biblical literalism and religious rigidity risked holding back the wheels of scientific progress. This clash continues right down to the present day.

3. The most important theological issue arising from Darwin's model of evolution is the problem of evil and suffering. If the human race is the child of a long pre-history within the animal kingdom replete with the viciousness of predator-eating-prey and the extinction of entire species, does this mean we have inherited in our genes a propensity for violence and destruction? Is the primordial wolf still present under the lamb's wool of civiliation, as novelist Jack London asked in his widely read novel, Cry of the Wild? If this is the case, which comes first: the human fall into sin or our biological propensity to commit violence? This question is much more serious for a theologian than the more popular question: which is right, Darwin or Genesis?

Sunday night the Inside NGC Blog will be conducting a live-discussion about Evolution.  We have brought together experts in the fields of education, biology, molecular science and theology.  Each expert is well qualified to speak on the topic and will relate their expertise to the modern application of the theory.  And of course are ready to take your questions.

The first member of the the panel to be introduced is Professor Kenneth Miller. Kenneth Miller is Professor of Biology and Royce Family Professor for Teaching Excellence at Brown University. A cell biologist, he serves as an advisor on life sciences to the NewsHour, a daily PBS television program on news and public affairs, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Miller is coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of four different high school and college biology textbooks used by millions of students nationwide. He has written a number of articles defending the scientific integrity of evolution, answering challenges such as "intelligent design," and in 2005 he served as lead witness in the trial on evolution and intelligent design in Dover, Pennsylvania. His popular book, Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution, addresses the scientific status of evolutionary theory and its relationship to religious views of nature. His latest book, Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul addresses the continuing struggle over how evolution is to be understood in the context of American society.

On why he feels it is important to discuss evolution today.

"The 21st century will be the century of biology. The life sciences will dominate this century as never before - they will shape our lives, revolutionize medicine, and change industry, agriculture, and business. Evolution matters because it is the central organizing principle of biology. A great biologist once wrote that nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution, and he was absolutely right. By denying our children an up to date scientific education, as we would do by watering-down the teaching of evolution, we will cripple them in the world of the future."

Professor Kenneth Miller View of the Key Moments in Evolution

1859 - The publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

1866 - Publication of Gregor Mendel's paper on plant genetics. His work laid the foundation for the modern science of genetics.

1925 - Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennessee.

2003 - Completion of the human genome project, including abundant data documenting human evolution.

2005 - Kitzmiller trial on the teaching of "intelligent design" in Dover, PA

I've been on many assignments and produced many shows and field shoots in my career, but the World Record Hunters story element from the 'Hooked On Bass' show was a unique experience that ended in one of those few moments in life we have where everything comes together, and you realize you were there for a purpose, to witness and be a part of that event.

What I witnessed was the very end of nearly 8 years of obsessive fish hunting by three friends Jed Dickerson, Mac Weakley, and Mike Winn. Several people were there to witness what happened on tiny Lake Dixon in Escondido, California. I'd grown to know a few of them in that week I'd been embedded with all of them in May of 2009, when I documented the story with my HD camera. This was to be only one of three 'human' stories to comprise our ongoing year-long documentary on the culture of bassfishing in America. Initially, I'd thought this crazy world record hunting cult of obsessed anglers in Southern California would be one of the weaker stories we would have for this show.

For some reason I'd overlooked the detail of these three friends camping out in their cars daily, in line to be the first ones through the gates each morning at 5am, then running to get a permit and rent a boat, and do the same route around a tiny lake, hoping for a chance at seeing and catching the same fish they'd caught before to win an $8 million dollar bounty. Silly me.

Gearing up for Sunday’s live-discussion with some of the best evolution experts around here are some links to get some ideas and questions percolating…

What Darwin didn’t know…

NGM chronicles what the first signs of Darwins’ thoughts were, and they didn’t involve finches.

Modern Darwins

Evolution’s Evolution and how modern biology has expanded the theory.

And the battle continues between Evolution and Creationism in the nation’s public schools.