NOVA commemorates the historical evolution trial of 2005.
Credit: NOVAIf you tune in or point your web browser to PBS this week, you'll see a whole bunch about evolution. It's not Charles Darwin's birthday, but it's a celebration that may one day carry much more significance: it's the two year anniversary of the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial. In 2005, parents of high school students in the Dover, Pennsylvania school district took the education board to court over attempts to teach intelligent design as a bona fide alternative to evolution in public high schools. The juryless trial assembled a first-rate list of witnesses for the plaintiffs (pro-science, pro-evolution), all of whom eloquently spoke about the foundations of science and evolution, and how we know what we do about the history and diversity of life. Intelligent design advocates, in their defense, had to present evidence supporting intelligent design as a genuine scientific argument. In the end, the judge (who was named one of Time's 100 most influential people last year) ruled that intelligent design is not science and that, furthermore, teaching intelligent design is unconstitutional. His verdict is well worth reading in its entirety (for legal fans out there), or you can check out summarized versions online.
NOVA online has great clips from the show, including additional interviews elaborating on the science behind evolution. Interestingly, there are many Bay Area connections in the show. NOVA prominently features Oakland-based National Center for Science Education (including Eugenie Scott and current Cal graduate student Nick Matze), clearly reflecting the center's long-standing support for science standards in education, especially in biology. Kevin Padian, a Cal professor in integrative biology, provided articulate explanations of evolution as part of his expert testimony, and many of the clips on the website include examples that are now textbook cases of evolutionary processes, some of which are explained the on the Understanding Evolution website, hosted by the UC Museum of Paleontology and the Berkeley Natural History Museums.
Overall, the case is now seen as a landmark event in the on-going battle of teaching evolution and championing science literacy in the public. Intelligent design, which is really creationism in a different guise, fails in clear and dramatic ways to explain the natural world in the way that evolution, by natural selection, has successfully done for over 150 years. For more, be sure to check out the NOVA online features or the Understanding Evolution websites. After all, who doesn't want to live in a scientifically literate society?
Nick Pyenson is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, in the department of integrative biology and the museum of paleontology.