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To honor the 207th birthday of legendary evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, the University of Alabama at Birmingham will host its annual Darwin Day on Thursday, Feb. 11, and Friday, Feb. 12. The events will celebrate scientific research in evolutionary biology and other disciplines.
The event is co-hosted by UAB’s departments of Anthropology and Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Charles Darwin’s great discovery, the principle of natural selection, is more relevant to science than ever before,” said Steven Austad, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Biology. “For instance, it underlies our increasing success in cancer chemotherapy, provides guidance in combating new strains of drug-resistant diseases, and will ultimately determine how catastrophic climate change will prove to be for our planet.”
A panel discussion exploring evolution, belief and education will kick off this year’s Darwin Day events in Lister Hill Library’s Edge of Chaos.The panel, which will be led by guest speakers Elisabetta Palagi, Ph.D., a behavioral biologist from the Natural History Museum University of Pisa in Italy, and Josh Rosenau, an evolutionary biologist from the National Center for Science Education, will take place from 2-3:30 p.m. on Feb. 11. Lee Meadows, Ph.D., from UAB’s School of Education, and Marshall Abrams, Ph.D., a philosophy professor in UAB’s College of Arts and Sciences, will also be panelists for this discussion.
Following the panel, students and faculty will present a public poster session highlighting exciting new research from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the Edge of Chaos. Those interested in presenting a poster should send an email to darwinday@uab.edu with their name, department, poster title, and indication of whether they are a student, postdoc or faculty.
| “Anthropologists and other students of science today will be well-served by striving to emulate Darwin’s objectivity, meticulous attention to detail and appreciation for complexity during the practice of science.” |
On Thursday evening, Darwin Day activities will continue with a reception followed by a talk by Rosenau. Rosenau’s lecture, “The Impact of Darwin in Everyday Life,” will begin at 7 p.m. following the 6 p.m. reception at the McWane Science Center and is open to the public.
Darwin Day will continue on Friday, Feb. 12, from 4 to 5 p.m., with a lecture from Palagi. Palagi’s talk, “The Strategic Functions of Play: Modality and Communication,” will be held in Heritage Hall, Room 104.
“The approach of Charles Darwin represents the scientific endeavor at its best wherein data and reasoning interact to elucidate the natural world,” said Doug Fry, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Anthropology. “Anthropologists and other students of science today will be well-served by striving to emulate Darwin’s objectivity, meticulous attention to detail and appreciation for complexity during the practice of science.”
Refreshments and drinks will be provided at all events, and Darwin Day T-shirts will be on sale as well. For more information about the events, email darwinday@uab.edu.
Sponsors for the 2016 Darwin Day include the UAB Honors College and the Endowment for the John S. Jemison, Jr., Visiting Professorship in the Humanities.