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Today is the last day of the special pre-order offer for Darwin’s Doubt (43% off + four free digital books + free shipping). Go here to take advantage of the offer now!

As those who live among them will know, the 17-year insect, the cicada, emerges en masse this year after five larval stages, mates and dies. They are an ongoing puzzle: In 1665, the first volume of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society included a report from New England concerning “swarms of strange insects, and the mischiefs done by them”. Charles Darwin also puzzled over them. Even now, entomologists are trying to understand how the insects’ peculiar life cycles evolved, how they count the years underground and how they synchronize their schedules. “They are one of the big ecological mysteries out there,” says Walt Koenig, a behavioural ecologist at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. Interesting: … Read More ›

Casey Luskin did a fine job today defending academic freedom on the Michael Medved show against Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). Regardless of what you think about intelligent design, you should consider helping Eric Hedin (pictured left), the physicist at Ball State University who has come under fire merely for allowing students to opt to take a class exploring issues like intelligent design. Read the full details here. What can you do to help Eric Hedin? In his support, you can sign the academic freedom petition which you can find here.