In a 2005 Gallup poll, 53% of US citizens said they believed the Biblical
account of human origins to be true.

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In this week's Science & Nature newsletter

** Belief in science **
** Download one museum **
** Text one ladybird **
** TV & Radio choices this week **

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** Belief in science **

'Intelligent design' is a term popularised in the 1990s by opponents of the
science of evolution by natural selection.

ID combines an attempt to use scientific methods with a refusal to accept living
organisms could come about without a designer.

Some evolutionary biologists suspect that ID is a front for people who want to
supplant agnostic science with a more religious view.

The argument is most polarised in the USA, where it has been played out in court
cases hinging on what the US constitution allows schools to teach.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4152374.stm

Research for BBC Two's Horizon series shows views in the UK are split as well.
48% of respondents in a survey of over 2,000 people said evolution theory best
described their view of the origin and development of life. 39% expressed views
relying on some kind of higher intelligence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4648598.stm

Tonight's Horizon examines how much science there is in the arguments put
forward by ID's proponents.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/horizon

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** Download one museum **

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History was the venue for one of the
classic early debates between supporters and opponents of Charles Darwin's ideas
on evolution.

This week it features in BBC Four's new series Take One Museum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/take_one/

The programmes offer you glimpses of the wonders displayed and stories relayed
in British museums from Hampshire to Orkney. Your guide is explorer and
engineer, Paul Rose.

Visit the website to download free audio guides for each venue, in MP3 format.
You can take them to the museum on a portable player, if you wish.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/take_one/downloads.shtml

Transmission times for Take One Museum are in the TV Choices further down this
newsletter.