OKLAHOMA EVOLUTION/CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS–NOVEMBER 2023
1. Problems with math textbooks in Oklahoma
2. Anti-science education science standards and textbook problems in other states
3. The last 12 months were the hottest on record
4. Lice Genes Offer Clues to Ancient Human History
5. 2023 National Climate Assessment paints grim picture while offering hope
6. Bonobos, like humans, cooperate with unrelated members of other groups
7. Improved air quality could enhance natural carbon sequestration by plants
8. November videos, podcasts, book excerpt, handout
PROBLEMS WITH MATH TEXTBOOKS IN OKLAHOMA
A state board requested a major publisher remove portions of its math textbooks for students in pre-K through fifth grade after a local conservative group complained.
Despite the textbooks receiving the top rating from a review team made up of dozens of teachers, the chairwoman of the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee on Friday asked McGraw Hill to remove the “math thoughts” sections in its “Reveal Math” books in order to receive approval from the board.
If the publisher does not make the requested changes, the Reveal Math books won’t be added to a list of approved titles that districts can purchase using state textbook funds. However, districts can purchase unapproved textbooks using other funding sources. More at Oklahoma Voice.
ANTI-SCIENCE EDUCATION SCIENCE STANDARDS AND TEXTBOOK PROBLEMS IN OTHER STATES
Alabama–“The Alabama Board of Education plans to make minor changes to its science course of study, but has no plans to remove a textbook insert” that mischaracterizes evolution by natural selection “as a controversial theory.”
Alabama’s standards are historically not strong on evolution. A 2009 study in Evolution: Education and Outreach assigned the grade of F to its previous standards for their treatment of evolution, while a 2017 study in the same journal assigned the grade of D to the treatment of evolution in its present (2016) middle school standards. The treatment of evolution in the proposed revised standards (PDF) is not significantly different.
The treatment of climate change is actually slated to deteriorate. When NCSE and the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund evaluated the treatment of climate change in all the state science standards in 2020, Alabama’s standards were among the worst in the country, earning the grade of F. The single middle school standard that addresses the human and natural causes of global warming in the 2016 standards is removed from the proposed revised standards. More at NCSE.
Texas–Amid political objections to content, particularly on topics like climate change and evolution, State Board of Education members today voted to withhold preliminary approval for science textbooks from more than half of the 22 competing publishers in Texas this year.
“The well-being of Texas children and their right to an accurate, honest education was rarely mentioned by anti-science board members, who blatantly ignored their duty to adopt textbooks that meet the Texas standards and teach the truth about evolution and the human impact on climate change. Instead, the right-wing majority solely focused on pushing their own political and religious agendas,” said Emerald Belmarez, organizing strategist for Texas Freedom Network. “Tragically, young Texans who will be forced to meet the challenges of the climate crisis will be the ones to suffer.”
Publishers can offer to make changes to win approval before a final vote on Friday. But many objections offered by board members today were so broad and vague that it will be difficult for publishers to make appropriate revisions in such a tight timeline. Board members often were unable to provide specific examples of problems they claimed to see in the textbooks. Many specific objections by board members would require publishers to remove the scientific consensus by experts on climate change and evolution. More at NCSE here, here, here, and here, and at Mother Jones, Fox News, HPPR. KOSU, Dallas Morning News, Sensuous Curmudgeon, and Tulsa World.
THE LAST 12 MONTHS WERE THE HOTTEST ON RECORD
The last 12 months were the hottest in 150 years of recordkeeping — and probably in the last 125,000 years — thanks to human-caused climate change, a new report finds.
From November 2022 through October 2023, the planet’s average temperature was about 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than the average temperature from 1850 to 1900, say researchers with the nonprofit group Climate Central. That’s just shy of the 1.5-degree threshold often cited as a benchmark for avoiding irreversible impacts on the climate. More at Science News, KJRH, and USA Today. Original report at Climate Central.
LICE GENES OFFER CLUES TO ANCIENT HUMAN HISTORY
Lice have been bugging humans for as long as our species has been around, and the insects’ genes record the story of their hosts’ global voyages, a study finds.
Lice DNA suggests that the scalp stowaways rode humans to the New World at least twice — once from Asia many millennia ago, and again much more recently via European colonists, researchers report November 8 in PLOS ONE.
Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) can’t jump or fly. They can disperse only by crawling, leaving them closely tied to the movements of their human hosts, says Marina Ascunce, an evolutionary geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service in Gainesville, Fla. More at Science News, New York Times, phys.org, and Smithsonian. Original paper in PLOS ONE.
2023 NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT PAINTS GRIM PICTURE WHILE OFFERING HOPE
In a sprawling, multimedia report that stresses it is not too late to act, the Biden administration delivered a sobering catalog of climate change’s impacts in every corner of the United States—from battered coasts to parched cornfields to blazing forests. It measures the human toll, including at least 700 people dying of heat-related illness each year, in a nation warming 60 percent more quickly than the world as a whole.
“The effects of human-caused climate change are already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States,” the report says. But it adds that each increment of warming avoided through cutting carbon emissions will reduce the risks and harmful impacts. More at Ars Technica, Wired, KOSU, and AP. Original report here. OU experts were co-authors of the assessment as reported in the Norman Transcript.
BONOBOS, LIKE HUMANS, COOPERATE WITH UNRELATED MEMBERS OF OTHER GROUPS
If a troop of baboons encounters another troop on the savanna, they may keep a respectful distance or they may get into a fight. But human groups often do something else: They cooperate.
Tribes of hunter-gatherers regularly come together for communal hunts or to form large-scale alliances. Villages and towns give rise to nations. Networks of trade span the planet.
Human cooperation is so striking that anthropologists have long considered it a hallmark of our species. They have speculated that it emerged thanks to the evolution of our powerful brains, which enable us to use language, establish cultural traditions and perform other complex behaviors.
But a new study, published in Science, throws that uniqueness into doubt. It turns out that two groups of apes in Africa have regularly mingled and cooperated with each other for years. More at New York Times, Science News, and phys.org. Original paper in Science.
IMPROVED AIR QUALITY COULD ENHANCE NATURAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION BY PLANTS
Reducing pollution from aerosol particles would improve air quality. It could also increase the amount of sunlight accessible to plants—enhancing their ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change.
New work from a Carnegie-led team including Liyin He, Lorenzo Rosa, and Joe Berry used satellites to measure both photosynthetic activity and aerosol pollution in Europe, demonstrating that plants capture more carbon on the weekends when industrial production is decreased, and fewer people commute. More at EurekAlert!. Original paper in PNAS.
NOVEMBER VIDEOS, PODCASTS, BOOK EXCERPT, HANDOUT
Darwin and the Standing Dead Compartment
Book excerpt—Catastrophic climate change: Lessons from the dinosaurs
“11 Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Climate Change”
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