At a recent event a most engaging scientist was lecturing on his work, which involves looking for the missing 95% of the universe (I know how he feels, I frequently mislay my hearing aids).
His talk attracted a large and interested audience on a dark and rainy night. It was not a cafe scientifique (no Francophone affectation here!), it was a village hall scientific lecture with the kind of thrice-mashed tea you would expect at such an event.
Our host Dr Paling made an interesting and mildly depressing point. Without the extensive support in kind given by the local mine (in whose commodious and low-radiation hole the dark matter detector is housed) the UK would not be able to afford to carry out the reseach. A glass of sherry in the mine’s direction.
Meanwhile a correspondent telephones me to exault at Mr. Obama’s sweeping victory. Mr Obama has promised to double funding for scientific research, a promise we can only hope he honours. He would also do well to make it clear to boards of education throughout the USA that creationism, intelligent design and ‘teaching the controversy’ have no place in science lessons.
Update: there is some work to be done on this latter issue in the UK. One in three UK teachers support teaching creationism alongside evolution according to a poll reported (by its religious affairs correspondent) in the popular print The Daily Telegraph. The figure falls to 18% for science teachers. I despair that any of our science teachers might feel that 4000 year old thought merits a place in the nurseries of our future scientists.
I hope you are correct, Sir. I would not mind a glass of that excellent sherry, if you are putting any of it in any other directions.
Only after hours. It would be Jerez-y to have an edtrix under the influence.
How do school boards react to teachers who don’t understand their subject? Almost 1 in 5 science teachers don’t understand the evolutionary process? Truly incredible. Even if they’re chemistry or physics teachers, they should still follow the same underlying scientific method. Sack the lot of them, or let them retrain as religious education teachers.
Oh, and mine’s a large whisky, if you don’t mind.
Thank you for thinking of my reputation. After the Sun has gone below the yard-arm, then.
That is sad information, Mike, though I did once read an article that said “never trust an article that provides figures of ‘1 in 5’…”. I can’t remember the logic, though.
Looks like Obama is moving in the right direction. Rescinding the ban on federal funding for stem cell research is, according to his new chief of staff, his second priority in office, right after child health care.
I haven’t heard anyone refer to ‘mashing’ tea in years. I shall go and make a cup now to celebrate.
Cath, anytime you’re in the vicinity chez Grant you’re welcome to mash my tea to your (Northern) heart’s content.
I find the figure of the poll in the UK rather puzzling. If we consider the very low level of church attendance in the UK to be a level of societal religious commitment, it seems surprising that 1/3 of teachers feel that strongly about creationism. perhaps they just don’t care and thought an even handed approach is PC?
Cath, anytime you’re in the vicinity chez Grant you’re welcome to mash my tea to your (Northern) heart’s content.
Ta chuck, I’ll put t’kettle on
“Ta chuck”
My pleasure, but a capital C please.