Darwin turns 200

A recent post on a blog I follow, by a colleague, John Logsdon reminded me why I started this blog in the first place.

The FACT of evolution has supported modern biology for the last 100 years. Any research biologist I know doesn't spend time arguing over the basic fact of evolution. It would be like a planetary scientist arguing that the earth doesn't revolve around the sun, it would be utter nonsense. I still don't completely understand the resistance to the idea. There is the inevitable "I didn't come from no monkey" knee jerk argument that I've heard a million times. There is the "where is God in all this?" question that I've gotten from students, particularly my young middleschoolers.

Let me be clear. Scientists answer questions pertaining to the physical world. We can not prove or disprove the existent of a metaphysical being. Leave matters of faith and belief to religion and philosophy.

Let's party like it's 1809!