Your Call 021209 Is evolution by natural selection a fact?

Is evolution by natural selection a fact? On the next Your Call, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. Darwin's theory about the mechanism of evolution is one of the most predictive, transformational and accurate theories devised by science, but how certain should we be that this explanation is the final word? Proponents of creationism in schools have attacked Natural Selection for being merely a theory. Should science educators, humanists and proponents of rationalism use the language of certainty to fight back? Can the scientific virtues of open-mindedness and curiosity succeed in America? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Kevin Padian
Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Padian's area of interest is vertebrate evolution, especially the origins of flight and the evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs. He served as an expert witness for the plaintiffs in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, and his testimony was repeatedly cited in the federal court's decision to outlaw teaching creationism in classrooms.

Peter Hess
Faith Project Director at the Oakland-based National Center for Science Education.

Michael Shermer
Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of Why Darwin Matters

Click to Listen: Is evolution by natural selection a fact?