Evolution

This is the fourth in our traditional year-end series of commissioned poems based on recent Inquirer headlines. The article headlined "A theory's evolution: The Franklin Institute's exhibition on Charles Darwin shows the person behind one of the most revolutionary ideas in science" appeared Oct. 16 on Page E1. The exhibit "Darwin" at the Franklin Institute closes Dec. 31. The Theory of Flawed Design is not a scientifically proven ...

IN RESPONSE to federal Judge John Jones' recent decision against teaching "intelligent design" in schools: Evolution is a myth. There are two creation stories in Genesis and they're different. In Genesis 1:27, God creates mankind on the sixth day. In Genesis 2:5-7, God creates the man Adam on the third day. The link that makes sense of these two different accounts is the discovery of the Neanderthal people. It makes sense that on the sixth day, when God created Eve, God would also create a separate race called "mankind" (the Neanderthal people)

Setting new guidelines expected to have a strong impact on the way the origin of life is taught in the United States, the state Board of Education approved a textbook guideline yesterday requiring that evolution be taught as the only theory of life's origin. A board committee Wednesday adopted a statement saying that evolution should be taught as fact, but the final wording of the 190-page curriculum outline adopted by the full board said that evolution would be taught as theory.

Can God and evolution coexist? For many evangelical Christians, the debate over teaching evolution in public schools touches a vital spiritual nerve. Some see evolution as a path to perdition, while others see it as a crowning example of God's handiwork. A legal battle in Dover, Pa., over the teaching of evolution and "intelligent design" has focused new attention on the issue, as have recent proposals in Kansas to change how evolution is taught there. For David Wilcox, a biology professor at Eastern University, an evangelical college in St. Davids, the challenge is to teach students that it's possible to embrace evolution "without intellectual schizophrenia.

'I'm curious: Is there anybody on the stage that does not . . . believe in evolution?" That was the question put to the 10 GOP presidential hopefuls during a May 3 Republican presidential debate on MSNBC. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) already had said he did. But when the rest were asked the same question, three hands went up: those of Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Ah, the flood of facile jokes!: Those Luddite Republicans!

It's hard to imagine a more innocuous statement than the one the Cobb County, Ga., school board recently ordered pasted into their biology textbooks: "Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered. " Yet this disclaimer is the subject of a nationally publicized lawsuit, in which the plaintiff alleges that the wording violates the separation of church and state.

Famed Harvard biologist and evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould came to Bryn Mawr College this week and discussed one of his favorite evolutionary analogues - the evolution of Mickey Mouse. When Mickey appeared in his first cartoon feature, "Steamboat Willie" in 1928, Gould explained, he had a long snout, spindly limbs, a small cranium and looked more like an adult rat than America's favorite mouse. Over the years, however, Disney artists shortened his snout, thickened his limbs and increased his head size to give him a more appealing, childlike appearance.

The public statement on the Dover Area School District Web site is both ambiguous and defensive. The district "is in the process of forming a fair and balanced science curriculum. We are not teaching religion," it says. More information will be issued shortly. This is what happens when a small south-central Pennsylvania community defies scientific tradition to become what appears to be the only district in the nation to mandate the teaching of "intelligent design" alongside evolution in high school biology.

Humans evolved, as did all living things, into their present forms through the process of mutations of mutations of mutations . . . all the way back to the dawn of earth life. Everything biologically-connected is a descendant of a rebel, a spinoff from and an improvement on the biological and social establishment. No mutations were created based on mere whim or transient predictions or ignorant, limited wishes until, of course, the age of humans, especially in modern times. Now rebellious mutations are not allowed to flower or even be tested because of self-serving establishment business.

A recent cartoon in the New Yorker shows a fish in the sea and, on the beach, a parade: first, an amphibian, then a dinosaur, then an ape, followed by a Neanderthal and finally a man holding a book. He looks over his shoulder at them and says, "Scram!" Dipping by coincidence into the current controversy over "intelligent design" versus evolution, the Broadway revival of Edward Albee's Seascape, his 1975 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about evolution, necessarily makes a few waves.

Here is a year-by-year look at some of Kyle Kendrick's statistics. Kendrick, 3-1 with a 2.43 ERA in six starts this season, is 10-5 in his last 18 starts dating back to last season. He will pitch Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants.                         Opp.        vs. Year       Record    ERA    avg. L.H. batters   SO per 9 IP 2007       10-4       3.87    .280       .321          3.6 2008       11-9       5.49    .304       .334          3.4 2009       3-1       3.42    .273       .267          5.1 2010       11-10       4.73    .283       .312          4.2 2011       8-6       3.22    .255       .234          4.6 2012       11-12       3.90    .254       .238          6.6 2013       3-1       2.43    .235       .233          6.4 - Bob Brookover SOURCE: BaseballReference.com

In 2004, the Eagles started Brian Dawkins and Michael Lewis at safety. Both reached the Pro Bowl. Both were also second-round picks - Dawkins in 1996, Lewis in 2002. Those picks were the highest the Eagles allocated on a safety since Jesse Campbell in 1991, and the Eagles' evaluations proved to be correct. Replacing them has been an ongoing issue. Other than Quintin Mikell, who was a four-year starter and one-time Pro Bowler, the position has been a revolving door in Philadelphia.

Comcast Corp. chief executive Brian Roberts, speaking at the Economic Club of Washington on Thursday, said he believes that TV evolved more in the last five years than it did in the prior 50 years. He also said the number of Comcast Internet customers should exceed the number of Comcast TV customers over the next couple years. Comcast currently serves about 20 million Internet subscribers and 22 million TV customers.

We tend to think that our cultural icons arrive fully formed. We forget how much thought and work goes into becoming a legend. Crossfire Hurricane is about the early image-molding of the Rolling Stones. Of course tonight's HBO documentary (9 p.m.) also works exceedingly well if you're a fan of the band, love rock music, or just get off on the seedier side of spectacle. But since the subtitle is The Rise of the Stones , let's consider the film first as creation story. Directed and written by Brett ( The Kid Stays in the Picture )

ATHENS, Ga. - Rep. Paul Broun (R., Ga.) said in videotaped remarks that evolution, embryology, and the big-bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of hell" meant to convince people that they do not need a savior. The Republican lawmaker made those comments during a speech Sept. 27 at a sportsman's banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell. Broun, a medical doctor, is running for reelection in November unopposed by Democrats. He sits on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

James McNew is about to forget the new Yo La Tengo record. He and Ira and Georgia Kaplan just finished mixing an as-yet-untitled album, due out in early January, and the long-standing Hoboken trio appears at Penn's Landing on Saturday as part of WHYY's Connections Festival. The new album, produced by Tortoise's John McEntire in Chicago, will be Yo La Tengo's 14th since 1986, and they have become, in many ways, the archetypal indie-rock band. "Yeah, we're an institution," says McNew, who joined the Kaplans with 1992's May I Sing With Me . The band's versatility is its hallmark: It veers among feedback-driven epics, delicate acoustic ruminations, and catchy garage rockers, while integrating elements of free jazz (when in Philly, they often ask members of Sun Ra's Arkestra to sit in)

When Pennsylvania State University biologist Andrew Read injected mice with a component of several promising malaria vaccines, he got a disquieting result: The malaria parasites spread through the immunized mice and evolved to become more virulent. Unvaccinated mice infected with these super-parasites got much sicker than those infected with ordinary malaria. The findings, Read said, should not discourage research on malaria vaccines - the disease kills hundreds of thousands of African children every year, and the parasites tend to develop resistance to drugs.

The white T-shirts were sprawled across the chairs sitting in front of every locker in the Phillies' clubhouse. They read "Vote for Chooch," the words of a promotional campaign to gin up votes for catcher Carlos Ruiz's bid for an All-Star berth. The players were supposed to wear them during batting practice, in a display of camaraderie that was part solidarity, part infomercial. The reason behind the shirts was simple. It was mid-June and Ruiz trailed in the fans' All-Star voting, despite putting up All-Star worthy numbers, including boasting the best batting average in baseball.

There are two ways to defend gay marriage. Argument A is empathy: One is influenced by gay friends in committed relationships yearning for the fulfillment and acceptance that marriage conveys upon heterosexuals. That's essentially the case President Obama made when he first announced his change of views. No talk about rights, just human fellow feeling. Such an argument is attractive because it can be compelling without being compulsory. Many people, feeling the weight of this longing among their gay friends, are willing to redefine marriage for the sake of simple human sympathy.

IT FEELS LIKE it took fish less time to grow legs and walk on land than it took for President Obama's position on gay marriage to finally "evolve" to supporting it. Leave it to the ever-cautious "No Drama Obama" to take an epic moment in the slow forward march of civil rights for all Americans and to leave supporters to wonder if they should be shouting, "You've come a long way, baby!" or asking the president, "Jeez, what took you so long?" I have to confess that my original reaction was the latter, to focus on the politics, when I heard that Obama had finally announced his personal support for gay marriage in the all-too-calculated format of an ABC News interview that the White House had hurriedly set up (usually it's the other way around — a news outlet spends months begging for a presidential one-on-one)