OKLAHOMA EVOLUTION/CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS–JANUARY 2023
1. Anti-science education legislation in 2023 Oklahoma legislature
2. Pro/anti-science education legislation in other states
3. Unique trilobite trident could be the oldest evidence of male sexual combat
4. Scientists sound alarm as ocean temperatures hit new record
5. The genes that made whales gigantic
6. UN confirms 2022 among eight hottest years on record
7. January videos
ANTI-SCIENCE EDUCATION LEGISLATION IN 2023 OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE
Oklahoma’s Senate Bill 140 by Dahm, which would empower science denial in the classroom, was prefiled in the Oklahoma legislature.
Styled “the Oklahoma Science Education Act,” the bill would ostensibly provide Oklahoma’s teachers with the right to help students “understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught,” while prohibiting state and local administrators from exercising supervisory responsibility. The bill is nearly identical to the creationist bills that have been filed for the last several years. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Education Committee.
A “school choice” bill in Oklahoma cites “climate change ideology” as a justification to divert state funds away from the state’s public school system.
Senate Bill 943, prefiled by Shane Jett (R-District 17), is intended to allow parents and guardians “to access educational services that meet the needs of their individual children by directing State Aid for which each child is eligible to the education provider of their choice.”
Eligibility for the program would depend on the population of the county in which the child lives or the parent works. In counties with a population of more than 10,000, all students eligible to enroll in a public school in Oklahoma would be eligible.
In counties with a population of less than 10,000, however, students would be eligible only if they would be “eligible to enroll in a public school in this state that has been determined by a reporting agency to be a trigger district.” The bill has not been assigned to a committee at this time. Check the OESE website, http://oklascience.org for updates. More at NCSE here, and here and Sensuous Curmudgeon.
PRO/ANTI-SCIENCE EDUCATION LEGISLATION IN OTHER STATES
U.S. Congress–Two climate change education measures in the U.S. Congress — a bill containing a provision aimed at supporting climate change education and a resolution in the House of Representatives expressing support for climate change education — died in committee on January 3, 2023, when the 117th Congress adjourned sine die.H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act of 2022, was amended on the House floor on February 2, 2022, to authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to institute a competitive grant program aimed in part at developing and improving educational material and teacher training on the topic of climate change. The bill passed the House on February 4, 2022.
House Resolution 29, which would have expressed the House of Representatives’s support for “teaching climate change in public and private schools at all grade levels,” was introduced on January 11, 2021, by Barbara Lee (D-California) and twenty-six of her colleagues. The resolution is identical to House Resolution 574 from the previous legislative session, which also died in committee. More at NCSE.
Texas–exas’s House Bill 1804 would, if enacted, amend the state education code to require that instructional material adopted by the state board of education “present a scientific theory in an objective educational manner that: (i) clearly distinguishes the theory from fact; and (ii) includes evidence for both the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of the theory.”
Clause (i) appears to reflect a common misconception about facts and theories. “In scientific terms, ‘theory’ does not mean ‘guess’ or ‘hunch’ as it does in everyday usage,” as the National Academy of Science explained in its publication Science and Creationism, second edition (1999). “Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses. Biological evolution is the best scientific explanation we have for the enormous range of observations about the living world. … [S]cientists can also use [“fact”] to mean something that has been tested or observed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing or looking for examples. The occurrence of evolution in this sense is a fact.” More at NCSE and Sensuous Curmudgeon.
Montana–A draft bill in the Montana legislature would cripple science education in the state by excluding anything but “scientific fact” from curriculum and instruction.
In its current form, LC2215 declares, “the purpose of K-12 education is to educate children in the facts of our world to better prepare them for their future and further education in their chosen field of study, and to that end children must know the difference between scientific fact and scientific theory; and … a scientific fact is observable and repeatable, and if it does not meet these criteria, it is a theory that is defined as speculation and is for higher education to explore, debate, and test to ultimately reach a scientific conclusion of fact or fiction.”
The bill then provides, “Science instruction may not include subject matter that is not scientific fact.” The state board of public education, the state superintendent of public instruction, and the trustees of local school districts would be charged with ensuring that state education standards, science curriculum guides, and science curriculum and instructional materials, including textbooks, include only scientific fact. “Scientific fact” is defined as “an indisputable and repeatable observation of a natural phenomenon.” More at NCSE, Sensuous Curmudgeon, and Happy Atheist.
California–California’s Assembly Bill 285, introduced on January 24, 2023, would, if enacted, require the California course of study for grades 1-6 and grades 7-12 to emphasize the causes and effects of climate change and methods to mitigate and adapt to its effects. Additionally, appropriate coursework including such material would be required to be offered as soon as possible, no later than the 2024-2025 school year. More at NCSE.
Minnesota–Minnesota’s Senate File 476 would, if enacted, require the state commissioner of education to “provide a climate justice model program for elementary and secondary school students aligned with current scientific research.” The bill was introduced by Nicole L. Mitchell (Democratic-Farmer-Labor-District 7) and three of her colleagues on January 19, 2023, and referred to the Senate Education Policy Committee.The model program would be required to be consistent with the state’s standards and include climate justice content that addresses “human activities causing climate change and the risk to all life forms; … climate change’s disproportionate effects on communities facing systemic oppression …; the relationship between systemic change and accessible environmental stewardship; and … the growing number of economic and environmental solutions.” More at NCSE.
New York–hree more bills aimed at supporting climate change education were introduced in the New York state legislature in January 2023.
Assembly Bill 1559 would, if enacted, require the state commissioner of education to “establish a model environmental curriculum on climate change to be taught in all public elementary and secondary schools,” to be included in the standards of instruction for not only science but also history, social studies, health, and mathematics. The bill was introduced by Jo Anne Simon (D-District 52) and seven of her colleagues and referred to the House Committee on Education. A counterpart bill, Senate Bill 278, was introduced by Andrew Gounardes (D-District 26) and referred to the Senate Committee on Education.
Senate Bill 243 would, if enacted, require the state commissioner of education to offer “recommendations to the board of regents relating to the adoption of instruction in climate science in senior high schools,” including “the effect and impact of greenhouse gasses” and New York’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill is identical to Senate Bill 596 from the 2021-2022 legislation session, which died in committee. The bill was introduced by Rachel May (D and Working Families-District 53) and referred to the Senate Committee on Education.
Assembly Bill 1866 would, if enacted, establish a climate change education grant program “to award grants to eligible applicants to support climate change education grant programs for young people or to provide optional teacher training or professional development programs relevant to the advance of climate change literacy in young people. The bill is identical to Assembly Bill 617 from the 2021-2022 legislation session, which died in committee. The bill was introduced by Linda B. Rosenthal (D-District 67) and Rebecca A. Seawright (D-District 76) and referred to the House Committee on Education. More at NCSE here and here.
Connecticut–Connecticut’s House Bill 5063 would, if enacted, “revise the climate change curriculum [sic: presumably “standards”] to add a requirement that students are exposed to the debate and research concerning the amount and effects of anthropomorphic [sic: presumably “anthropogenic”] carbon dioxide levels.”The bill, introduced on January 9, 2023, and referred to the Joint Committee on Education, is sponsored by John E. Piscopo (R-District 76). In 2009, Piscopo introduced a bill to “repeal global warming legislation that was passed based on the assumption that global warming is caused by human action,” telling the Connecticut Post (March 2, 2010), “The public has been hoodwinked … I have serious doubts about whether this is man made.” As a member of the board of directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council, he reportedly worked with a staffer of the climate-change-denying Heartland Institute in 2017 to call for a review of the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. Then, in 2019, as NCSE previously reported, Piscopo introduced House Bill 5955 and House Bill 5922, intended, respectively, to “eliminate climate change materials” from the Next Generation Science Standards as used in Connecticut and to prohibit the use of the NGSS in Connecticut altogether; both failed without receiving a hearing.
Connecticut’s House Bill 5271 would, if enacted, “require that the climate change curriculum in the Next Generation Science Standards be taught as part of the state-wide science curriculum for public schools and that such teaching begin in elementary school.”
The bill, introduced by Juan R. Candelaria (D-District 95) on January 13, 2023, and referred to the Joint Committee on Education, is identical to House Bill 5619 from 2021, which eventually died in committee. More at NCSE here and here.
Indiana–Indiana schools are making significant changes to their science curriculum, with new state science standards that require more education on climate change set to take full effect by the next school year.
The Climate Change Education Framework, produced by a partnership between Purdue University and the Indiana Board of Education, is being hailed as a “major step forward” in preparing students to understand and cope with the effects of climate change.
According to a 2020 survey by science educators, most US states do not include elements of environmental science and climate change in their curricula. However, with the reality of climate change becoming increasingly evident and present, many educators believe it is vital for today’s students to understand the subject. More at Newsbreak and NCSE.
UNIQUE TRILOBITE TRIDENT COULD BE THE OLDEST EVIDENCE OF MALE SEXUAL COMBAT
Fighting for mates may be a behavior that dates back over 400 million years. A unique specimen suggests that male Walliserops trilobites fought each other using trident-like structures to win the opportunity to mate with females. So the history of jousting may go back much further than the Middle Ages.
Trident-like structures found on the heads of Walliserops trilobites may have been used by males to compete in fights for dominance, with the arthropods trying to flip their rival over.
If confirmed, this could represent some of the oldest evidence of sexual competition and sexual selection ever discovered. More at phys.org and New York Times. Original paper at PNAS.
SCIENTISTS SOUND ALARM AS OCEAN TEMPERATURES HIT NEW RECORD
The world’s oceans, which have absorbed most of the excess heat caused by humanity’s carbon pollution, continued to see record-breaking temperatures last year.
Climate change has increased surface temperatures across the planet, leading to atmospheric instability and amplifying extreme weather events such as storms.
Oceans absorb about 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, shielding land surfaces but generating huge, long-lasting marine heatwaves that are already having devastating effects on underwater life. More at phys.org. Original paper at Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.
THE GENES THAT MADE WHALES GIGANTIC
New research published in Scientific Reports reveals the genes that likely allowed whales to grow to giant sizes compared to their ancestors. The findings highlight the role of four genes (called GHSR, IGFBP7, NCAPG, and PLAG1), and suggest that they promote large body sizes while mitigating potentially negative effects, such as increased cancer risk.
Whales, dolphins, and porpoises (known as cetaceans) evolved from small, land-based ancestors around 50 million years ago, but some species are now among the largest animals to have lived. However, gigantism can bring biological disadvantages, such as lower reproductive output and increased chances of diseases such as cancer, and it has not been clear what role different genes have played in driving gigantism in whales. More at phys.org and New York Times. Original paper at Scientific Reports.
UN CONFIRMS 2022 AMONG EIGHT HOTTEST YEARS ON RECORD
The past eight years were the hottest since records began, the United Nations confirmed Thursday, despite the cooling influence of a drawn-out La Nina weather pattern.
Last year, as the world faced a cascade of unprecedented natural disasters made more likely and deadly by climate change, the average global temperature was about 1.15 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the World Meteorological Organization said.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA released similar 2022 global temperature figures and Bill Nelson, head of the US space agency, described them as “alarming.” More at phys.org here and here and Wired.
JANUARY VIDEOS
Some canaries are superstar seed crackers. Watch their tricks
Why woodpeckers don’t get stuck to trees
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