You will, Richard, you will.
Finally, a science pun as bad as my Einstein Joke:
Kieran Healy (Crooked Timber): Kansas
The Kansas Board of Education has approved new standards that mandate the teaching of 'Intelligent Design' (which Ive always thought should be called Paleyontology)…
Very clever. Very clever indeed.
Unlike the Kansas Board of Education.
On the broad topic of misrepresentation of Evolutionary Theory, any comment on the latest Guinness 'Miracle of Life' advert showing the process in reverse via, if memory serves, flying squirrels, ostrich-like birds and some sort of ichthyosaur before reaching a thirsty mudskipper predecessor. Nice CGI, poor Science.
It's a great advert for a great product. Everything happens so fast, it's quite difficult to follow the reverse-evolutionary sequence, but it does seem to be using a bit of artistic licence.
The greater scientific sin, however, is the implication that our mudskipper-like ancestors evolved into humans through willpower (the desire to drink something nicer than muddy water), and that they worked towards the end-goal of becoming human. Evolution doesn't work that way, and our mudskipper-like ancestors had many different and equally wonderful descendants, including the amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds and mammals. Not bad for a fish out of water!
What? You're saying that nice Mr. Lamark was wrong after all? Just as well he moved on to Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
Yes, but according to some, even Lamarck was never really a Lamarckian - although he was definitely wrong all right.