THE LIGHTER SIDE OF EVOLUTION

"Father, I have sinned - I have drawn dinosaurs and hominids together in the same cartoon", Gary Larson, 1989. Paleontology and evolution are subjects that capture public attention. Paleontology seems to receive fairly consistent and positive popular press and media exposure, with new dinosaur and human fossil discoveries making their way to major newspapers, television programs, and radio broadcasts as fast as they appear in the primary scientific literature. The "Jurassic Park" film series has succeeded partially because of public curiosity about the physical and mental capacities of dinosaurs. In contrast, evolution is a difficult and controversial subject in the public arena. High school and college science teachers often have difficulty engaging students in this material, and the teaching of evolution continues to be opposed by various fundamentalist groups. Teaching evolution in historical geology, paleontology, and biology classes is extremely important, but how do we (as teachers) ensure that students get an accurate picture of these dynamic disciplines while exorcising misconceptions? One option is to "damn the torpedoes, [and] full speed ahead", an approach that may alienate some students. Alternatively, one might consider examining evolution using cartoons and humor as a segue to illustration of important concepts. Cartoons often shock us by using images in eccentric ways; this allows us to see and accept unexpected conclusions. Cartoons also tend to free us from emotional involvement, which can be extremely important when teaching evolution. In addition, cartoons and humor can serve a memorable "signposts" for important evolutionary concepts. Geologic time, inheritance, natural selection, paleontology, and creationism are all topics which have been treated in some ways by well-known cartoonists like Gary Larson (The Far Side), Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), and Sydney Harris (Big Science). We will use cartoons to illustrate how humor can be used as a teaching tool in the presentation of paleontological and evolutionary concepts.