Anti-science’ label may repel scientists

[pstokely]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/12854747.htm

Region seeks high-tech jobs

‘Anti-science’ label may repel scientists

By JASON GERTZEN and DIANE STAFFORD

The Kansas City Star


Ben Holt is an up-and-coming biologist looking for a job, but he is wary of Kansas.

A political tussle over the teaching of evolution in Kansas classrooms has left Holt with questions about how free he would be to pursue his research in a university laboratory. He also wonders about the nature of the schools his three children would attend if he moved to the state.

“They want to bring things like intelligent design into classes and downplay the fact of evolution,” said Holt, a postdoctoral researcher specializing in plant genetics at the University of North Carolina. “I find it incredibly troubling.”