Hugh LaFollette is the Cole Chair in Ethics at professor of philosophy at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. He co-authored Brute Science: Dilemmas of Animal Experimentation and has written extensively on gun control and other issues.

Read a Jan. 16, 2005, Boston Globe article on a religious retreat in Tucson, Ariz.

Nathan Nobis is an assistant professor of philosophy specializing in animal rights and bioethics at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. He can discuss and outline the debate over the treatment of laboratory animals.

Tom Regan is a professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. His book The Case for Animal Rights (University of California, 2004) is considered a classic in the area.

The Simple Way is a New Monasticism movement based in Philadelphia.

Gary Lynn Comstock is a professor of philosophy at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., where he conducts research on ethical questions in the biological sciences. He has written about ethics and the humane treatment of animals.

Feb. 11, 2005, is celebrated as Darwin Day, an international observance of Charles Darwin’s work on evolution. Check out International Darwin Day Foundation’s site that maintains a list of celebrations of the naturalist’s birthday around the world, including the United States.

Read the Fordham Foundation’s 2000 report “Good Science, Bad Science: Teaching Evolution in the States,” which includes a state-by-state grading of science education in the public schools.

Read the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit filed on behalf of parents in Dover, Pa.