June 20, 2011

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Miss USA Pageant Winner One of Two Contestants to Back Evolution [Video]

By Philip Yam

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

I admit, the only time I even notice beauty pageants is when one of the contestants flubs a response and video of the embarrassing moment makes the YouTube rounds.

 

This time, though, I'm taking notice because of a cogent answer, one that could be seen as a victory for science. Tanya Somanader of Think Progress recounts in her excellent blog post an answer given by 21-year-old Alyssa Campanella, a self-described science geek who won the Miss USA competition last night.

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Responding to the question of whether evolution should be taught in schools, Campanella affirmed her position on evolution and its rightful place in the classroom. She and Miss Massachusetts, Alida D’Angona, were the only two of the 51 contestants to back Darwin.

 

Meanwhile, the other contestants revealed a sad misunderstanding of the basics of evolutionary science--and of science in general.

 

So kudos to this year's Miss USA winner for sticking up for science and to the pageant organizers for the daring question. Read the entire Think Progress blog post here.

 

Philip Yam is the managing editor of ScientificAmerican.com, responsible for the overall news content online. He began working at the magazine in 1989, first as a copyeditor and then as a features editor specializing in physics. He is the author of The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting and Other Prion Diseases.

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