Martin Bridgstock considers a major work, which gives us all some astonishingly good news Most of us are used to being deluged with bad news. The economy is on the slide again. Violence has burst out ... (1650 words)

On a recent visit to New Plymouth I was rather taken aback to see a billboard outside a central city church posing the question: "Evolution? How come we still have apes?" It wasn't so much surprise ... (410 words)

A recent UMR Research poll has provided a snapshot of what New Zealanders believe about a range of paranormal subjects. More than half accept that some people have psychic powers; on the other hand, ... (412 words)

Alison Campbell looks at a new 'resource' for New Zealand schools, helpfully provided by the creationist movement. A little while ago Ken Perrott, who writes the Open Parachute blog, alerted me to an ... (544 words)

When creationists try to harmonise their worldview with certain inescapable facts of geology, the result is chaos. Recently I had forwarded to me a document bearing the title Debunking Evolution: ... (2256 words)

Some fields that claim the authority of science may be in need of an overhaul. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2009 conference in Wellington, 26 September. I have always ... (1960 words)

Alison Campbell ponders the evolutionary significance of lolcats. Makes me chuckle when I think about it. Not just because Lolcats (www.icanhascheezburger.com) make me LOL (they do), but also because ... (389 words)

Evolution - What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters. Donald R Prothero, Columbia University Press. Reviewed by Louette McInnes. If your local library doesn't have this book, go out right now and ... (414 words)

February 12 is Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, and the old guy, or at least his ideas, are still in pretty good shape. While evolutionary theory has been broadened and elaborated extensively in the ... (415 words)

If students are to pursue careers in science, they need to be able to see themselves in that role. One way to encourage this may be through the telling of stories. This article is based on a ... (3474 words)

Mike Palin queries the judging criteria in a recent high school science video competition. A blatant anti-evolution DVD has been "commended" by the Royal Society of New Zealand ... (415 words)

Ian Wishart is one of New Zealand's more prominent creationists. In a recent book he takes on evolutionary biology, a task for which he seems ill-equipped. In his latest book, Eve's Bite (2007), ... (1878 words)

A knockout blow for evolution turns out to be nothing of the sort AS JBS Haldane famously said, God must have an inordinate fondness for beetles, he made so many of them. Of all the tens of thousands ... (714 words)

Demands for equal time cut both ways. Armies of the night, science-writer and novelist Isaac Asimov once called them. He was referring to the countless millions of evangelicals who believe the book ... (790 words)

Intelligent Design ruled a pretext for religion in the classroom In a decision which sets an important precedent for US science education, a court has ruled against the teaching of the theory of ... (1338 words)

<<img class="g-image g-image--lazy g-image--loading" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg fill='none' viewBox='0 0 615 463' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' ... (829 words)

A Waikato University website on evolution has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from teachers, says biological sciences lecturer Alison Campbell. "We held a teacher meeting in April for the ... (671 words)

Bill Taylor explains some of the thinking behind the Time-Line installation, "Genesis Aotearoa", at Victoria University (See also Page 13) As a lay person I entered the world of Earth Science with a ... (531 words)

The Eugenics movement in New Zealand had legislative successes greater than anywhere in the world outside the USA and Nazi Germany Eugenics was a phenomenon that lasted for less than a hundred years, ... (2975 words)

Our acceptance of evolution brings with it moral obligations, believes geneticist Professor David Penny, who has been fighting for greater consideration to be given to the well-being of the great ... (2655 words)

A DEVIL'S CHAPLAIN: Selected Essays. Richard Dawkins. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003. ISBN 0 297 82973 4. We Dawkins fans have been waiting since "Unweaving the Rainbow" in 1998 for this. Unlike its ... (344 words)

In this issue Ian Wishart responds to Warwick Don's critique of his article on Intelligent Design. I deny any fudging on the use of the word "creationist". I make a clear distinction between ... (607 words)

Is there anything on television worth watching? Maybe. Who has the most dangerous job in prime-time TV and at the movies? Police officers? Soldiers? Private detectives? None of the above, according ... (2600 words)

Because Cowards get Cancer too, by John Diamond, Random House, 1998 So John Diamond is dead; at age 47 killed by his tongue cancer. He may not be well known in New Zealand, but was a popular ... (922 words)

In Mendel's Footnotes: An Introduction to the Science and Technologies of Genes and Genetics from the 19th century to the 22nd, by Colin Tudge. Jonathan Cape, $59.95. The recent advances in genetic ... (379 words)

The old creationist claim that there are no transitional forms in the fossil record is starting to look a bit tired A perennial contention of creationists opposed to evolution is that transitions or ... (1486 words)

The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals, by Simon Conway Morris. Oxford University Press. Cradle of Life: The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils, by J William Schopf. ... (293 words)

Three sketpics go head to head with a creationist lecturer. When the call went out on the Skeptics' mailing list for people to take part in a debate against Australian creationist John Mackay, I ... (841 words)

Malcolm Carr, from Waikato University's Centre For Science, Mathematics & Technology Education Research, talks to Annette Taylor about the nature of science education and the new science ... (1036 words)

DARK NATURE -- A NATURAL HISTORY OF EVIL, by Lyall Watson; Hodder & Stoughton, 1995; $19.95 The book has been divided into three parts, Dark Nature, Human Nature and Evil Nature, and is extremely ... (247 words)

**RIVER OUT OF EDEN: A DARWINIAN VIEW OF LIFE by Richard Dawkins. ** Reviewed by Bernard Howard ** We start by setting this book into its two contexts. In the publishing context it is the fourth in ... (451 words)

We need to immunise ourselves against this virus too. Abridged by Owen McShane from Creationism: Why the Controversy by Brian Henderson "Scientific" creationism claims to have every bit as much ... (671 words)

Yes, Rhesus Monkey (Tune: "Yes, Jesus Loves Me") Rhesus monkey, this I know, that the Bible Belt must go. Trusting to authority must give way to "test and see". Yes, rhesus monkey, Yes, rhesus ... (133 words)

Peter Lange mentions in his review a common creationist claim -- the lack of intermediate fossil forms. Someone whose name I've lost, recently wrote the following on sci.skeptic about the subject: We ... (214 words)

The Facts of Life: Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, by Richard Milton; Transworld Publishers; $15.95 Richard Milton has written this book as a "hang on a minute" reservation about Darwinism and its ... (707 words)