OKLAHOMA EVOLUTION/CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS–APRIL 2021

1.  Anti-science/pro-science education legislation in other states

2.  Dinosaur-killing asteroid strike gave rise to Amazon rainforest

3.  A spike in Arctic lightning strikes may be linked to climate change

4.  Gigantic flying pterosaurs had spoked vertebrae to support their ‘ridiculously long’ necks

5.  The Science of Climate Change Explained: Facts, Evidence and Proof

6.  OU Doctoral student’s research on fruit fly behavior earns award at international conference

7.  April videos

ANTI-SCIENCE/PRO-SCIENCE EDUCATION LEGISLATION IN OTHER STATES
Arkansas–Arkansas’s House Bill 1701, sponsored by Mary Bentley (R-District 73), was narrowly defeated, on a 3-3 vote, in the Senate Education Committee on April 21, 2021. If enacted, the bill would have allowed teachers in the state’s public and open-enrollment charter schools to “teach creationism as a theory of how the earth came to exist.”House Bill 1701 passed the House of Representatives on a 72-21 vote on April 7, 2021, after passing the House Education Committee on a voice vote on April 6, 2021, Megan Godfrey (D-District 89) and Deborah Ferguson (D-District 51) expressed opposition to the bill.  More at NCSE here and here, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Ars Technica, and at Sensitive Curmudgeon here and here.
Rhode Island–Rhode Island’s Climate Change Education Act, in the form of Senate Bill 464  and House Bill 5625, identical bills aimed at supporting climate change education in Rhode Island, is now dead.
If enacted, the bills would have required the state department of education “to develop a set of key environmental, climate, and sustainability principles and concepts” and to take a variety of steps to ensure that they are reflected in Rhode Island’s public schools. Of particular note, the bills called for the revision of the state science standards for science and social studies where appropriate, for guidance to be given of how to incorporate climate change into math and English language arts, and for teacher professional development in science, civics, and social science to include the key principles and concepts.  More at NCSE.
Massachusetts–A pair of identical climate change education bills, House Bill 614 and Senate Bill 311, would, if enacted, “implement an elementary and secondary interdisciplinary climate education curriculum” in Massachusetts.The bills would initiate processes to revise state standards for science and technology and history and social studies to include relevant and interdisciplinary climate change standards to provide students with a deeper understanding of various issues related to climate change. 
More at NCSE.
Connecticut–Connecticut’s House Bill 5235 and HB 5619 died in the Joint Committee on Education on April 5, 2021, when a deadline for bills to pass committee expired.House Bill 5235 would have, if enacted, revised “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.” .
House Bill 5619 would have, if enacted, required “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,” although Connecticut already adopted the NGSS in 2015. More at NCSE.
Texas–House Bill 4157 would amend the Texas Education Code to add “the long-term problem of human-caused climate change and its effects” as well as “bioregionalism” to the topics to be covered in each school district’s required science curriculum.
House Bill 4157 was introduced by James Talarico (D-District 52) — a former public school teacher — on March 13, 2021, and referred to the House Committee on Public Education on March 29, 2021.  More at NCSE.

U.S. House of Representatives–The Climate Change Education Act is again in the House of Representatives. H.R. 2310, introduced on April 1, 2021, would 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.  More at NCSE.
DINOSAUR-KILLING ASTEROID GAVE RISE TO AMAZON RAINFORESTColombia’s rainforest looked very different 66 million years ago. At present, the humid and biodiverse ecosystem is jam-packed with plants and is covered in a thick, light-blocking canopy of leaves and branches. Notably, there are no dinosaurs. But prior to the dinosaurs going away with the Chicxulub impact, signaling the end of the Cretaceous Period, things looked very different. The area’s plant coverage was relatively sparse, and a bevvy of conifers called it home.using the fossilized remains of plants, a team of researchers studied the past of the rainforest and how the asteroid gave rise to the rainforests of today. The study, published in Science on April 1, was led by scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama and supported by scientists at the Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science and Action at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  More at Ars Technica, BBC,  and Wired.  Original paper in Science.

A SPIKE IN ARCTIC LIGHTNING STRIKES MAY BE LINKED TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change may be sparking more lightning in the Arctic.
Data from a worldwide network of lightning sensors suggest that the frequency of lightning strikes in the region has shot up over the last decade, researchers report online March 22 in Geophysical Research Letters. That may be because the Arctic, historically too cold to fuel many thunderstorms, is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world.
The new analysis used observations from the World Wide Lightning Location Network, which has sensors across the globe that detect radio waves emitted by lightning bolts. Researchers tallied lightning strikes in the Arctic during the stormiest months of June, July and August from 2010 to 2020. The team counted everywhere above 65° N latitude, which cuts through the middle of Alaska, as the Arctic. More at Science News, Ars Technica, and phys.org.  Original paper in Geophysical Research Letters.

GIGANTIC FLYING PTEROSAURS HAD SPOKED VERTEBRAE TO SUPPORT THEIR ‘RIDICULOUSLY LONG’ NECKS
Little is known about azhdarchid pterosaurs, gigantic flying reptiles with impressive wingspans of up to 12 meters. Cousins of dinosaurs and the largest animals ever to fly, they first appeared in the fossil record in the Late Triassic about 225 million years ago and disappeared again at the end of the Cretaceous period about 66 million years ago. One of their most notable features for such a large flighted animal was a neck longer than that of a giraffe. Now, researchers report an unexpected discovery in the journal iScience on April 14: their thin neck vertebrae got their strength from an intricate internal structure unlike anything that’s been seen before.  More at phys,org and New York Times.  Original paper in iScience.

THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE EXPLAINED:  FACTS, EVIDENCE AND PROOF
The science of climate change is more solid and widely agreed upon than you might think. But the scope of the topic, as well as rampant disinformation, can make it hard to separate fact from fiction. Julia Rosen in the New York Times presents this FAQ with not only the most accurate scientific information on climate change, but also an explanation of how we know it.

OU DOCTORAL STUDENT’S RESEARCH ON FRUIT FLY BEHAVIOR EARNS AWARD AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Mehrnaz Afkhami, a doctoral biology student at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded the graduate student poster award at this year’s 62nd Annual Drosophila Research Conference. She was selected for this honor among hundreds of posters, beating out the two runners-up from Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University. The conference was held as part of the international meeting (known as the Fly meeting) of the Genetics Society of America, which serves as one of the premier research conferences for geneticists who use fruit flies for their research.  More at Eureka Alert!.

APRIL VIDEOS
Darwin eats tree leaves
#TeachClimate: Engaging All Students

Dinosaur Gastroliths Preclude Young Earth Creationism | Bite-Sized Busts