Heated debate on evolution with brother

[Alex K]

Among educated folks, again and again, engineers seem particularly susceptible to this. I wonder why that is...

It would seem that a number of people have noticed this.  I would also add the it appears that quite a few who practice medicine also fall into the same category.  Which has lead me to ask before, if those in applied sciences are more likely to deny evolution?

Yes you're right, as we've seen in the US presidential race, one can be a great surgeon and still be an evolution denying creationist. Maybe it's that these groups are very highly educated in a science related field (but often don't actually do science in the strictest sense). The engineer is entirely focused on analyzing design and will interpret things she sees in this frame of reference. A surgeon is confronted with the great complexity of life and has to work and struggle with it, and sees herself as an expert on how life works - not having gotten any in depth training on how such complexity can arise naturally, she might feel compelled to jump to creationist conclusions.