Looking Back on a Year in Science

NPR's Science Friday program always does a great job presenting information in an easily digested format and the Year in Review program was no different.

At a time when science education is sorely needed to compete in the world, there are those who promote and perpetuate ignorance and misinformation.

Just as information is readily available on the internet to explain complex issues in laymen's terms, there are too many like Rep. Paul Broun MD [R-GA] and Todd Akin leading in the wrong direction.

Science Friday and many other NPR programs help remove the cloud of ignorance.
That's why NPR is needed. Maybe that's why the Republican oppose it.

Jan. 04, 2013

Looking Back on a Year in Science

In 2012 the Higgs boson was spotted at CERN, private company SpaceX began supply flights to the International Space Station, and the world bade farewell to the Galapagos tortoise Lonesome George.

A panel of journalists discusses the year’s top stories in science.

Produced by Charles Bergquist, Director and Contributing Producer

 

Guests

• Mariette DiChristina
  Editor in Chief and Senior Vice President
  Scientific American
  New York, New York
• Ivan Oransky
  Executive Editor, Reuters Health
  Cofounder, Retraction Watch
  New York, New York
• Mark Frauenfelder
  Cofounder, Boing Boing
  Editor-in-chief, MAKE Magazine
  Los Angeles, California

Related Links

SciAm: The Top 10 Science Stories of 2012
Science News Top 25
PopSci:The Big Science Stories Of 2012 In An Interactive Graphic
Google Zeitgeist 2012

Listen: Science Friday

Below is the misinformation presented by Rep. Paul Broun MD [R-GA] ---

House Science Member Says Earth Is 9,000 Years Old

By Christine Gorman |October 5, 2012

The earth is about 9,000 years old, according to U.S. House Representative Paul Broun, who is also a physician and member of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology of the House of Representatives. “There are a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young earth, ” Broun said in a videotape of the Sportsmen’s Banquet held on September 27 at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Georgia. “I don’t believe that the earth is but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them.”

2012 Paul Broun Testimony (Start at 34 minute, 48 second mark)

The video was uploaded to Youtube on Oct 4 by LibertyBCofHart and also appears on the Liberty Baptist Church website. I learned about it from reading a post at Talking Points Memo.
Full disclosure: I believe in God, attend church regularly–Presbyterian Church (USA), for the record–and accept evolution, embryology and the Big Bang.

Update (Oct. 7, 2012): Looks like Liberty Baptist Church removed the video from Youtube. Here is a clip from The Bridge Project, which originally called TPM’s attention to Broun’s remarks.

Is the Earth 6,000 Years Old, 9,000 Years Old, or 13,000 Years Old?

How biblical literalists get their numbers.

By Brian Palmer|Posted Friday, Oct. 12, 2012

 

GOP Science Gatekeeper:

 

Representative Paul C. Broun, Jr., MD (R, GA-10) graduated from the University of Georgia and the Medical College of Georgia. He thinks that Planet Earth is only 9,000 years old and that Evolution and Embryology are “lies straight from the pit of Hell.” So much for higher education in the Peach State.

 

It gets worse. Congressman Broun, MD is a member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Perhaps he’s also medical adviser to fellow Science Committee member Todd Akin (R, MO-2), who believes victims of “legitimate rape” don’t get pregnant and that doctors are giving abortions to women who aren’t pregnant.

 

Unsurprisingly, Congressmen Broun and Akin are both members of the House Tea Party Caucus.

 

More:

“Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA): Evolution, Big Bang ‘Lies Straight From The Pit Of Hell,’” Benjy Sarlin, Talking Points Memo