evolve US!

my new favorite bumper sticker of the genre that doesn't make me giggle is:
if you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

here's a big example of the ignorance kind:
from nat'l geographic reporting in 2006:

"This chart depicts the public acceptance of evolution theory in 34 countries in 2005. Adults were asked to respond to the statement: "Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals." The percentage of respondents who believed this to be true is marked in blue; those who believed it to be false, in red; and those who were not sure, in yellow."



originally published by jon miller et al in science

i was tipped this article by this guest column by stephen quake who ends his blog with a great paragraph... i can't say it better so here it is:

"Our genomes represent both a record of our evolutionary history and a guide to our identity as individuals. You can’t accept one without the other, and it is impossible to reap the medical and health benefits of genome knowledge without also accepting the central role of evolution in human history. Before the benefits of the genome revolution can be fully realized, Americans will need to resolve the cognitive dissidence which prevents them from accepting the role of evolution in biology … and their lives."

so US evolve, educate and evolve some more...