Forum for Science, Industry and Business

First Annual UpChucky Awards Announced

Enter the intelligently designed UpChucky Award, which recognizes supreme achievement in the field of persistently rejecting evolution in the most stomach-turning way imaginable. This crown of cluelessness, this diadem of density, this badge of bullpucky isn't awarded to just any Darwin doubter. The UpChucky is bestowed on that one creationist whose efforts in the preceding year would inspire Darwin (or any rational person) to "drive the porcelain bus".

The nominees:

Notable Don quote: "Somebody's got to stand up to experts!"

Notable Ray quote: "Behold the atheist's nightmare! Now, if you study a well-made banana, you'll find..."

Notable Casey quote: When asked if intelligent design--as mentioned in a proposed Florida law--constituted "scientific information", Luskin dithered, saying, "In my personal opinion, I think it does. But the intent of this bill is not to settle that question. The intent of this bill is...it protects the 'teaching of scientific information.'"

Notable quote: "[American scientists]...announced yesterday that Ardi’s discovery proves that humans did not evolve from ancestors that resemble chimpanzees, which refutes the longstanding assumption that humans evolved from monkeys.”

And the winner is...Don McLeroy! (Chunderous applause.)

Said Steve Mirsky, who announced the coveted UpChucky award during a ceremony held in conjunction with the 2010 AAAS convention in San Diego:

"The amazing thing about Don is that he's a dentist who spends all his time--when he's not destroying academic standards in Texas--working with some of the primary evidence of human evolution. Teeth! Whole fossil lineages can be defined by their teeth! Don doesn't get that. He's clearly a worthy winner of the first annual UpChucky award."

Links:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/829439497/f3c541a7aa3e9817058da823647e34e5

A smaller version is here:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/829440049/f25057e40166f8b0c9e04b576721b7cd

CONTACT: Robert Luhn of the NCSE, 510-601-7203, luhn@ncse.com

Web site: www.ncse.com

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit, membership organization that defends and promotes the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The NCSE provides information and resources to schools, parents, and concerned citizens working to keep evolution in public school science education. We educate the press and public about the scientific, educational, and legal aspects of the creation and evolution controversy, and supply needed information and advice to defend good science education at local, state, and national levels. Our 4000 members are scientists, teachers, clergy, and citizens with diverse religious affiliations.

Robert Luhn of the NCSE, 510-601-7203, luhn@ncse.com

Robert Luhn | Newswise Science News
Further information:
http://www.ncse.com

Im Focus: Spider silk key to new bone-fixing composite

University of Connecticut researchers have created a biodegradable composite made of silk fibers that can be used to repair broken load-bearing bones without the complications sometimes presented by other materials.

Repairing major load-bearing bones such as those in the leg can be a long and uncomfortable process.

Im Focus: Writing and deleting magnets with lasers

Study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces is the outcome of an international effort that included teams from Dresden and Berlin in Germany, and the US.

Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) together with colleagues from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the University of Virginia...

Im Focus: Gamma-ray flashes from plasma filaments

Novel highly efficient and brilliant gamma-ray source: Based on model calculations, physicists of the Max PIanck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg propose a novel method for an efficient high-brilliance gamma-ray source. A giant collimated gamma-ray pulse is generated from the interaction of a dense ultra-relativistic electron beam with a thin solid conductor. Energetic gamma-rays are copiously produced as the electron beam splits into filaments while propagating across the conductor. The resulting gamma-ray energy and flux enable novel experiments in nuclear and fundamental physics.

The typical wavelength of light interacting with an object of the microcosm scales with the size of this object. For atoms, this ranges from visible light to...

Im Focus: Basel researchers succeed in cultivating cartilage from stem cells

Stable joint cartilage can be produced from adult stem cells originating from bone marrow. This is made possible by inducing specific molecular processes occurring during embryonic cartilage formation, as researchers from the University and University Hospital of Basel report in the scientific journal PNAS.

Certain mesenchymal stem/stromal cells from the bone marrow of adults are considered extremely promising for skeletal tissue regeneration. These adult stem...

Im Focus: Like a wedge in a hinge

Researchers lay groundwork to tailor drugs for new targets in cancer therapy

In the fight against cancer, scientists are developing new drugs to hit tumor cells at so far unused weak points. Such a “sore spot” is the protein complex...