Kudos to Andrew Dessler (@andrewdessler.com) for his touching obituary for the DOE Climate Working Group Report.

ICYMI: the late paleontologist Hans-Dieter Sues's appearance on the Paleonerds podcast.

"[E]ven though the federal government's decision to adopt climate denial in place of climate science as official US government policy is 'chilling to the core,' scientists' voices are far from useless."

Crunching the numbers from the 2023-2024 Pew Religious Landscape Survey, Ryan Burge concludes, "Creationism Isn’t as Common as You Think."

Yearly global temps compared to the pre-industrial average. Despite some differences, all data sources show more red bars than blue ones—evidence of long-term global warming. #ShowYourStripes #ClimateForUs

Minnesota's Senate Bill 3659 would, if enacted, establish a climate literacy seal "to recognize graduating high school students ... who demonstrate mastery in climate literacy disciplines and attain green skills or technical green skills."

A lovely essay on evolution by Lee Alan Dugatkin and Carl Bergstrom (@carlbergstrom.com).

"On the forefront of this movement is Delaware, a state with plans for all of its middle and high school CTE [Career and Technical Education] courses to include environmental lessons in the coming years."

Mark your calendar, because I'm speaking to Michigan Humanists on "Fear of a Round Planet": online at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on February 22.

Behold: the mitochondrion of Jersey City!

Дарвин күні құтты болсын!

Help us build a new online platform to protect federal climate science information for the public. givebutter.com/valentines-d...

My former colleague Emily Schoerning of American Resiliency discusses resiliency with the Crazy Town podcast!

Good news for science education in the Cy-Fair Independent School District in Texas. (With comments from yours truly.)

"Across Eastern and Southern Africa, young people are not just learning about climate change -- they are shaping how it's taught."

I read the late Erich von Däniken's Evolution Is Wrong (2022) recently. It's remarkably bad, for a variety of reasons I would be pleased to explain, if a suitable venue presents itself ...

"The Department of Energy's misleading climate report is getting a second life in Florida."

"High-stakes rock-paper-scissors": the latest Evo in the News from Understanding Evolution.

"Misleading. Unjustified. Hypocritical. Those are just some of the words that Department of Energy scientists used to describe a 141-page report on climate change that was commissioned by DOE Secretary Chris Wright."

Since I've been baking rye bread recently, I was particularly interested in "When Ancient Weeds Fooled Us," from PBS Eons.

Maryland's House Bill 620 would, if enacted, require the state's governor annually to proclaim the first week of April as Maryland Climate Education Week.

Jamie Jensen and Joe Shane both offered thoughtful responses to a great article about Kitzmiller v. Dover, "Of Pandas and Science Curricula" by Monya Baker (@monyab.bsky.social).

"Climate change and sustainability in science and social science primary school curricula": a new report from UNESCO.

Wesley Roberts, a veteran biology teacher in Tennessee, discusses the Scopes trial with Secular Rising US.

"An ExxonMobil-backed initiative, Carbon Measures, is pushing to reshape how the world does the math on climate change. Their system, outside analysts point out, leaves consumers holding the bag."

Our project director Rebecca Lindsey features in a new TIME story, “The Women Saving America’s Climate Data.” The article features our efforts to save content created on behalf of NOAA and the Fifth National Climate Assessment. You can access the full article through Climate.us "In the Press" page.

Celebrate Darwin Day by attending Alex Bezzerides's talk for Bay Area Skeptics on "Evolution Gone Wrong," online at 7:30 p.m. Pacific on February 12!

In a wide-ranging interview with Carbon Brief, Ben Santer says the Trump administration is "engaged in a systematic attempt to dismantle climate science."

In which I discuss creationist misuse of a quotation from James Bryant Conant.

"Data from multiple international agencies shows the reality of a rapidly warming world."

Tyrant Lizard Queen: a new book on its way from Riley Black (@restingdinoface.bsky.social)!

"I hope that the decision to withdraw from the IPCC will not be lost in the noise of dysfunction and chaos that now characterizes daily life in the United States," writes Ben Santer.

A new publication from yours truly, along with the rest of Jon D. Miller's team: "The development of just-in-time information acquisition behaviors in Generation X."

E&E by Politico gave a shoutout to Climate.us in a feature on the challenges of rescuing canceled climate data. See this and other stories at www.climate.us#press. #ClimateForUs

News of the death of Erich von Däniken, not only pseudoarchaeologist but also antievolutionist -- see, e.g., his Evolution Is Wrong: A Radical Approach to the Origin and Transformation of Life (2022).

"The year that just ended saw numerous records broken on climate and clean energy," writes Dana Nuccitelli (@dananuccitelli.bsky.social).

Sad news of the death of Larry Lerner.

"Scientists are racing to rescue hundreds of datasets, websites and federal reports [with information about climate change] that have been deleted by the administration."

In which I argue that the Victorian flat-earth movement was unlikely to have been inspired by the obscure 1819 pamphlet The Anti-Newtonian. (Paywalled; e-mail me if you want a PDF.)

If you enjoyed "Death by Lightning," then surely you will want to know about James A. Garfield's participation in a debate over evolution in 1858.

A hilarious look at Fuel-less -- a Big Oil-funded propaganda featurette indebted to the movie Clueless -- from Climate Town (@climatetown.bsky.social).

Dan Falk (@danfalk.bsky.social)'s piece about the Scopes trial, which included comments from yours truly, was among Smithsonian magazine's top ten stories for 2025!

"Calling 2025 a disaster for the environment and renewable energy would be an insult to disasters," writes Mark Gongloff (@markgongloff.bsky.social).

In which I investigate Oscar Wilde's views on Darwin.

A nice piece in The Progressive on climate change in higher education from Jill Webb. Thanks to Joe Henderson (@josephenderson.bsky.social) for drawing my attention to it!

In which I describe the links between Trump, creationism, ID, Christian Nationalism, and the book at the centre of the case; fear that the judgement will be undermined or, worse, bypassed; and show that this book contains errors of scientific reasoning that would disgrace an undergraduate.

A spectacular look back at Kitzmiller v. Dover, from Witold "Vic" Walczak.

"Researchers who have downplayed the threat of global warming have been asked to author the next National Climate Assessment." What a coincidence.

It's beginning to look a lot like Kitzmas...

PRI has made the New York Times! We are still struggling, but December has had a number of substantial gifts and substantial number of smaller gifts. We will still be open come January, but still need support. Donation link in the next message. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/s...