Newswise lists Top ten evolution stories of 2009

An article in Newswise has outlined the top ten evolution/ creationism stories in the year 2009.

At number one is the 200th anniversary of famous naturalist Charles Darwin's birth, which proved to be the biggest evolution birthday bash since 1909.

There were dozens of Darwin evolution conferences around the globe, festivals, museum exhibitions, special magazine issues devoted to Darwin and evolution.

At number two is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species", which saw fans rallying, holding parties, public readings, and conferences, and publishers responding with brand-new editions of the book.

At number three is a very unique celebration of Charles Darwin's birthday by evangelist and banana fan Ray Comfort, who handed out free copies of a "special" edition of On the Origin of Species.

Comfort's 54-page introduction abounded in bizarre claims, linking Hitler to Darwin and contending that there are no transitional fossils.

At number four is the report of the Texas Board of Education caving in to creationists, by amending the Biology and Earth and Space Sciences standards with loopholes and language that make it easy for creationists to attack science textbooks.

At number five is the state of Louisiana passing an act that opened the door to teaching the concept of creationism in public school science classes.

The state board of education of Louisiana passed guidelines which said that supplementary classroom materials can't be rejected just because they include creationism.

At number six is the news that in spite of Louisiana passing an antievolution "academic freedom" act in 2008, antievolution bills introduced elsewhere in 2009 quickly died in committee.

At number seven is the report of evaluation of all the 50 states in the US of the treatment of evolution and related scientific topics.

At number eight is the debate between evolution and creationism heating up, with an article on creationism that said, "Telling students that evolution is a theory in crisis is -a lie," evoking heated comments on both sides of the issue.

At number nine is the amusing report of the list of scientists named Steve, who support evolution and reject creationism, hitting the 1000 mark, and was thus aptly called 'KiloSteve'.

At number ten is the report that among all the ups and downs in the creationism/evolution controversy during the year, one bright spot was the recognition received by Dr. Eugenie C. Scott, National Center for Science Education's (NCSE's) executive director for the last 25 years.