Check check it. So apparently we’ve found a dinosaur that shows signs of being part meat-eating, part plant-eating… it had feathers, but ran along the ground and provides a solid link between how dinosaurs eventually became birds.
I don’t know if you know this, but I’m a fan of evolution. Despite attempts to discredit evolution I’m still pretty convinced that Darwinian evolution is a better answer to, “How did we get here?” than “God Some intelligent creator put us here.” I like the more reasonable reading of Genesis if you want to pepper your science with religion, anyway.
Whenever I hear the religious right critique of evolution that begins something like, “Where are the intermediary forms?” I always think that they’re expecting to find fossilized remains of a catdog, or a cowgoat. I’m always happy when I can present something like the chickenlizard.
One thing that intelligent design talks about is that some biological forms are impossible within the scope of natural, random mutations and that certain periods in time, such as the Cambrian Explosion, cannot be satisfactorily explained by natural selection. I don’t mind advocating critical thinking, that’s fine, and I think we should teach students that some areas of evolution are not fully explored… but I think the controversy isn’t whether evolution took place but more what mechanisms biological life employed in the millions of years its been on this planet. There’s no mystery to me: natural selection brought me into existence. How exactly did it work? We’re not sure. Deal.