Humans Evolved From Turkeys?

Well, that’s what I got from the presentation given by Dr. Howard Neufeld, professor of biology at Appalachian State University last night as part of the Hickory Science Museum’s “Science After Dark” series.  This was the first science event to be hosted at Bistro 127, and it was very tasty.  My wife and I enjoyed a marvelous Margherita pizza and good draft ale.

Oh,  to get back to the presentation.  Actually Dr. Neufeld didn’t really say mankind had descended from turkeys but he did show an interesting graph revealing that the United States had “evolved” in the process of believing the theory of evolution far enough that it was now head and shoulders above the nation of Turkey, but ONLY the nation of Turkey. The graph, compiled by Jon Miller and published by National Geographic Society (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060810-evolution.html) showed America lagging FAR behind the other developed nations of the planet Earth concerning belief in the theory of evolution.  Not much was said to address the question “why?”, but it was pointed out that not much attention is devoted to the theory of evolution in the nation’s schools.  Members of the audience indicated that might be because of the requirements of testing the nation’s students.  The issue of religion was mentioned by some of the audience but not really considered.

Dr. Neufeld discussed at length, the “evolution” of the development of the theory of evolution, showing that it really was not the brilliant concept of one man, but that many people, Including Darwin, explored and discussed together the idea and the development of the theory..  And of course, that “theory” understood by many Americans – you know – that mankind descended FROM the apes, was pointed out to be a gross misunderstanding that was never considered by the theory’s developers.  A diagram showing the generally accepted process was presented and explained.

At any rate, it was a packed room.  Many people from Hickory showed up to see the presentation, eat and drink well at Bistro 127, and then to ask questions afterward.  Good job Bistro, Dr.  Neufeld, and the Hickory Science Museum for bringing science to the people of Hickory.  

This was our fifth, we had seen previously a presentation on Dark Holes, another on Dreams, another on the Search for Extraterrestrial Beings, and one on Climate Change.