Today's Top Five Stories

1. Ohio: Students don't need to evaluate evolution as science, they just need to believe it as faith
Yesterday, The Times of London reported that a University of California at Santa Cruz team found that Darwin was wrong. "It seems that hot acidic waters containing clay do not provide the right conditions for chemicals to assemble themselves into 'pioneer organisms,'" researcher David Deamer explained.

Is Deamer a closet proponent of Intelligent Design? Actually, he has argued against the theory. But some in Ohio apparently would see him as secretly opening the door to Intelligent Design. At least, that's the logic behind Tuesday's 11-4 Ohio Board of Education vote eliminating one of the board's academic standards. Here's all that the standard said: In grade 10, students should be able to "describe how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory. (The intent of this indicator does not mandate the teaching or testing of Intelligent Design.)" Another standard, kept by the board in yesterday's vote, specifically countered Intelligent Design: Students must be able to explain that evolution is "undirected."

But the phrase "investigate and critically analyze," while being the cornerstone of science, was deemed religious by some who see conspiracy at work.

"We (now) have science standards that do not try and indoctrinate students," Case Western Reserve University biology professor Patricia Princehouse crowed to The Columbus Dispatch after the vote.

Riiiight. There's nothing indoctrinating about science standards like, "Discuss how both men and women find science rewarding as a career and in their everyday lives." Or, "Describe the current and historical contributions ...