Thursday, February 16, 2006

Resolving Darwin's Dilemma

Hi everyone! Today's selection is a podcast from the Cambridge Forum. In this podcast, Marc Kirschner, who is the chair of the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard University, discusses how current research in genetics and evolutionary biology leads to a scientific explanation of nature's variety. This podcast was recorded on 30 November 2005 and was published online at:

http://www.forum-network.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=2045

http://www.forum-network.org/images/forum/CambridgeForum.gif

The show notes included:

"Proponents of the notion of intelligent design argue that Darwin cannot account for the complexity of the human brain or the fly's eye. Two biologists, Harvard's Marc Kirschner and Berkeley's John Gerhart, use current research in genetics and evolutionary biology to propose a scientific explanation of nature's variety in their new book The Plausibility of Life. Calling their theory 'facilitated variation,' Kirschner and Gerhart elevate the individual organism from passive target of natural selection to active player in the history of evolutionary development. Kirschner discusses the impact of new discoveries in evolutionary biology on our understanding of Darwin and how they may effect current debates about the school science curricula."

I hope you enjoy this podcast!

Best regards,

Burks

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About Marc Kirschner

Marc Kirschner is professor and founding chair of the department of systems biology at the Harvard Medical School. He and John Gerhart are co-authors of Cells, Embryos, and Evolution and a newly published book, The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma. Recipient of numerous national and international awards, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health and as President of the American Society for Cell Biology.

About the Cambridge Forum

The Cambridge Forum has been providing free public forums with our nation's foremost scholars, authors and thinkers for thirty-five years and is one of public radio's longest running public affairs programs. Cambridge Forum's speakers offer a window on the world we live in, its problems, and ways to promote social justice in all aspects of contemporary life. Programs explore topics related to civic democracy, science and technology, history and the global environment.

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