Help Make Darwin Day Official!

Representative Pete Stark of California (dem) proposed Res 81 to Congress, to get February 12, 2011 as Darwin Day and recognizing the importance of science in the betterment of humanity. This resolution is a culmination of collaboration between Representative Stark, 2008 Humanist of the Year, and the American Humanist Association.

Pete Stark is also the only "out" atheist in our government. (I am pretty sure. If you know of any others let me know!)

Here's more from the American Humanist Association:

In a statement, Representative Stark said, “Darwin’s birthday is a good time for us to reflect on the important role of science in our society. It is also a time to redouble our efforts to ensure that children are being taught scientific facts, not religious dogma, and to fight back against those who seek to undermine the science of climate change for political ends.”

This resolution could not have come at a more important time. The New York Times recently reported that only 28 percent of biology teachers present evidence for evolution as recommended by the National Research Council, while 13 percent “explicitly advocate” creationism. Furthermore, with climate change quickly gaining speed, and anti-environment regulation law-makers denying its impact, a true grasp of science is the strongest defense against global warming.

Read the Resolution here.

Then go to the AHA to the Action Center to use their nifty form to tell your representative to support this resolution. It's easy and it should be something we can all get behind, since we all use science to improve our lives.

Liquid Glass Is Groovy!

Happy Darwin Day everyone! Today is Darwin's birthday and in honor of him, I thought I'd post this article about Liquid Glass, which could possibly be the coolest nanotech material I've seen in some time. I think it's so cool mainly because of its versatility and the fact that it's already in use in Germany, the UK and Turkey.

Why am I talking about nanotech on Darwin's birthday? If you think about it, without evolution, we wouldn't be able to manipulate our world so deftly and with such finesse. About 195,000 years ago homo sapiens first appeared in the fossil record. We started leaving Africa about 70,000 years ago, and migrated as far as the Americas 14,500 years ago.

A mere 10,000 years ago, we were mostly hunter-gatherers in nomadic groups. The first proto-states were developed only 6,000 years ago. Think of that! Look how far we've come in such a short time!

Think of how we lived just 100 years ago in 1910.

• By 1910 many suburban homes were wired up with power and new electronic gadgets.


• Vacuum cleaners and washing machines had just become commercially available, though still expensive for middle class folks


• The telephone was new, and millions of American homes were connected by manual switchboard


• People relied on the paper for their news, but radio technology was in its infancy


• The age of the airship was in full swing. Only 7 years previously, the Wright brothers had flown at Kitty Hawk


• Henry Ford introduced the Model T 2 years before and sold about 10,000 of them this year


• Advances in the use of gases meant the first electric refrigerators and air conditioning units.


• Neon lighting was debuted in Paris


• Inventions included: escalators, teabags, cellophane, instant coffee and disposable razor blades


• Women still had another 3 years of corsets

Things they didn't have in 1910: