Incidents 2006
From Science Besieged
Incident reports are short dispatches about skirmishes in the battle for scientific integrity.
January, February, and March
January 18, Vatican Disavows "Intelligent Design"
This day's edition of L'Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Vatican, carried an article written by Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at Italy's Bologna University. In the article he is quoted by Reuters[1] as writing (originally in Italian)
Intelligent design does not belong to science and there is no justification for the demand it be taught as a scientific theory alongside the Darwinian explanation.
The same Reuters report said later that
Evolution represents "the interpretative key of the history of life on Earth" and the debate in the United States was "polluted by political positions." ... "So the decision by the Pennsylvania judge seems correct."
The "Pennsylvania judge" was John Jones, who had ruled in December 2005 that "intelligent design" is an example of creationism and should not be taught in schools as if it were a scientific theory.
January 29, NASA Scientist Claims Censorship
James E. Hansen is a climate scientist and the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies[2] (in New York at Columbia University), NASA's principle location for research into global climate change. He has long been a proponent of reducing emissions of green-house gases as an important step in reducing peoples' affect on the environment. In an interview with the New York Times[3], he charged NASA officials with attempts to censor his reporting of research findings to the public.
January 30, Rep. Boehlert Responds to NASA Censorship
Representative Sherwood Boehlert is chairman of the House Science Committee. Reacting to the report (see incident on 29 January) that NASA officials had tried to censor James Hansen in reporting his research findings on global climate change, he wrote a letter[4] to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin expressing concern. This is an excerpt:
Good science cannot long persist in an atmosphere of intimidation. Political figures ought to be reviewing their public statements to make sure they are consistent with the best available science; scientists should not be reviewing their statements to make sure they are consistent with the current political orthodoxy.
...
NASA is clearly doing something wrong, given the sense of intimidation felt by Dr. Hansen and others who work with him.
February 4, More NASA Censorship Surfaces
In a follow-up to its 29 January story (see above) about political censoring of the work of climate scientist James Hansen, the New York Times sent documentation of several other incidents of political harrassment within NASA to its administrator, Michael Griffin, for comment. Among numerous incidents noted in its article[5], was this:
In October [2005], for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add the word "theory" after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded to The Times.
...
The Big Bang memo came from Mr. Deutsch, a 24-year-old presidential appointee in the press office at NASA headquarters whose résumé says he was an intern in the "war room" of the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. A 2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he was also the public-affairs officer who sought more control over Dr. Hansen's public statements.
Dr. Griffin did not respond directly to the newspaper, but he did write an e-mail to all of NASA's employees affirming the agency's commitment to "scientific openness":
"It is not the job of public-affairs officers to alter, filter or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's technical staff" [Dr. Griffin said in his e-mail].
February 6, NASA's Deutsch Faked Credentials
Previously it was reported that Mr. George Deutsch, the young public-affairs officer at NASA headquarters who was accused of political interference with material written by NASA scientists (see 4 February), was a "2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M". However, blogger Nick Anthis discovered[6] that Mr. Deutsch in fact left Texas A&M in the summer of 2004, without a degree, to join George Bush's re-election campaign. According to school records he never returned, Mr. Antis reported.
February 8 NASA's Deutsch Resigns
George Deutsch, the subject of earlier accusations that he interferred with scientific materials at NASA for political reasons, resigned following revelations that he did not actually have the journalism degree that he had claimed on his résumé. As reported in the New York Times[7]
"George Carlton Deutsch III did attend Texas A&M University but has not completed the requirements for a degree," said an e-mail message from Rita Presley, assistant to the registrar at the university, responding to a query from The Times.
February 12, Church Leaders Support Evolution
Celebrating the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin, as many as 441 church congregations throughout the US took part in an event called Evolution Sunday countering the arguments of those who would use religion to try to undermine the science of evolution. According to the New York Times[8]
"There was a growing need to demonstrate that the loud, shrill voices of fundamentalists claiming that Christians had to choose between modern science and religion were presenting a false dichotomy," said Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and the major organizer of the [Clergy Letter Project]. Mr. Zimmerman said more than 10,000 ministers had signed the letter, which states, in part, that the theory of evolution is "a foundational scientific truth." To reject it, the letter continues, "is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children."
February 14, Ohio Removes Creationism from Science Standards
The Ohio School Board voted 11-4 to remove parts of the state science standards introduced in 2002 as an attempt to encourage the teaching of Intelligent Design Creationism in the state's science curriculum.[9] (See also Statements on Teaching Evolution.)
April, May, and June
April 6, Scientists Find (Another) Fossil "Missing Link"
In the journal Nature, a team of scientists led by Neil H. Shubin of the University of Chicago reported[10] finding the fossil remains of a 375-million-year-old fish that is being described as the "missing link" between creatures that dwelled exclusively in the water and tetrapods (four-footed creatures) that walked on land. The fish, named Tiktaalik roseae, showed "evidence of limbs in the making. There are the beginnings of digits, proto-wrists, elbows and shoulders."
May 2, US Climate-Change Agency Agrees on Global Warming
The US Climate Change Science Program[11] issued a report today,[12] called Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere: Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences saying "there is no longer a discrepancy in the rate of global average temperature increase for the surface compared with higher levels in the atmosphere. This discrepancy had previously been used to challenge the validity of climate models used to detect and attribute the causes of observed climate change." The New York Times reported[13] that "...White House officials noted that this was just the first of 21 assessments planned by the federal Climate Change Science Program...", and not a reason to change its current policy.
May 8, STD-Prevention Panel Packed with Anstinence-Only Non-Scientists
At the National STD Prevention Conference, scheduled for today in Jacksonville, FL, there was to be a panel dicussion on "Are Abstinence-Only Until Marriage Programs a Threat to Public Health?" As reported by The Philadelphia Enquirer,[14] two members of the panel were removed, the panel title was changed to "Public Health Strategies of Abstinence Programs for Youth", and two pro-abstinance panelists were added, after US Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) complained to Health and Human Services officials that the panel was "'hostile' to abstinance-only programs".[15] According to the Enquirer report
Neither of the new speakers - Patricia Sulak, an ob/gyn and director of the Worth the Wait program, and Eric Walsh, a California physician - went through the peer-review process required of other participants, although CDC officials did not explain why. Both panelists were funded by the HHS, although others said they were told they had to pay their own way.
Conference organized Jonathan Zenilman, president of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association, was quote by the Enquirer as saying "These people aren't scientists; they haven't written anything. The only reason they're here is because of political pressure from the administration."
July, August, September
July 27, Climate Scientist Misrepresented by Global Warming Skeptics
Peter T. Doran, associate professor of Earth an Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicagohis colleagues published in January 2002 in Nature, about Antarctic temperatures, have been repeatedly "misrepresented" and "misused as 'evidence' against global warming...". Elsewhere[16], Doran explained
Our paper concluded that a small area of Antarctica called the McMurdo Dry Valleys had cooled over the 14 year period between 1986 and 2000, quickly changing the ecosystem in dramatic ways. We also included in that paper a plot and a few brief sentences about a continental cooling trend over the longer period of 1966 and 2000. Though it was only a small component of the paper, this latter portion became the focus of the popular press and something of a legend among those who struggle to argue that global warming theory is unsound. Right-wing pundits and the main stream media alike sensationalized the story and linked it to another paper in the journal Science out around the same time which showed that a part of Antarctica had been thickening. This connection to our findings was often made despite the other paper’s lead author insisting that his results had nothing to do with modern climate.
See also the page of links at the same site, citing example of responsible reporting and inappropriate headlines.
August 1, KS School Board Elections Favor Evolution -- Again
Twice in less than ten years, the Kansas School Board has seen anti-science, conservative majorities change state school-science standards to favor teaching various brands of creationism over evolutionary science. Now, since school board elections on 1 August, Kansas voters have twice replaced anti-science board members in favor of those who prefer that science classes in the state teach science. The Associated Press reported[17] that
As a result of Tuesday's vote, board members and candidates who believe evolution is well-supported by evidence will have a 6-4 majority. Evolution skeptics had entered the election with a 6-4 majority.
August 1, Scientists Warn Senate about Logging
In an effort to allow additional logging on Federal lands, some claim that "post-disturbance logging", i.e., logging immediately after forest fires, can aid the affected forest to recover, contrarty to consensus in forestry science. Said Dominick DellaSala, Ph.D., of the National Center for Conservation Science & Policy, “Of the more than 30 scientific papers on post-fire logging published to date, not a single one indicates that logging provides benefits to ecosystems regenerating after disturbance.”[18]
Support honest forestry science, the American Lands Alliance issued a press release[19]
A letter signed by 546 scientists was sent to Senators today warning about the negative impacts of logging after fires and other natural disturbances. The letter, released a day before a hearing in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Forestry Subcommittee on the Walden logging bill, passed by the House of Representatives. The bill, H. R. 4200, would fast-track logging by suspending environmental safeguards and reducing the American public's ability to give input on how their forests are managed.
An electronic version of the letter is available at the link above.
October, November, December
November 15, American Students Failing in Science
The National Assessment of Educational Programs (the "nation's report card") released results today for its "2005 Science Trial Urban District Assessment". According to the New York Times,[20] the majority of eighth-grade students in 9 out of 10 major cities failed to demonstrate a basic understanding of science.
Half or a little more of the eighth-grade students in Charlotte, San Diego and Boston lacked a basic grasp of science.
In six of the other cities — New York, Houston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Atlanta — the share of eighth graders without that knowledge was even higher, ranging from about three-fifths in New York to about four-fifths in Atlanta. By comparison, the corresponding share for the nation as a whole was 43 percent.
Among the 10 cities, only in Austin were the eighth graders who lacked a basic understanding in the minority, and just barely there.
December 27, Bush Administration Recognizes Threat to Polar Bears
The Washington Post reported today[21] that the Bush administration plans to propose the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The treat comes about because arctic sea ice has been receding in recent years, and polar bears depend on sea ice for hunting. This plan is being seen as an admission on the part of the administration that global warming is a serious environmental threat:
Although federal officials cited rising sea temperatures once before in a threatened-species proposal -- in May, when they called them a "major stressor" on Caribbean elkhorn and staghorn corals -- today's proposal will mark the first time the administration has identified climate change as the driving force behind the potential demise of a species.
Notes
- ^ Tom Heneghan, "'Intelligent design' not science: Vatican paper", Reuters, 19 January 2006.
- ^ NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies website.
- ^ Andrew C. Revkin, "Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him", New York Times, 29 January 2006.
- ^ Quoted in: Richard M. Jones, "Boehlert Seeks Clarification Regarding NASA Climate Scientists", FYI: The AIP Bulletin of Science Policy News, number 15, 31 January 2006.
- ^ Andrew C. Revkin, "NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness, New York Times, 4 February 2006.
- ^ Nick Anthis, "BREAKING NEWS: George Deutsch Did Not Graduate From Texas A & M University", The Scientific Activist, 6 February 2005.
- ^ Andrew C. Revkin, "A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA", New York Times, 8 February 2006.
- ^ Neela Banerjee and Anne Berryman, At Churches Nationwide, Good Words for Evolution, New York Times, 13 February 2006.
- ^ Carrie Spencer-Ghose, "Ohio Board Votes Out Evolution Lesson Plan", Associated Press, 14 February 2006.
- ^ John Noble Wilford, "Fossil Called Missing Link From Sea to Land Animals", New York Times, 6 April 2006.
- ^ The US Climate Change Science Program website.
- ^ The press release about the report has a link to the report for downloading.
- ^ Andrew C. Revkin, "Federal Study Finds Accord on Warming", New York Times, 3 May 2006.
- ^ Dawn Fallik, "Abstinence debate roils a talk on STDs", Philadelphia Enquirer, 6 May 2006.
- ^ US Representative Henry A. Waxman, letter to Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, 9 May 2006.
- ^ Peter Doran, "Cold, Hard Facts", New York Times, 26 July 2006.
- ^ Peter Doran, "Antarctic Cooling?", Peter Doran website, University of Illinois at Chicago, 25 July 2006.
- ^ John Hanna, "Evolution Opponents Lose in Kansas Primary", Associated Press via Bismark Tribune, 2 August 2006.
- ^ Press release, "Scientists Speak Out on Negative Impacts of Post-Fire Logging 8.1.06", American Lands Alliance, 2 August 2006.
- ^ Diana Jean Schemo, "Most Students in Big Cities Lag Badly in Basic Science", New York Times, 15 November 2006.
- ^ Juliet Eilperin, "U.S. Wants Polar Bears Listed as Threatened", Washington Post, 27 December 2006.
Sources
- Nick Anthis, "NASA Science Censor Resign", The Scientific Activist, 8 February 2005.
- American Lands Alliance.
