The Washington Post thinks it has discovered natural selection - in
squirrels.
Apparently, 18 black Canadian squirrels were released at the Smithsonian in
Washington D.C. in the early 1900s. As anyone who has lived for many years
in Toronto would have predicted, they soon began to jostle the local gray
squirrels at area bird feeders.
The Post writer announces,
"That's because those 18 squirrels -- whose coats of lustrous black set them
apart from the native animals -- were the beginning of a shift that has
changed the complexion of Washington's backyard critters. Now, probably
because of a slight evolutionary advantage conveyed with a black coat, the
descendants of these squirrels have spread all the way into Rockville and
Prince William County.
"Seriously: Scientists say it's a real-life example of natural selection at
work, which has rolled on for a century here without much public notice.
"It shows the spread of a gene within a population," said Richard W.
Thorington Jr., a Smithsonian Institution researcher working on a book that
includes a history of the District's black squirrels. "That is evolutionary
change before your eyes."
Wow. Seriously? Evolutionary change before my eyes? But wait a minute ...
The Post writer then goes on to say, ...
Read more at http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/
New York Times weighs in on the Kansas evolution hearings, and stumbles
On May 17, 2005, the queen of legacy media, The New York Times weighed in on
the Kansas evolution hearings, in "The Evolution of Creationism" (From such
a lame title as that, you knew not to expect anything much, right?)
The Times then claimed that Kansas had eliminated the mention of evolution.
Jonathan Wells comments: "What actually happened was that the Kansas State
School Board INCREASED the discussion of evolution in the state science
standards -- in fact, if one goes simply by word-count the Board increased
the treatment of evolution five-fold. The Darwinists, however, wanted it
increased nine-fold, so they complained to the mainstream media that the
Board had "de-emphasized" evolution."
Read more at http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/ , including O'Leary's
thoughts on why legacy media do not feel they need to get this stuff right.
-- Read brief excerpts from my book, By Design or by Chance?: The Growing Controversy On the Origins of Life in the Universe (Augsburg Fortress, 2004) at http://www.designorchance.com/press.html Study Guide: http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/books/b088sk.htm Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0806651776/qid=1109790930/sr=8 -1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-8617533-8799957?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 My blog: http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/ (go to other blogs from here) Denyse O'Leary Tel: 416 485-2392 Fax: 416 485-2392 oleary@sympatico.ca www.designorchance.comReceived on Fri May 20 08:03:36 2005
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