Peppered Moths

Responses to Criticisms of Icons of Evolution

In 2000, Discovery Institute biologist Jonathan Wells published his book Icons of Evolution, which documented widespread inaccuracies and junk science in the treatment of evolution in many biology textbooks. This pathbreaking book resulted in significant corrections to many textbooks, although many of the “icons” described by Wells are still used in some textbooks. Here you can read about the continuing debate provoked by this now classic work.

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Camouflage

Exhuming the Peppered Mummy

A friend of mine tells me that the only things he remembers about evolution from his high school biology course are photos of black and white peppered moths resting on light and dark tree trunks. They were presented as the classic case of Darwinian evolution in action, explaining how a trait that enhances survival could be acquired through an unguided Read More ›

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moth sitting on a piece of wood

Weird Science?

From Christianity Today: “Last week, we posted a letter from scientists Kevin Padian and Alan Gishlick in response to a piece by Jonathan Wells in the September/October issue of Books & Culture, dealing with the notorious peppered moth experiments. This week, we have given Wells an opportunity to respond. At stake are fundamental questions about truthfulness in debate — matters Read More ›

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Moths on window at night
Licensed from Adobe Stock

Desperately Defending The Peppered Myth

pen almost any introductory biology textbook published between 1960 and 2000 and you’ll see pictures of peppered moths resting on tree trunks, put there to illustrate the classic story of natural selection in action. Since the 1980s, however, biologists have known that the story is seriously flawed. In a new book, Of Moths and Men, Judith Hooper documents the rise Read More ›

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Peppered moth (Biston betularia) melanic and light form. Moths in the family Geometridae showing relative camouflage of f. cabonaria, the result of industrial melanism
Licensed from Adobe Stock

The Peppered Myth

Open almost any textbook dealing with biological evolution and you’ll probably find photographs of peppered moths resting on tree trunks — illustrating the classic story of natural selection in action. A friend of mine says those photographs are all he remembers about evolution from his undergraduate days. Before the mid-1800s, almost all peppered moths were light-colored, but during the industrial Read More ›

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Peppered moth - Biston betularia
Licensed from Adobe Stock

Moth-eaten Statistics

British statesman Benjamin Disraeli is reputed to have said that there are “lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Statistics based on unbiased samples and rigorous analyses can point us in the direction of the truth; but statistics can also be unscrupulously manipulated to “prove” things that are patently untrue. Brown University biology professor Kenneth R. Miller demonstrates the latter in his Read More ›

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Merry go round Christmas lights background
Licensed from Adobe Stock

There You Go Again

The believers in Darwinian evolution who currently dominate our educational establishment think that all students — even those headed for careers in auto mechanics or real estate — should believe, as they do, that all of us are descended from ape-like creatures through genetic accidents and survival of the fittest. Promoters of this doctrine have recently been urging the Ohio State Read More ›

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Illustration © Jody Sjogren, 2000

Icons of Evolution

Authored by developmental biologist and Senior Discovery Fellow Jonathan Wells, this book takes aim at 10 common “icons” used to bolster Darwin’s theory in widely used biology textbooks. The “icons” commonly cited to support evolution in textbooks turn out to be scientific urban legends, long-refuted fakes, or misrepresentations of the scientific data. One of the most famous “icons” discussed is Read More ›

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Peppered moth (Biston betularia)

Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths

Every student of biological evolution learns about peppered moths. The dramatic increase in dark forms of this species during the industrial revolution, and experiments pointing to differential bird predation as the cause, have become the classical story of evolution by natural selection. The same careful scientific approach which established the classical story in the first place, however, has now revealed Read More ›