In his new book "The God Delusion," evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins says fundamentalist religion "subverts science and saps the intellect." Join guest host Joe Palca in this hour of Science Friday for a chat with Dawkins on religion, the teaching of evolution and creationism in science class, and his call for atheists to "out" themselves.

Plus, does fish farming harm wild salmon? A new study suggests it might, finding that juvenile migrating wild salmon are becoming infected by sea lice as they pass salmon farms.“We counted sea lice on more than 14 thousand juvenile salmon migrating past fish farms, and conducted mortality experiments with more than 3 thousand fish,” explained Martin Krkosek, one of the authors of the report, describing how the study was performed.

We'll talk about what the research may mean for the growing aquaculture industry. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (3-4 Eastern). Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests:
Richard Dawkins
Author, "The God Delusion" (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)
Charles Simonyi Professor of Public Understanding of Science
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom

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Ray Hilborn
Volvo Environment Prize Winner, 2006
Professor, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington

Books/Articles Discussed:

"The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins. Hougton Mifflin, 2006.

"Epizootics of wild fish induced by farm fish," by Martin Krkosek, Mark A. Lewis, Alexandra Morton, L. Neil Frazer, and John P. Volpe. PNAS, published October 4, 2006, 10.1073/pnas.0603525103.

(find books discussed on previous broadcasts)

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This segment produced by Annette Heist