Is the exhibit in response to the recent attention given creationism and intelligent design?
We’ve had an exhibit on evolution for many years, but as we went through it with children and teachers, we discovered that it was not having the impact we wanted. It was constructed in such a way that visitors rushed through to get to the dinosaurs, so we decided four years ago to change it. We think this will be a much more effective educational experience, telling a broader story. The intelligent design and creation controversies really came to the fore over the course of the last couple of years. Is evolutionary theory losing ground? No. It is being strengthened every day. We have ongoing bio- geography studies in the Philippines that look at live animals to see how the complexity of island populations evolves. We are getting a grasp on geologic forces like plate tectonics and how continents and mountains rise and form. We are able to look at contemporary living species and infer from the molecular diversity how those organisms evolved over time. Evolution is the base of much that g
