On evolution - this one goes out to Steve

Okay, so proponents of Intelligent Design claim that not only is it a viable scientific theory (to which I must reply, um, nuh-uh) but that they have a list with over 300 names of doctors who "Dissent From Darwin" and insist that evolution is a joke, all evidence to the contrary.

Enter Project Steve.

Project Steve is an effort by the National Center for Science Education to promote the teaching of actual science in science classes. Their statement reads as follows:

Evolution is a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences, and the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea that all living things share a common ancestry. Although there are legitimate debates about the patterns and processes of evolution, there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence. It is scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist pseudoscience, including but not limited to "intelligent design," to be introduced into the science curricula of our nation's public schools.

and is endorsed by, as of July of this year, 577 biologists (which make up about two-thirds of the list), science educators, medical researchers, etc. All of whom are named Steve.

Well, all of them could be named Steve. The list has been generously left open to Stephens, Stevens, Stefans, and yes, of course, Stephanies. The NCSE figures that Steves make up about 1 percent of the US population, and thus their sample of Steves, assuming that there isn't some bizarre concentration of evolution-loving Steves in the scientific community, represents about 57,700 scientists who support the modern take on evolutionary biology.

So the next time you're confronted by an ID nutjob chanting, "I didn't come from a monkey," just remind him that 577 Steves agree: Intelligent Design is a crock.