North Texas Church of Freethought

It was 150 years ago today that Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," a book that he considered to be only an abstract summary of the theory he had been developing since he returned to Britain from his voyage on the HMS Beagle in 1836.Darwin's theory has continued to develop and evolve since his time, wi...th a steady stream of new discoveries and observations about our natural world influencing the science of evolution, just as it does in every other scientific field. Most notably, the development of genetics provided a robust molecular mechanism of change, measurable to the individual nucleotide, with which we can track individual mutations and correlate them with expressed phenotypes in many different species. This "modern synthesis" is made all the more relevant with the birth of the Genomic Era, in which the entire DNA landscape of dozens of species are now easily viewable and downloadable from any computer in the world.And yet the basic concepts that are the foundation of evolutionary theory (shared ancestry, development of novel forms, and the relationship of humans to other species) are easily communicated to and understood by small children. Kate Miller of Charlie's Playhouse has assembled the following video that demonstrates this easily:   Be sure to check out Kate's website for great ideas for solstice presents for any kid you know that's excited to learn about science, and who would love to explore evolution!