And the prize goes to...

I fail to see how these two shouldn't have got the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics, but I'm sure someone will argue that point. I won't.

Nearly 50 years ago, Francois Englert of Belgium and Peter Higgs of the United Kingdom had the foresight to predict that the particle existed.

Now, the octogenarian pair share the Nobel Prize in physics in recognition of a theoretical brilliance that was vindicated by the particle's discovery last year.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize to them.

Higgs and Englert's theories behind the elusive Higgs boson explained what gives matter its mass.

The universe is filled with Higgs bosons. As atoms and parts of atoms zoom around, they interact with and attract Higgs bosons, which cluster around them in varying numbers.

Certain particles will attract larger clusters of Higgs bosons, and the more of them a particle attracts, the greater its mass will be.

The explanation helped complete scientists' understanding of the nature of all matter.

"The awarded theory is a central part of the Standard Model of particle physics that describes how the world is constructed," the Royal Swedish Academy said in a post on Twitter.

As is tradition, the academy phoned the scientists during the announcement to inform them of their win. They were unable to reach Higgs, for whom the particle is named.

The conversation with Englert was short and sweet. "I feel very well, of course," he said, when he heard the news. "Now, I'm very happy."

Deservedly so, I might add.

(Also on WTTFTG)

Texas SBoE: your tax dollars at wr0k

This is just so special:

At a Texas State Board of Education meeting last month, the Republican head of the school board defended the qualifications of a biology textbook review panelist who said that “creation science based on biblical principles should be incorporated into every biology book that is up for adoption.”

 SBOE chair Barbara Cargill defended the panelist, who is not a biologist but… a dietitian. Cargill defended another Creationism advocate on the panel, a businessman, because he has a degree in chemical engineering, saying that not enough biology teachers wanted to serve on the panel reviewing textbooks.

Which, it seems, is a bold-faced lie:

They might be well-qualified in their own professional fields, but they are no more qualified to review biology textbooks than a biologist would be qualified to review a mathematics or engineering textbook,” Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network points out.

He also notes that Cargill’s claim that teachers didn’t step up to serve on the panels is baloney, as 140 of the 183 of the “individuals who applied or were nominated by State Board of Education members to serve as biology textbook reviewers” were educators, and the “vast majority of them have degrees and teaching experience specifically in biology." 

At least part of this bad joke is documented on video below:

On the other hand, educators specializing in biology (or - even worse - an actual biologist working in the field) might have good reason to stay away from working with the Texas SBoE since they've shown nothing resembling intellectual honesty in matters like this. It might be necessary to refute this ongoing nonsense, but it's hardly rewarding - unless you're really fond of filling up airsickness bags day after day, that is.

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/texas-school-board-chair-hails-creationist-dietitian-and-businessman-biology-experts#sthash.rDpRPGVD.dpuf

State legislative attacks on evolution in science education since 2011: a rough guide (UPDATED)

Well, it's been roughly a year since I last did this, so here it is again. The more things change...

From the original post:

It took me a while to get around to this, and for obvious reasons; so many of these bills have been proposed since January 2011 that even writing up a brief list of them (with massive help from the NCSE's archives, of course) took a fairly long time to compile and edit. The following is a list of bills that either contains language attacking the teaching the Theory of Evolution (or that advocate "alternative theories" such as Intelligent Design) that have been proposed in state legislatures from January 2011 to the present; they also include information on who proposed the legislation, whether anthropocentric global warming (AGW)  or other scientific topics were also targeted and whether the bill has passed, was voted down or merely died in committee as a result of being tabled.

KENTUCKY House Bill 169: proposed by Tim Moore (R-26th district) on January 4, 2011; died in committee as of March 9th, 2011.

MISSOURI House Bill 195: proposed by Andrew Koenig (R-88th district) and 13 others on January 13th, 2011; died in the House Elementary and Secondary Education commitee as of May 13th, 2011.

OKLAHOMA SENATE BILL 554: prefiled by Josh Brecheen (R-6th district) on January 19th, 2011; died in committee on February 28th, 2011.

OKLAHOMA House Bill 1551: prefiled by Sally Kern (R-84th district) in January 2011; initially rejected in committee on February 22nd, 2011; reintroduced by Gus Blackwell (R-61st district) on February 20th, 2012; passed the House 56-12 on March 15th, 2012; died after being rejected by the Senate Education Committee. Bill also attacked academic discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

NEW MEXICO House Bill 302: introduced by Thomas A. Anderson (R-29th district) on February 1st, 2011;  died in committee on March 8th, 2011. Bill also attacked discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

TENNESSEE House Bill 368: introduced by Bill Dunn (R-16th district) on February 9th, 2011; passed the state House of Representatives by a 72-23 vote on March 16th, 2012; allowed to become law by Governor Bill Haslam without signature on April 10th, 2012. Bill also attacks discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

TENNESSEE Senate Bill 893: introduced by Bo Watson (R-11th district) on February 16th, 2011; passed the state Senate by a 24-8 vote on March 19th, 2012; allowed to become law by Governor Bill Haslam without signature on April 10th, 2012. Bill also attacks discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

FLORIDA Senate Bill 1854: introduced by Stephen R. Wise (R-5th district) on March 5th, 2011; died in committee on May 7th, 2011.

TEXAS House Bill 2454: introduced by Bill Zedler (R-96th district) and James White (R-12th district) on March 8th, 2011; died in the House Committee on Higher Education on May 30th, 2011.

NEW HAMPSHIRE House Bill 1148: prefiled by Jerry Bergevin (R-17th district) on December 21st, 2011; defeated 280-7 by House vote on March 16th, 2012. Also attempted to compel inclusion of the "political and ideological viewpoints (of  "theorists") and their position on the concept of atheism".

NEW HAMPSHIRE House Bill 1457: prefiled by Gary Hopper (R-7th district) and John Burt (R-7th district) on December 21st, 2011;  killed by voice vote in week previous to vote for HB 1148 above.

INDIANA Senate Bill 89: prefiled by Dennis Kruse (R-14th district) in December 2011; passed by the Senate by a 28-22 vote on January 30th, 2012; shelved by the House of Representatives in early February 2012.

MISSOURI HOUSE BILL 1227: introduced and sponsored by Rick Brattin (R-124th district) and five others on January 10th, 2012; died in committee on May 18th, 2012.

MISSOURI HOUSE BILL 1276: sponsored by Andrew Koenig (R-88th district) and 13 others on January 11th, 2012; died in committee on May 18th, 2012.

OKLAHOMA SENATE BILL 1742: prefiled in January 2012 by Josh Brecheen (R-6th district) in January 2012;  Bill also attacked AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning. Died in committee on March 1st, 2012.

ALABAMA HOUSE BILL 133: introduced on February 7th, 2012 by Blaine Galliher (R-30th district); died in committee on May 16th, 2012. Would have authorized "local boards of education to include released time religious instruction as an elective course for high school students.", including courses in "creation science".

OKLAHOMA HOUSE BILL 2341: a previously passed bill that was amended by Steve Russell (R-45th district) to include language identical to Oklahoma HB 1551 above; bill died when it was not brought to the floor for a vote in amended form on April 26th, 2012.

MONTANA HOUSE BILL 183: originally proposed by Clayton Fiscus (R-46th district) on November 5th, 2012. Originally had "intelligent design" language included which was later changed to an "encourage critical thinking regarding controversial scientific theories" gambit. 

TEXAS HOUSE BILL 285: prefiled on December 14th. 2012 by Bill Zedler (R-96th district). Specifically mentions "intelligent design" in text. Legislation died in committee on May 6th, 2013 on expiration of committee passage deadline. Bill tabled in committee on February 5th, 2013.

COLORADO HOUSE BILL 13-1089: introduced on January on January 16th, 2013 by Stephen Humphrey (R-House 48th) and Scott Renfroe (R-Senate 13th) and 10 others. Rejected in committee on February 4th, 2013. Bill also attacked AGW.

MISSOURI HOUSE BILL 79: introduced on January 16th, 2013 by Andrew Koenig (R-99th district) and 10 others. Died in committee on May 17th, 2013.

OKLAHOMA SENATE BILL 758 and HOUSE BILL 1674: prefiled by Josh Brecheen (R-6th Senate) and Gus Blackwell (R-61st House) on or around January 18th, 2013. Senate bill died in committee on February 25th, 2013; House bill died in March 14th, 2013 when a reading deadline in the Oklahoma House of Representatives was not met.

INDIANA HOUSE BILL 1283: introduced on January 23rd, 2013 by Jeff Thompson (R-28th district). Attempted to take a stealth "teach the controversy" approach and was introduced by the House sponsor of Senate Bill 89 above. Bill died on February 25th due to a missed reading deadline.

MISSOURI HOUSE BILL 291: introduced on January 24th, 2013 by Rick Brattin (R-58th district) and two others. Died in committee on May 17th, 2013 (see above).

ARIZONA SENATE BILL 1213: introduced primarily by Judy Burges (R-22nd district) and Chester Crandall (R-6th district) with 4 others as cosponsors on or around January 26th, 2013. Bill died on February 22nd, 2013 when it failed to be passed by its committee.

NOTE: although there have been separate bills proposed in state legislatures attacking the scientific basis for Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW), those bills (such as Kansas House Bill 2306) will have to be left for a separate post at a later date.(Also on WTTFTG)

Identity politics, Christian fundamentalist style

This is rich.

Ten to twenty years ago, proponents of this type of crap would be the exactly the same sort of people who'd bitch and whine if a similar strategy came from a left-leaning legal foundation, similarities in tactics be damned:

Ed Brayton:

In case you thought Kansas hadn’t had enough idiocy over science curricula in public schools, a group of fundamentalist Christians has filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the implementation of science standards on the grounds that they will teach things that are “inconsistent with the theistic religious beliefs” of the plaintiffs. The Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing the plaintiffs, said in a press release:

In addition to citing numerous areas of law that the standards violate, the complaint cites that the standards cause the state “to promote religious beliefs that are inconsistent with the theistic religious beliefs of plaintiffs, thereby depriving them of the right to be free from government that favors one religious view over another.”…
Brad Dacus, President of Pacific Justice Institute noted, “it’s an egregious violation of the rights of Americans to subject students—as young as five—to an authoritative figure such as a teacher who essentially tells them that their faith is wrong.” He continued, “it’s one thing to explore alternatives at an appropriate age, but to teach theory that is devoid of any alternative which aligns with the belief of people of faith is just wrong.”

 Brayton again, pointing out the silliness in all its glory:
:
Exactly! So they should immediately stop teaching that the earth is round because that would subject children of Flat Earth Society members to a “teacher who essentially tells them that their faith is wrong.” And heliocentricity has got to go too, since that will expose the children of geocentrists to a “teacher who essentially tells them that their faith is wrong.” There isn’t a single thing taught in any school that does not conflict with someone’s religious beliefs. That has precisely nothing to do with what ought to be taught in public schools.

Of course it doesn't.

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is this - ignorance can be educated out of people; willful stupidity is a terminal condition.

(Also on WTTFTG)