Evolution named 2005's top
scientific breakthrough
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Two days after a U.S. judge struck down the teaching
of intelligent design theory in a Pennsylvania public school, the
journal Science on Thursday proclaimed evolution the breakthrough
of 2005.
Wide-ranging research published this year, including a study that
showed a mere 4 percent difference between human and chimpanzee
DNA, built on Charles Darwin's landmark 1859 work "The Origin of
Species" and the idea of natural selection, the journal's editors
wrote.
"Amid this outpouring of results, 2005 stands out as a banner year
for uncovering the intricacies of how evolution actually proceeds,"
they wrote. "Ironically, also this year, some segments of American
society fought to dilute the teaching of even the basic facts of
evolution."
The journal's editor in chief, Don Kennedy, acknowledged this was a
reference to the rise of the theory of intelligent design, which
holds that some aspects of nature are so complex that they must be
the work of an unnamed creator rather than the result of random
natural selection, as Darwin argued.
Opponents, including many scientists, argue it is a thinly
disguised version of creationism -- a belief that the world was
created by God as described in the Book of Genesis -- which the
U.S. Supreme Court has ruled may not be taught in public
schools.
"I think what arouses the ire of scientists (about intelligent
design) is ... the notion that it belongs in the same universe as
scientific analysis," Kennedy said in a telephone interview.
"It's a hypothesis that's not testable, and one of the important
recognition factors for science and scientific ideas is the notion
of testability, that you can go out and do an experiment and learn
from it and change your idea," said Kennedy. "That's just not
possible with a notion that's as much a belief in spirituality as
intelligent design is."
Intelligent design theory came under review in two U.S. states this
year, with a federal judge in Pennsylvania on Tuesday banning the
teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in
the Dover Area School District.
In Kansas, the state Board of Education approved public school
standards that cast doubt on evolutionary theory.
Kennedy said Science picked evolution as the year's biggest
breakthrough in part because it was a "hot topic," but stressed
there was a wealth of research that justified the choice.
Other breakthroughs in the journal's Top 10 include research in
planetary exploration, the molecular biology of flowers, the
violent ways of neutron stars, the relationship between genetics
and abnormal human behavior, the new field of cosmochemistry, a
protein that controls the flow of potassium ions to cells, fresh
evidence of global warming, an engineering approach to molecular
biology and superconductivity.
Areas to watch for in 2006, according to Science, include the avian
flu, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and the possible sighting of the
ivory-billed woodpecker, long presumed extinct but rediscovered in
2004.
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