Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30868433›Full record

ArticleTheory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften2019

Ernst Haeckel's contribution to Evo-Devo and scientific debate: a re-evaluation of Haeckel's controversial illustrations in US textbooks in response to creationist accusations.

Elizabeth Watts, Georgy S Levit, Uwe Hossfeld

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In one paragraph

Article in Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. A Place for Viruses on the Tree of Life.Frontiers in microbiology · 2020
    Review
  3. Ernst Haeckel's embryology in biology textbooks in the German Democratic Republic, 1951-1988.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2019
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Elizabeth WattsBiology Education Research Group, Institute for Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany. elizabeth.watts@uni-jena.de.
Georgy S LevitInstitute for Biology, Universität Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Str. 40, 34109, Kassel, Germany.
Uwe HossfeldBiology Education Research Group, Institute for Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As Blackwell (Am Biol Teach 69:135-136, 2007) pointed out, multiple authors have attempted to discredit Haeckel, stating that modern embryological studies have shown that Haeckel's drawings are stylized or embellished. More importantly, though, it has been shown that the discussion within the scientific community concerning Haeckel's drawings and the question of whether embryonic similarities are convergent or conserved have been extrapolated outside the science community in an attempt to discredit Darwin and evolutionary theory in general (Behe in Science 281:347-351, 1998; Blackwell in Am Biol Teach 69:135-136, 2007; Pickett et al. in Am Biol Teach 67:275, 2005; Wells in Am Biol Teach 61:345-349, 1999; Icons of evolution: science or myth? Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong. Regnery Publishing, Washington, 2002). In this paper, we address the controversy surrounding Haeckel and his work in order to clarify the line between the shortcomings and the benefits of his research and illustrations. Specifically, we show that while his illustrations were not perfect anatomical representations, they were useful educational visualizations and did serve an important role in furthering studies in embryology.

Indexed as

AnimalsBiological EvolutionDevelopmental BiologyHistory, 19th CenturyHistory, 20th CenturyHumansPhylogenyReligion and ScienceSelection, GeneticTextbooks as TopicUnited StatesCreationismEvolutionHaeckelScience educationTextbooksVisualization

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.